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SeenItAll
12th Jan 2016, 18:29
Dead stowaway found in landing gear of Air France plane from Brazil to Paris | Metro News (http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/12/dead-body-of-stowaway-is-found-in-the-landing-gear-of-air-france-plane-5617855/)

The interesting wrinkle here is that the corpse wasn't found at CDG, but three days later when the plane was at Orly. What does that say about walkaround inspection performed before a flight?

FIRESYSOK
12th Jan 2016, 22:00
Not using all five senses during the walk around.

llondel
12th Jan 2016, 23:38
Not necessarily - if the body was frozen in flight it might have stayed relatively fresh. When you consider that a long-haul aircraft may only be on the ground for a couple of hours twice a day, that's a lot of time for it to remain cold.

If it hadn't fallen out then presumably it was well wedged in and probably not visible in the shadows (not that I've ever looked in the wheel well of a 777).

SOPS
13th Jan 2016, 02:48
What does it say about security? I bet the took the bottled water off the captain, however.

deanm
13th Jan 2016, 03:04
I'm with llondel.

At the same time, the issue of why wasn't the body found for 3 days can be transposed as 'why was the body found after 3 days'?

Dean

ETOPS
13th Jan 2016, 06:03
I spent 5 years as a B772 Capt flying routes that were not generally thought of as subject to stowaways. Thus preflight walk rounds did not involve looking closely into the main wheel wells. Why? They are about 12 feet above your head and there is little to see with the doors shut.

On one or two occasions I felt it necessary to have the main doors "dropped" to the open position but this requires a "procedure" and the engineers would try to avoid doing that because it could cause a delay.

If you need a proper look in the '77 wheel bay you need to work at it.....

Johnny F@rt Pants
13th Jan 2016, 06:37
But surely they are checked on a daily inspection by the engineers??

wiggy
13th Jan 2016, 06:45
Agree with ETOPS's comments, there is no way you can see into the deeper recesses of a 777's wheel wells without either climbing onto wheels and then climbing up the gear structure or using specialist equipment and/or dropping doors.

But surely they are checked on a daily inspection by the engineers??

Haven't got a copy of a "daily"to hand but doubt there's be any need to get up and into wheel wells.

ajamieson
13th Jan 2016, 07:10
Did it position to ORY or did it go somewhere downroute and back?

DaveReidUK
13th Jan 2016, 08:42
Did it position to ORY or did it go somewhere downroute and back?

The aircraft appears to have landed at CDG on Sunday morning, and positioned to Orly around 3 hours later.

ULMFlyer
13th Jan 2016, 10:30
Read on a Brazilian forum that one of the 777 that flew GRU-CDG on this date (there are 2 daily flights), F-GSQG, had previously flown Libreville, Gabon-CDG on 06/01, before the outbound leg CDG-GRU.

The other 777 had flown YYZ-CDG before going to Brazil.

DaveReidUK
13th Jan 2016, 10:58
Read on a Brazilian forum that one of the 777 that flew GRU-CDG on this date (there are 2 daily flights), F-GSQG, had previously flown Libreville, Gabon-CDG on 06/01, before the outbound leg CDG-GRU.

The other 777 had flown YYZ-CDG before going to Brazil.

Neither is correct.

The previous rotation for the aircraft in question was AF112/117 to/from Shanghai (PVG), arriving back at CDG around 4:30pm local time on Friday and departing to GRU shortly before midnight.

grounded27
13th Jan 2016, 17:03
Wheel well is being used as a generic term, I do not know of many aircraft where there is a space to hide in a wheel well that will not dump or crush a person upon gear retraction. All aircraft I have worked with have sub structure aft of the wing spar, O/B of the wheel well and I/B of the MLG trunion, on a wide body aircraft there is plenty of space for a human. Dropping the W/W doors will do you little good to view this area, often it may be possible for someone to climb up the gear and enter this area, the only way to inspect it is usually by climbing up on a tire or using a ladder.

Abelard
13th Jan 2016, 22:16
OK, if seeing in there is difficult, how DID the body come to light?

jack11111
13th Jan 2016, 22:31
Quote: "OK, if seeing in there is difficult, how DID the body come to light?"


Starts to smell, drip.

wanabee777
14th Jan 2016, 00:32
Starts to smell, dripThat's how a Delta mechanic (engineer) discovered this stowaway back in 2010.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/dead-body-found-landing-gear-new-york-tokyo-delta-flight-59-article-1.171196

Snyggapa
14th Jan 2016, 07:53
I'd be more concerned that someone, presumably not screened, managed to get airside and close enough to get onto an aircraft, undetected. Lucky he was hiding there, not hiding something there

Heliport
15th Jan 2016, 18:29
The interesting wrinkle here is that the corpse wasn't found at CDG, but three days later when the plane was at Orly. What does that say about walkaround inspection performed before a flight?

Posts 24 & 30 of this thread may go some way towards answering your question:


http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/111538-hidden-pax.html

Yaw String
21st Jan 2016, 10:31
Operating frequent transatlantic flights to Havana,from Europe,large truck with powerful searchlight was alway positioned at side of taxiway,for night time departures.
All holding aircraft,ex Havana,were we'll scrutinized,until takeoff.

Tinribs
21st Jan 2016, 10:43
I don't agree with Snyggapa assumption unfortunate deceased person was not screened. Such a person seeking to reach destination of aircraft could obtain basic airport employment not needing to pass security with forbidden goods. He might move clothing to locker or drawer over a period then access aircraft just before departure. To my mind no security failure is indicated. During the 80's mysterious bodies were being found in the London suburbs, sometimes on a rooftop. Only when a frozen one was found did the penny drop.

Snyggapa
26th Jan 2016, 21:57
That's a fair point, be interesting if reliable figures were available on the percentage of stowaways that had clearance to be airside. There's still one process/security failing even if the stowaway was allowed to be on that side of the fence (I guess they could also have a ticket..) but if so it's only a cheese with one hole in rather than multiple holes

Tinribs
28th Jan 2016, 12:41
I suppose if a would be stowaway had legitimate access airside through employment the baggage hold would be the best place being less cold and presurised but would non aviation people know that?

No Fly Zone
29th Jan 2016, 02:33
So many excellent experts here. Does anyone know of what they speak? I don't think so...

airseb
30th Jan 2016, 09:04
ORY is a maintenance base for AF 777's. The plane was positionned there for that reason. I don't know what check was scheduled but I suppose it was a big one and that means going through the insides of the aircraft. As stated before, you can't have a look inside the wheel wells on a simple walkaround.

Airseb

RobertS975
2nd Feb 2016, 19:39
A mangled body was discovered in the yard of a Milton, MA home in 2010... a note in the pocket of the victim allowed back tracing. It was a North Carolina teen who hid inside the well of a US Air B737 on a flight to BOS. Gear down over Milton on approach to 4R, out he came. Darwin in action. Took a few weeks to figure the situation out, IIRC.

Teen Found Dead Near Boston Likely Fell From Plane | Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/10/teen-dead-near-boston-likely-fell-plane.html)