Kenyan stowaway found in Maastricht

[ETOPS]

Think this initial report misses an important fact.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/stowaway-london-stansted-maastricht-airport-teenager-b918820.html

I believe this chap has been "on-board" since Nairobi thus survived a number of sectors without being noticed on any pre-flight check !!

[megan]

Hard to believe he could have survived a flight from Nairobi, high altitude, extremely low temperatures.

[Webby737]

The gear doors would be closed on a A330 when it's on the ground under normal circumstances, so he wouldn't have been spotted during a walk around. Although I'm surprised he didn't "disembark" at STN.
One of the companies that I do a bit of work for found a poor chap dead in the MLG bay of a A330 a couple of years ago, he was only discovered because the crew and maintenance staff noticed a strange smell around the aircraft, his body was found only when the MLG doors were opened and mechanics crawled up into the MLG bay to have a look.
I assume this guy probably hitched a ride in the same place.

[tdracer]

megan

There was a case a few years back where a teenager did this on an LA to Honolulu flight (~5 hrs.) and survived. Apparently the cold caused his metabolism to slow to the point that he didn't die of hypoxia.
I don't remember the aircraft type, but it could well have been an A330 - Hawaiian has a bunch of those.

[DaveReidUK]

ETOPS

What is your evidence for this "important fact" ?

[Herod]

Perhaps the reason he didn't climb out at STN was because he was deeply hypoxic after the long flight the previous day. As he recovered, he probably went into a long,deep sleep.

[STN Ramp Rat]

the flight routes to Stansted via Istanbul. It’s hard to believe that he did three sectors in the undercarriage bay.

[DaveReidUK]

That's an understatement.

At the risk of stating the obvious, he arrived at Maastricht from Stansted on board an A330 freighter. If indeed he had started his journey in Istanbul or Nairobi (for which, as yet, there is no evidence) then it doesn't necessarily follow that he was in the landing gear bay on the preceding flight(s).

[Landflap]

Blindingly obvious (?). C'mon David. Whizzed over my backward sloping forehead then. If he wasn't "necessarily" in the landing gear bay on the preceding flights, where do you suggest he was ?

[EatMyShorts!]

What's the problem? In the UK you just put on some high viz gear and you can enter almost any area without getting questioned. He was clearly eager to leave the island and start a new life on the continent.

[STN Ramp Rat]

Landflap

The Aircraft landed in Nairobi at 19:44 LT, it should have Left at 22:10LT but was delayed until 00:51 LT. It arrived in Stansted at 09:21 LT and pushed back at 11:55 LT It arrived in Maastricht at 13:57 LT and left at 17:41 LT

My guess is that he his found his way into the lower deck of the aircraft in the dark at Nairobi Whilst the aircraft was unattended. The doors would not have been opened in Istanbul and arrival in Stansted he remained hidden waiting for the staff to leave after the offload. He then disembarked via the belt loader and when he realised there was no easy way off the apron he hid in the undercarriage bay for the final sector.

BUT it’s nothing more than a guess.

[Kirks gusset]

How about checking the apron video to see if he jumped out of the cargo hold and hid the the wheel well after it landed at STN? If he really survived the whole flight at -56 degrees with no oxygen we should use his DNA to fight Covid!

[212man]

STN Ramp Rat

A very good guess I'd say. The last stowaway from Kenya in an undercarriage bay dropped into a London garden as a frozen block! https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/01/body-of-suspected-plane-stowaway-found-in-south-london-garden#:~:text=A%20body%20that%20landed%20in,be%20that%20of% 20a%20man.

[zed3]

STN Ramp Rat, good theory but how did he know there was a final sector?

[Pistonprop]

"authorities would be investigating potential human trafficking links in connection with the stowaway". This would seem to indicate there might be more to this story than meets the eye. Had the lad already been brought into the UK against his will and escaped? Was the fact that the aircraft originated from Nairobi (via Istanbul) just a coincidence? Has he been positively identified as Kenyan? It's local news where I am but all has gone very quiet.

[Ex Cargo Clown]

STN Ramp Rat

Jump on the back of a trailer carrying the pallets would have been easier. Landside straight away. Seems odd as how on Earth would he know there was an extra leg to Maastricht? Something isn't right about this.

[Nil by mouth]

Has there been any statement from the "horse's mouth" as to how he arrived in Maastricht ?

[Pistonprop]

Nothing new other than that he has asked for political asylum and that the authorities are continuing with their enquiries. The local press still maintain that he must have originated from Stansted as they believe it would have been highly unlikely that he would have survived the trip all the way from Kenya (via Istanbul).

[25F]

tdracer

767 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wheel-well_stowaway_flights.
We really shouldn't be surprised. Since 1990 there's been ~75 known deaths, but ~21 known survivors. The odds aren't good but it's not impossible.