Stowaway body found at LHR
 

From the BBC:

"The body of a stowaway, believed to be of African origin, has been found in the undercarriage of a freight plane in Heathrow Airport. Engineers found the body of the man when they checked the DAS Air Cargo flight after it landed at the airport at 0600 BST on Sunday said police.

He is thought to have frozen to death - temperatures in undercarriage bays can reach -40C at high altitude. A spokesman for the west London airport said that Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into the death.

It is believed that the flight originated in Entebbe, Uganda, stopping at Cairo, then the Belgian port of Ostend. It is not known where the man stowed got on to the plane.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "We believe he is a stowaway. We are working to establish his identity." "

Just for info :
The aircraft had routed since last thursday LGW-LOS-EBB-CAI-OST-LHR. It was A DC10 N404JR
The flight landed at LHR at 06.28 and the Body was found in the Starboard undercarriage in a recess by a Das Air engineer.

The aircraft was due to leave aftera 2 hour turnround back to Lagos but was delayed until lunchtime.

One thing that springs to mind is that it was a good job the body didnt fall out on 27L !!!!!!! . It would have closed the runway for a few hours.

L337: any link to this CAA study?

The first inconsistency that springs to mind is that there cannot be any residual brake temperature after taking off!

Errrmm, sounds like an oxymoron that does. If you have brake temp. indicators on your aircraft, you will know that brake temps slowly fall. So theory does hold reasonably together IMO. http://www.stopstart.btinternet.co.uk/sm/mcqueen.gif

MJ: that's why it would be interesting to see that study and in particular the heat dissipation curves observed.

My point is that as this was a cargo-only aircraft and that turn-around times for cargo operations are not usually 45 minute jobs, I'm finding it hard to believe that this fatality could be down to residual brake temperature.

I would also be interested to read the CAA report.

The two Cuban students found at, or near, Gatwick at Christmas 2000, and the two Indian refugees(Heathrow 1996), one of whom miraculously survived, were all described as "frozen", with temperatures claimed to have reached -40C, by the BBC.

Regardless of how hot or cold it is in the undercarriage bay - surely what kills stowaways is the lack of oxygen? I am not aware that the u/c bay is pressurised on most types and at 35,000 ft you will die of hypoxia within minutes. THEN if the temperature is -40 your body fluids will start to freeze.

To survive this type of environment you would need pressurised breathing apparatus and sufficient breathing air or oxygen for several hours above 30,000 ft+, and you would probably need your thermal undies on.

Anybody else know different?

Temperature in the u/c bay of 200-300ºC ???

Er, what temperature does rubber melt?

Assuming a wheel well rider isn't crushed by the gear mechanism.

Assuming they don't fall out when the gear is lowered.

Assuming they don't go terminally hypoxic.

Doubt seriously if a gear compartment would get anywhere close to 300C in normal operations. Freighter brakes do get pretty warm on landing because they are usually landing at max gw for landing, and turn times can be less than 2 hours, but the brakes cool a significant amount by then. Taxi-out heating is something to keep you eye on, but usually not significant.

Getting cooked in the WW compartment? Not sure I believe it, but provocative thought.

I represented BA in the Cuban stowaways case referred to by Newswatcher.
Expert medical opinion given at the Inquest was that the stowaways died long before they were frozen because of the rate of change of atmospheric pressure in the climb. (The aircraft was a 777). The pathologist estimated that they were probably dead before 10,000'.
Although people survive at high altitude without oxygen, for example when climbing high mountains, that is because the body gradually adjusts to the gradual change.
The pathologist told the Court that there was no medical explanation for the survival of the Indian stowaway; it was a fluke which could not be explained. Although he survived, he suffered severe brain damage.
There was no mention of the effects of heat. Seems very unlikely.

I've not seen or heard about the CAA report mentioned.
Any pointers to where it can be found?

Tudor Owen

There is also a lot of Hydraulic machinery and high pressure bleed air lines in the wheel wells plus the the proximity of the packs. On the A300 and the A320 both of which had wheel brake temp guages I don't ever recall seeing below about 30 degrees C in flight usually up around 50.

As to tire temps on takeoff. The boeing 727 had a boeing limitation of taxiing for takeoff of 35000 feet (IE 7 miles). This was because of frictional heating on the tires. If you exceded that limit you were to wait 44 mintues for takeoff. Most people don't know the limitation because there are relatively few places you can excede it. However, at Denver international from the freight ramp it is possible.

Cheers
Wino

I always thought that it was the press that reported these incidents as being "frozen to death", due to there lack of knowledge on the subject.

I've always believed that severe hypoxia leading to fatality would set in long before hyperthermia. How many aircraft have pressurised wheel well bays? and why if any would they be needed?

"Of african origin ", well that,s about 6 billion of us if the archeologists are correct in saying that mankind (and women kind) originated out of Africa. So i suppose "it" had blonde hair , green eyes and was carring a beef vindaloo and rice wine for onboard munchies: bloody political correctness will drive us all insane very sooooooooooooon. Right just off to my pyscho-again.

Flat Spin :

Sudden Deaths are ALWAYS investigated in the UK, no matter who the deceased. It shows a basic respect for the value of human life.

I wouldn't like to begin to speculate on the cause of death but the overheat/boiled to death scenario does hold water.

Fluid friction and pressure can cause very high temperatures in hydraulic pipes along with conducted heat from the hydraulic pumps. This is why hydraulic systems have coolers and reservoirs which are designed to dissapate heat. It is a prerequisite of a hydraulic fluid to have a very high flash point for the previously mentioned reasons.

In addition to that brake temperatures do become exceedingly hot and dependant on the material retain that heat for a longer or shorter period of time. None the less pre take off brake temperatures will exceed aftertake off temps due to friction. Not only does turning and braking etc add to the temperature but the take off roll itself will increase it.

Brakes have no 'real' release mechanism, the realease relies on the fact that there is no further pressure on them. So even without the brakes applied there is a conciderable amount of force on the actuators and pads after braking. (say for arguments sake the braking force often applied during line up).
Try applying the brakes in your car, then remove a wheel and try to turn the brake disk, initially it is near enough impossible even if you didn't have the engine running and the servo opperating when you pressed the peddle.

So until pressure equalizes in the system or a microscopic layer of brake lining wears off or a combination of the two there will be alot of friction even during take off and therefore a lot of heat generated.

I have to make an assumption now that the amount of heat that rubber. used in the manufacture of aircraft tyres is far greater than any human can withstand for any length of time. Therefore personaly I have to say that it is entirely possible that this person could well have died due to the heat in the early portion of the flight well before he suffered the PD/Hypoxia/Freezing theories.

The only way we'll find out for sure is to place temperature recorders in wheel bays of several types of a/c.

:confused:
posted 15th April 2002 17:13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I represented BA in the Cuban stowaways case referred to by Newswatcher.
Expert medical opinion given at the Inquest was that the stowaways died long before they were frozen because of the rate of change of atmospheric pressure in the climb. (The aircraft was a 777). The pathologist estimated that they were probably dead before 10,000'

I am not a pathologist and therefore am reluctant to challenge his statement however I am amazed that a RATE of change produced by a 777 could cause death before 10,000 feet.
My old military aircraft could do lift off to FL350 in about 2 minutes on a cold day and the cockpit pressurization was a small differential. Granted the wheel well is zero pressurization but a 777 is no rocket compared to the power to weight ratio of a fighter with two engines and afterburners. (The aircraft in question weighed 45,000lbs and had 34,000 lbs thrust on an ISA day)
To look at the other side of the coin, a spreadeagled skydiver in free fall at, say half terminal velocity of about 60 mph, (give or take, not sure what they actually do) is dropping at a bit over 5000 fpm and suffers no ill effects. As I say I am a bit baffled at the pathologists statement. I have never heard of a climb rate being fatal in the lower atmosphere.

My apologies, The first paragraph was excerpted from Flying Lawyers post and should have been attributed and addressed to him. Thanks

I think FL meant metres. I have not found the complete inquest report, but in this excerpt:

"Pathologist Colin Hunter-Craig, who carried out a post-mortem examination on Alberto, told the court that the boys would have died minutes after take-off as oxygen levels plummeted.

He said both boys suffered injuries consistent with a fall but would have died after slipping into unconsciousness. He said: "I surmise they died on the way up. This aircraft climbed to 37,000ft in 20 minutes. That's higher than Everest.

"Some climbers can reach the top of Everest without oxygen but they adjust slowly. If you go up as suddenly as these boys did you don't have time to adjust. They died through lack of oxygen or hypoxia.

"They would have just fallen asleep. They would not have been aware of what was going on. To be whipped up that high so fast would be disastrous."

There is also a quote from the investigating officer, mentioning the presence of a "hot air pipe" within the wheel bay. However it also repeats the assertion that the temperature would have reached -57C, but does not say how this was determined.

Tropopause standard -56C