Stowaway on BA
 

BBC tells us a body has been found on the roof of an office block in Richmond and a stowaway has been discovered. Does that mean there were two?

It looks like it. The other guy was found on landing. Now in hospital. Incredible. Undercarriage Class. I'm never going to pay Buisiness Class ever again. Do they pass drinks down to you?

Some idiot on the BBC outside source radio program (which is broadcast to the world) was saying 'it's suprising how many stoaways survive'. Something like 25% if you believe them.

No, the correct statement is 'almost always they die'. Just as correct as the previous statement, and sends the right message, don't even think about it.

It's surprising that any survive. You either die from hypothermia, hypoxia, crush injuries from the mechanical components or falling from aircraft during approach. None of them are a nice way to die.

The u/c clamberers should be congratulated for their prescience in guessing alongside which taxiway to lie in wait for a passing BA flight to EGLL.

Even Jo-burg Twr cannot be expected to guess which taxyway a Speedbird 747 is gonna use when cleared to use any one of the very few reasonably useable taxyways from the terminal to the runway. :}

Are there any medics who'd care to comment?

Just interested in the body physiology here.

Just how much air is there at 30000 feet and what happens to the body at those temperatures.

Does it shut down in a similar way to say hibernating bears in the arctic. Have any studies been done on volunteers exposed to freezing temperatures for many hours?

I'm not a medic, but I'll have a go.

About 25% of the oxygen content at sea level, I believe. For all practical purposes, bugger all.

Air temperature is a max of -35C. You freeze.

There are two studies being done right now. One a post-mortem, and another trying to keep the idiot alive.

What I can never understand with these incidents is how there is enough room in the undercarriage well for a body, once the undercarriage is retracted. I would have thought the aircraft designers would not leave any unnecessary space around the retracted gear.

In the Graun:
I'd say a bit more than just security questions.

And how exactly did the survivor manage to exit the baggage hold before the aircraft landed? Shut up Learmount

Well, l suppose its cheaper than trudging all the way up to libya and catching a boat.

Charles Darwin?
 

If ever we were to witness survival of the fittest this might be it.

And it should tell us something about the validity that survival of the fittest would actually "improve" the species.

Poor buggers, hard nosed lot are'nt you!.:=

I'm no medic either, but there have been several programmes on TV recently about people climbing Everest and similar. If any climbers get stuck above about 26,000 feet (the so called death zone) for any length of time then even with full thermal clothing they almost invariably get severe frostbite in fingers, toes and nose.

Unless there is a source of heat in the wheel bay of a 747 (maybe from the floor above?) or this guy was wearing arctic clothing (unlikely, I'd say) then apart from any possible crush injuries and hypoxia effects, my guess is he will loose all his extremities, and I do mean all.

Good job they didn't have an explosive in their bag!
Major security fault really!!

An unpressurised wheel-well isn't surviveable, so I'm guessing the other guy must have been in the hold?

A couple years back, a stowaway reportedly survived in the wheel well of a 767, LAX to Hawaii, with few adverse effects (~5-6 hour flight).
I was skeptical of the report but I don't think there was ever a retraction - something like he snuck into the baggage hold before they closed it up. At the time some health care experts said it was possible for the body to go into a hibernation like state and survive (especially if the wheel well didn't get all that cold - heated from the surrounding airplane), but that in most cases the person wouldn't wake up in time to avoid fall out when they lowered the gear.:sad:

Sky report that the survivor was discovered in a landing gear bay.

Stowaway Plunges To Death From BA Plane

Do the pilots and the airline get fined like truck drivers and their companies for smuggling illegal immigrants?

Sad that one person is dead and another critical Having worked at 'Jan Smuts' many years ago when security was good, it must be scary for airlines that someone can get into the wheel bay of an aircraft before take off.