In a shocking incident at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a stowaway was found dead in the wheel well of an American Airlines plane on Sunday morning. The aircraft had just arrived from Europe when the body was discovered around 9 a.m. during routine maintenance, according to a statement from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The police have not disclosed the specific European city from which the flight originated, nor have they released any details regarding the identity of the deceased stowaway. An investigation is currently underway, led by detectives from the department’s homicide unit, as they seek to uncover more about this tragic incident.
While it is uncommon for individuals to successfully stow away on commercial flights, those who do often choose to hide in the wheel well. This compartment, located beneath the aircraft, is where the retractable landing gear is stored during flight. Unfortunately, the outcomes for stowaways are frequently fatal, as highlighted by data from the Flight Safety Foundation.
This incident is not isolated. Earlier in the year, two bodies were discovered in the wheel well of a JetBlue plane following a flight from New York to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Additionally, in December, a body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight that had landed in Hawaii after departing from Chicago.
Surviving a journey as a stowaway in a wheel well is extremely rare. The few who have managed to endure such harrowing experiences often do so due to a combination of factors, including luck, the heat generated in the wheel well, and physiological responses such as loss of consciousness and hypothermia, which may help preserve the nervous system. This research has been supported by studies from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
In 2022, a Kenyan man survived a perilous flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam by hiding in the front wheel well of a cargo plane. Similarly, in 2021, a man who concealed himself in the landing gear compartment made it from Guatemala to Miami alive. Notably, a California teenager defied the odds in 2014 by surviving a five-and-a-half-hour flight in the wheel well of a plane traveling from San Jose, California, to Maui, Hawaii.
The discovery of the stowaway's body at Charlotte Douglas International Airport serves as a stark reminder of the dangers associated with attempting to stow away on aircraft. While survival stories do exist, they are exceedingly rare and often involve significant risks. This tragic incident is a call for increased awareness and preventive measures at airports to deter such life-threatening actions.
