Teen survives 5.5h flight hidden in wheel well

A 15-years-old teenager survived during a flight from California to Hawaii in the wheel well of a Boeing 767.

Sheer luck was the reason the boy survived the 5.5 hours flight, medics conclude.

The plane flew at a 38,000 feet altitude and temperatures went as low as 80 below zero. The air was barely breathable as, at that altitude, it becomes thin. Moreover, the stowaway risked being crushed by one of the wheel’s mobile components.

The director of the Institute for Altitude Medicine declared that it ‘got cold enough to protect his brain, but not cold enough to stop his heart. The boy almost certainly spent almost the entire flight unconscious in a hibernation-like state.’

The teenager ran away from his home in Santa Clara after an argument with his family. He was unaware of the plane’s destination when he got on.

Although he appeared on cameras while sneaking in the wheel well, at that moment the boy passed by security unobserved.

Since 1947, 105 wheel well stowaways have been recorded. Out of those, only 25 survived but even fewer were at altitudes higher than 30,000 feet.