American Airlines staff discover body of stowaway in plane landing gear at North Carolina airport
Airport maintenance staff have made a gruesome find, locating the body of a stowaway in a passenger plane’s landing gear in North Carolina.
Shortly after an American Airlines passenger jet touched down at Charlotte Douglas International Airport at 9am on Sunday (local time), staff raised the alarm after a dead body was discovered.
A routine maintenance check on the plane, which had arrived from Europe, unearthed the body wedged inside the landing gear compartment.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The person was pronounced dead at the scene by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and a spokesperson for American Airlines said they were “working with law enforcement on its investigation”, according to The Sun.
Incidents involving stowaways trying to hide inside the area housing aircraft’s landing gear are not uncommon, but surviving such journeys is a rare feat.
Freezing temperatures, extreme wind chill and a lack of oxygen make surviving the perilous journey near impossible especially during long haul flights.
Last week, a 13-year-old boy survived a 90-minute Kam Air flight from Kabul to Delhi, after he hid himself inside the plane’s landing gear well.
Incredibly the boy, who was returned to Afghanistan, told local authorities he had wandered into the compartment out of curiosity.
Other incidents have not ended well including a case in the US in January, where two bodies were found in the landing gear of a JetBlue aircraft that had landed in Fort Lauderdale.
