Stowaway's remains found on United plane at San Francisco

The remains of an apparent stowaway from China were found in the nosegear bay of a United Airlines Boeing 747 at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) today. The discovery was made by ramp personnel this morning during a post-flight inspection. The aircraft, operating as United Flight 858, had just arrived at SFO from Shanghai.

The San Mateo County Coroner's office was notified, and the aircraft was temporarily impounded until the remains were removed from the scene several hours later.

An article on SFGate.com about this most recent stowaway incident says that, "counting Thursday's victim, the Federal Aviation Administration has tallied 75 similar stowaway attempts on 65 flights worldwide since 1947." Fifty-nine of those attempts have ended in death.

"People think they can make it into a country by hiding in a wheel well," [FAA spokesman Ian] Gregor said. "Almost invariably they get crushed to death, freeze to death, or fall to death."

There have been several other recent instances of stowaways in the gear bays of commercial aircraft, including two discovered at U.S. airports in January of this year. This is the first such discovery at SFO in years, according to the San Jose Mercury News:

The last time a stowaway was found dead in a wheel well at San Francisco airport was 2001, when the body of a 19-year-old native of Zaire was discovered on a US Airways Flight. The flight originated in London and made a stop in Pittsburgh - where the body was not found during a post-flight inspection - before arriving in San Francisco.

An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow to determine the exact cause of unfortunate man's death.

[Photo Source]

Stowaways in the gear bay

Not what you want to find on your pre-flight walk-around: A frozen body in a landing gear bay.

Yesterday a pilot did make such a discovery while making a pre-departure check of a British Airways B747-400 at LAX. The frozen corpse of an apparent stowaway was found in the front right gear bay of the aircraft, according to BBC News.

The aircraft had arrived at LAX from London's Heathrow Airport, and was being prepared for a return trip to LHR at the time the frozen body of the unfortunate young man was discovered. A UPI news report claimed that the body of the victim "had documents identifying him as a South African national born in 1989."

Earlier this month there was a similar incident at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. A dead body was discovered in the gear bay of a Delta Air Lines B767 upon its arrival at ATL from Johannesburg, South Africa via Dakar, Senegal.

An Associated Press article about that incident on the CBS News website suggested that the crew on the Delta flight may have been alerted to the possibility of a stowaway while they were airborne en route from Dakar to Atlanta: "The FAA says Delta was notified that the stowaway might be inside the plane after the Boeing 767 was already well into its flight. Delta apparently made a decision that it was too late for the plane to turn around."

The unanswered question is, when and how did these stowaways manage to secrete themselves aboard these aircraft without being detected before departure?