26-12-2024 (MAUI) A grim discovery was made at Kahului Airport when ground crew uncovered a deceased individual in the landing gear compartment of a United Airlines aircraft that had completed its journey from Chicago, airline officials confirmed yesterday.
The macabre finding occurred following the arrival of United Flight 202 from Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday afternoon. The body was located in one of the wheel wells, an area that can only be accessed from the exterior of the aircraft.
“We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities as they conduct their investigation into this tragic incident,” a United Airlines spokesperson said. The identity of the deceased and the circumstances leading to their presence in the wheel well remain unknown at this time.
Aviation experts note that wheel well stowaways face extreme survival challenges, with temperatures plummeting to as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius during flight. The unpressurised compartments also pose severe risks due to oxygen deprivation at cruising altitudes.
Whilst such incidents often end in fatality, there have been remarkable cases of survival. Last year, French authorities reported a survivor discovered in the undercarriage of an Algerian aircraft upon landing in Paris. Similarly, in early 2022, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport documented the extraordinary survival of a stowaway found in the wheel section of a Cargolux cargo plane arriving from Africa.
