A 16-year-old from San Jose, California apparently hitched a ride to Maui, Hawaii, in the landing-gear wheel well of a Boeing 767, Hawaiian Airlines said Sunday.
If the story he told officials is true, the boy is exceptionally lucky to be alive.
The teen claims he rode in the tiny cramped compartment for almost five hours, at altitudes that reached 38,000 feet, without oxygen and under subzero temperatures.
That has some experts questioning his story.
“It sounds really incredible,” said aviation expert Jeff Wise. “Being in a wheel well is like all of a sudden being on top of Mount Everest.”
Between the oxygen depletion and the cold, life expectancy “is measured in minutes,” Wise said.
Authorities don’t know who the boy is. He didn’t have an ID. The only thing he did have on him was a comb.
He told authorities he was from Santa Clara, California, and ran away from home Sunday morning, said FBI Special Agent Tom Simon.
Investigators have surveillance camera footage of him hopping the fence at Mineta San Jose International Airport.
There’s also camera footage of him walking across the ramp in San Jose toward the Hawaiian aircraft, the California airport said.
He told investigators he crawled into the wheel well of the plane and lost consciousness when the plane took off.
An hour after the plane landed at Kahului Airport, the boy regained consciousness and emerged to a “dumbfounded” ground crew.
The Maui airport has video of him crawling out of the left main gear area.
The teen hasn’t been charged with a federal crime, and was placed with child protective services.
