A 16-year-old Californian boy survived a five-hour flight across Pacific Ocean by hiding in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines plane, FBI officials said Sunday.
The teenager is said to have endured cold temperatures at 38,000 feet above sea level. "Doesn't even remember the flight," FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told the Associated Press. "It's amazing he survived that."
A video footage of the San Jose airport shows the boy jumped the fence and stowed away in the riding wheel of Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45. The flight lasted around five and a half hours and the boy survived the cold temperatures and low oxygen.
"He was unconscious for the lion's share of the flight. Kid's lucky to be alive," Simon said. The airport authorities at Maui airport saw the boy on the runway. Simon said the boy had an argument with the family before running away. He also said that the boy would not be charged and was referred to child protective services.
Air temperatures at 11,000 metres - the usual travelling altitude for commercial airliners - are about -55C. Altitude above 8,500 metres is known as the 'death zone' by mountaineers because it causes problems in breathing, reports Al Jazeera.
Alison Croyle, Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman said the crew saw the boy on the ramp after the flight landed. "Our primary concern now is for the wellbeing of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived," Croyle said.
Such incidents often lead to deaths. In 2001, a man fell on to a street in London from a flight he was hiding in. Last August, a Nigerian teen endured a 35-minute trip in the wheel well of a domestic flight. Authorities said he survived because of the short trip.
