Ted Striker
Piece of the Portfolio
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2001
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http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_3274487,00.html
Airplane Stowaway Prompts Investigation
By Mary Conway
Web produced by Jennifer Clark
October 22, 2004
A teenager's desperation to get to the United States ended in tragedy Thursday night, after the teen’s body was found in an airplane wheel well.
A worker at Detroit Metropolitan Airport discovered a stowaway's body in a wheel well on a plane that landed in the Detroit area early Friday morning.
Airport officials did not know who the young man was Friday, but believed he was about 16 years old.
"It’s tragic, but it’s also scary that somebody could get on and could be somebody with a bomb, or a terrorist," passenger Kim Vice told Action News.
The death aboard American Airlines flight 926 raises serious concerns about the security of air travel. Metro Airport administrators say the flight traveled from the Dominican Republic to Miami, before arriving in Detroit at 12:49 a.m.
An American Airlines employee who had been changing a tire found the young man dead around 1:00 Friday morning.
"The ramp worker discovered the deceased body in the wheel well, under the left wing of an American Airlines aircraft," airport spokesperson Barb Hogan told reporters in the early morning hours.
The 67 passengers and six crew members on board the flight had already deplaned when the body was found.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled that the young man died from high-altitude asphyxia, meaning that he could not breathe. The part of the plane where his body was discovered is not pressurized, and gets very cold.
Sources say the young man was wearing only a tee-shirt and jeans, and carrying a few coins from the Dominican Republic.
"He obviously wanted to get out of there really bad to put his life in danger," passenger Becca Eby.
said.
The Transportation Safety Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and American Airlines are all investigating how this could have happened, and why it wasn’t discovered.
"It just as well could have been 100 pounds or 150 pounds of high explosives, and there is a failure in the security system, and many of us have believed for a long time that ramp security is inadequate," aviation expert C. William Kauffman told Action News. "TSA, immigration, customs, somebody obviously was not doing their job."
The body was found within 11 minutes of the plane’s landing in Detroit. There are major concerns about why the plane was not checked in Miami.
American Airlines said very little Friday, and would not confirm where that plane had stopped. Metro Airport officials, meanwhile, were told the plane’s last stop before Miami was the Dominican Republic.
Officials say similar incidents occur about six times a year, but stowaways don’t usually make it as far as the young man did in this case.
Airplane Stowaway Prompts Investigation
By Mary Conway
Web produced by Jennifer Clark
October 22, 2004
A teenager's desperation to get to the United States ended in tragedy Thursday night, after the teen’s body was found in an airplane wheel well.
A worker at Detroit Metropolitan Airport discovered a stowaway's body in a wheel well on a plane that landed in the Detroit area early Friday morning.
Airport officials did not know who the young man was Friday, but believed he was about 16 years old.
"It’s tragic, but it’s also scary that somebody could get on and could be somebody with a bomb, or a terrorist," passenger Kim Vice told Action News.
The death aboard American Airlines flight 926 raises serious concerns about the security of air travel. Metro Airport administrators say the flight traveled from the Dominican Republic to Miami, before arriving in Detroit at 12:49 a.m.
An American Airlines employee who had been changing a tire found the young man dead around 1:00 Friday morning.
"The ramp worker discovered the deceased body in the wheel well, under the left wing of an American Airlines aircraft," airport spokesperson Barb Hogan told reporters in the early morning hours.
The 67 passengers and six crew members on board the flight had already deplaned when the body was found.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled that the young man died from high-altitude asphyxia, meaning that he could not breathe. The part of the plane where his body was discovered is not pressurized, and gets very cold.
Sources say the young man was wearing only a tee-shirt and jeans, and carrying a few coins from the Dominican Republic.
"He obviously wanted to get out of there really bad to put his life in danger," passenger Becca Eby.
said.
The Transportation Safety Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and American Airlines are all investigating how this could have happened, and why it wasn’t discovered.
"It just as well could have been 100 pounds or 150 pounds of high explosives, and there is a failure in the security system, and many of us have believed for a long time that ramp security is inadequate," aviation expert C. William Kauffman told Action News. "TSA, immigration, customs, somebody obviously was not doing their job."
The body was found within 11 minutes of the plane’s landing in Detroit. There are major concerns about why the plane was not checked in Miami.
American Airlines said very little Friday, and would not confirm where that plane had stopped. Metro Airport officials, meanwhile, were told the plane’s last stop before Miami was the Dominican Republic.
Officials say similar incidents occur about six times a year, but stowaways don’t usually make it as far as the young man did in this case.
