Boy survives two-hour flight to Moscow hanging onto plane wing

[Richard]

MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - A 15-year-old boy from the Urals suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a two-hour flight from Perm to Moscow, Russian radio station Mayak reported on Monday.

After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukova Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.

The airport did not confirm the report. "We have no information on this," the Vnukovo press service told RIA Novosti.

However, Moscow's air and water transport control department said the radio's claim was true. A department spokesman said the incident occurred on Friday, and that the boy's parents were immediately informed, and flew to the capital the same day.

Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that Andrei survived the flight, with temperatures hitting minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit), the radio station said. The Boeing-737 has a cruising speed of 900 kmh (560 mph).

The boy reportedly made the journey after a commonplace domestic dispute. Angry with his father, who reportedly has a drinking problem, and with his mother for siding with her husband in family rows, Andrei ran away to the neighboring village, where his grandmother lives. On reaching the village, he decided to go on, and hitched a 220-km (137-mile) ride to the regional center, Perm, where he was dropped off at the airport.

It remains unclear how Andrei was able to climb on a plane wing un-noticed, and the Perm Airport security service is being asked some serious questions, the radio station said.

Andrei is now being treated in a Moscow hospital, Radio Mayak said.

http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20070924/80694850.html

 

[Polly]

This is hard to believe and if true it is quite an amazing story.

[Astrojewels]

I do not believe this story, how could he survive the take off and the altitude?

[Mercy Now]

Very difficult to believe this story. Very. If it's true ,which I doubt, it really is a miracle.

[Richard]

I checked a little more into this story and found out the boy stowed away in the wheel well and not on the wing. 

Boy Runs Away from Home by Hiding in Jet Wheel Well

The Moscow Times

A 15-year-old boy is recovering with severe frostbite after hiding in the wheel well of a plane flying from Perm to Moscow, Tvoi Den reported Monday.

The boy, identified only as Andrei, fell from the plane after it landed in Moscow. He was hospitalized with severe frostbite to his feet and hands. The newspaper printed pictures of him in a Moscow hospital bed with one hand heavily bandaged.

City transportation police confirmed that the incident took place, RIA-Novosti reported.

Andrei ran away from home Friday after falling out with his mother over his father's drinking, the report quoted his mother as saying. He made his way to Perm before somehow boarding the Boeing 737 flight to Moscow.

"The poor boy," said his mother, Olga. "I will never forgive myself."

Stowaways in plane wheel wells are not uncommon on flights, but many do not survive the journey, either being crushed when the wheels retract or dying of temperatures that can reach minus 40 degrees Celsius.

In July, a body was discovered inside the wheel well of a United Airlines Boeing 747 that landed in San Francisco after a flight from Shanghai. In January, a body was found in an airplane wheel well after a Delta Air Lines flight landed in Atlanta after a nine-hour flight from Dakar, Senegal.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/20...5/013.html

[Polly]

The story makes more sense now and is more believable than it was.  I think I would die of fright before I died from exposure.  :-)

[AndrewX]

The kids a looney... be it a strong and resilient one.lolo Just goes to show what the human body can endure when given no choice.

[Astrojewels]

I agree that it is more believable now, and yes children do strange things because they do not ‘think’ about the outcome of situations, and fear only comes after you have broken bones and kissed death, I wonder if he looses his hands and feet from the frostbite.