Body found in landing gear bay of Delta airliner

[FarCenter]

NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) The body of an unidentified person, believed to be an adult black male, was found in the landing gear bay of a Delta airliner that arrived at Narita airport from New York on Sunday, the Chiba prefectural police said.

A mechanic found the body in the left bay of the Boeing 777 and reported it to police shortly after 6 p.m., they said.

Delta Flight 59 carried 193 passengers and crew.

The police said they believe it was not possible for anyone aboard the aircraft to have entered the bay. The police are investigating the cause of death and trying to confirm the man's identity.

<SNIP>http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100208a2.html

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Odd that the body didn't just fall out when the gear were lowered for landing.

[Skittles]

1. stowaway?

:(

[wtmusic]

7. Probably

There is a famous photograph from the 60's in Life Magazine of a stowaway falling to his death from one of the landing gear bays as a plane took off *from* Japan.

[thunder rising]

2. Ok, no jokes about Delta's testing of the real cheap seats.

[Kaleva]

3. You only have to pay if you survive the flight.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Can we blame this on Obama?

Some idiot will, just wait and see.

[petronius]

5. Perhaps some people tie themselves to something, or manage to

wedge themselves in before blacking out? I would bet that there is a larger number of unknown fatalities, where the person did fall out prior to landing.

Pretty sad desperate thing to do...

[proteus_lives]

6. Total Law & Order episode.

[TexasObserver]

8. They already did. The cousin did it.

I'm not kidding.

[proteus_lives]

9. I think I've seen it.

CI, right?

[TexasObserver]

12. I think it was Criminal Intent.

Body found in the landing gear. Turns out to be a murder from some other location. Tied into an airport worker. Crazy plot, and yet, wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

[proud patriot]

10. eek

[backscatter712]

11. Happens from time to time.

Somebody's desperate, they don't have the means to get a plane ticket legitimately, so they sneak onto the tarmac and climb in the plane's wheel well.

Occasionally, they even survive the experience.

It doesn't take long for hypoxia to set in when the plane reaches altitude. Hypothermia also sets in pretty quickly - it's damned cold up there, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing - it might delay the onset of brain death, which has been hypothesized to explain why there's the occasional survivor.

Of course, there's also the danger of falling out (especially after having passed out, or getting scissored or crushed by the landing gear.

Generally not the best way to fly.