BA JNB-LHR landing gear stowaways

josip

Having read this,
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-33196210
Is it feasible/reasonable for plane manufacturers to fit body heat sensors in the wheel bay of aircraft so that crew can check before take off for the presence of a stowaway?
It's really saddening to think of the ordeal and end most of them go through.

Antarctica

They probably would not think it is worth the cost given the rarity that this happens.

Same goes for up to date plane tracking but hopefully that will come in

smurfjed

Is it feasible/reasonable for plane manufacturers to fit body heat sensors in the wheel bay of aircraft so that crew can check before take off for the presence of a stowaway?

You do realise that the wheels/brakes are extremely hot when they are retracted, so trying to differentiate between wheel heat and a human wouldn't be possible.

It's a stupid thing to do, usually they end up frozen to death and fall off when the gear is extended.

The big question is how were they allowed to get near the aircraft? What would have prevented them from placing something nasty to the undercarriage?

Tea 1000

How do they survive that long of a journey though in those conditions?

Antarctica

Tea 1000 wrote: »

How do they survive that long of a journey though in those conditions?

Couple of warm layers of clothes?

Chemical Byrne

Probably more to do with hypoxia than hypothermia.

josip

smurfjed wrote: »

You do realise that the wheels/brakes are extremely hot when they are retracted, so trying to differentiate between wheel heat and a human wouldn't be possible.

I was thinking of checking for their presence prior to take off, before the plane starts rolling down the runway?
So even if the wheels/brakes were hot, they wouldn't have yet retracted into the bay.
Once the plane takes off it doesn't seem there's much chance of saving them. Crushing/falling account for many of the deaths; it's not only asphyxiation/hypothermia.

rightyabe

How safe are airports track side when people can end up stowed on a plane, what's stopping any Tom dick or Harry dandering into a runway and planting bombs/explosives on a plane.

Or would they need to have inside help to get in on it?

roundymac

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

Probably more to do with hypoxia than hypothermia.

Both I would say, I'v been on L/H where you have the moving map on IFE and the outside air temp would be rangeing between minus 40-60 deg. Don't know if that is Cel-Cent-Farnheight.

josip

minus 40 would be one and the same anyway

ProfessorPlum

roundymac wrote: »

Both I would say, I'v been on L/H where you have the moving map on IFE and the outside air temp would be rangeing between minus 40-60 deg. Don't know if that is Cel-Cent-Farnheight.

Doesn't matter. Either would be too cold. But it's Celsius.

sjb25

How the second fella is alive is more of a shock TBH he should do the lotto how he lived is beyond me
Other lad was well dead before the landing gear came down I'd say

PinOnTheRight

Chances of survival are slim, even on widebodies, but there are a few cases where someone has. Seem to recall one guy survived because he was frozen like Hans Solo and recovered fine. Most others succumb to hypoxia, hypothermia or crushed.

I believe JNB has a particularly lax perimeter fence and it isn't unusual to see people trying to scramble into the wheel wells.

The bean counters don't care about installing any equipment as it's such a rare event, and probably would result in more false return to ramps than actually saving anyone. What's to stop the desperate sod jumping out and legging it once he realises the aircraft is taxiing back?

It could also put the crew in an unfortunate situation if inflight they discover someone in the wheel-well, knowing that lowering the gear is sending the poor guy to almost certain death.

smurfjed

Aviation expert David Learmount has suggested the man who survived may have got into the plane's baggage or freight holds.

Say what???? Where do they get these experts from?

arubex

smurfjed wrote: »

Say what???? Where do they get these experts from?

Mr Learmont has been Flight International's safety editor for years.

Not sure what he's on about there though, unless the news completely misinterpreted him ( perhaps he said 'the only sure way to survive would be to stow away in the hold' ).

Reoil

With a few safety improvements, I think Ryanair might be on to something here...

Stinicker

Only a matter of time before someone on the ground gets killed by these bodies falling out of the sky. Best thing if the aircraft knew they had a stowaway on board could do is open the geat at a low altitude over water, if the stowaway was still alive it would give them a fighting chance, but on inland airports like Frankfurt that wouldn't be an option of course.

smurfjed

open the geat at a low altitude over water

Do you think that they have enough fuel for that?

Reoil

Reoil wrote: »

With a few safety improvements, I think Ryanair might be on to something here...

Are you serious? I imagine/hope not !

As for dropping the gear over water and thinking someone will survive a fall over a few thousand feet and 200mph+ I just can't roll my eyes enough at that one.

Stinicker

Deleted User wrote: »

Are you serious? I imagine/hope not !

As for dropping the gear over water and thinking someone will survive a fall over a few thousand feet and 200mph+ I just can't roll my eyes enough at that one.

Better to dislodge a body over water than risk innocent people and property on the ground with 100kgs falling at 200mph+ per hour. There might be a tiny chance if the person was alive that they'd survive the fall. These points are probably mute as most likely the flight crew had no idea they had a stowaway onboard to begin with.

smurfjed

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.... at least that way we cant be accused of manslaughter!

afatbollix

There has been two instances of this going into Heathrow over the past 5 years. To make every plane go over water slow to 200mph and lower the landing gear would be a insane thought.

Reoil

Deleted User wrote: »

Are you serious? I imagine/hope not !

I am serious about Ryanair packing passengers into the wheel wells?
...no. No I am not.


...

donkey balls

First of all dropping a pax out of a commercial jet while over water won't save them as hitting water from that height be like hitting concrete,Having worked around aircraft for a while I find it hard how people manage to get in to the MLG wheel bays.
If you think about it aircraft doing sectors like JNB LHR would require a good bit of fuel,PLus loading of baggage/freight then last checks by the line MX lads &crew before taxiing out.
So just say the stowaways were to do it while the aircraft is lining up on the RWY while the engines are spooling up,They would get blown away from blast of the engines.

Cookiemunster

afatbollix wrote: »

There has been two instances of this going into Heathrow over the past 5 years. To make every plane go over water slow to 200mph and lower the landing gear would be a insane thought.

Plus the majority of airports around the world are nowhere near open water.

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donkey balls wrote: »

Having worked around aircraft for a while I find it hard how people manage to get in to the MLG wheel bays.

A slow taxi to the holding point at night would give ample time for some lads to sneak out of the long grass and make a run for the gear.

Blut2

This is entirely on the security staff in Joberg. With proper measures on the ground this guy should have have gotten nowhere near the plane, or London.

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Difficult to fully enforce. Even at EIDW it would be easy to snip the fence on the back road and gain access to the holding point by 10 for example.