Kids do the darndest things… Like stowing away in the wheel well of a passenger jet and somehow surviving a flight from California to Maui!
FBI spokesman Tim Simon summed up the scene succinctly enough when he told the AP, “Kid’s lucky to be alive.”
Simon says that the 16-year-old had run away from home and got by the fence surrounding the San Jose airport. Once on the grounds, he made his way around the tarmac until he decided he’d hide in the wheel well of the plane.
During the 2,400 mile flight this young man spent a majority of the time in sub-freezing temperatures and limited oxygen. Simon emphasized just how lucky this unnamed kid was:
“He was unconscious for the lion’s share of the flight. Doesn’t even remember the flight. It’s amazing he survived that.”
After regaining his senses and having found himself in Hawaii, the teenager roamed the tarmac until he was discovered by authorities sans an ID. He received a medical examination and incredibly suffered no injuries.
Afterwords he was released to child protective services and will not be charged with a crime.
