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Comments on: Boy beats Reaper at 20,000 feet

Coming Soon... 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 20:28 GMT

... to a RyanAir Jet near you - new 'low cost' in the wing seating. Warning, frostbite is a chargeable extra.

Lucky he wasn't crushed, too. 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 20:32 GMT

The landing gear hydraulics would surely have had enough pressure to mash the poor kid when they folded up after takeoff. It's amazing he managed to avoid that as well.

"Riding a Jet 101" is confusing 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 21:53 GMT

I don't see why its better to stowaway in the engine than in the wheel well. According to information I obtained from Wikipedia, the engines are as hot as the wheel wells are cold.

landing gear lowering... 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 21:57 GMT

"and the landing gear lowering at 1,500 feet often does the trick"

Yup. I used to live in Kew in West London, directly under the flight path to Heathrow just about at the point where the landing gear is lowered. The car park of the local DIY superstore and also Kew Gardens itself both experienced falling corpses in the few years I lived there. I think the local police were getting quite used to it.

Lucky boy 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 22:37 GMT

All the above mentioned possible causes of death are only the beginning. Someone also correctly mentioned crushing, but landing gear can still be spinning when retracted which is going to cause serious injury, and if you're worried about the low temperatures, the scolding temperature of the tyre rubber after takeoff will give you adequate heat to start with.

He's a lucky, lucky boy. Since he's committed numerous offences by doing this, he's also lucky he's getting away with it.

I can understand 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 22:51 GMT

wanting to get away having had a bit of that sort of arguing in my own childhood. I hope he doesn't lose too much meat he's lucky to have survived at all of course.

Medical fund 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 22:57 GMT

Where do I send my $5 donation for the medical fund?

nearly as jammy as this... 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 23:02 GMT

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21236358-1702,00.html

Body disposal made easy... 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 23:10 GMT

Of course, this was a story line for an episode of (USA)Law & Order (CI variety) about 1.5 years ago. Interesting that the falling corpse landed on the beach under the flight path of the JFK (Idlewild for those of us old enough to remember) airport.

free ticket 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 00:49 GMT

So I'm Thinking of taking a little flight....How about duct taping myself (with lots of insulated clothing) between the engine and the wheel? Can I make it?

Surely someone would have noticed... 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 08:38 GMT

.. that the dude in the first shot looks just like Gordon Brown.

Title 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 08:39 GMT

With space in a wheel bay being at an absolute premium I don't understand how this kiddie managed to avoid the two-wheeled undercarriage as it retracted after take-off. I've worked on these things in the past and can only think he had a really uncomfortable, noisy, cold, smelly ride for the whole 2 hours.

He wouldn't have been any warmer sitting in an engine intake, bearing in mind that even though the engine itself is extremely hot, the air speed into the intake would give a nice wind-chill factor. At least if he got sucked into the engine on landing his body parts would be saved thanks to the thrust reverser (http://www.cruisinaltitude.com/images/b737/atb732lrtrakl.jpg).

Beats going through security 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 08:40 GMT

Beats going through security!

Yeah but 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 10:00 GMT

It still sounds marginally less tiresome than the chav-fest that was my flight back from Mallorca last week. I'd have happily gone and sat on the wing to get away from the scum. I'm never flying from Manchester again. There's something not right about that city. Something...genetic.

er.. 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 10:51 GMT

WTF is a do-over? Sounds colloquial to me - the internet's only 100% trustworthy source (Wikipedia) reckons it is a tv show.

Re: Colin Jackson 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 12:30 GMT

Yeah, next time take your discount flight to a scuzzy destination from Tunbridge Wells International Airport.

er...D'OH! 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 12:39 GMT

Mulligan at a pre-adolescent level.

@Kenny Swan 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 13:08 GMT

Normal procedure is to apply the brakes briefly before retracting the gear, because you don't really want it spinning anyway, so it'll only be going slowly if at all as it comes into the wheel well. Certainly on the Dornier 228/328 where you easily watch a wheel if you're in the correct seat, there's a noticeable bang as it comes to a stop before being retracted.

Nightmare at 43543lg 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 14:11 GMT

What kind of plane is Bill Shatner supposed to be in in that photo? He's got a nice big window.

LOL @ JonB 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 16:26 GMT

"discount flight to a scuzzy destination from Tunbridge Wells International Airport"

TWIA could be Lydd, though...

Re: Body disposal made easy... 

Posted Thursday 4th October 2007 17:57 GMT

CSI???

For older TV watchers, it was also mentioned in the first episode of Quincy!

Ewan

Surviving a trip in the main gear bay 

Posted Friday 5th October 2007 19:51 GMT

The anonymous poster from Kew was right about the bodies dropped into the car park of his local B&Q. There was a case a few years ago of two brothers who stowed away on a flight from the Indian subcontinent. One was dumped in the car park; the other survived and was found wandering around the tarmac in a damaged and confused state. If I recall correctly (and I can't be bothered to look up the details right now) the consensus of medical opinion was that the low temperature can, in some circumstances, cause bodily processes to shut down so that the lack of oxygen does not kill, as in some cold water drownings.

The appalling fact that did come to light was that smuggling gangs have been charging to get would-be emigrants into airports and telling them that, if they climb up the main gear, they will find a connecting door into the cargo hold.

Thrust reversers 

Posted Friday 5th October 2007 20:02 GMT

Chris Barrett on Thursday 4th October 2007 sent a link to a picture of a thrust reverser in operation: http://www.cruisinaltitude.com/images/b737/atb732lrtrakl.jpg

This type of "movable shell" reverser is on the B737 and other models of a certain age. (The first time I sat behind the wing on a B737, and saw the reverser operate on landing, I thought the engine was disintegrating, and learned the meaning of "emergency evacuation" all on my own.)

Other types of engine (e.g., on the A320) have a more discreet mechanism, involving the opening of a side panel in the engine.

Re: Colin Jackson 

Posted Wednesday 10th October 2007 08:08 GMT

The real pain about Manc Airport is that it takes soo long to get off the luggage - in my travels they are every bit as bad as the Belgians (state ownership...).

At least he could use Leeds And Bradford International Airport (I kid you not..).

Honorable mention in the Darwin Awards? 

Posted Thursday 11th October 2007 21:29 GMT

Thumb Up

You know, sometimes articles like this make me wonder whether I should be proud or ashamed of my countrymen.

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