The 15-year-old boy was dazed and confused, walking aimlessly around the Kahului Airport tarmac Sunday morning following a death-defying journey across the Pacific in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines jet.
Considering the subzero temperatures and the lack of oxygen, the Santa Clara, Calif., runaway was incredibly lucky to be alive. In fact, most who have tried the same thing have ended up losing their lives.
But this teenager — who traveled from San Jose, Calif., on Hawaiian Air Flight 45 — apparently had nary a scratch.
Paramedics were called to check him and determined he had no apparent injuries. As a precautionary measure, he was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment and later transferred to a hospital on Oahu.
"It’s amazing that he survived being up at 38,000 feet, in 80-below-zero temperatures, with little oxygen," said FBI Special Agent Tom Simon. "Kid’s lucky to be alive."
The boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, was handed over to officials with the state Child Welfare Services, which notified his family he was safe.
"The CWS Branch will enlist the help of all necessary agencies to ensure the child’s safe return to his home in California," state Department of Human Services spokeswoman Kayla Rosenfeld said Monday in a statement.
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FLIGHT FACTS
An artist’s rendering of how the teen may have stowed away in the wheel well of Hawaiian Flight 45.
>> Time: 51⁄2 hours
>> Distance: 2,400 miles from San Jose, Calif., to Maui
>> Plane: Boeing 767
>> Cruising altitude: 38,000 feet (Mount Everest is just over 29,000 feet)
>> Conditions: No oxygen; no heat; outside temperature about minus 70 degrees
>> Wheel well: With wheels up, there is a space inside the fuselage between the right and left landing gear where the teen could have lain.
>> Landing gear: Retracted about a mile after takeoff; extended three to five miles prior to landing
>> Chance of survival: About 1 in 4; since 1947 there have been 105 known people who stowed away, and only 25 survived.
Source: Advertiser staff and news services
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While experts Monday marveled at the boy’s survival, the incident also brought a new spotlight on airport security, with many wondering how anyone in today’s hyper-security world could hop a fence at a major airport and sneak onto a commercial airliner without being noticed.
Officials at Mineta San Jose International Airport said they were re-examining security measures in light of the security beach.
Caroline Sluyter, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said Hawaii airport security is pretty comprehensive, with multiple layers of security involving a variety of agencies.
"While we cannot disclose details of our security operations, we can say that perimeter security includes foot patrols, vehicle patrols, and video surveillance," she said in a statement.
She said the state Airports Division is continually working with its security partners and the Federal Aviation Administration to improve operations and security.
"An incident such as this serves as a reminder for everyone to be aware of their surroundings and if they see something, say something and report it to authorities."
All 15 airports in Hawaii are certified to meet federal standards for security. Perimeters include fencing and barbed wire.
Breaching an airport security perimeter fence or other point of entry to an aircraft ramp and/or trespassing on airport property is prohibited by federal regulations.
Sluyter said local airport managers couldn’t remember any similar incident in Hawaii involving a stowaway in a wheel well.
Alison Croyle, Hawaiian Air spokeswoman, said she doesn’t think the airline had ever experienced such a thing in the past.
But it’s more common than one might think. According to the FAA, from 1947 through Sunday there have been 94 flights involving 105 people who stowed away worldwide. Of those 105 people, 80 died and only 25 survived.
The last known survivor of a stowaway incident was in August on a domestic flight within Nigeria. The last fatality was found at Washington Dulles International Airport in February.
The flight traveled from Johannesburg, South Africa, on Feb. 12 and then on to Dakar, Senegal, and landed at Dulles on Feb. 14.
In regard to the Maui flight, officials said the Santa Clara boy likely survived the 5 1⁄2-hour flight Sunday by entering a state of unconscious hibernation that protected him from the extreme elements and lack of oxygen. He was also lucky he wasn’t crushed by the plane’s landing gear and didn’t fall out on landing approach, they said.
Authorities said the teenager apparently climbed an 8-foot barbed wire fence at the San Jose airport while it was dark early Sunday. Airport surveillance video showed an individual walking toward a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767, officials said.
Flight 45 took off at 7:55 a.m. with the boy in the plane’s wheel well.
Maui Airports District Manager Marvin Moniz said the plane landed Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and that the boy was found walking on the tarmac at Kahului Airport just before 11:30 a.m. The teen appeared disoriented and was questioned by a worker, who alerted security, he said.
The boy did not regain consciousness for an hour after landing, Simon said, and Hawaiian had starting to reboard the plane when the teen emerged on the tarmac. Passengers were ordered off the plane while it was searched with dogs.
A photo from Maui News showed the boy sitting on a stretcher about to be placed into an ambulance.
Simon said the FBI interviewed the boy soon after he was discovered and cleared him of any crime. He apparently had run away from home after an argument, he said.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that the teen was taken to a children’s hospital on Oahu. A spokeswoman with Honolulu’s Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children could not confirm whether he had been admitted.
It isn’t clear when he will return to the Bay Area.
