Security risk spotlighted in plane death
A body found in the landing-gear compartment of a Delta Air Lines Inc. jet that flew to Tokyo’s Narita Airport from JFK Airport may spur a re-examination of U.S. aviation security.
The man may have died from lack of oxygen or hypothermia, said a police official at Narita. The corpse of a dark-skinned man with no identification was discovered Sunday.
“If a person can gain access to get in the wheel well, a person can gain access to plant a device on the airplane,” said Douglas Laird, a former Northwest Airlines Corp. security chief who is now president of consultant Laird & Associates Inc. in Reno, Nev. “It’s a major concern.”
Stowaway deaths
A security expert said the man was likely a stowaway, unaware of conditions at high altitudes. Temperatures can reach 50 below zero Fahrenheit at 30,000 feet. At least seven incidents of wheel-well stowaways have occurred in the past decade, all but one of them ended in death.
Dec. 24, 2003
Man found in wheel well of American Airlines flight from Jamaica after landing at JFK.
Dec. 30, 2003
Male with Nigerian currency in his pocket found in wheel well of British Airways flight from Heathrow after landing at JFK. Plane left Lagos, Nigeria, Dec. 24.
June 2005
A leg and torso land in Long Island backyard after falling from wheel well of South African jet on approach to JFK.