US teen survives five-hour flight in jet's wheel well

A US teenager runs away from home, sneaks into a California airport, boards a flight to Hawaii in the plane's wheel well and lives to tell the story.

Please join us on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bangkokpostlearning

A 16-year-old boy is carried on a stretcher in Maui, Hawaii, April 20, 2014. The teenage boy who ran away from home survived a five-hour flight in the freezing wheel well of a jetliner that reached 38,000 feet as it traveled from California to Hawaii, the FBI said. Photo courtesy of Chris Sugidono/The Maui News/Handout via Reuters

US teen survives five-hour flight in jet's wheel well

LOS ANGELES, AFP — A US teenager was lucky to be alive after surviving a bone-chilling, low-oxygen flight from California to Hawaii in a jet's wheel well, authorities said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation identified the stowaway as a 16-year-old male who climbed the fence at a San Jose airport.

He then snuck into the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines plane bound for Maui, FBI spokesman Tom Simon told AFP.

The youngster, who ran away from home, endured freezing temperatures and a lack of oxygen aboard the five-and-a-half hour flight, which reached an altitude of some 38,000 feet (11,500 metres), he said.

Miraculously, the teen lived to tell his story.

"He was observed coming out of the plane in Maui, the FBI interviewed him and handed him over to child protective services," Simon said, adding the youth was not being charged with a crime in Hawaii.

However, "if California decides to charge him with a crime, that's up to them," he said.

Security video footage from the Mineta International Airport in San Jose showed the youngster hopping a fence and making his way to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45, where he climbed, undetected, into the wheel well of the aircraft.

With oxygen scarce and temperatures well below freezing, Simon said the teenager appears to have been unconscious "for pretty much the entire" flight.

The aircraft landed mid morning Sunday at Maui's Kahului Airport, and the youth, who did not regain consciousness for another hour, woke up, and hopped down onto the tarmac. At that point, Hawaiian Airlines personnel noticed him.

While it is not unheard of, it is extremely rare to survive a flight in the wheel well of an aircraft. Many who try, end up freezing to death or succumbing to a lack of oxygen.

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/406191/us-teen-survives-five-hour-flight-in-jet-wheel-well