A 13-year-old Afghan boy, hiding on the chassis of a KAM Air aircraft, flew from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Delhi. The incident was reported in The Independent.
The teenage plane, residing in Kunduz, Afghanistan, was found two hours after landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. According to authorities, the boy managed to enter the restricted area of Kabul airport and hide in the rear compartment of the KAM Air aircraft chassis. After landing, airline employees found him near the plane and reported it to the airport security service.
At the initial inquiry, the boy stated that he entered the plane out of curiosity, unaware of the danger. After Delhi, the teenager was returned to Afghanistan by another plane.
Survival cases on the aircraft chassis are rare. Most passengers without tickets die due to hypoxia, hypothermia, or injuries sustained by chassis mechanisms. According to aviation expert Mohan Ranganathan, the teenager "probably entered a dense enclosed space, which was sealed, and maintained a temperature close to the temperature in the passenger cabin."
Ranganathan explained the impossibility of survival at an altitude of about 10 km without such conditions. Because low oxygen levels at this altitude can quickly lead to loss of consciousness and death. Temperatures between -40°C and -60°C lead to freezing in less than a minute, followed by hypothermia.
In the period from 1947 to 2020, more than 75 percent of the 128 ticketless travel cases on the aircraft's landing gear, reviewed by the U.S. Federal Civil Aviation Administration, resulted in fatalities due to severe conditions.
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