List of wheel-well stowaway flights
This page lists known flights with stowaways, who for various reasons traveled inside the wheel well of an aircraft. In the United States alone, between 1947 and June 2015, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had recorded 113 such attempts on 101 flights either departing from or landing in the U.S. Of these 113 people, 86 died.
In other instances, stowaways traveled either in a cargo hold or in a spare parts compartment, both of which are pressurized. Those incidents are excluded.
Wheel well stowaways face considerable danger during takeoff, cruise, and landing. Immediately after takeoff, the landing gear retracts into the wheel wells, potentially crushing the stowaway. During flight at altitudes above approximately, hypothermia becomes a risk and reduced atmospheric pressure and partial pressure of oxygen may impair physiological processes. At all cruising altitudes of jet aircraft, the partial pressure of oxygen in a wheel well is below that required to support brain consciousness. At altitudes above, stowaways may also develop decompression sickness and nitrogen gas embolism. Temperatures also decrease with altitude, and may drop as low as. As the plane descends to lower altitudes, a gradual rewarming and reoxygenation occur; however, if the stowaway does not regain consciousness and mobility by the time the landing gear is lowered during final approach, or has already died, the body may fall from the aircraft. According to the FAA, it is likely that the number of stowaways is higher than records show due to bodies having fallen into the ocean.
In at least one instance, on July 31, 2013, a cat survived a flight from Athens to Zürich in the front undercarriage of an Airbus A321.
List
| Date | Stowaway | Flight | Aircraft | Stowaway's fate |
| August 7, 1946 | Bas Wie, 12 | Kupang–Darwin | Douglas DC-3 | Survived, naturalised in Australia in 1958 and married |
| August 5, 1947 | Male, 30 | Lisbon–Natal | Douglas DC-3 | Survived |
| September 9, 1960 | Daniel Melo, 16 | Santa Maria-Bermuda | Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation | Survived, caught by LAV's ground team and deported. |
| September 28, 1966 | Male, 17 | Bogotá–Mexico City | Boeing 707 | Survived at 34,000 ft |
| April 18, 1966 | Unidentified man, about 24 | Moscow–Paris | Sud Aviation Caravelle | Died |
| April 19, 1966 | Unknown youth, 20/21 | Orly–Morocco | Sud Aviation Caravelle | Died |
| June 4, 1969 | Armando Socarras Ramírez, 17, Jorge Pérez Blanco, 16 | Havana–Madrid | Douglas DC-8 | Socarras survived, Pérez died |
| July 26, 1969 | Male, 17 and a second unknown | Havana–Madrid | Douglas DC-8 | One survived, second fell to death |
| February 22, 1970 | Keith Sapsford, 14 | Sydney–Tokyo | Douglas DC-8 | Died. His fatal fall was inadvertently captured by amateur photographer John Gilpin and the photograph was published in Life magazine |
| June 21, 1970 | Male, 13 | Lyon–Abidjan | Douglas DC-8 | Died |
| April 14, 1972 | Male, 18 | San Diego–New York City | Boeing 707 | Died |
| March 23, 1975 | Unknown youth | Bogotá–Miami | Boeing 707 | Died |
| November 14, 1986 | Male, 35 | Panama–Miami | Boeing 707 | Survived at 39,000 ft |
| February 19, 1990 | Two men from Trinidad | Trinidad–Toronto | BWIA West Indies Airways Lockheed L1011 | Both survived 5 hour flight |
| March 15, 1993 | Shamsul Ramli, 17 | Kuala Lumpur–Johannesburg | Boeing 747 | Died. Body found in the 747's wheel well at Johannesburg Airport on arrival. |
| June 4, 1993 | Juan Carlos Guzmán-Betancourt, 17 | Bogotá–Miami | Douglas DC-8 | Survived at 35,000 ft, but frosted |
| August 4, 1993 | Male, 19 | Bogotá–New York City | Boeing 747 | Died |
| 1995 | Unknown migrant worker | To Shanghai | Boeing 747 | Died |
| August 2, 1996 | Two Mongolian boys, about 9 and 12 | Ulan Bator–Kadena Air Base | U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-141B | 12-year-old died declared dead after discovery. Other child died two days later. |
| October 14, 1996 | Pardeep Saini, 22, Vijay Saini, 19 | New Delhi–London | Boeing 747 | Pardeep survived in the nose wheel well at 35,000 ft, Vijay died |
| March 22, 1997 | Male, adolescent | Nairobi–London | Boeing 747 | Died |
| 1998 | Trevor Jacobs, 30 | Antigua–Trinidad | McDonnell Douglas MD-80 | Died |
| February 7, 1998 | Unknown male | Baku–London | Boeing 767 | Died, body discovered upon arrival at Gatwick Airport on February 8 |
| July 28, 1998 | Chinese male, 23 | Shanghai–Tokyo | Boeing 747 | Survived, but hospitalized in critical condition |
| September 14, 1998 | Emilio Dominguez, 23 | San Pedro Sula–Miami | McDonnell Douglas DC-9 | Survived at 33,000 ft, traveled seeking work, but was returned to Honduras |
| July 28, 1999 | Yaguine Koita and Fodé Tounkara, 14 and 13 | Conakry–Brussels | Airbus A330 | Both died |
| August 4, 2000 | Fidel Maruhi, 24 | Papeete–Los Angeles–Paris | Boeing 747-400 | Survived at 38,000 ft. Discovered during a refueling stopover in Los Angeles, Maruhi later told, that the main motive behind his travel to France was to "shake hands" with Zinedine Zidane. |
| June 2001 | Mohammed Ayaz, 21 | Muharraq–London | Boeing 777 | Died |
| August 7, 2001 | Unknown male | London–New York City | Boeing 777 | Died |
| September 2001 | Mikhail Semenyaga, 24 | Perm–Yekaterinburg–Frankfurt | Died | |
| December 24, 2001 | Alberto Rodriguez, 15, Maikel Almira, 16 | Havana–London | Boeing 777 | Both died |
| July 2002 | Cameroonian male, 34 | Rio de Janeiro–Paris | Died | |
| December, 2002 | Victor Alvarez Molina, 24 | Havana–Montreal | McDonnell Douglas DC-10 | Survived, received refugee status in Canada |
| December 5, 2002 | Two boys, 12 and 14 | Accra–London | McDonnell Douglas DC-10 | Both died |
| January 11, 2003 | Mariano Alexis Herrera-Ba, Punta Cana International Airport technician | Punta Cana–Toronto | Airbus A320 | Died |
| January 23, 2003 | Two unidentified men | Paris–Shanghai | Boeing 777 | Both died |
| February 25, 2003 | Unknown male | Mali or Gabon–Paris? | Died | |
| March 25, 2003 | Unknown male, 19 | To Frankfurt | Died | |
| December 24, 2003 | Unknown male, about 25 | Montego Bay–New York City | Died | |
| December 30, 2003 | Unknown male, 30s | Lagos–London–New York City | Boeing 747 | Died |
| July 21, 2004 | Unknown male, 20 | Dominican Republic–Düsseldorf | Died | |
| October 22, 2004 | Unknown male, 20s | Miami–Detroit | Boeing 737 | Died |
| November 11, 2004 | Liang Kailong, 14, Su Qing, 13 | Kunming–Chongqing | Airbus A320 | Liang survived, Su died |
| November 16, 2004 | Unknown | Mali–Paris | Died | |
| November 30, 2004 | Unknown male | Died | ||
| May 25, 2005 | Unknown boy, about 10 | Dunhuang–Lanzhou | Airbus A320 | Died |
| June 7, 2005 | Unidentified | Johannesburg–Dakar–New York City | Airbus A340 | Died |
| January 12, 2007 | Male | Johannesburg–Dakar–Atlanta | Boeing 767 | Died |
| January 15, 2007 | Unidentified | Banjul–Dakar–Brussels | Airbus A330-300 | Died |
| January 28, 2007 | Samuel Peter Benjamin, 17 | Singapore–Vancouver–Hong Kong–Cape Town–London–Los Angeles | Boeing 747 | Died in the front wheel well, presumably after hitching the aircraft in his hometown Cape Town on January 22, body discovered in Los Angeles |
| July 19, 2007 | Asian, 50s | Shanghai–San Francisco | Boeing 747 | Died |
| September 21, 2007 | Andrey Shcherbakov, 15 | Perm–Moscow | Boeing 737 | Survived, but suffered severe frostbite |
| October 12, 2007 | Osama R.M. Shublaq, Palestinian | Kuala Lumpur–Singapore | Boeing 777-200 | Survived |
| October 21, 2007 | Ilgar Ashumov, 15 | Baku–Moscow | Died on approach to Domodedovo International Airport, body found 12 km from the airport | |
| August 9, 2009 | Filipp Yurchenko, 19 | Irkutsk–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok | Airbus A320 | Died |
| February 7, 2010 | Unknown male | New York City–Narita | Boeing 777 | Died |
| February 18, 2010 | Unknown Dominican male | Santo Domingo–Miami | Boeing 767 | Died |
| March 2010 | Okechukwu Okeke, Nigerian | Lagos to the United States | Boeing 777 | Died in the nose wheel well |
| April 2010 | Unknown African male | To Zürich | Died | |
| June 6, 2010 | Romanian male, 20 | Vienna–London | Boeing 747 | Survived |
| July 9, 2010 | Unknown male | Beirut–Riyadh | Airbus A320 | Died |
| September 19, 2010 | Nigerian national | Johannesburg–Lagos | Died | |
| November 2, 2010 | Roman Sorokovikov, 16 | Yerbogachen–Kirensk | Antonov An-24 | Survived, but planned to reach Irkutsk |
| November 15, 2010 | Delvonte Tisdale, 16 | Charlotte–Boston | Boeing 737 | Died |
| January 15, 2011 | Qasim Siddique | Lahore–Dubai | Died | |
| July 13, 2011 | Adonis Guerrero Barrios, 23 | Havana–Madrid | Airbus A340 | Died |
| July 26, 2012 | Unidentified male | Cape Town–London | Boeing 747-400 | Died |
| September 9, 2012 | Jose Matada, 27 | Luanda–London | Boeing 777 | Died |
| October 26, 2012 | Unidentified male | London–Lagos | Airbus A340-500 | Died |
| April 8, 2013 | Unidentified male | Yaoundé–Paris | Boeing 767 | Died |
| June 6, 2013 | Georgian national, 22 | Rimini–Moscow | Airbus A321 | Died |
| July 18, 2013 | Hikmet Komur, 32 | Istanbul–London | Airbus A320 | Died, body found upon arrival at Heathrow Airport |
| July 25, 2013 | Unknown male | Ouagadougou–Niamey–Paris | Airbus A330 | Died |
| August 24, 2013 | Daniel Ihekina, 13/14 | Benin City–Lagos | Survived | |
| January 5, 2014 | Unknown | Mashhad–Medina | Boeing 767-300ER | Died |
| February 22, 2014 | Chris Dikeh, Nigerian national | Dakar–Washington, D.C. | Airbus A340-300 | Died |
| April 20, 2014 | Yahya Abdi, Somali national, 16 | San Jose–Kahului | Boeing 767 | Survived |
| June 5, 2014 | Male, 17 | Sandefjord–Amsterdam | Embraer 190 | Died |
| July 27, 2014 | Unknown male teenager | Mali –Ramstein Air Base | Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules | Died |
| March 14, 2015 | Unidentified male, 40s | Lagos–New York City | Airbus A340-500 | Died |
| April 7, 2015 | Mario Steven Ambarita, 21 | Pekanbaru–Jakarta | Boeing 737-800 | Survived |
| June 19, 2015 | Carlito Vale, Mozambican national, 28/29, and unidentified male, 24 | Johannesburg–London | Boeing 747-400 | Vale died. The other survived with injuries and was hospitalized. |
| September 12, 2015 | Unidentified stowaway | Nairobi–Amsterdam | Boeing 777-200 | Died, body discovered upon arrival at Schiphol Airport |
| January 11, 2016 | Unidentified male | São Paulo–Paris | Boeing 777 | Died, body discovered during maintenance operations on the Boeing 777 at Orly Airport |
| February 14, 2016 | Unidentified man | Munich–Durban | McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | Died, body discovered during refuelling at Harare International Airport, Zimbabwe. |
| June 7, 2016 | Unidentified male | Dakar–Brussels | Airbus A330 | Died, body discovered during regular maintenance at Brussels Airport |
| September 21, 2016 | Unidentified African male | Nigeria–Jeddah | Boeing 747 | Died, body discovered in the rear wheel well during regular check at King Abdulaziz International Airport |
| November 30, 2016 | Unidentified stowaway | Lagos–Johannesburg | Airbus A330-200 | Died, body discovered at the O. R. Tambo International Airport |
| August 12, 2017 | Unidentified Dominican male | Santo Domingo–Miami | Airbus A321 | Survived, was returned to Dominican Republic |
| January 13, 2018 | Unidentified male | Honolulu–Japan | Died, body fell on take-off. | |
| February 11, 2018 | Unidentified African man | Kinshasa–Ukunda | Died, found after emergency landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport | |
| February 26, 2018 | Marco Vinicio PG, 17, and Luis Manuel Ch. P., 16 | Guayaquil–New York | Boeing 767-300 | Both died |
| August 2018 | Unidentified male | Caracas–La Fría | Died | |
| April 13, 2019 | Unidentified male | Pointe-à-Pitre–Cayenne | Airbus A320 | Survived. Homeless man found on the tarmac of the Félix Éboué Airport. The flight made a refuelling stop at Fort-de-France between Pointe-à-Pitre and Cayenne. |
| June 30, 2019 | Paul Manyasi, 29 | Nairobi–London | Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner | Died. Following an investigation by Sky News it is believed that the man was 29-year old Paul Manyasi, an employee of Colnet, a cleaning company contracted by Kenya Airports Authority. Manyasi's family and friends were shown photographs of the stowaway's belongings alongside an E-FIT. They confirmed that the E-FIT did bear a resemblance to Manyasi, and recognised his belongings which included a backpack which had his nickname written on it. Despite this evidence, the findings from Sky News has been disputed by both the KAA and Colnet who both claimed that their records showed that Manyasi was never employed by Colnet, nor did his name appear on any airport staff registers. |
| September 30, 2019 | Unidentified male | Conakry–Paris | Boeing 737-800 | Died. |
| January 7, 2020 | Unidentified male | Abidjan–Paris | Boeing 777-300 | Died |