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Dutch police say they have found a stowaway alive in the wheel section of a plane that landed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from South Africa.
It is very unusual for stowaways on long flights to survive, due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes.
The man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the plane and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
The man's age and nationality have not yet been determined, police say.
Although unusual, this is not the first time that someone has hidden on board an aircraft. Aviation experts say that many stowaways don't make it to their destinations, making it difficult to gauge the number of incidences. There are serious risks associated with the extreme conditions people face if they try to travel in the undercarriage of a plane.
These include being crushed when landing gear retracts, frostbite, hearing loss, tinnitus and acidosis - the build-up of acid in body fluids which can cause coma or death.
During the flight, temperatures can drop to as low as -63C (-81F), bringing on hypothermia.
At 18,000ft (5,490m), hypoxia sets in, where the whole or part of the body is deprived of an adequate oxygen supply. It causes weakness, tremors, light-headedness and eyesight problems.
Above a typical long-haul cruising altitude of 33,000ft (10,065m) - or higher - lungs require artificial pressure to function normally.
When a plane reaches 22,000ft (6,710m), a stowaway will be struggling to keep conscious as blood oxygen level drops.
Then compartment doors re-open a few thousand feet above ground for landing, which can cause stowaways to fall to their deaths.
The man is alive but is he well? The extreme conditions that his body was subjected to almost certainly will lead to long term problems for him. Frost bite would be a real concern.
The man is alive but is he well? The extreme conditions that his body was subjected to almost certainly will lead to long term problems for him. Frost bite would be a real concern.
Indeed. That's a long way from South Africa to Amsterdam.
The man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the plane and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Note:
Flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam take about 11 hours, with the cargo plane believed to have made one stop, in Nairobi, Kenya. That's 8 hours and 15 minutes.
All the speculations about survival begs the question: how do you even find your way to the landing gear in the first place? I can barely make it through TSA.
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