Boy survives two-hour flight hanging onto plane wing!

[luke]

[Kezza]

Wow, that is incredible. Not only for enduring the freezing temperatures, but also for holding on to an object travelling at 900 kmh (560 mph)!

[11antoniacourt]

unreal. Absolutely unreal. Well, hope he enjoys his 15 minutes.

[faceless]

I reckon the fact his arms were frozen was what actually saved him!

[SpursFan1902]

You are probably right, Face. His frozen hands probably wouldn't let go.

[maycm]

I find this hard to believe - If the cold didn't kill him the lack of oxygen would likely have permanently damaged him.

Don't think the frozen hands thing would have kicked in till he was up for a while - he should have been blown off long before then.

[faceless]

here's the original story: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070924/80694850.html

even if it's not true, it's a good story...

[Lostinthestates]

[luke]

according to this version, he was INSIDE the wing ... how do you get inside a wing?!

but that would be more feasible than hanging on!

[Lostinthestates]

Why the heck did he try to get on the wing in the first place????

[major.tom]

Luke's linked story says he climbed in the wing, which might account for his not being detected and not falling off. I've heard of similar cases where the people died of asphixiation. Perhaps sleeping during the flight saved his life.

Quite an amazing story.

[Mandy]

The fall onto the tarmac just by itself could have caused injuries. If he wasn't in the undercarriage of the plane itself, and he really was in the wing, then the only place I could think of where he could have hidden was the flap areas which extend & retract.
But then I would have expected him to fall off when the flaps were deployed.

[faceless]

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - Transport prosecutors in Russia's Urals said on Thursday they have sent to court the case of a teenager who last year survived a flight inside the wing of an aircraft. "The Urals transport prosecutor's office sent to court the criminal case on the illegal boarding of an aircraft by a minor," a spokesman said.

Former airport security official Yury Naugolnykh has been charged with violating flight safety rules and faces up to two years in prison, he said. In September 2007 Andrei Shcherbakov, aged 15 at the time, clambered into the wheel well of a Tu-154M's wing and almost froze to death in a two-hour flight to Moscow from Perm. He had to have all the fingers on the right hand amputated later. Prosecutors said Naugolnykh failed to thoroughly inspect the aircraft before the flight, which led to the incident. Naugolnykh was not placed in custody awaiting trial.

The boy reportedly made the journey after a family argument which ended with Andrei running away to his grandmother's village. On reaching the village, he decided to go on, and hitched a 220-km (137-mile) ride to the regional center, Perm, where he was dropped off at the airport. After reaching the capital, Shcherbakov collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes. Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that he survived the flight.

After the incident, the Urals transport prosecutor's office held large-scale checks of aviation security in several regions, which resulted in 12 criminal cases launched.

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Poor bugger!

[luke]

i hope he doesn't get prison time, he doesn't deserve any