A teenager who climbed into the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 survived a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday despite freezing temperatures and a lack of oxygen as the jetliner cruised for hours at FL380.
FBI and airline officials said the 16-year-old boy was questioned after he climbed down from the airplane onto the tarmac at Maui’s Kahului Airport with no identification. Security footage from San Jose International Airport in California verified that the teen climbed over a perimeter fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The FBI said he had run away from home after an argument with his family.
According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the boy told officials he doesn’t remember the five-and-a-half-hour flight. Only a small percentage of airline stowaways who hide in wheel wells survive.
The boy will not be charged and was referred to child protective services, the FBI said.
Watch this video from CNN that demonstrates how the boy might have survived.
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