Stowaway Survives 11-Hour Flight in Nose Gear Well

Unidentified man stowed away on a cargo flight from Africa to Amsterdam.

Meg Godlewski

Monday, January 24, 2022 at 04:04 PM ET

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The unidentified stowaway was found at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. [File Photo: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

A man miraculously survived an 11-hour flight from Africa to Amsterdam stowed away in the unheated and unpressurized nose-gear well of a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft.
Found alive but unconscious and hypothermic upon landing, his survival is deemed highly unusual given the extreme conditions, including freezing temperatures and lack of air pressure at cruising altitudes.
Dutch authorities are questioning the man, aged 16-30, and investigating how he accessed the aircraft and his motive, with potential origins in South Africa or Kenya.

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Dutch police are questioning a man who stowed away in the nose-gear well of a cargo aircraft on a flight from Africa to Amsterdam over the weekend. The man, who has only been identified as an individual between the ages of 16 and 30, survived a more than 11-hour flight in the gear compartment of a Boeing 747.

According to CNN, when the Cargolux 747 landed in Schiphol Amsterdam on January 23, ground crew noticed the man and alerted authorities. He was still breathing but unconscious and hypothermic after the flight. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.