Sepia Saturday 798 - Travelling cheap

Being a retired (cargo) airline man, images of aircraft usually have my attention. In my previous SS post, I was faced with the unfortunate circumstance that the float plane my wife and I flew on crashed in the Canadian Chukuni River almost 25 years later. As you might expect, I also took a quick look at the aircraft in this week's picture.

Looking at the G-AJUM, true aircraft lovers will no doubt see that this is an Auster J/1N Autocrat, the English successor of the American Taylorcraft. This single-engine aircraft was built in 1947. It must be a coincidence that this aircraft as well terminated its life violently. The plane crashed near Yeovil, Somerset, in the UK. The date was October 6, 1958; unfortunately, the two people on board did not survive.

The remains of the Auster on October 6, 1958, 1)

All this talk about plane crashes may leave the impression that air transport is a dangerous pastime. But believe me, I could fill more blogs with car incidents! However, describing the joys of travel by air, I would like to provide you with a few examples of some budget possibilities. Obviously, low cost goes together with limited travel arrangements. In this case, space for luggage is smaller than you might hope for.

A couple of days ago, one of our Dutch public radio stations published the news item mentioned below. It was the follow-up to an earlier message.

The translation is:

The body found in Abbenes field turns out to be male. 

How he ended up there remains unclear.

The body found on Thursday in a field in Abbenes is that of a man. 

Police confirmed this to regional broadcaster NH. 

Criminal foul play is ruled out.

An investigation is ongoing to determine whether the man was a stowaway 

who fell from the landing gear of an airplane. 

Abbenes is located on an approach path to Schiphol Airport.

The body was found by a farmer who was plowing his field.

Multiple scenarios

Immediately after the discovery, police reported that the body was 

in poor condition and that identification would take time. 

For example, fingerprints were missing.

How and when the man ended up in the field remains unclear.

The news item suggests that the body possibly fell in this field from the landing gear space of an incoming aircraft. Although my desire to travel increases at times, never, and I said never, would I consider travelling in a landing gear bay! To give you an impression of what that looks like, the photo below may be of help.

Boeing 747 landing gear with open gear space, 2)

As can be seen, there is a total of four of these gears on a B-747 3). During the flight, they disappear in the space overhead. Desperate people sometimes hide there, hoping to reach their desired destination. As you can imagine, there is very little space left in those gearboxes. And temperatures go as low as minus 60 degrees centigrade! However, for some people, this seems to be the only possibility to reach a better future.

In case you have never heard of this travel method, my son, using AI, gathered a couple of examples.

The Man Who Fell Into a London Garden (2019)

On a sunny afternoon in June 2019, a man was relaxing in his garden in Clapham, South London. He was lying on a deckchair, drink in hand — when, out of nowhere, a body plummeted from the sky, hitting the ground with a deafening thud and leaving a crater in the grass.

Police later confirmed that the man had hidden in the landing gear of a Kenya Airways Boeing 787 flying from Nairobi, an eight-hour journey through air temperatures of -50 °C and almost no oxygen. He must have been dead for hours before the landing gear doors opened.

The homeowner was physically unharmed but deeply shaken. “He fell literally a meter away from me,” he said. “If he’d landed just a little differently, I wouldn’t be here.”

The Fall Over Brussels (2015)

In July 2015, Brussels awoke to grim news. A young man — believed to be from Africa — had hidden in the landing gear of a flight from Kinshasa. During the approach to Zaventem Airport, the landing gear opened over the suburb of Wemmel, and his body fell into a garden below.

Belgian police were never able to identify him. He carried no documents, no ID — only the traces of a desperate attempt to reach a better life.

The Boy Who Survived (2014)

Amid the many tragedies, one story stands out as a miracle.

In April 2014, a 15-year-old boy from California hid in the landing gear of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 bound for Maui. The flight lasted more than five hours over the Pacific. When the plane landed, ground staff found the boy unconscious, hypothermic — but alive.

Doctors were astonished. He had survived temperatures near -60 °C and a near-total lack of oxygen. He later said he fainted shortly after takeoff and woke up only when the plane landed. His survival odds were estimated at less than one in a thousand — a story that made headlines around the world.

Los Angeles (1996)

A Nigerian man tried to reach the U.S. by stowing away in the landing gear of a DC-10. As the plane approached Los Angeles International Airport, the gear opened — and he fell. His body landed in a supermarket parking lot, in broad daylight.

Why It’s So Deadly

The landing gear bay may look large enough to crawl into, but it’s designed for machinery, not people. There’s no heat, no oxygen, and almost no room to move. At cruising altitudes of 10–12 kilometers, temperatures drop to -60 °C, and air pressure becomes so low that consciousness fades within minutes.

Even if someone manages to survive that, the landing gear doors open again during landing — and the stowaway simply falls out.

Since the 1940s, more than 120 such attempts have been documented worldwide. Fewer than 25 people have survived, most suffering severe frostbite or injuries.

These are the exciting AI travel opportunities. Although the 100% fare discount may be seducing, it does not excite my travel genes. But if you take a look at the Sepia Saturday contributions written by my literary colleagues, all of a sudden, you may want to visit your travel agent.

Notes

1) Source: https://airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000584542.html
2) Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMgn6Fsg98R/

3) The take-off weight of a Boeing 747 is between 350 and 400 metric tons.