Airline safety inspectors were shocked on the evening of Monday, Jan. 6 upon discovering the bodies of two deceased individuals inside of a JetBlue flight‘s wheel well. Investigators are still working to identify the men, though sources indicate that the bodies were already in the process of decomposing, suggesting that they have been stowed within the craft for multiple flights. The aircraft, operating under the code JetBlue 1801, flew into the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and previously made stops in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as Kingston, Jamaica. At this time, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office is investigating who the deceased individuals are, how they got onto the landing gear and where they came from before touching down in Fort Lauderdale. The cause of death is also not readily apparent, though gate technicians suspect that the stowaways likely succumbed to exposure during air travel.
Though the discovery was shocking, it’s not unusual for inspectors to spot the corpses of stowaways within wheel wells during deplaning or safety protocols. A nearly identical situation unfolded just two weeks ago after a Boeing 787-10 aircraft operated by United Airlines touched down in Maui. During Thanksgiving week, a woman snuck onto the landing gear of a Delta flight at JFK airport, only to be arrested once the craft landed in Paris. Each of these situations seems to be little more than desperate hitchhiking measures, though reps from the Department of Transportation have taken added precautions, arguing that this wheel well technique could easily be used by those attempting to highjack planes or sneak weapons onboard. Though the investigation is still ongoing, let’s unpack the details of this JetBlue story and see how this tragedy will impact air travel in the coming days.
Will the FAA Ground Flights After JetBlue Incident?
Despite the ongoing investigation, it seems as though air travel at large will continue unimpeded. The bodies found inside the wheel well of JetBlue 1801 created no mechanical failure to the craft’s landing gear and the plane is already commissioned to return to the skies. Luckily, passengers deplaning the craft were not subjected to the sight of the dead bodies either, as the plane had already fully unloaded long before the bodies were discovered. Still, the TSA, FAA and local authorities are collaborating to identify the two men, inform their families and return their remains to their point of origin. The National Transportation Safety Board assured reporters that the flight crew were not suspected to be involved in any foul play.
What Is a Wheel Well?
For those not in the know, a wheel well is the portion of a vehicle surrounding where the wheels themselves are located. On a standard motor vehicle, this is the area around your tires that allows them to rotate freely without scraping against the body of the car. On an airplane, the wheel well is a larger space designed to house landing gear during travel and reopen to deploy the wheels on arrival and takeoff. According to officials at the FAA, this area is commonly used by stowaways to hitch free rides on commercial flights, though doing so is incredibly dangerous. Due to the moving parts of an airplane’s landing gear, those who latch on may be crushed to death when the gear folds up.
Even if a stowaway manages to survive to cruising altitude while latching onto the landing gear, it’s likely that traveling in this unsafe portion of the plane will result in death via lack of oxygen, freezing or other traumatic injuries. The FAA estimates that more than 80 percent of wheel well hitchhikers don’t survive to their final destination. Obviously, doing so is also highly illegal. If risking your own safety isn’t enough to prevent you from squirreling away inside of this dangerous portion of the plane, it should also be noted that doing so poses a significant safety issue to everyone onboard the craft. Airport officials and TSA are currently working to strengthen security measures to ensure that this issue is the last of its kind.
