# 15-year-old Russian boy survives 2-hour flight outside plane? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556 "2007-09-26T15:47:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/21 "2011-12-25T06:20:03Z")
Another thing about 737s is that the rear wheel wells do not have llids to cover and help with the slipstream, so it had to be the front wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/22 "2011-12-25T09:26:13Z")
Thank you for your comprehensive and well-informed post, **LSLGuy**! I’m always looking forward to your contributions to aviation threads. There seems to be a small misunderstanding, though. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’d say this story is highly improbable, but not categorically impossible. The very short flight (137 miles) is what kept the time short enough & the altitude low enough to make this (barely) survivable. That and a mountainous supply of luck. The “137 miles” from the quoted article refer to the distance from his grandmother’s village to the airport in Perm (PEE/USPP). The flight itself, Perm to Moscow-Vnukovo (VKO/UUWW) is [728 miles](http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=uspp-uuww) (great circle distance, the article puts the distance traveled at 808 miles). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/23 "2011-12-25T16:42:42Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > … > There seems to be a small misunderstanding, though. > > The “137 miles” from the quoted article refer to the distance from his grandmother’s village to the airport in Perm (PEE/USPP). The flight itself, Perm to Moscow-Vnukovo (VKO/UUWW) is [728 miles](http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=uspp-uuww) (great circle distance, the article puts the distance traveled at 808 miles). Wow. That really ups the ante. Who can say what’s possible, but I’d have gladly taken bets of 500-to-1 against. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/24 "2011-12-27T09:44:26Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > When I worked as ground crew for an air carrier, we were warned not to try to stowaway and/or nap in the luggage compartments because they were neither pressurized or heated. I remember reading about a person who was accidentally locked up in the luggage compartment. He complained that he was positioned next to a hot water pipe (or something) and almost burned himself. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/25 "2011-12-28T00:13:59Z")
The luggage compartment is awful enough just packing it (It’s an awkward height so unless you are under 5 feet tall you can hunch over but not stand up), I can’t imagine how crappy a flight would be stuck inside of it. Also I think it would be really dangerous being stuck with the bags. These were most 737’s and a few MD-80’s, I was always jealous of the ground crew for better airlines who got to do 747 and 777’s, they looked so huge and cool. :o Luckily for me I packed maybe 3 luggage compartments my entire 1.5 years working there, I worked in the pit and was the guy who got to drive the tractor-train of carts up to the planes after packing the carts with bags from the conveyor belts, way easier! ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/26 "2011-12-29T13:48:04Z")
The Russian media is notorius for untrue reports that would be more suited to the National Enquirer, or Fortean News. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/27 "2011-12-29T15:20:31Z")
There are quite a few cases of stowaways dropping from wheel wells as the gear is lowered. I remember reading about someone dropping onto a retail park in west London near Heathrow a few years ago. I think [this was the story](http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Stowaway+in+jet+fall+horror.-a075554552). Just another downside of living under a flight path - the ever-present risk of frozen bodies landing on you… ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/28 "2011-12-30T09:59:50Z")
So thats what you told the police **Colophon** , honest officer, I found this body in my back garden. If it isn’t Blue Ice, its bloody bodies !Totally ruined my rose bed ! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/29 "2011-12-30T12:28:33Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > and because in the cargo hold there is very little airflow… I wonder if it’s possible to suffocate in the rear on a very long flight even if you were warm? . According to the responses in a recent thread where someone asked if you could suffocate while sleeping in a car, it shouldn’t be possible, because the volume of air you need to survive for a day is surprisingly small (can’t remember the exact volume calculated). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/30 "2011-12-30T13:18:27Z")
Man, these discount airlines are really starting to push it. Would you like to upgrade from Wheel Well to Forward Luggage for $650? (Snacks are extra) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/31 "2011-12-30T14:49:51Z")
A luggage handler at Heathrow was once locked up in the luggage hold of a plane bound for the West Indies. Fortunately for him he could get out from there and make himself known to the cabin crew. When he was back in England again British Airways sent an invoice for a return ticket to his employer. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/32 "2012-01-01T21:17:54Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > A luggage handler at Heathrow was once locked up in the luggage hold of a plane bound for the West Indies. Fortunately for him he could get out from there and make himself known to the cabin crew. When he was back in England again British Airways sent an invoice for a return ticket to his employer. Is there any way to access the cargo holds from the cabin while the plane is in flight? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/33 "2012-01-01T21:57:28Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > Is there any way to access the cargo holds from the cabin while the plane is in flight? No. The big issue is fire protection. you want the cargo spaces to be sealed enough that if a fire starts there it will be contained. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/34 "2012-01-01T22:00:20Z")
I took advantage of a recent opportunity to look at a 737 gear well up close. I’ve seen plenty of big jet gear wells but I’d never done that with a 737 before. It turns out there’s a nice obvious person-sized place to climb in & hold on to. It’d still be pretty much suicidal to try. But it’s not blatantly physically impossible to hide in a 737 gear well & not be crushed or pitched overboard by a gear retraction / extension cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/35 "2012-01-01T22:06:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > No. The big issue is fire protection. you want the cargo spaces to be sealed enough that if a fire starts there it will be contained. Thought so. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/36 "2012-01-02T10:34:54Z")
But the point in this case is that he managed to get into the cabin from the cargo hold (IIRC). Don’t ask me how he did it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/37 "2012-01-02T21:23:53Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > But the point in this case is that he managed to get into the cabin from the cargo hold (IIRC). Don’t ask me how he did it, though. In other words, you don’t have a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556/38 "2012-01-03T10:18:07Z")
This is something I read in a newspaper some 15-20 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-year-old-russian-boy-survives-2-hour-flight-outside-plane/420556.md?page=1)