# How could teen survive wheel well of airliner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168 "2014-06-19T20:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/41 "2014-06-26T13:42:40Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > This is a different kind of flying, altogether. “This is a different kind of flying.” ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/42 "2014-06-26T14:32:32Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Brakes. The wheel brakes get pretty hot and could provide enough heat to keep you alive. If the taxi is longish and/or requires significant braking the brakes can be around 200°C. They cool down during the flight but the whole bay would be significantly warmer than the outside air temp would suggest it should be. The tire probably also warmed up pretty good from the takeoff roll. On top of that, the sides/top of the gear compartment may abut tanks full of nice warm fuel. All in all, there apparently was enough heat to keep the landing compartment at a non-lethal temperature, in spite of the icy cold gear compartment door. > [@Magiver](#): > > Sometimes it’s just past the runway on takeoff when the wheels come up and they’re knocked off the strut they were holding onto. There was a famous 1970 incident in which a photographer at an airport who was troubleshooting his camera clicked off a few pictures without aiming at anything in particular. When he later developed his film he was shocked to discover he’d captured a stowaway falling from the wheel well of a plane that had just lifted off from the runway. [Here’s the photo/story.](http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1gejac/keith_sapsford_14_inadvertently_photographed/) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/43 "2014-06-26T14:35:55Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > This is a different kind of flying, altogether. **This is a different kind of flying.** Regards, Shirley ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/44 "2014-06-27T11:31:36Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The tire probably also warmed up pretty good from the takeoff roll. On top of that, the sides/top of the gear compartment may abut tanks full of nice warm fuel. All in all, there apparently was enough heat to keep the landing compartment at a non-lethal temperature, in spite of the icy cold gear compartment door. Fuel won’t help, it is very cold at altitude. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/45 "2014-07-31T01:41:36Z")
Well, at least one more person didn’t make it - Boy’s Body Found in Wheel Well of U.S. Air Force Plane [Boy's Body Found in Wheel Well of U.S. Air Force Plane](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/boys-body-found-wheel-well-u-s-air-force-plane-n167726) (dunno if NBC is a good site. Choose your own news source.) ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/46 "2014-07-31T03:21:30Z")
tl;dr. He was in the nose wheel cavity - just below the flight deck. Had he chosen a main wheel (in the wing), I suspect he wouldn’t have had a chance. The proximity to the heat and pressurization (no pressure envelop is 100% air-tight any more than a ship’s hull is waterproof (see:bilge pump)). ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168/47 "2014-07-31T16:40:02Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There have been 106 known stowaways in wheel wells since 1947. 25 of them survived. The others died from freezing, falling, or being crushed, it appears: > > [Wheel-well stowaway - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wheel-well_stowaway_flights) Out of 106 stowaways on that list, I didn’t see a single female. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-teen-survive-wheel-well-of-airliner/691168.md?page=2)