# Two dead men found in two different Commercial Airline wheel compartments? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954 "2003-12-31T15:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954/21 "2004-01-01T17:53:21Z")
My last post was in response to Martin Wolf. As for surving a cruise altitude of 29,000 ft without oxygen. Not likely. Climbers carry supplimental oxygen for mountains that high. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954/22 "2004-01-01T19:18:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Magiver \* > \*\*… > > The nice thing about this problem is that it doesn’t require money to solve. If you advance the Captain’s inspection of the aircraft to 5 minutes prior to block-out then you shorten the window for someone to sneak on. That means you only have to watch the plane for those 5 minutes. I’m sure it already exists but I would add an inspection of 727 rear stairwells before they are retracted. \*\* It’s not quite that simple. An aircraft is vulnerable any time it’s on the ground, not just when it’s on the ramp during a turn-round. Some airfields have poor security fencing where someone can clamber into the wheel well when the aircraft is on hold (when waiting for take off permission). Especially at night for instance, and especially if you’re desperate. V ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954/23 "2004-01-02T03:28:07Z")
Vetch, Point taken. Time to break out the infrared gogles. Or you could put camera’s in all the wheel wells for the pilots to watch. Might make for smoother landings to see the runway up close. Personally, I’m a little more worried about climb-out. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954/24 "2004-01-02T03:59:04Z")
You don’t want the pilots watching the wheel wells - they need to watch where they are going. Put an infrared detector in the wheel well. If it registers something of human body temperature, THEN be suspicious. (Then all you have to worry about are inanimate objects being inserted into that area…) ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954/25 "2004-01-02T17:41:55Z")
I’m not sure how effective heat sensing devices would be in distinguishing a human body in the wheel bay of a modern airliner. There are other sources of heat being generated there. Apart from the brake units which generate and retain heat, other components are situated in the wheel bays- flap motors, gearboxes etc. They all produce heat. I tend to agree that a camera might be useful, (and I do know that approaching take off is a busy time for a pilot) Having worked at Heathrow for some time I have seen how El Al approach this problem. The aircraft is followed by a security vehicle until it reaches the runway. There is no opportunity for late arriving passengers 🙂 - or, hopefully, an inanimate object. V [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-dead-men-found-in-two-different-commercial-airline-wheel-compartments/221954.md?page=1)