10 Catastrophic Details Surrounding Keith Sapsford, The Stowaway Who Fell To His Death From A Plane

6 /10 Sitting At The Door

Further investigation revealed that Keith concealed himself in the wheel assembly of the plane before climbing and crawling through a 4 ft. by 2 ft. opening into the wheel compartment.

Because the aircraft was still on the ground at that time, the doors were closed. It would appear to him there was enough room for a man inside.

Once airborne, the plane had to open the compartment door to retract the wheels, and Keith was sitting on the door when it opened. He fell when the aircraft was traveling at about 180 miles an hour.

5 /10 Badly Marked Face

Commonwealth police said the boy’s face was poorly marked and couldn’t be immediately identified. About 350 people on the observation deck witnessed the tragedy.

They saw what appeared to be a sack falling from the undercarriage of Douglas DC-8 just moments after takeoff. As the falling object hit the ground, it skimmed along the tarmac before coming to a complete stop.

The thing turned out to be a boy, dressed in white shirts and blue shorts. A pair of sandals were found not far from the body.

4 /10 Stowaways' Risks

According to airline authorities, Keith would have died of other causes even if he had not fallen from the plane.

Within two hours after takeoff, the aircraft reached an altitude of 35,000 feet, at which point the temperature inside the unpressurized wheel housing would decrease to minus 50 degrees centigrade; no one could survive such extreme conditions.

The medical examiners also pointed out Keith would not have survived anyway due to lack of oxygen during flight. Keith should have known better; his father had already explained it to him.

3 /10 Not The First

There have been many cases of stowaways since the early days of aviation.

People from countries like China, South Africa, Cuba, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, and the Dominican Republic have secretly concealed themselves in the undercarriage of planes in the hope of leaving their home countries and finding better luck someplace else.

They wanted to leave their old lives behind for various reasons, from boredom to poverty, from unhappiness to despair.

Very few stowaway cases involve domestic flights. One of the youngest stowaways ever documented was a boy of nine; most were adults over 30.

2 /10 Ignorant Or Completely Desperate

Les Abend, a retired Boeing 777 Captain, wrote for CNN in July 2019, stating that people who snuck themselves into the landing gear compartment of a commercial airliner are ignorant of the dangers and must be completely desperate.

In his 34-year long career as a pilot, it never ceased to amaze him that stowaways did what they did and expected to survive.

It was a foolish feat as the hydraulic pressure of the components in the compartment would crush anyone like a bug. Survival would be a miracle.

1 /10 Over 30 Miraculous Survivals

According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, there were 128 stowaways on record from 1947 to February 2020. More than 75% died, meaning at least 30 individuals survived the flight in the most dangerous situations.

Without knowing the exact location of the individual inside the wheel housing, it would be difficult to determine how one could manage to stay alive through the flight.

When the plane begins its descent, a stowaway is most likely rendered unconscious and unknowingly falling out when the landing gear is released. In short, anyone would not survive unless with great luck.