Do Jet Stowaways Ever Survive?
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 01.05.04 | 9:24 PM ET
Two wheel-well stowaways turned up dead at New York’s Kennedy Airport during the holidays, which prompted Slate’s Explainer to address the question: Do jet stowaways ever survive? Yes, they do. A tad more than 20 percent of them have survived since 1947. Their stories are amazing. For instance, take Victor Alvarez Molina. Last December, the Cuban refugee made it to Montreal in the wheel well of a DC-10, enduring four hours in temperatures that dropped to minus-40 F. “His saving grace was a leak in a compartment pipe, which seeped out warm air,” writes Brendan I. Koerner. “The pipe also provided him a convenient lifeline to hold onto when the landing gear deployed ... Molina was granted refugee status and now hopes to bring his family to Canada. Presumably in more comfortable circumstances.”
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
