In something I thought was only possible in awesomely bad Schwarzenegger movies, a 16-year-old kid from Santa Clara, California managed to fly all the way from Northern California to Maui after stowing away inside the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines flight from San Jose.
A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, FBI and airline officials said. FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night that the boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport with no identification.
“Kid’s lucky to be alive,” Simon said.
Simon said security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The child had run away from his family after an argument, Simon said.
This reminds me of the time my mom wouldn’t let me go to the river with my friends and I got so mad I told her I hated her and went to live in my tree house until I got hungry a couple hours later.
Simon said when the flight landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds.
“He was unconscious for the lion’s share of the flight,” Simon said. The flight lasted about 5 1/2 hours.
You’ll have to excuse my friend – he’s dead tired.
Simon said the boy was medically screened and found to be unharmed.
“Doesn’t even remember the flight,” Simon said. “It’s amazing he survived that.”
A call and email message to a Mineta San Jose International Airport spokeswoman were not immediately returned. [LATimes]
Weird, you’d think they’d be just dying to discuss how a 16-year-old kid managed to beat a security process that probably takes 1,000 man-hours a week. But I’m sure there are at least 10 people right now scrambling to come up with the most diplomatic way to say “we fucked up.”
Between this kid and Max Wade stealing Guy Fieri’s Lamborghini, I think it’s safe to say that Northern California produces the craziest 16-year-olds.