A stowaway was found dead in the landing gear of an American Airlines plane at Charlotte’s international airport on Sunday, authorities said.
The body was discovered around 9 a.m., as maintenance crews were working on the plane, which had arrived from Europe earlier in the day, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a press release. The person has not yet been publicly identified.
“CLT Airport is aware of the tragic discovery involving a deceased individual found in the landing gear of an American Airlines aircraft this morning,” an airport spokesperson told USA Today. “We are deeply saddened by this news.”
American Airlines said it was cooperating with law enforcement to investigate the situation. The local police department was leading the case on Sunday.
Stowing away on the exterior of airplanes almost always results in death because of the lack of oxygen and cold temperatures at 30,000 feet in the sky.
“A human body exposed for many hours to temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit courts extensive frostbite and loss of limbs, even if the utter lack of oxygen at 35,000 feet or more doesn’t result in brain death,” ex-pilot John Nance explained to ABC News.
Back in January, two teenagers from the Dominican Republic were found dead in the landing gear of JetBlue plane at Fort Lauderdale’s main airport following a flight from Kennedy Airport in Queens.
