United Flight UA202

[TomK]

There's a lot of speculation here, so I'll add to it. I suspect whoever got into the wheel well was either crushed by the landing gear or died due to a lack of oxygen.

[HiloJulie]

Quite frankly, the cause of death is totally irrelevant - its more or less a certainty for anyone thinking they could hitch a ride in the wheel well of a jet embarking on an 8-to-10-hour flight.

The question is where - Brazil or Chicago - and how the major security lapse that occurred and allowed the individual to get to the plane to climb into the landing gear bay happened.

However, to add even more speculation, since we are now at 6 days post incident without one peep of subsequent information being released, I'm wondering if this was perhaps maybe a United (or other jet service company) employee who went into the wheel well to for a legitimate maintenance/inspection issue either in Brazil or Chicago and while in the landing gear bay had some type of medical emergency that went unnoticed? 

At any event, with all of the recent stowaway security lapses with people getting through security checks and past airline gate ticket scanners and onto the actual planes, nothing surprises me anymore. And just invites another inevitable incident that could upend air travel as we know it today and make post 9/11 security requirements pale in comparison as a result.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

recent stowaway security lapses with people getting through security checks

I had a job many years ago that took me into high security facilities. There is always the obvious entry with security bells and whistles, and often the overlooked, unlocked, door in plain site. Fortunately most people don’t have the patience to look for that door.

[Punatang]

Most people don’t have the patience to look for that door. - Buddah

[Obie]

From wikipedia :

"Wheel-well stowaways are individuals who attempt to travel in the landing gear compartment, also known as the wheel bay or undercarriage of an aircraft. Between 1947 and June 2015, a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) researcher had documented 113 such attempts on 101 flights. These 113 people were all male and predominantly under age 30.[1] There were 86 deaths, a 76 percent fatality rate,[2] with many unidentified decedents. There may be additional undocumented cases of wheel-well stowaways."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel-well_stowaway

It's not an employee because before working in that area a red tag is placed in the cockpit and the gear door would be opened. On a 787 it requires a ladder to reach the access panel that covers the handle that opens the door. That handle is then pinned in the open position and it has a 3 foot red streamer that says remove before flight.

[HiloJulie]

I did assume that Obie. As well as I would assume that these types of workers are in pairs at a minimum with walkie talkies etc. and require eye to eye contact verification and not just some other guy saying, "Oh yeah, Bob went to the crapper!" to verify total headcount when done performing their duties.

I'm wondering Obie, would the interior bay of the landing gear also be considered a confined or at a minimum an enclosed space by OSHA Standards?

I'm just amazed as to why we are at 6 days so far of no reports as to what happened and who the decedent was.

[terracore]

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/3726...l-airport/

There's a story about finding a body on the runway at HNL. Obie's woki article discusses numbers of documented wheel well stowaway cases, but what is the actual number? How many fall out when the landing gear comes down miles away from the airport? All our airports are on islands near the water and there is no way to know how many stowaways wound up feeding the sharks.