Pits
October 16th 07, 05:06 AM
On Oct 16, 10:12 am, Ed > wrote:
> From The Sunday Times
> October 14, 2007
> Boy stowaway survives at -58F
> Anna Voutsen, Perm
>
> A RUSSIAN boy has described how he survived a two-hour
> flight at temperatures of -58F, hidden in the wheel well of
> a passenger airliner.
>
> Andrei Shcherbakov, 15, from a village in the Urals, climbed
> into the bottom of a Russian Tu-154 airliner parked on the
> apron of Perm airport, 800 miles east of Moscow, after
> leaving home without telling his parents.
>
> He said he was passionate about planes, but once he had
> inspected the inside of the wheel well he felt so tired from
> two days of wandering around that he fell asleep in it.
>
> "I thought the plane was parked there for maintenance and
> didn't realise it was scheduled to take off," said Andrei,
> who is now in hospital recovering from severe frostbite to
> both hands.
>
> He denied Russian press reports that he had run away from
> home after a family row. "I just wanted to check out the
> wheel well from the inside. I've always been fascinated by
> planes," he said. "I don't know how long I slept for, but
> suddenly I was woken up by the deafening noise of the engine.
>
> "I looked down and realised that the plane was accelerating
> onto the runway. I thought of trying to jump off but was
> frightened. I thought I would freeze to death if I stayed on
> but I was too scared to jump off because I thought I'd be
> crushed. So I stayed on and huddled."
>
> Andrei, who was wearing jeans, two shirts, a jacket and
> sports shoes, said that shortly after takeoff, when the
> pilot raised the wheels, he lost consciousness. The plane
> reached an altitude of nearly 30,000ft.
>
> The boy said he eventually woke up but only fully understood
> what he had been through on landing in Moscow.
>
> Shaking and barely able to move, he managed to climb out of
> the wheel well and onto the tarmac. He was stopped by
> astonished airport staff as he made his way towards the
> terminal.
>
> Andrei was handed over to police who quickly called an
> ambulance and he was taken to hospital. Several of his
> fingers are black and his hands are bandaged.
>
> "People say that it's impossible to survive such a flight,"
> said Andrei. "I don't know what to say but I did it. I
> didn't mean to end up travelling like that and I know I'm
> lucky to be alive. Maybe it hasn't sunk in. Right now I'm
> concentrating on getting my hands back. I'm slowly starting
> to feel them again. I hope it will be okay."
>
> In a similar escape five years ago, an illegal immigrant
> from Cuba managed to fly to Montreal's Dorval airport from
> Havana, a journey of more than four hours, and survive.
> Experts said it was a miracle that he was not crushed by the
> landing gear.
Can we book Petzl on one of these type of flights ?
> From The Sunday Times
> October 14, 2007
> Boy stowaway survives at -58F
> Anna Voutsen, Perm
>
> A RUSSIAN boy has described how he survived a two-hour
> flight at temperatures of -58F, hidden in the wheel well of
> a passenger airliner.
>
> Andrei Shcherbakov, 15, from a village in the Urals, climbed
> into the bottom of a Russian Tu-154 airliner parked on the
> apron of Perm airport, 800 miles east of Moscow, after
> leaving home without telling his parents.
>
> He said he was passionate about planes, but once he had
> inspected the inside of the wheel well he felt so tired from
> two days of wandering around that he fell asleep in it.
>
> "I thought the plane was parked there for maintenance and
> didn't realise it was scheduled to take off," said Andrei,
> who is now in hospital recovering from severe frostbite to
> both hands.
>
> He denied Russian press reports that he had run away from
> home after a family row. "I just wanted to check out the
> wheel well from the inside. I've always been fascinated by
> planes," he said. "I don't know how long I slept for, but
> suddenly I was woken up by the deafening noise of the engine.
>
> "I looked down and realised that the plane was accelerating
> onto the runway. I thought of trying to jump off but was
> frightened. I thought I would freeze to death if I stayed on
> but I was too scared to jump off because I thought I'd be
> crushed. So I stayed on and huddled."
>
> Andrei, who was wearing jeans, two shirts, a jacket and
> sports shoes, said that shortly after takeoff, when the
> pilot raised the wheels, he lost consciousness. The plane
> reached an altitude of nearly 30,000ft.
>
> The boy said he eventually woke up but only fully understood
> what he had been through on landing in Moscow.
>
> Shaking and barely able to move, he managed to climb out of
> the wheel well and onto the tarmac. He was stopped by
> astonished airport staff as he made his way towards the
> terminal.
>
> Andrei was handed over to police who quickly called an
> ambulance and he was taken to hospital. Several of his
> fingers are black and his hands are bandaged.
>
> "People say that it's impossible to survive such a flight,"
> said Andrei. "I don't know what to say but I did it. I
> didn't mean to end up travelling like that and I know I'm
> lucky to be alive. Maybe it hasn't sunk in. Right now I'm
> concentrating on getting my hands back. I'm slowly starting
> to feel them again. I hope it will be okay."
>
> In a similar escape five years ago, an illegal immigrant
> from Cuba managed to fly to Montreal's Dorval airport from
> Havana, a journey of more than four hours, and survive.
> Experts said it was a miracle that he was not crushed by the
> landing gear.
Can we book Petzl on one of these type of flights ?