A teen’s “curiosity” landed him in a plane’s wheel well for a trip from Kabul to Delhi.
A 13-year-old Afghan boy snuck onto a plane and secretly hid in the landing gear compartment of a KAM Air flight RQ-4401 leaving Afghanistan on Sunday, India Today reported.
For some context, where the teen managed to hide — and shockingly not get injured — was in the hollow space where the landing gear retracts into the aircraft after takeoff.
How did the sneaky kid manage to make it onto the airplane without a boarding pass?
It’s unknown, but official sources said that the inquisitive teen snuck past the restricted area at Kabul airport. He then trailed behind a group of plane passengers to find his hiding spot on the plane — all because he wanted to travel to Iran, according to the Indian Express.
The “wheel well stowaway” remained in that spot throughout the almost two-hour flight to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi, India, which landed at around 11 a.m. local time.
Airline personnel spotted the boy wandering around near the aircraft after landing and alerted security.
He was then detained by airline staff and handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who took him to Terminal 3 for questioning.
The boy claimed that he entered the wheel well out of “curiosity” and didn’t fully understand the potential risks involved, according to a Press Trust of India report.
“He said he managed to sneak inside the airport and the landing gear without being detected,” a CISF officer told Hindustan Times.
The outlet reported that a wheel well is not only a cramped space, but also can cause extreme cold and oxygen deprivation at cruising altitudes.
Attempts like this one typically end up being fatal, usually due to hypothermia.
The boy was sent back to Afghanistan on the same plane, which departed soon after it landed.
This isn’t the first time an unwanted passenger snuck onto a plane. A 57-year-old Russian stowaway followed a similar tactic to the one the 13-year-old boy did.
Svetlana Dali managed to successfully board a Paris-bound flight at JFK Airport by sneaking past distracted gate agents and walking close to a group of flyers.
Luck was clearly on her side as the airport was packed due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
“The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded the aircraft,” a TSA spokesperson told The Post in November.
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