Body found in plane raises security issues
Security issues were being investigated after the body of a stowaway was found in the front wheel well of a British Airways 747-400 landing at Los Angeles International Airport last week
Investigators were trying to determine where the boy, who was carrying identification and letters suggesting he was a 17-year-old South African, gained access to the jetliner, officials told the AP.
The boy managed to bypass security to board the plane at Heathrow.
The pilot found the body in the front wheel well of the 747-400 during a routine inspection at Los Angeles International Airport shortly before the plane was to return to London. The wheel compartment is enclosed but not pressurized or heated
The death raises concerns about possible holes in air security, experts said.
“The question is how did he get there? If he could be there himself, why not (with) a 150-pound (67.5-kilogram) bomb?” asked Brian Jenkins, a terrorism and homeland security expert at Rand Corp. Heathrow’s security is known for being extremely tight.
Jenkins also questioned why, if the teenager had gotten aboard a few days ago, security inspections had not found him sooner.
The FBI was trying to determine where the youth boarded. British Airways Flight 283 had arrived from London Heathrow Airport on Sunday.
This was far from the first time someone died after trying to stowaway in a plane.
Earlier this year, the body of a young African man was discovered in the wheel well of a Delta plane that landed in Atlanta. Authorities determined the man hid in the plane in Senegal and was suffocated by the landing gear.
In 2000, a man lived through a freezing Air France Boeing 747 flight from Papeete, French Polynesia, to Los Angeles.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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