You must have read about Daniel Ihekina, the stowaway kid on the Arik flight from Benin to Lagos over the weekend and how such an incident could happen in one of our airports. After trying to draw a graphic picture of the scenario, I kept pondering all night: what was on this chap’s mind? How did he survive the condition up there? My curiosity got the better hold of me and I decided to do a little research on factors that might have helped in his surviving the risky adventure.
As I have limited information on the details of the aircraft in which the incident happened, I had to get myself a ticket online on the Arik Air designated website. I got lucky when I booked a flight Lagos from Benin City got the flight details for the day. Arik had two aircraft for that day; a Boeing 737 – 700 and a Bombardier CRJ 700.
After a careful examination of the two aircrafts pictures I quickly stroke out the possibility of the boy going with the Bombardier CRJ 700 for two major reasons the first being that Benin Airport is a relative small airport with little traffic compared to major airports like Lagos and Abuja. Therefore there is a tendency for lots of small aircrafts patronizing this airport. So for the boy to have seen a bigger aircraft could have made him believe the plane was to a destination like the US. Secondly, The Bombardier aircraft doesn’t look like an aircraft that can stowaway a 15 year old boy.
So my guess is that the boy stowaway in a Boeing 737 – 700. The teenage must have gained access to the end of the runway from the bush around the airport with porous security. The pilot, it was reported, spotted the intruder about 200 – 300 meters away from the end of the runway preparatory to take off and reported to the control towers who assured they would take care of the situation.
While the plane made a u-turn in preparation for takeoff, Daniel may have chosen that moment to runs towards the Boeing 737 aircraft and may have used the tubeless nitrogen inflated tyres as a step, to climb into the wheel well compartment. He may have by grabbed the down lock strut with his hands and before lifting his 60kgs body plus an additional 3 kg backpack into the undercarriage of the aircraft.
While this will be the first time a Nigerian may have taken on this level of risk, there are several cases of people attempted to gain entry into aircrafts about to take off around the world. A 1997 study by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the national aviation authority of the United States of America, looked at 13 documented stowaway incidents resulting in eight deaths. Most of the stowaways gained access to the aircraft by hiding near the area where the plane waits for clearance to take off from the runway and then hiding in the wheel well.
Another study available on Wikipedia shows that stowaways in aircraft wheel wells face numerous health risks, many of which are fatal. They are at risk of being mangled when undercarriage retracts, tinnitus, deafness, hypothermia, hypoxia, frostbite, acidosis or falling off when the doors of the compartment reopen. The landing gear compartment is not equipped with heating, pressure or oxygen, which are vital for survival at a high altitude. According to experts, at 18,000 feet (5,500 m), hypoxia causes lightheadedness, weakness, vision impairment and tremors. By 22,000 feet (6,700 m) the oxygen level of the blood drops and the person will struggle to stay conscious. Above 33,000 feet (10,000 m) their lungs would need artificial pressure to operate normally. The temperature could drop as low as−63 °C (−81 °F) which causes severe hypothermia. Those stowaways who managed not to be crushed by the retracting undercarriage or killed by the deadly conditions would most likely be unconscious when the compartment door re-opens during the approach and may eventually fall several thousand feet to their deaths.
In the case of Daniel Ihekina, he was lucky in the sense that the aircraft did not cruise at a high attitude since the flight time between Benin and Lagos is short otherwise he would not have won’t have survived the flight due to low pressure and the extreme temperature.
It is though unfortunate that on arrival to Lagos, Daniel who should have been taken straight to the hospital for examination was rather arrested and handed over to the Directorate for Secret Services (DSS) for questioning. I sincerely hope he does not die in custody.
By Oladimeji Bamidele
