Stowaway found dead in BA landing gear bay at Heathrow

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Member for

11 years 8 months

Posts: 569

Threespool also states facts - namely that a sign will not stop a desperate person whether terrorist or fleeing from goodness knows what....

Whilst it might not stop them, it should highlight the fact that gear bays aren't pressurised or heated... So the fleeing can make informed decisions (and thus hopefully reduce the numbers of these incidents).

I think the problem is, people fleeing a country for whatever reason simply aren't aware of the dangers. It's not like a freight train you can simply board and jump off when you reach your destination.

Education is the best form of prevention in this scenario.

It's easy for frequent flyers to say 'gear bays are obviously dangerous', but for those living in poorer nations who have probably never flown before (or have very little understanding of aircraft in general) - nor know of the dangers of high altitude on the human body to think that the gear bay is just like any other part of the internal cabin.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 949

Matt-100, I think you underestimate just how desperate these people are. A sign would not affect the rationale of such a person. I am sure people who do try are aware that it is a very dangerous act, but even that may be better than what they are leaving.

I am not saying that they are a problem, but they are indicative of a problem in their country. They are not the problem on aviation, and adding more regulation to aviation is not the answer.

Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 1,684

Would it take much to over a period to install CCTV in landing gear bays/recesses

Would it take much to over a period to install CCTV in landing gear bays/recesses in all civil airliners?

Bright lights also illuminating the landing gear area located within the gear bay/recess while the aircraft was taxiing, holding or preparing to take off. These lights would switch off once the aircraft was airborne and wheels retracted.

And who would watch this real time CCTV coverage? (It only becomes necessary at take off and all crew would be seated and strapped in)
IMO Senior Steward/Stewardess who should alert flight crew who would abort take off summoning airport security if stowaways were identified as being inside the aircraft gear bays/recesses or attempting to jump on.

May sound ideal but it is achievable and possibly avoids coroners inquests and occupation time of airline staff especially crew possibly attending these inquests when tragedies occur.

IMO this would reduce the waste of the lives of desperate (fleeing persons from a nation for reasons only they would know)

IMO it would certainly reduce the terrorist threat by suicidal terrorist/s with bombs, becoming stowaways in gear bay/recesses of airliners .

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 9,821

Whilst it might not stop them, it should highlight the fact that gear bays aren't pressurised or heated... So the fleeing can make informed decisions (and thus hopefully reduce the numbers of these incidents).

I'm not sure an education program would work.
What would you do...put warning stickers on airport fences?

If they're that desperate, common sense and well meaning words from the "first world" will mean little.

Member for

11 years 6 months

Posts: 33

This is a pretty sad story, but kind of funny when I realize just how stupid people can be. It goes to show that they should really make exceptions for security reasons. The fact that they couldn't proceed toward the aircraft "for safety reasons" is pretty disturbing. Surely there was a lack of smarts used in this whole situation.

Member for

14 years 3 months

Posts: 408

This is a pretty sad story, but kind of funny when I realize just how stupid people can be. It goes to show that they should really make exceptions for security reasons. The fact that they couldn't proceed toward the aircraft "for safety reasons" is pretty disturbing. Surely there was a lack of smarts used in this whole situation.

(my bold)

You can perhaps argue many failings in this case, however the decision by security not to pursue is unlikely to be one of them.

Not running in front of a moving aircraft is not a nod to the HSE but in most people a survival trait.

The crew are very unlikely able to see you and you are unlikely to see all of the bumps lumps and other protruberences that may strike you, quite apart from the risk of being injested or blown / blasted senseless.

I myself have witnessed an awful lot of cases of Antenna Rash caused by inattention near staionary aircraft