Stowaway sneaks into Paris by hiding in plane's landing gear

An unidentified man was found in a semiconscious state in the landing gear compartment of a commercial flight arriving from Algeria to Paris.

The crew at the Air Algerie flight from Oran, Algeria, discovered a stowaway (someone who hides on an airplane in order to travel without paying or being seen) hiding in the undercarriage bay during technical checks after the flight landed at Paris Orly airport on Thursday.

The man, who stowed away for two and a half hours, suffered severe hypothermia, a life-threatening condition characterised by dangerously low body temperature. 

The unidentified man in his 20s was rushed to a hospital in serious condition. 

Commercial aircraft cruise at 30,000 to 40,000 feet (9,000 to 12,000 meters) altitude where temperatures typically drop to around -50 degrees Celsius (-58F), and a lack of oxygen makes survival unlikely for anyone traveling in a landing gear compartment which is neither heated nor pressurised.

Similar incidents have occurred in the past, according to the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), which revealed that 132 individuals attempted to travel in the landing gear compartments of commercial aircraft between 1947 and 2021.

In July 2019, a frozen body fell from the landing gear, landing in a resident's garden, as a Kenya Airways flight was approaching Heathrow Airport.

In April, the discovery of two deceased passengers in the landing gear compartment of a flight from Santiago to Bogota shocked many.

Nearly 77% people lose their lives while attempting to hide in airplane wheel wells, as revealed by FAA data.