Body Found in Wheel Well Following United Flight’s Hawaii Landing

Following the United Airlines aircraft’s Tuesday arrival in Maui, Hawaii, a dead body was found in the wheel well. There was a compartment housing the body.

Following the United Airlines aircraft’s Tuesday arrival in Maui, Hawaii, a dead body was found in the wheel well.

Following the landing of United Flight 202 from Chicago O’Hare International Airport at Kahului Airport, the airline reported that the body was discovered in a compartment containing the aircraft’s landing gear.

United Airlines said it was unclear how or when the person entered the compartment, but they did confirm that the wheel well could only be accessed from outside the aircraft. Nothing further has been revealed about the dead.

According to United, the company is assisting law enforcement in the current investigation. There has been no response from the Federal Aviation Administration as of yet.

A lack of oxygen at high altitudes, unpressurized circumstances, and extremely cold temperatures between -50°C and -60°C (-58°F and -76°F) make stowaways in wheel wells extremely vulnerable. Even though these situations have a high death rate, some people have survived.

A stowaway was found alive in the wheel area of a Cargolux freight plane upon its arrival in Amsterdam, and another was found alive in the undercarriage of an Algerian aircraft in Paris in 2022. These cases are not the only ones in which survivors have been found in recent years.