2 bodies found on Florida JetBlue plane. It's not the first time a stowaway snuck on

Milena Malaver, Miami Herald on Jan 7, 2025

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MIAMI — The discovery of two bodies in the landing gear of a JetBlue plane on Monday night has drawn widespread attention. The flight had arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from New York City. While tragic and unsettling, such incidents, though rare, are not unprecedented.

The first recorded case of an aircraft stowaway dates back to June 13, 1929. During a transatlantic flight, the French-piloted Bernard monoplane Oiseau Canari struggled to take off despite its powerful Hispano-Suiza engine.

The cause was soon discovered: a young American named Arthur Schreiber had stowed away on board. Despite the extra weight, the aircraft successfully completed its 22-hour journey to Spain, covering 2,410 miles and achieving several milestones: it was the first French flight across the North Atlantic, the longest non-stop flight over the ocean at the time, and the first documented case of an airborne stowaway, according to a 2011 Federal Aviation Administration.

By 2011, the FAA had recorded 89 attempted stowaways on 79 flights, with only 18 survivors. These individuals typically hid in wheel wells or other exterior compartments, areas with extreme temperatures and low oxygen levels. Although the FAA does not formally track such cases, incidents have continued to surface in the years since.

Here are some:

— December 24, 2024: A dead body was discovered in the wheel well of a United Airlines Boeing 787-10 after it landed at Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaii. The flight originated from Chicago O’Hare International Airport, according to CBS News.

— July 2019: A suspected stowaway fell to his death from a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Heathrow, landing in a garden in south London, according to the BBC.

— April 2014: A 16-year-old boy survived a five-hour flight from California to Hawaii in the wheel well of a Boeing 767, enduring extreme altitudes and temperatures, according to CNN.

— September 2010: A man’s body was found in the landing gear of a Delta Airlines flight from New York to Tokyo, according to WSB-TV.

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Miami Herald reporter Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.

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