Posted by On February 24, 1970 Keith Sapsford, a 14-year-old Australian boy who dreamed of seeing the world, hid in the wheel well of a plane leaving Sydney for Tokyo. When the wheels retracted after takeoff, he fell about 60 meters to his death. A photographer who was there captured the fall by chance. According to US aviation authorities, three out of four wheel-well stowaways die.
Keith Sapsford, a 14-year-old Australian boy, wanted to see the world. He was restless and often ran away from home, so much so that his parents sought help from an institution. But Keith ran away from there too, and on February 24, 1970 he decided to go and see the world on his own.
But without money, how could he do it? Simple: he decided to hide in the wheel well of a plane bound for Tokyo.
How did it happen?
Keith ran away from the institution on February 21 and was reported missing the next day.
On February 24 he sneaked into Sydney airport, climbed up a wheel of a Japan Air Lines plane and got into the compartment that holds the landing gear during flight.
According to technicians, Keith had hidden many hours before departure. He stayed hidden until takeoff but, as soon as the plane left the ground, the landing gear retracted and the bay opened.
It was at that moment that Keith fell, from a height of about 60 meters (200 feet).
Doctors said that even if he hadn’t fallen, he would hardly have survived the flight, because of the cold and the lack of oxygen at high altitude.
The most incredible thing is that an amateur photographer, John Gilpin, was photographing planes taking off and captured the boy’s fall by chance. He only noticed a week later, when he developed the film.
Who was Keith Sapsford?
Keith’s father remembered him as a boy full of life who wanted to see the world. He was very restless and had run away from home many times to satisfy his curiosity.
His parents had therefore decided to take him on a trip around the world, hoping to calm his urge to travel.
On their return, however, Keith ran away again and his parents, not knowing what else to do, placed him in an institution for troubled boys, in the hope that he could be helped there. Sadly it didn’t work out and on February 21, 1970 Keith managed to escape. His father said:
All my son wanted was to see the world. His determination to see the rest of the world he lived in cost him his life.
Wheel-well stowaways
If what this boy did seems strange to you, know that he wasn’t the only one in history to hide in the wheel well of a plane.
According to a study by the US Federal Aviation Administration, between 1947 and 2015 there were 113 documented attempts of this kind, and 86 people died: more than three out of four.
Those who travel in the wheel well risk being crushed by the retracting wheels or falling during takeoff or landing. At high altitude temperatures can drop to minus 63 degrees Celsius and oxygen is so scarce that you lose consciousness. And yet some have even survived: perhaps the body, cooled so quickly, enters a kind of hibernation.
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That’s horrible. Sometimes being adventurous is a bad idea.
That’s horrible. Sometimes being adventurous is a bad idea.
Sometimes and generally: being stupid and ill is a bad outcome, not just for you but others too.
Yeah who’d of thought sneaking into a plane and illegally hiding in its wheels could go wrong? Some people are so dumb that I think their guardian angels just give up.
Hahah. Sad but t is most certainly a wake up call. As the Indians might warn: Watch for Little Falling Stupid
What a fucking stupid click-bait title