Authorities have confirmed that an American Airlines stowaway was found dead inside the landing gear of a plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Sunday, September 28. The tragic discovery has raised new concerns about aviation security and the risks faced by desperate individuals attempting to travel this way.
Discovery at Charlotte Airport
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) reported that the body was discovered around 9 a.m. during routine maintenance on a plane that had just arrived from Europe.
“On Sunday, September 28 shortly after 9 a.m., while performing maintenance on an American Airlines plane that had recently arrived from Europe, a stowaway was located in the landing gear,” CMPD said in its official release. “The subject was pronounced deceased on scene by CMPD’s Airport Division officers.”
Detectives from the homicide unit and crime scene investigators immediately launched an inquiry. The cause of death has not yet been released, but aviation experts point to the extreme dangers of attempting to hide in an aircraft wheel well.
