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Man's Leg, Torso Fall Out of Plane in New York

GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
edited June 2005 in Strut Central
Updated: 12:25 AM EDTMan's Leg, Torso Fall Out of Plane in New YorkBy PAT MILTON, APFLORAL PARK, N.Y. (June 7) - The body of an apparent stowaway was ripped in half during flight Tuesday and his leg crashed into a suburban neighborhood, where a homeowner found the severed limb in the middle of her lawn, authorities said.Pam Hearne heard "a loud crash'' and later was stunned to see a foot clad in an Adidas sneaker and a sock in her yard, said Officer Thomas Blanchard. The leg, with hip and spine attached, dented the shingled roof of her garage before bouncing into the lawn.Police suspect the remains are from a stowaway who may have been crushed as the South African Airways jet lowered its landing gear on its approach to Kennedy Airport.Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the pilot of flight 203 would have probably started lowering the plane's landing gear in the sky over the home in Floral Park, about 5 miles from the airport.Peters said a Customs agent that met the flight at the airport found another leg hanging from the wheel well.The airline said in a statement that the flight landed with "no impact'' on the passengers and crew and it was working closely with authorities to investigate how someone may have stowed away.The flight originated in Johannesburg, and made one stop in Senegal. Authorities had not identified the remains, which were hauled away from Hearne's yard in a plastic bag.Hearne, a special education teacher, said that when she first saw the leg in the grass, "it didn't look real.''"But I am very glad that I live where I do,'' she said, "so I don't have to run for my life like this man probably was doing.''There have been cases of stowaways being crushed by the mechanism in aircraft wheel wells and perishing from the extreme cold at high altitude.06/07/05 23:45 EDTCopyright 2005 The Associated Press.

  Comments

  • lucerolucero 425 Posts
    I read this earlier - happens surprisingly often. There was a spate of incidents a few years back where numerous people/bodies landed on a supermarket roof (or in the carpark) a few years back next to Heathrow, or perhaps it was Gatwick .. anyway, the supermarket happened to be beneath that part of the approach to landing where the planes would put the wheels down



    If I recall right, theres absolutely no chance of surviving at 35000 ft even if you've somehow managed to survice the retraction of the landing gear - you'd freeze.





    Slightly off topic, but a doco on the concord disaster screened here a few weeks back. I never realised the huge chain of events which lead to the crash but it was something like this: - there was a shard of metal on the runway which a tire hit, a rubber chunk came off the tire and with a massive impact put a hole into a wing, which lead to a rupturing of the petrol tank in the wing on the other side of plane, and for some reason the electrical wiring for the landing gear also broke / tore, the landing gear lost power, couldn't be closed, the flapping cords subsequently connected giving rise to sparks which then ignited the leaking petrol and caused a massive explosion.







    I haven't thought about this too much, but human's seem to have a morbid fascination with stories like these
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    This has happened a bunch of times in the area surrounding Kennedy Airport. Helluva way to die...
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    Unknown
    In 2001 a complete body fell out of a plane and landed right smack in the middle of a street area of Island Park where tehre are all outdoor on-the-water bars and club/restaurants, right in the middle of Sunday afternoon while there were almost 1000 people around. No one got hit, but people were pretty freaked out by the whole thing.
  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    In 2001 a complete body fell out of a plane and landed right smack in the middle of a street area of Island Park where tehre are all outdoor on-the-water bars and club/restaurants, right in the middle of Sunday afternoon while there were almost 1000 people around. No one got hit, but people were pretty freaked out by the whole thing.

    that would be fuckin ill...

    "Woo hooo, PARTY!!".....*THUD*
  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    In 2001 a complete body fell out of a plane and landed right smack in the middle of a street area of Island Park where tehre are all outdoor on-the-water bars and club/restaurants, right in the middle of Sunday afternoon while there were almost 1000 people around. No one got hit, but people were pretty freaked out by the whole thing.

    that would be fuckin ill...

    "Woo hooo, PARTY!!".....*THUD*

    As if on cue, the inference of "It's Raining Men" causes Daze to celebrate and reply with a festive - yet highly suspect - "Woo hoooo, PARTY!!"
  • parsecparsec 5,087 Posts
    Theres so much garbage on the streets and sidewalks of NY that I probably wouldn't even notice if there was a leg on the sidewalk. haha
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