4 ms·

Are we sure he travelled on the wheel? Lets say this person was found loitering in the area and someone asked him how he got there and he told he hid in the pl

Are we sure he travelled on the wheel? Lets say this person was found loitering in the area and someone asked him how he got there and he told he hid in the plane's wheel's. Most people would term that as a impossibility and decide he got there some other way. if he was found unconscious on the plane's wheel, then isn't it a "black swan" like event that breaks down most of our existing assumptions on the subject of human endurance. edit : still have not read news other than headlines and trying to make a point about perceptions/assumptions.

droithomme 12y ago
It's not really a black swan. The mortality rate from wheel well stowaways is 76%. There have been 105 documented cases, and 80 of them died. Often they fall out of the wheel well when the landing gear deploy and are found some distance from the airport. Most people easily survive with only 20% of the oxygen level found at sea level, but quickly become unconscious and enter a sort of hibernation state. Then they may slowly succumb to cold, or simply are not awake and able to respond sensibly when landing gear deploys, or die from complications from high altitude pulmonary edema or high altitude cerebral edema. The media angle appearing in some articles that this is some astonishing thing that has never been seen before and for which there is no scientific explanation is just the standard media hysteria tactic used to collect eyeballs and views by making exaggerated claims.
- mrfusion 12y ago
  Do you have any references for those claims? I thought I read there was less oxygen than that? It also seems like at those temperatures most people would sucumb to hypothermia, no?
- carrotleads 12y ago
  What is the limit of human endurance. If earlier it was assumed that -40 c would kill in 5 mins and now we have proof that someone has travelled at -62 c for 5+ hrs and with minimal oxygen. Isn't that a black swan like event. Obviously we can't test for these things but we can find limits through such incidences. PS : whats with the downvotes. Do some folks want everyone to parrot the same line?

droithomme 12y ago

It's not really a black swan. The mortality rate from wheel well stowaways is 76%. There have been 105 documented cases, and 80 of them died. Often they fall out of the wheel well when the landing gear deploy and are found some distance from the airport. Most people easily survive with only 20% of the oxygen level found at sea level, but quickly become unconscious and enter a sort of hibernation state. Then they may slowly succumb to cold, or simply are not awake and able to respond sensibly when landing gear deploys, or die from complications from high altitude pulmonary edema or high altitude cerebral edema. The media angle appearing in some articles that this is some astonishing thing that has never been seen before and for which there is no scientific explanation is just the standard media hysteria tactic used to collect eyeballs and views by making exaggerated claims.

mrfusion 12y ago
Do you have any references for those claims? I thought I read there was less oxygen than that? It also seems like at those temperatures most people would sucumb to hypothermia, no?
carrotleads 12y ago
What is the limit of human endurance. If earlier it was assumed that -40 c would kill in 5 mins and now we have proof that someone has travelled at -62 c for 5+ hrs and with minimal oxygen. Isn't that a black swan like event. Obviously we can't test for these things but we can find limits through such incidences. PS : whats with the downvotes. Do some folks want everyone to parrot the same line?