By MICHAEL MAGNELL
I have been following the story about the 15-year-old boy from San Jose who stowed away in the main landing gear wheel well of an Hawaiian Airlines B767 going to Honolulu. Here is one amazing aspect of this whole thing — and I am not talking about how the teenager survived the flight. It’s the breakdown in the chain of security that has me wondering where the pilots were in all this.
All of the reporting I have seen has been discussing airport fencing, TSA surveillance and the like — completely missing or overlooking the fact that the flight crew was really the last line of defense in this situation.
Let me explain. Flight crews of big jet airliners are suppose to do preflights just like any general aviation pilot does on his plane, whether it be a little piston popper or a jet.
It is obvious this Hawaiian Airlines crew did not or could not have done a thorough preflight inspection of this B767 without seeing this teenager in the wheel well. Airliner wheel wells have excellent lighting, so even in the dark a person could not be missed in one.
Preflights are done on airliners within one hour of departure and that teenager had to be up inside of that wheel well long before one hour prior to departure time in order to have not been noticed.
I started out with Western Airlines at LAX in 1976 as a flight engineer on the B727-200 and was captain on several planes before I was done. Guess what? I never could get away from doing preflights.
I did them as a flight engineer and later as a first officer and captain on two pilot airliners like the B767. On the two-pilot jets we would take turns with the captain doing one preflight and the copilot doing one. We called them walk arounds and they are done before every takeoff.
Trust me it would be impossible to miss any person hiding in a wheel well if a pilot was doing a preflight like it is supposed to be done.
As far as jet airliner wheel well preflights go, the pilot is supposed to walk up inside of the big wheel well and inspect for hydraulic leaks and to make sure fluid and quantities are normal (fluid reservoirs and gauges are located in wheel wells) and that gear doors and the landing gear and tires are all up to speed.
Please explain to me how any preflight, even one done in a hurry, could miss a person in a main landing gear wheel well? Yet I have heard not a word about this angle when it is obvious that the flight crew, as in many cases, was and is the last line of defense in airline security and safety.
Currently I ferry all kinds of planes all over the world and I am not only doing preflights I also do a post flight. Guess what? Airline crews are supposed to do post flights as well.
My post flights are like quick preflights, looking mainly for hydraulic or oil leaks or anything obviously wrong. The sooner I find a problem, the sooner I can make arrangements to deal with it.
Let’s be careful out there folks and not slack off on the everyday mundane tasks, no matter what type of planes we fly!
Michael Magnell is owner of TransOceanic Aircraft Ferry.
I’m on the A330 and you would never be able to see the area covered by the gear doors without lowering the gear doors, which is a maintenance function. I’m looking for brake indicators that are to far in and hydraulic leaks and that the gear pins are removed. It is amazing that he didn’t freeze to death or die of hypoxia from lack of Oxygen. I once flew on a flight to Frankfurt where maintenance personel found a body in the webbing in the gear well that had been there through one other stop on the way. I would hope it is time that people realize it’s suicide to try to get a ride in the gear well.
Yes, we have lost that post 9/11 sense of being wary – to our collective disfavor. When I learned to fly the PRE-FLIGHT was the thing. Another good point made above is that there is need of a good post-flight as well for the next fellows sake.
Being a retired airline captain, I also had the thought about preflight. Normally the flight crew preflights within an hour before flight. Within that time period, the flight line is a flurry of activity with baggage loading, fueling, galley and toilet servicing, etc. Everyone of these personnel are security conscious and a would have been aware of a intruder. Considering these facts, it is apparent the hitch hiker positioned himself before the preflight would and should have been done. Despite all the news being devoted to airport security, I think we can be sure the airline industry is internally reviewing and emphasizing preflight procedures.
Michael, you have a resonable theory here, but what if the boy hid and watched the preflight of the gear area, and when the crew member was done and busy elsewhere, then sneaked into the well area. You assume he was there before the preflight…..do we know he was there first? This case just shows that security is not perfect, and we need to be more vigilant. Every lapse in security, pilot error, or whatever mistake is made anywhere should serve as a reminder and a lesson learned. This case is no different from any other because it involves a series of small errors that lead to a final undesireable end, luckly not deadly in this one. Let us all learn, and stop trying to assess blame….too many breakdowns occurred to find fault with any one individual, even if they are assumed to be the final line of defense.
SR, thank you for your comment. Airliners are in a middle of a whirl of activity during the last hour before departure and it would be impossible for anyone to sneak around one during that time and not be noticed. I appreciate your comment though!