Penumpang Gelap di Roda Pesawat selama 5 Jam
This Stowaway Teen Clung to Plane`s Landing Gear for Five Hours
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
SEORANG remaja pria selamat setelah bersembunyi selama 5,5 jam di roda pesawat yang terbang melintasi Samudera Pasifik, padahal dia berada di roda pesawat jet komersial yang udaranya sangat dingin.
Remaja usia 16 tahun mengalami kekurangan oksigen di tengah suhu dingin -62C saat pesawat mencapai ketinggian 38 ribu kaki
Dalam kondisi normal akan berakibat fatal, dan para ahli memperkirakan detak jantungnya melambat, hanya beberapa detakan per menit ketika tubuhnya mengalami hibernasi, seperti dilansir Mail Online.
Penumpang gelap tersebut dipahami menyadari bahwa sebagian besar perjalanan lebih dari 2.000 mil antara California ke Hawaii, dan terbangun sekitar satu jam setelah pesawat mendarat.
Dia kemudian melompat keluar dari kompartemen bawah dan ditemukan pada runway di bandara di pulau Maui. Dia tidak membawa apa-apa kecuali sebuah sisir. Ajaibnya, petugas medis menyatakan dia tidak terluka.
Remaja pria, dari Santa Clara, California, belum diketahui identitasnya tetapi diyakini ia kabur dari orang tuanya karena alasan tertentu.
Juru bicara FBI Tom Simon mengatakan: "Dia bahkan tidak ingat berada di pesawat. Anak yang beruntung karena masih hidup. Ia tidak sadarkan diri hampir selama penerbangan."
Rekaman keamanan menunjukkan anak itu melompati pagar pembatas di Bandara Internasional Mineta San Jose sebagai penumpang gelap pesawat Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 pada Minggu pagi (20/4).
Dia loncat ke tongkat roda pesawat Boeing 767 dan berhasil menghindari roda karena ditarik setelah take-off. Namun beberapa ahli curiga pada ceritanya, karena kebanyakan penumpang gelap di roda meninggal akibat hipotermia atau akibat kekurangan oksigen.
Diperkirakan pada ketinggian 18 ribu kaki, terjadi hipoksia, mengakibatkan badan lemas, tremor, pusing dan gangguan penglihatan.
Di atas ketinggian 33.000 kaki, paru-paru biasanya memerlukan tekanan buatan untuk berfungsi secara normal. Di antara mereka yang skeptis adalah konsultan penerbangan ABC News John Nance, yang mengatakan: "Ini adalah hal pertama dalam ilmu kedokteran dan pertama di fisiologi. Saya tidak percaya pada ceritanya."
Dr Richard Besser, editor kesehatan mengatakan: "Ini nyaris mustahil, setengah ajaib, dan mungkin ada lebih banyak cerita." Untuk bertahan hidup pada kondisi seperti itu, tubuh manusia akan mengalami hibernasi.
Badan Penerbangan Federal (FAA) mengatakan kemungkinan bertahan hidup di ruang roda pesawat sekitar 24%.
Pakar penerbangan Peter Forman menyebut sangat 'ajaib' anak itu selamat. "Anda berbicara tentang ketinggian yang jauh di atas ketinggian Gunung Everest," katanya.
"Banyak orang hanya akan memiliki kesadaran selama satu atau dua menit pada ketinggian itu. Saya tidak pernah mendengar hal seperti itu sebelumnya. " Staf maskapai Hawaiian Airlines mengaku melihat anak itu di landasan bandara setelah pesawat mendarat.
Juru bicara Alison Croyle berkata: "Perhatian utama kami sekarang adalah pada keselamatan sang remaja, yang sangat beruntung telah selamat."
Remaja itu kemudian ditanyai oleh FBI tetapi dapat dimaklumi kalau dia dibebaskan untuk perlindungan anak dan tidak akan dituntut.
Dalam foto dia terlihat duduk tegak dan sadar karena ia diperiksa oleh petugas medis.
Pada bulan Agustus, seorang remaja di Nigeria selamat mengikuti perjalanan selama 35 menit di roda pesawat dalam penerbangan domestik. Pihak berwenang menyatakan sang penumpang gelap selamat dalam penerbangan singkat di ketinggian sekitar 25 ribu kaki.
Namun, banyak yang meninggal dalam upaya serupa. Salah satu penumpang gelap jatuh ke jalan di Mortlake, Surrey, dalam penerbangan dari Angola yang akan mendarat di Bandara Heathrow pada 2012.
A TEENAGE boy survived a five-and-a-half hour flight over the Pacific after stowing himself in the freezing wheel compartment of a jetliner.
The 16-year-old endured a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as -62C (-80F) as the aircraft reached 38,000ft.
The conditions would normally prove fatal but experts think his heart may have slowed to a few beats per minute as his body went into a 'hibernation-like' state.
The stowaway is understood to have been unconscious for most of the journey of more than 2,000 miles between California and Hawaii, and woke up around an hour after the plane landed.
He then jumped out of the undercarriage compartment and was found on the tarmac on the island of Maui. He was carrying nothing but a comb. Miraculously, medics declared him unharmed.
The boy, from Santa Clara, California, has not been named but it is understood he had run away from his parents following an argument.
FBI spokesman Tom Simon said: 'He doesn't even remember the flight. Kid's lucky to be alive. He was unconscious for the lion's share of the flight.'
Security footage shows the boy jumping over a perimeter fence at Mineta San Jose International Airport to get to the Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning (4/20).
He climbed into the undercarriage of the Boeing 767 and managed to avoid the wheels as they were retracted after take-off. But some experts yesterday were suspicious of his story, as most wheel well stowaways die from hypothermia or are killed by a lack of oxygen.
It is thought that at 18,000ft, hypoxia sets in, causing weakness, tremors, light-headedness and visual impairment.
Above 33,000ft the lungs would usually require artificial pressure to function normally. Among the sceptics was ABC News aviation consultant John Nance, who said: 'This is a first in medical science and a first in physiology. I just don't believe it.'
Dr Richard Besser, the network's chief health and medical editor, said: 'It is near impossible, almost miraculous, and maybe there's more to the story.' To survive such conditions, the body has to fall into a hibernation-like state, he added.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the chances of survival in a wheel well are about 24 per cent.
Aviation expert Peter Forman called the boy's survival 'miraculous'. 'You are talking about altitudes that are well above the altitude of Mount Everest,' he said.
'A lot of people would only have useful consciousness for a minute or two at that altitude. I've never heard of anything like that before.' Hawaiian Airlines said staff noticed the boy on the ramp after the flight arrived.
Spokesman Alison Croyle said: 'Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived.'
The teenager was questioned by the FBI but it is understood he was released to child protective services and will not face charges.
He was photographed yesterday sitting upright and alert as he was examined by medics.
In August, a teenage boy in Nigeria survived a 35-minute trip in the wheel well of a domestic flight. Authorities credited his survival with the flight's short duration and altitude of about 25,000ft.
However, many have died in the attempt. One stowaway plunged on to a street in Mortlake, Surrey, as a flight from Angola began its descent to Heathrow in 2012.