Body Found Inside Wheel Well Of American Airlines Plane, Identity Unknown

A dead body was discovered in the landing gear of an American Airlines plane that arrived from Europe at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina on Sunday morning. The gruesome discovery was made during routine maintenance checks in a hangar around 9 am, ABC News reported.

The plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, had travelled from Frankfurt Airport, Germany, and had been parked at the airport for nearly two days before the body was found. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has launched a homicide investigation and confirmed the individual was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities are working to determine how and when the stowaway accessed the aircraft.

"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. The subject was pronounced deceased on scene by CMPD's Airport Division officers," read a statement from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.

In a statement to ABC News, American Airlines said, "We are working with law enforcement on its investigation."

Recent Cases of Stowaways

Stowaways hiding in wheel wells is a rare occurrence, and survival is even more uncommon. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, over 77% of stowaways who hide in wheel wells have died. Experts say that freezing temperatures, extreme wind chill, and oxygen deprivation make it extremely unlikely for someone to survive a long flight in a plane's wheel well.

"A human body exposed for many hours to temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit courts extensive frostbite and loss of limbs, even if the utter lack of oxygen at 35,000 feet or more doesn't result in brain death," aviation analyst John Nance told ABC News.

This recent discovery follows a similar incident in January, where two teenage stowaways were found dead in the wheel well of a JetBlue flight.

Last week, however, a 13-year-old boy miraculously survived a 90-minute flight from Kabul to Delhi by hiding in the landing gear compartment of a Kam Air plane. He claimed he had accidentally stumbled into the compartment out of curiosity and was repatriated back to Afghanistan after the flight.