Crew Puts GoPro On Wheel Well of 747 Jumbo Jet

Putting a GoPro there probably isn’t in line with company policy.  GoPros do fine in the gear well, humans…no so much.

There have been many instances of stowaways and refugees attempting to hitch a ride in the landing gear wells aboard passenger aircraft over the course of aviation history. Some individuals have done it successfully. Many have not. Take for instance the case of the last flight out of Da Nang in Vietnam. Stowaways in aircraft wheel wells can experience being mangled when the landing gear retracts, hypothermia, hypoxia, tinnitus, deafness, frostbite, acidosis and being sucked out of the well when the gear are lowered again. There is no heating, pressure or oxygen in a wheel well – all of which your average garden-variety human requires to survive in a high-altitude environment.

1678979грло Sergey Korovkin
Photo Credit: Sergey Korovkin

Between 1947 and 2012, only 23 of the 96 known wheel well stowaway attempts were successful, so the odds are stacked against you. But…if you could get past ramp security, hold on for dear life to the main landing gear of a Boeing 747 during taxi and takeoff, not be crushed by the gear when it retracts, somehow stay alive during the high-altitude transit, avoid being ripped from the strut when the gear is again lowered for landing, and retain your grip when the 350 ton behemoth lands at its destination and taxis in, this is what you would see. Please remove this one from your bucket list!

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Bill Walton
Bill Walton
Bill Walton is a life-long aviation historian, enthusiast, and aircraft recognition expert. As a teenager Bill helped his engineer father build an award-winning T-18 homebuilt airplane in their up-the-road from Oshkosh Wisconsin basement. Bill is a freelance writer, screenwriter, and humorist, an avid sailor, fledgling aviator, engineer, father, uncle, mentor, teacher, coach, and Navy veteran. Bill lives north of Houston TX under the approach path to KDWH runway 17R, which means he gets to look up at a lot of airplanes. A very good thing.

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