Failed Stowaway Tries To Hide In Plane’s Wheel Well For Free Ride From Orlando To NYC

Just because one person survived flying miles above the ground in the wheel well of an airplane doesn’t mean everyone should try it. Luckily for a shirtless, barefoot man who police say tried to stowaway in a JetBlue plane’s wheel, he never left the ground.

Police in Orlando say a 32-year-old man climbed under a fence to gain access to a restricted area at the Orlando International Airport, before climbing into the wheel well of a plane headed to New York City, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

He’d apparently walked eight miles to get to the airport, and managed to rest from that journey for a few hours in the wheel well before climbing out again. That’s when a JetBlue employee spotted him on the tarmac.

He then reportedly told the worker he was an airline mechanic, but that his ID badge had been stolen. Seeing as he was half-dressed, this seemed unlikely.

When police got there he changed his tune, and confessed he was looking for a free ride. Officials with the police as well as the FBI questioned him for hours, during which he showed them how he’d dug a hole under the fence to get in.

Officials rescued his T-shirt and socks, as well as a lighter, from the wheel well.

He was arrested on charges of trespassing, burglary and loitering.

OPD: Shirtless, greasy, barefoot man tried to stow away on JetBlue plane [Orlando Sentinel]