JetBlue Stowaway Deaths Probed After Florida Flight From New York

Local law enforcement officials in Fort Lauderdale are investigating the deaths of two individuals found in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue Airways Corp. plane after it arrived at the Florida airport on Monday.

A representative for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, whose jurisdiction includes Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said deputies responded to a call regarding the two individuals late Monday evening and that paramedics pronounced both dead on scene.

“BSO’s Homicide and Crime Scene units responded to investigate the circumstances of the incident, and the investigation is ongoing,” the office said in a statement. “The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform autopsies to determine the causes of death of both individuals.”

JetBlue Flight 1801 traveled to Florida from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The carrier said the plane was undergoing a routine post-flight maintenance check when the individuals were discovered. The aircraft, an 18-year-old Airbus A320, had also flown from Kingston in Jamaica to JFK and to Salt Lake City earlier on Jan. 6, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

“At this time, the identities of the individuals and the circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation,” a representative for the airline said.

Stowaway attempts on aircraft most often result in death. The wheel wells that store the landing gear aren’t pressurized, meaning individuals who try to hide away in them often die from a lack of oxygen when the plane reaches high altitude, or from hypothermia due to the extremely cold temperatures. There’s also a risk of being crushed by retracting landing gear after takeoff or falling from a great height once the wheels are deployed again for landing.

According to a 2011 report, researchers at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute found that only 18 people out of 89 survived attempts to fly in the wheel well or other compartments outside of the aircraft cabin, excluding where cargo is held. That’s about an 80% fatality rate.

The JetBlue incident follows a similar tragedy on a recent United Airlines Holdings Inc. flight from Chicago to Hawaii. On Dec. 24, a body was found in one of the wheel wells of the plane after it landed in Kahului Airport, the carrier said in a statement on Tuesday.

United said it’s working with law enforcement on an investigation.

Photo: A JetBlue Airbus A320 plane lands at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg)