Teenage boy hitches a ride in Boeing 767’s wheel well

A 16-year old boy clambered into the wheel well of a Boeing 767 at San Jose airport following a family row but made it unharmed to Hawaii's Maui airport five hours later.  

While no charges have been pressed against the stowaway in Hawaii, according to the FBI how he managed to penetrate the secure tarmac area at San Jose airport and climb into the Boeing without being detected would be investigated.

Member of Congress for California,  Eric Swalwell, who is also a member of Homeland Security Committee tweeted: "I have long been concerned about security at our airport perimeters. Stowaway teen demonstrates vulnerabilities that need to be addressed."

According to police in San Jose, they were considering whether to file criminal charges against the boy.

Hawaiian Airlines said, "Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived."

According to investigators, the boy fled his home in Santa Clara, California after a family argument. He was caught by security cameras as he jumped over an airport fence and clambered into the undercarriage of the passenger jet.

According to aviation expert Peter Forman, who spoke to Hawaii News Now, the chances of surviving such conditions were "very remote".

Experts said, while getting into the wheel of a parked Boeing 767 undetected in the dark was not all that difficult, surviving the trip - in this case, a 5 and a half-hour flight from San Jose, California to Maui, Hawaii - was extraordinary.

The boy woke up after the plane landed and walked out onto the landing field, where he was noticed by the Hawaiian Airlines ground crew and eventually turned over to state child welfare authorities.

The boy had apparently spent most of the flight unconscious in the freezing, low-oxygen, wheel storage compartment according to experts.

While, officials in Hawaii were not willing to describe the condition of the stowaway yesterday they said he was from Santa Clara, California; had been traveling with no identification and had run away from home after a dispute with his family.

"Officials have notified the boy's family that he is safe," the Office of Child Welfare Services said in a statement. It added that the office would "enlist the help of all necessary agencies to ensure the boy's safe return to his home in California."

Boeing did not discuss the incident and according to a spokesman, the company did not want to "provide any information that might encourage such extremely dangerous and illegal activity."

The plane landed in Maui at 10:30 am, but it was 11:30 before the boy emerged from the wheel according to an FBI agent in the FBI's Honolulu office. He added the boy wore a hoodie and long pants and "no special gear."