A 15-year-old boy suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a 1300km two-hour flight.

With temperatures hitting minus 50C (-58 Fahrenheit) and the plane at a cruising speed of 900km/h, the teenager Andrei Shcherbakov collapsed onto the tarmac when the plane landed.

He had clung on for the entire flight from Perm in Russia's Ural region to Vnukova Airport in Moscow.

His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes.

He was taken by ambulance to hospital where doctors are trying to save his hands.

When he awoke, Andrei told police that he had decided to run away from his alcoholic father and their home in Perm.

He went to his grandmother's house and had dinner before telling her that he was going to spend the night at his friend's house, who had a birthday.

Instead, the boy took a taxi and went to the airport.

"I had some money with me. I just wanted to take a look at the planes. I was wandering about the territory of the airport and saw a hole in its fence," he said.

"I sneaked in and approached a big plane. It was already dark and no-one saw me. I didn't know what to do next.

"Eventually, I decided to climb up the landing gear into the wing. When I was in, I sat down there on a tyre and fell asleep."

The boy said he woke up when the plane was flying.

"I got so scared and fainted. I don't remember what was happening afterwards. They told me later that I had spent about two hours at the height of 10,000 meters at very low temperatures.

"I came to my senses again when the plane had already landed. I got down on the runway and collapsed. I could not control my legs and it was very cold," he said.

Airport workers saw the teenager falling down on the ground from the hull of the plane.

He was taken to hospital in a half-conscience state. When at the hospital, he complained his hands were burning.

Moscow's air and water transport control department said the boy's parents were immediately informed when he fell to the runway tarmac and his mother Olga flew to the capital the same day, Saturday.

Mrs Shcherbakov arrived in Moscow and took her son back home to Perm because the family could not afford the expensive hospital treatment.

A doctor from the Perm hospital, where the boy is staying at the moment, said that the tissue of the boy's hands started dying away, which may make surgeons amputate both hands.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Quite a story, though technically he rode IN the wing, not on it.

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

Pretty wild all right, I don't get how he was asleep on the tire and the plane took off w/o him being pitched off.

I'm sure you know that various border crashers freeze to death now and then attempting same. Happened recently at SFO -- a Chinese guy.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I wondered the same thing about falling asleep on the wheel. Perhaps it was lost in translation, and he meant on the landing gear follow-up door or something. Hard to say.

2 hours over Russia at the temps at that altitude are bad enough; imagine what the poor Chinese guy at SFO went through.

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

I was surprised that he did not die of asphixiation. At 30,000 feet isn't that a possibility?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

It is. His hypothermia probably saved his life.

Was it Icelandic Air?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Makes me grateful for today...

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Would that be because it lowered his respiration?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Cold, then you fall asleep and never wake up.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that there's room in the wheel well of a 737 for much of anything other than the wheel...hell, they don't even have an outer door on the mains.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Wow, maybe the wheel well is larger than it looks? Where is WVO he will know.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Oh man, that would be a toughy. He was wearing three layers of clothes, one official opined that he might have died in the first hour or so, who knows.

Closest I came to that was in '76 me and a buddy hopped a freight out of LA in February, we couldn't find an open box car so we were on an auto pak. Couldn't find an open auto (sometimes you do) and every place we tried, we got some serious wind chill (it was at night) and lordy I was cold, for about 3 hours. Never in serious danger though, I'm sure.

It stopped briefly and we chanced it, got into the back engine. God that was sweet.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

If it was Icelandic, he probably was a paying passenger who just got tired of the crowded conditions.

At the beginning of this thread I was wondering how the heck he could have hung onto a wing for three hours.

YOu hear of people doing this from time to time. It is hard to imagine that it is even possible. Certainly not anything I would want to try.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

what really concerns me is after all the terrorism stuff going on this guy just goes through a hole in the fence and right onto the tarmac....

Sheez...ban inbound flights into the US from unsecured nations like this and when will there be a general standard level for the airline industry?

Airline industry, once a glamorous thing has turned to crap like most other things...Airlines treat their clients like pigs and we have no choice but to utilize this junk service....

I recently landed at JFK coming in from Geneva and boy what a shame JFK has turned into..
To think NYC, believed to be the center of the world in some cases...disgusting....what we must look like to the rest of the world..

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Showing up every day isn't enough. There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn't have showed up at all. - James Caan

People consistantly bought the cheapest tickets.

This is the result of the law of supply and demand.

I miss the fancy treatment that used to be normal in air travel but I enjoy the low cost of it.

I do however drive anyplace that is remotely reasonalbe to drive. The traffic is so heavy now though that that is not nearly as enjoyable as it once was.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.