Remarkably, an Indonesian man survived a one-hour flight inside the landing gear of a Boeing 737-800 jetliner.
According to the Jakarta Post, on Tuesday, 21-year-old Mario Steven Ambarita snuck inside the Garuda Indonesia aircraft's wheel well prior to takeoff from Pekanbaru, Riau in Sumatra and was discovered by airport employees upon landing in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
"He really put his safety in danger," said Indonesia air transport ministry director general Suprasetyo. "But his condition is now fine."
Ambarita's reason for carrying out the dangerous stunt was "to see Jakarta, the city where he was born," according to Garuda spokesman Pujobroto, who said Ambarita spent signficant time devising his plan.
"The man had made preparations ... he learned from the Internet and observed the nature of departing aircraft in the airport over the last several days," added Pujobroto. "He knew that aircraft would pause a little before accelerating for take off."
Unsurpringly given the circumstances, the man was transported to a clinic at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after stumbling onto the tarmac.
"He is not yet stable ... his fingers turned blue and one of his ears was bleeding," said Pujobroto.
Although the flight was relatively short, the aircraft reached an altitude of 40,000 feet, which means Ambarita was exposed thin, freezing air with limited oxygen.
In response to this week's incident, Indonesia's air transport ministry said it plans to enhance security at various airports to deter others from attempting to sneak onto aircraft.
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