Tragedy Above Charlotte: A Stowaway’s Silent End in the Landing Gear

They say the skies hold mystery, but few could imagine a death so hidden, so lonely, it would be discovered only after passengers had long disembarked. On the morning of Sunday, September 28, 2025, maintenance workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport made a grim, heartbreaking find: a human body lodged in the landing-gear compartment of an American Airlines aircraft that had just arrived from Europe.

At about 9 a.m., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officers were dispatched. They declared the person deceased at the scene, as homicide detectives and crime-scene teams took over the investigation. American Airlines and CLT Airport issued statements offering condolences and confirming cooperation with authorities.

CMPD’s press release stated:

On Sunday, September 28, shortly after 09:00, while performing maintenance on an American Airlines plane that had recently arrived from Europe, a stowaway was located in the landing gear. The subject was pronounced deceased on scene by CMPD’s Airport Division officers.

A CLT Airport spokesperson added:

We are deeply saddened by this news and will support Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s (CMPD) investigation as needed.

⚠️ Similar Incidents In Recent Times

• United Airlines, Hawaii (2024): After a flight from Chicago landed in Maui, crew discovered a dead body in the wheel well. How and when the person accessed the compartment remains unknown.

• Kabul to Delhi (2025): A 13-year-old boy survived a flight hidden in landing gear, traveling from Kabul to Delhi. He was discovered wandering upon landing and later repatriated.

• JetBlue case (2025): Earlier in 2025, two individuals were found dead in the landing gear of a JetBlue flight from New York to Fort Lauderdale. The remains were allegedly in decomposed state.

These stories, spanning decades and continents, reveal a consistent and tragic theme: the wheel-well is a perilous hiding place. Extreme cold, hypoxia (lack of oxygen), structural hazards during gear retraction or extension, and inability to remain secured all contribute to almost certain fatality in most cases.

A Human Life, a Silent End

This is more than a shocking headline, it is a quiet tragedy, a life erased in silence, high above our world. We cannot yet know who this person was, what journey they undertook, or the desperation that forced them. But we must not forget: behind every such incident is a human being.

On behalf of the WhereFlight team, we extend our deepest condolences to the individual’s family, friends, and all touched by this loss. May their memory compel us to greater awareness, compassion, and vigilance and may we honor their story by speaking it.