Teen likely fell from plane

[Ret10Echo]

This story popped up...seems a bit "incredible"...a sad tale nonetheless.

Teen Found Dead Near Boston Likely Fell From Plane
Published December 10, 2010 | Associated Press

BOSTON -- A Massachusetts prosecutor said Friday it's likely that a North Carolina teen whose mutilated body was found in a Boston suburb fell from the sky after stowing away in an airplane's wheel well.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating cited evidence including a handprint in the wheel well, clothes strewn along the plane's flight path and an autopsy report indicating the teen fell "from a significant height."

Keating said Friday that he'd informed federal transportation safety officials about the apparent airport security breach by 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale.

"To withhold any information at this point I think would endanger public safety," said Keating, a Democrat who was elected in November to represent Massachusetts' 10th Congressional District.

Keating held a press conference Friday after police searched a wooded area in Milton near where Tisdale's body was found last month. Along a path a Boston-bound plane would have taken while approaching the city, they found dark sneakers with white stripes and a red shirt matching clothing Tisdale's family said he'd worn, Keating said.

Keating said an autopsy showed trauma to Tisdale's body "was consistent with a fall from a significant height."

Investigators also discovered a handprint in grease inside the wheel well on the left side of a Boeing 737 that took off from Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 15, the night Tisdale's body was found, Keating said.

"We feel it's important to inform federal transportation safety officials that it appears more likely than not that Mr. Tisdale was able to breach airport security and hide in the wheel well of a commercial jet liner without being detected by airport security personnel," Keating said.
Keating called what happened to Tisdale "a terrible tragedy."

"But if that was someone with a different motive, if that was a terrorist, that could be a bomb planted on there undetected," Keating said.

Jon Allen, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said: "We will work with the airport, which is responsible for access control security, to conduct a thorough investigation based on the facts and information provided by law enforcement."

Tisdale was a member of the Air Force ROTC program at North Mecklenburg High School near Charlotte. His father, Anthony, said the family had moved from Greensboro to Charlotte in the summer just so the teen could join that program. Anthony Tisdale said his son was happy in Charlotte and stayed out of trouble.

But the Delvonte Tisdale's brother, Anthony Tisdale Jr., said his brother was unhappy in North Carolina and had never wanted to leave Baltimore, where he had lived earlier.

Delvonte's grandmother, Lula Mae Smith, said Friday evening from her home in Baltimore that she hadn't been told about the prosecutor's finding.

"This is a surprise," Smith said. "He was such a good boy. I don't know what happened -- why he would jump on an airplane. I just don't know."

Laura Attikou, Delvonte's aunt, said her brother's son was well-behaved and had a good life.

"The biggest mystery to me is how did he get on that plane? Where was security?" she said from her home in Greensboro, N.C. "We're still at a loss. We're still in shock."

Keating said Tisdale was last seen by a sibling at home in North Carolina at 1:30 a.m. The flight he's believed to have boarded took off at about 7 p.m. that evening, and investigators confirmed flight times and paths with the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.

Just before 9 p.m., someone who lived near where the body was found heard a loud crashing noise, Keating said. At 9:30 p.m., Tisdale's body was discovered without shirt or shoes by a group of college students in Milton, an affluent Boston suburb.

Keating said his office first tried to determine if Tisdale was a crime victim. The body was found after apparently being run over by a Jeep and then an Audi, and investigators found blood and tissue on the undercarriage of both vehicles. But Keating said there was no proof of a hit-and-run, Keating said.

He said police also interviewed family members in North Carolina without finding a "scintilla" of evidence of foul play.

Last week, detectives visited the Charlotte airport to take samples of grease used in maintaining the planes, to see if it matched grease found Tisdale's pants. (Those tests are pending.) That's when they found scuff marks and the handprint in the wheel well, Keating said.
Keating acknowledged it initially seemed like a remote possibility that a teen could sneak onto a commercial jet.

"This wouldn't be the first (possibility) a person would think about," he said.

[uplink5]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

This story popped up...seems a bit "incredible"...a sad tale nonetheless.

Too bad, poor kid was probably killed when the gear was raised but wouldn't have survived the high altitude either. I remember years ago in Miami when a stow-away was found in the wheel well of an airliner frozen. Kid never had a chance...jd

[Dusty]

lol Didn't take Aunt Laura long to blame somebody else but the kid, did it?

"Where's the security?", she asked. Security shouldn't be required to keep somebody out of the wheel well of a departing jet, if that's what happened. That's like posting a guard on the interstate to make sure nobody plays marbles in the middle, or having a Pinkerton guy posted at your grill next cookout to make sure none of the neighborhood teens sticks his head in the coals.

"Where's the common sense?" would be a more likely question, IMO.

I can't drum up a lot of sympathy for any person, "good boy" or whomever, who is stupid enough to pull a stunt that imbecilic.

Maybe that's not even what happened. I sincerely hope not.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by uplink5

Too bad, poor kid was probably killed when the gear was raised but wouldn't have survived the high altitude either. I remember years ago in Miami when a stow-away was found in the wheel well of an airliner frozen. Kid never had a chance...jd

There was a time in the ?? late 70s or early 80s when this was a frequent occurrance.

People would try to hide in the wheel wells and die:

• hypoxia,, at 35K you need a 100% O2 system because of the lack of partial pressure
• or cold, it's -50 C or -46 F, all PT stops at -30, hearts & brains also
• or falling out on take off or landing because of one of the above or crushed by the wheels mechanical bits

Most were the poor from countries in SA.

I think there was at least one person that survived the trip, but I think it was a local commuter 727 between the Bahama's and MIA that did not get too high.

With the HRS camera(s) at Walmart, I would have thought Big Sis had this stopped??

Guess we need to up her budget another bazillion or so.

[glebo]

Originally Posted by Dusty

lol Didn't take Aunt Laura long to blame somebody else but the kid, did it?

"Where's the security?", she asked. Security shouldn't be required to keep somebody out of the wheel well of a departing jet, if that's what happened. That's like posting a guard on the interstate to make sure nobody plays marbles in the middle, or having a Pinkerton guy posted at your grill next cookout to make sure none of the neighborhood teens sticks his head in the coals.

"Where's the common sense?" would be a more likely question, IMO.

I can't drum up a lot of sympathy for any person, "good boy" or whomever, who is stupid enough to pull a stunt that imbecilic.

Maybe that's not even what happened. I sincerely hope not.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/8776219/

Family and friends of a North Carolina teen who fell from the sky after stowing away in an airplane's wheel well say they are haunted by the boy's death and wondering why security didn't stop him from climbing onto the aircraft.

They also say it will be hard to move forward with their lives until they find out how 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale was able to sneak aboard a Boston-bound US Airways plane last month at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.



Yup, it sure wasn't the good boys fault....he would never do such a thing. Someone else must be responsible.......

[Fonzy]

Yup, it sure wasn't the good boys fault....he would never do such a thing. Someone else must be responsible.......

Yea, what about the issues at home where the kid decided that stowing away in a plane was his best possible chance to get away?

[uplink5]

Originally Posted by Fonzy

Yea, what about the issues at home where the kid decided that stowing away in a plane was his best possible chance to get away?

Maybe something to that but, all kids are capable of doing dumb things for good reasons or not. The tragic thing here is that this kid did a dumb thing and died as a result.

From the age of 10 to about 14, I used to hop the freight train from Miami to Homestead and Ft Lauderdale to Homestead, and back. I got busted a couple times (and busted-up) but it wasn't until the last time, when the conductor showed me pictures of dead people who tried and failed to negotiate the train, that I finally put it all together.

I stuck to hitchhiking from then on, another brilliant endeavor......jd

[Counsel]

Originally Posted by glebo

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/8776219/

Family and friends of a North Carolina teen who fell from the sky after stowing away in an airplane's wheel well say they are haunted by the boy's death and wondering why security didn't stop him from climbing onto the aircraft.

They also say it will be hard to move forward with their lives until they find out how 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale was able to sneak aboard a Boston-bound US Airways plane last month at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.



Yup, it sure wasn't the good boys fault....he would never do such a thing. Someone else must be responsible.......

I smell a lawsuit.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Counsel

I smell a lawsuit.

Exactly.

"Give me some money."

TR

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by uplink5

Maybe something to that but, all kids are capable of doing dumb things for good reasons or not. The tragic thing here is that this kid did a dumb thing and died as a result.

From the age of 10 to about 14, I used to hop the freight train from Miami to Homestead and Ft Lauderdale to Homestead, and back. I got busted a couple times (and busted-up) but it wasn't until the last time, when the conductor showed me pictures of dead people who tried and failed to negotiate the train, that I finally put it all together.

I stuck to hitchhiking from then on, another brilliant endeavor......jd

You and I obviously agree kids do stupid things; my point is that his folks appear to be the types who consider themselves the tragic victims of authority no matter the circumstance of the incident.

As TR more or less intimated, they feel entitled to money regardless of the reality of where the fault lies, and will spin the facts in order to appear victimized.

[uplink5]

Originally Posted by Dusty

You and I obviously agree kids do stupid things; my point is that his folks appear to be the types who consider themselves the tragic victims of authority no matter the circumstance of the incident.

As TR more or less intimated, they feel entitled to money regardless of the reality of where the fault lies, and will spin the facts in order to appear victimized.

Of course liability, entitlement, and inventive ways to be seen as a victim is what it’s all about these days. Yep, I hear what you're saying Dusty. It sounds like these folks are quite prepared to assign a monetary value to the memory of their son, and grieve the way he died, all the way to the bank....jd