Haunting final image of 14-year-old boy who fell to his death after hiding inside wheel-well of plane
Topics: News, Travel, World News, Australia, Japan
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: John Gilpin
Topics: News, Travel, World News, Australia, Japan
A teenager fell to his death after attempting to stowaway on a plane flying from Sydney to Tokyo, and his final moments were captured in an eerie photo.
An Australian teens regrettable decision ended up costing him his life and his final moments were captured in a photo, by chance.
Keith Sapsford was only 14 when he fell to his death, while attempting to hide on the inside wheel of a plane flying to Tokyo.
Back in 1970, security at airports was significantly more lax than what it is today.
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This allowed Sapsford to slip through on to the tarmac of Sydney Airport and attempt to get a ride on February 22, 1970.
However, disaster struck when, while in the air, the plane reopened its wheel compartment to retract its wheels. The teen then fell 200 feet to his death, hitting the ground below.
In a surprising turn of events, an amateur photographer, John Gilpin, was at the airport at the time. He had hoped to take a few worthwhile photos while there and never suspected he would capture someone’s death.
In fact, he didn’t even realize he had snapped the tragedy until he developed the film a week later.
When he was developing the photos, he noticed the silhouette of a boy falling feet-first from a plane, his hands raised, likely in an attempt to grab on to anything he could.
Speaking on his son’s death, the teen’s father, Charles Sapsford, said: “All my son wanted to do was to see the world.
“He had itchy feet. His determination to see how the rest of the world lives has cost him his life.”
A retired captain of a Boeing 777, Les Abend, has warned against people attempting to stowaway on aircraft due to the danger it poses to all involved.
He said: “One thing never ceased to amaze me: that people will actually stow away inside the landing gear well of a commercial airliner and expect to survive.
“Any individual who attempts such a feat is foolish, ignorant of the dangerous situation — and must be completely desperate.”
Authorities have surmized that even if Sapsford did not fall to his death, it is unlikely he would have survived the flight. This is due to the extremely cold temperatures during travel and lack of oxygen.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) published research in 2015 showing that just one in four airplane stowaways survive the flight.