Grim Discovery For JetBlue FLL Maintenance Crew

A routine post-flight maintenance check at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida led to a grim discovery in the wheel wells of a JetBlue Airbus A321. The bodies of two men were found following a flight from New York JFK International Airport. At press time, the identities of the two victims had not been determined, nor how and where they might have gained access to the aircraft.

JetBlue Flight 1801 departed from JFK at 7:49 p.m. on Monday (Jan. 6), landing in Fort Lauderdale at 11:10 p.m. The Airbus, registration N644JB, began the day’s flying with a trip from Kingston, Jamaica, to Salt Lake City International in Utah. The next leg took it to JFK. Every leg of the day’s flying was preceded by a walk-around inspection, per JetBlue procedures, but since the inner gear doors would have been in the closed position at the gate, the crew might not have spotted anyone concealed there during the walk-around inspection. Even when the gear is retracted, there is enough space in each A321 main landing gear wheel well for a person to fit, but the flight from New York to Florida reached altitudes as high as 38,000 feet—unsurvivable for anyone riding in the unpressurized, unheated wheel wells due to lack of oxygen and extreme cold temperatures.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not immediately comment on how the victims might have bypassed security, if, in fact, that is where they gained access. In a statement, JetBlue said, “This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred.”