How a 16-year-old survived California-Hawaii flight in the plane’s wheel well

Airplane wheel and landing gear. File photo: dvande / ShutterStock

HONOLULU — FBI officials say a 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen.

FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night that the boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport with no identification.

Simon says security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. Simon says the child had run away from his family.

Simon says the boy will not be charged and was referred to child protective services.