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Biography & Personal Stories
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Frozen at 38,000 Feet: The Stowaway Who Risked It All to Meet a Soccer Star
A Tahitian stowaway survived a flight to LA in a wheel well, enduring -58°F at 38,000 ft. His body temperature dropped to a near-fatal 79°F, placing him in a hibernation-like state. His incredible motive? He wanted to fly to France to shake hands with footballer Zinedine Zidane.
An Impossible Discovery on the Tarmac
On August 4, 2000, as Air France Flight 71 from Papeete, Tahiti, landed for a stopover at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), ground crew workers made a startling discovery. Tucked inside the frigid, cramped confines of the Boeing 747's right-side wheel well was the body of a man. He was unconscious, dressed only in light clothing, and frozen nearly solid. Miraculously, he was still breathing. The 24-year-old Tahitian man, later identified as Fidele Himossi, had survived an eight-hour flight at an altitude of 38,000 feet, defying death in a place known as the 'death zone'.
Surviving the 'Death Zone'
Surviving as a wheel-well stowaway is extraordinarily rare. At cruising altitude, passengers in the cabin experience a pressurized environment equivalent to about 8,000 feet. In the unpressurized wheel well, however, a stowaway is exposed to the raw, brutal elements. Temperatures plummet to -50°C (-58°F) or colder, and the lack of oxygen (hypoxia) is quickly fatal. So how did Himossi survive?
When he was found, his core body temperature had dropped to a staggering 26°C (79°F), a state of profound hypothermia that would typically be fatal. Medical experts believe the combination of extreme cold and oxygen deprivation induced a state of suspended animation, similar to hibernation. The body's metabolic rate slows to a crawl, preserving brain and organ function with minimal oxygen. As the plane descends for landing, the gradual increase in warmth and oxygen can sometimes revive the stowaway.
"He was very lucky to have survived... His body was in a state of hibernation."- Matthew McLaughlin, FBI Spokesman (2000)
A Dream of Zidane
As authorities and medical personnel worked to save the man's life, the question on everyone's mind was: why? Himossi wasn't a typical asylum seeker fleeing war or persecution. His motive was something else entirely, a singular goal that seems almost fantastical. He had risked his life for the chance to get to France and meet his hero: the legendary soccer player Zinedine Zidane.
In the year 2000, Zidane was arguably the biggest sports star on the planet. He had led France to victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and had just secured the 2000 UEFA European Championship. To a young man like Himossi in remote French Polynesia, 'Zizou' was more than a player; he was a global icon. The dream of meeting him, of shaking his hand, was powerful enough to fuel one of the most dangerous journeys imaginable.
The Aftermath of an Unbelievable Journey
After being rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles, Fidele Himossi made a recovery that doctors considered remarkable. He faced no criminal charges in the United States for his desperate act. Once he was medically cleared, he was sent back to Tahiti. There is no record that he ever fulfilled his dream of meeting Zidane, but his story remains one of the most incredible tales of survival in aviation history—a testament to the extreme lengths one person will go for a dream, and the astonishing resilience of the human body.