Survival at High Altitude: Wheel-Well Passengers

>hypothermia accompanies the deep hypoxia, preserving nervous system viability

That's fascinating. I wonder if it means a stowaway who kept themselves warm somehow would actually suffer more damage than one who was cold?

How would one even know that you wouldn't get squashed into a pulp when the wheel retracts back into the wheel well? Or where specifically to situate yourself?

The retraction of the wheels happens relatively slowly (due to various engineering constraints); enough time to shuffle around.

Given the fact that they were able to get into the wheel well at all; I suppose they could've either inspected the/a well some time earlier, or even hid during a low-activity timeframe (night, etc.) before take-off (though I'd suspect they would've been discovered during pre-flight checks).

Once there, you don't need much spatial awareness to determine places to position yourself, IMO: http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/1/8/8/17...

personally, i love the conclusion, "Wheel-well stow-aways continue to be a problem and require prevention."