Survives Chilly 15-Hour Flight From China : Man Sneaks Into U.S. in Jet Cargo Hold

U.S. immigration officials on Friday were holding a Chinese accountant who smuggled himself here by squeezing into the luggage hold of a CAAC Airlines flight from Beijing.

Officials at San Francisco International Airport were stunned that Cheng Guajun, 33, survived the 15-hour flight at an altitude of 40,000 feet in the chilly, cramped belly of the Boeing 747.

As baggage handlers unloaded the jet on Wednesday morning, Cheng emerged from a 5-foot-square baggage container looking fit and wearing a pinstriped suit and wool shirt.

“The bag handlers were very much startled by him being there and by finding that he was alive,” said Ron Wilson, an airport spokesman.

“He had an airline schedule, so he knew where he was going.”

CAAC is the official airline of China.

‘Asylum and Freedom’

Immigration and Naturalization Service District Director David Ilchert said he was precluded by law from releasing details about the man, and would not say whether he had requested asylum. However, Wilson said that Cheng “said he wanted political asylum and freedom for himself.”

“If he applies for asylum, his application will be adjudicated. If it’s denied, the person would be returned on the next available flight,” Ilchert said.

Upon discovering Cheng, airport officials called FBI and Federal Aviation Administration investigators, who interviewed Cheng, a slightly built man of about 5 feet, 8 inches.

“There was not a whole lot of emotion. He was very quiet. I never saw him smile,” said Wilson, who sat in on the interview.

Wilson said Cheng, an accountant for a chemical company in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, told of trying twice to get a student visa to the United States, but being turned down because he could not prove he had a financial sponsor here. He also said he has an uncle in Los Angeles who may sponsor him.

Watched and Waited

Cheng said he began his transpacific adventure by spending several days watching airport workers in China loading baggage into the containers.

He waited at the Beijing airport until baggage handlers took a break, then climbed into one of the containers and piled a few bags atop himself. When the handlers returned, they added a few more bags and closed the container. Cheng told investigators that his food for the flight consisted of a candy bar.

The cargo hold where the container was placed was 60 to 65 degrees, and was pressurized. Cargo holds on a Boeing 747 can range from 38 degrees up to 85 degrees, depending on the location in the plane.

“That aircraft flies at 40,000 feet. If it wasn’t pressurized, he would have died of lack of oxygen,” Wilson said. “If it wasn’t heated, he might have froze.”