This archive report was first published on 6 November 2019.
On November 6, 2019, a Kenya Airways Boeing 787-8, registration 5Y-KZC, was on its way from Johannesburg to Nairobi when the crew was informed of a maintenance engineer who should have been left behind.
The crew quickly turned the plane around and returned to Johannesburg, where the engineer was found safe and sound.
According to reports by Aviation Herald News, the plane stayed at the airport for almost an hour before resuming its journey to Nairobi.
"While levelling off at FL310 the crew turned around and returned to Johannesburg for a safe landing on runway 03R about 30 minutes later," the Aviation Herald reported.
"While the aircraft vacated the runway the crew reported, 'He's here and conscious!'", the Aviation Herald added.
Just a few months prior, in July 2019, an unidentified male fell off a Kenya Airways flight to London as it began its descent to the Heathrow Airport after a nine-hour flight from Nairobi.
Police investigations confirmed that the man's body, which had smashed into a garden in a residential property in Clapham, South London, was a stowaway.
The stowaway is believed to have concealed himself in the plane's rear left landing gear well, risking being crushed or burned by the wheels as soon as they were retracted after the flight's takeoff.
OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg
Man who fell off a Kenya Airways flight to London
