Nothing is Impossible: An aircraft is a big place and how a Russian used it to reach LA without visa, passport, ticket

A strange incident occurred when a Russian man named Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava landed at Los Angeles International Airport on a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen, Denmark, on November 4, without ticket, passport or visa, FBI reported in a criminal complaint filed on November 6. Customs and Border Protection officials at LAX discovered Ochigava was not even listed on any flight passenger list. Ochigava claimed to have left his US passport on the plane, but a search on the CBP database yielded no results. Upon further inspection of his belongings, officials found what appeared to be Russian and Israeli identification cards. Scandinavian Airlines reported that Ochigava’s passport was not located on the flight, and they are cooperating with relevant authorities. FBI Special Agent Caroline A. Walling, in the complaint, highlighted the absence of documentation regarding Ochigava’s visa application or approval. Additionally, Ochigava displayed unusual behavior during the flight, frequently changing seats and requesting two meals during each service, even attempting to consume the cabin crew’s chocolate. Ochigava, claiming to hold a PhD in economics and marketing, asserted he had not slept for three days and could not explain how he boarded the plane without the necessary documents. The FBI charged him with being a stowaway on an aircraft, a crime that could lead to imprisonment for up to five years under the US Code. This incident follows a pattern of stowaways being discovered in recent years. Notably, in January 2022, a man survived a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam by hiding in a cargo plane, and in July 2019, another man was found in the landing gear compartment of an American Airlines flight in Miami. Despite multiple attempts, the FBI, Scandinavian Airlines, and Ochigava’s attorney, J’me Forrest, did not respond to requests for comment outside regular office hours. The matter is currently under investigation by authorities in both the US and Denmark.