Man ships himself from N.Y. to Texas

September 9, 2003 (DALLAS) — Charles McKinley found a unique way to save a few bucks getting to his parents’ house: He crawled into a wooden airplane cargo crate and succeeded in shipping himself from New York to Texas.
After hours of traveling, McKinley, 25, of New York City, pried open the crate with a crowbar Saturday morning. He popped up outside his parents’ doorstep in the south Dallas suburb of DeSoto, shook the hand of a shocked deliveryman and walked away.
The deliveryman called DeSoto police, who arrested him on outstanding Texas warrants. The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating.
McKinley has not yet been charged with a crime, officials said.
“It’s amazing that the gentleman survived. It’s absolutely a bizarre case,” said FBI Special Agent Lori Bailey, a spokeswoman for the Dallas field office. “Our concern at this point is to determine how this was done.”
Officials said McKinley’s crate was put aboard a pressurized Boeing 727 from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Fort Wayne, Ind. The crate was transferred to a second plane bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
A ground shipping company picked up the crate and delivered it to the residence of McKinley’s parents. McKinley spent at least half a day in the crate and broke out just in time for the deliveryman to see him.
“We sure don’t see something like this happen like this every day,” DeSoto Police Chief Mike Brodnax said.