STORM2K

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 via Fort Wayne.

After hours of traveling, the 25-year-old New York City man 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 delivery man and walked away.

The delivery man called DeSoto police, who arrested him on outstanding Texas warrants.

Officials said McKinley's crate was put aboard a pressurized Boeing 727 from Kennedy International Airport to Fort Wayne. The crate was transferred to a second plane bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating.

An FBI spokeswoman says it's amazing McKinley survived. Officials say he spent at least half a day in the crate.

Is there a law against mailing yourself? I guess he couldn't find a big enough envelope, nor did he have enough stamps, to use the US Postal Service to mail himself.

Why couldn't he just save enough money and go to http://www.hotwire.com, http://www.priceline.com, http://www.expedia.com, or whatever money-saving website to book a flight?

I've heard of "Fly, sleep, drive cheap" but this is REDICULOUS!!!!

This is a man that knew he was going to jail and didn't care. I wonder why?

Thats pretty sad that our security is still so poor at airports! Especially this close to 9/11!

I heard about this. I think the guy worked for some company like UPS and decided it would be a good idea to send himself home as a surprise. I think he scared some guy loading the crates because the person thought he was dead. A little scary how dumb people can be sometimes.