( CNN ) -- The California teenager who defied laws and nature by surviving a plane ride to Hawaii as a stowaway in the wheel well says he remembers seeing the ocean from 38,000 feet above Earth . `` It was above the clouds , I could see through the little holes , '' Yahya Abdi , 15 , of Santa Clara told CNN affiliate KPIX on Wednesday . In his first interview since sneaking into an airliner 's wheel compartment in April , the boy from Somalia said he sneaked into the Maui-bound Boeing 767 in a scheme to see his mother in Africa , where she lives in a refugee camp in Ethiopia . Yahya planned for some time to sneak onto the tarmac of San Jose International Airport , and he finally hopped the airport fence on April 20 shortly after 1 a.m. After eluding detection for six hours , he finally chose a plane to crawl into -- randomly . `` I took that plane because it was the closest one I could find that was going to go west , '' Yahya told the news outlet in an online interview using Google Chat . That plane ride lasted five and a half hours , reaching an altitude of 38,000 feet where the oxygen is thin and temperatures fall below freezing . Yet , Yahya survived -- something he still has trouble believing . He was temporarily hospitalized in Hawaii after being discovered and caught . His defiance of airport security and danger drew national attention . The boy crouched in the wheel well as the airliner took off and covered his ears , he told the station . He sat on the inside of the plane 's shell , and he told authorities that he lost consciousness during some of the flight . Yahya has since regained some of his hearing and is now in good physical condition . Before the boy became a stowaway , he became a runaway : He left his stepmother 's home in April because he was unhappy there , he told the affiliate . His fleeing had nothing to do with his troubles at school , he said . `` I only did it because I did n't want to live with my stepmom . Second of all , I wanted to find my mom . I have n't seen her since I was young , '' the boy said . He last saw his mother when he was 7 years old . He misses her , and he spoke to her by phone on Tuesday , he told the news outlet . `` I would tell her to live with me in America , '' he said . A high school student who will be a junior next fall , Yahya is now staying at a temporary foster home and hopes to move soon to Minneapolis to live with an aunt , he told the affiliate . He wants to join the U.S. Army after graduation . But federal authorities have n't indicated yet whether they will allow the boy to board a plane to fly to Minnesota , KPIX reported . In the meantime , Yahya says he 's enjoying typical teenager activities . `` I 've been going to the movie theater and playing video games , '' he said . As for anyone thinking of repeating his amazing stunt , he has this advice . `` They should n't run away because sometimes they will end up dying , '' he told the affiliate . New video surfaces of teen stowaway jumping out of plane . Stowaway raises questions about airport security . 5 stowaway attempts that did n't end tragically .
Yahya Abdi , 15 , recounts his death - defying experience hiding in a plane wheel well . He remembers seeing the ocean on his flight from California to Hawaii . He randomly boards a plane heading west in an attempt to see his family in California . He advises others not to repeat his stunt because ` ` they will end up dying ''