An individual was struck and killed by a passenger jet after storming an active runway at Denver International Airport on Friday night, according to authorities.
The shocking incident unfolded at around 11:20 p.m. on Friday night.
Frontier Flight 4345 was in the processing of taking off when the aircraft struck a person who was then sucked into the engine, sparking a fire.
Passengers have shared footage purportedly showing the moment of impact and the aftermath.
Pilots aborted takeoff and 231 souls onboard were promptly evacuated and bussed to the terminal.
As usual, passengers evacuating Frontier Airlines flight 4345 were seen bringing their luggage down the emergency slides.
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) May 9, 2026
You can also hear the cabin crew loudly instructing passengers to move away from the aircraft immediately after evacuating. https://t.co/6SX5Mx9D1w pic.twitter.com/K1318lAozl
“Late last night, a trespasser breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway,” Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explained in a statement issued on Saturday morning.
“The trespasser on the runway was then struck by Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 during takeoff at high speed.”
Airport authorities say they examined the fenceline and “found it to be intact.”
“DEN can confirm the pedestrian jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway. The pedestrian is deceased, and is not believed to be an employee of the airport nor have they been identified.”
Authorities say 12 passengers were injured, five of whom were hospitalized, but no other fatalities were reported.
An investigation is ongoing.
6 Responses
If he assaulted a passenger jet on its own turf then this wasn’t a kill it was death by intoxication , stupidity or suicide
The same type of person that jumps off the Golden Gate bridge, and why they had to install suicide netting to mitigate it.
This is why we need anti-gravity transportation.
so they can leap off at a good altitude instead having to do all that strenuous work of chasing the the plane down to get run over?
Worse than getting sucked into a jet engine, is the uncomfortable seating on Frontier Airlines.
Definitely sounds to me like someone HIGH on drugs who thought this would be a cool idea, and/or someone suicidal with some fairly unique ideas about how they wanted to go out. I’ll quote Trump from a recent statement: “We live in a crazy world.” That we do.