{"id":210286,"date":"2026-05-10T03:43:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/frontier-airlines-plane-fatally-strikes-person-during-takeoff-at-denver-airport-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T03:43:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:43:50","slug":"frontier-airlines-plane-fatally-strikes-person-during-takeoff-at-denver-airport-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/frontier-airlines-plane-fatally-strikes-person-during-takeoff-at-denver-airport-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Frontier Airlines plane fatally strikes person during takeoff at Denver airport – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passengers evacuated safely after person jumped perimeter fence and walked on to runway, airport spokesperson says
A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed <\/strong>a person on the runway of Denver<\/a>\u2019s international airport during takeoff, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate, authorities said.
The plane, headed to Los Angeles, \u201creported striking a pedestrian during takeoff\u201d at about 11.19pm on Friday, the Denver airport\u2019s official X account wrote<\/a>.
An airport spokesperson said the person who was hit by the plane had jumped a perimeter fence and died.
The dead person has not been identified but was believed to be an airport employee. The person had been at the airport for about two minutes before being hit, the facility spokesperson said.
Trump\u2019s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, described the person killed as a \u201ctrespasser\u201d who breached security at Denver\u2019s airport, \u201cdeliberately scaled a permit fence and ran out on to a runway\u201d.
\u201cThe tresspasser on the runway was then struck by Frontier Airlines\u201d flight 4345 \u201cduring takeoff at high speed\u201d, Duffy added in an X post<\/a>.
Duffy also said 12 people were hurt, and five of those were hospitalized. He said local law enforcement in charge of airport security would investigate that aspect with support from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The X post from Duffy concluded with: \u201cNo one should EVER trespass on an airport.\u201d
The pilot of plane involved told the control tower at one point, \u201cWe\u2019re stopping on the runway,\u201d according to the site ATC.com. \u201cWe just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.\u201d
The pilot told the air traffic controller they have \u201c231 souls\u201d on board \u2013 and that an \u201cindividual was walking across the runway\u201d.
The air traffic controller responded that they were \u201crolling the trucks now\u201d before the pilot told the tower they \u201chave smoke in the aircraft\u201d.
\u201cWe are going to evacuate on the runway,\u201d the pilot added.
Frontier Airlines said that \u201csmoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff\u201d after the collision. It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the person.
The plane, an Airbus A321, \u201cwas carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members\u201d, the airline said. \u201cWe are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.\u201d
Passengers were then evacuated using slides, and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. Meanwhile, firefighters responded to the plane, Duffy said.
Denver\u2019s airport said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had been notified and that runway 17L \u2013 where the incident took place \u2013 will remain closed while an investigation is conducted.
A video that appeared to be taken by a flight passenger and circulating on social media evidently showed the moment the person was struck. The video captured the sound of a loud crash as well as people screaming.
Video of passengers getting off the plane also evidently showed blood on the inside of the aircraft\u2019s engine casing.
Friday\u2019s episode at Denver\u2019s airport came one day after a Delta Airline employee died on Thursday night at Orlando\u2019s international airport when a vehicle struck a jet bridge next to an airplane with passengers onboard, as the local news outlet WESH<\/a> reported.
Meanwhile, on 3 May, a United Airlines plane arriving in Newark, New Jersey, from Venice, Italy, clipped<\/a> a delivery truck and a light pole, which in turn struck a Jeep. Only the delivery truck driver was injured, but the plane was damaged extensively and the NTSB classified the case as an accident while also opening an investigation.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passengers evacuated safely after person jumped perimeter fence and walked on to runway, airport spokesperson saysA Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a person on the runway of Denver\u2019s international airport during takeoff, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate, authorities said.The plane, headed to Los Angeles, \u201creported striking a pedestrian during takeoff\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}