New thermal-imaging surveillance footage has captured the moment a person walked onto a runway at Denver International Airport before being struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines jet. The collision occurred at 11:19 p.m. on Friday as Flight 4345, bound for Los Angeles, was accelerating for takeoff.
“We’re stopping on the runway. Uh, we just hit somebody… we have an engine fire,” the pilot told air traffic control in a recording released by ATC.com. The impact triggered an engine fire on the Airbus A321 and sent smoke into the cabin, prompting the crew to abort departure and evacuate 224 passengers and seven crew members via emergency slides.
Shortly before the incident, an individual climbed a fence onto the runway, according to transportation officials. The person killed has not been identified, but airport officials confirmed it was not a member of airport staff. Twelve passengers suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, and five were taken to local hospitals.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the individual as a “trespasser” who had “deliberately scaled a perimeter fence” approximately two minutes before the collision. “No one should EVER trespass on an airport,” Duffy wrote on X.
Airport radio traffic indicates that crews became aware of a person on the runway at 11:18 p.m., just one minute before the strike. Aviation experts suggest that even with immediate detection, stopping a plane already in its takeoff roll is exceptionally difficult. “Their jet was already rolling,” said Randy Klatt, a retired pilot and flight safety officer.
The Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, and Denver Police are investigating the security breach. The National Transportation Safety Board is also gathering information. Frontier Airlines said it was “deeply saddened by this event” and is cooperating with investigators.
