Person dies after being hit by Frontier Airlines plane that was taking
off at Denver airport
[May 11, 2026]
By MICHAEL CASEY
A person who jumped a fence and was on a runway at Denver International
Airport was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during
takeoff, airport authorities said. The collision sparked an engine fire
and forced passengers to evacuate.
The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport,
“reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately
11:19 p.m. on Friday,” according to a post on the airport’s official X
account.
A spokesperson for the airport said the person, who jumped a perimeter
fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes
after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport
employee.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower
according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine
fire.”
The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on
board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”
The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks
now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft.
We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one
involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and
the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was
linked to the collision.
The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew
members.
“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in
coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” the airline
said.
Passengers were evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them
to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered
minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.
One passenger, Jacob Anthens, posted video showing people sliding down
with their backpacks. He also posted photos of what looked like a
damaged engine.
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Frontier Airlines jetliner number n646fr sits outside the airlines
technical operations center with other jetliners in for service
north of Denver International Airport Saturday, May 9, 2026, in
Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
“As we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was
so much smoke we couldn’t even see 1 ft in front of us,” Anthens
said on his Facebook page, adding that passengers had to wait for
over a hour on the runway and “still no transport or help with the
cold.”
Other video shows passengers calmly walking down the aisle of the
plane and using the slide to evacuate. They were told to step away
from the plane.
Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had
been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place,
was closed amid an investigation. It reopened Saturday around 11
a.m.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the
person “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport,
deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”
He added: “No one should EVER trespass on an airport.”
The incident came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed
while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a
statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night
without providing details of the incident or the name of the
employee.
“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking
care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline
said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation
gets underway to determine what occurred.”
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