Denver airport workers missed a security breach by a man who scaled a perimeter fence and crossed a runway where he was hit and killed by a plane with 231 people on board.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Workers at Denver airport initially missed a security breach by a man who scaled an 8-foot perimeter fence and crossed a runway, where he was hit and killed in a fiery collision by a plane with 231 people on board, authorities said Tuesday.
The runway fatality underscores the longstanding challenge of keeping intruders out of major airports. Denver International Airport sprawls across 53 square miles — twice the size of Manhattan — on open prairie northeast of the city center. The 41-year-old trespasser triggered an alarm as he crossed into the airport in a remote area about 2 miles from the terminal late Friday night. But security personnel mistakenly attributed the alarm to a nearby herd of deer.
Authorities said the man died by suicide. However, no note from the victim was immediately recovered. The manner of death was determined based on the investigation at the scene, a records review and a postmortem examination, said Sterling McLaren, chief medical examiner for the city and county of Denver. The collision involving the Frontier Airlines plane as it was taking off for Los Angeles sparked an engine fire that forced passengers to evacuate via slides.
Twelve people sustained minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals. Four have since been released, said airport Chief Executive Officer Phillip Washington. A black-and-white video released by the airport shows, from a distance, a figure walking toward the runway with arms swaying. The person crosses onto the runway at a slight angle, and seconds later, the plane is seen speeding past.
It strikes the person with its right engine, which bursts into flame. A few minutes before the man scaled the fence, a ground-based radar system activated in the area, triggering an alarm. An airport worker checked a surveillance camera and saw a herd of deer in the same area, but did not initially see the trespasser, Washington said.
"The camera view was alternating between the wildlife and the individual. There are some ditches in the area, so the person was out of view for a bit as well," Washington said. He said federal officials notified the airport about the trespasser. Because of the remote location and short time period between the man scaling the fence and crossing the runway, Washington said airport personnel were not able to intervene.
The man crossed about 650 feet from the fence to the runway before being struck and killed by the Frontier Airlines plane traveling at 150 mph on takeoff.
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