A man left his car on the street outside the Phoenix airport on Monday evening, got onto airport property, and made his way onto the airfield. Just before 6 p.m., American Airlines Flight 1804 to Tampa contacted the Tower:
Tower: “American 1804, Tower. You see the guy over there by G1? … walking on the runway?”
AA1804: “The guy walking on the runway?”
Tower: “Yes, sir.”
AA1804: “No, we don’t.”
Tower: “He’s clear of the runway for that landing traffic, but he’s like waving his arms at me right now.”
ATC: “There’s a guy walking on the runway?”
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport this evening, some nut job tried to flag down an American Airlines flight and then started running down the runway. Maybe they missed their flight?
Audio via @theATCapp pic.twitter.com/nj7J5Dghos
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) February 24, 2026
Tower immediately called airport ops and warned he was about to cross onto the active surface:
Tower: “We’re calling the ops right now. Hopefully we’ll get somebody out there shortly. … He’s about ready to cross the, uh, hold short line.”
Tower: “American 1804, roger, just hold position.”
AA1804: “We’ll hold.”
Phoenix police detained the man and transported him to a hospital for evaluation after determining he was experiencing a mental health crisis
Another pilot reported the man left his shoes on Runway 7 Right.
.@PhoenixPolice responded around 5:15pm. Per police: “Officers were able to detain the man, who was later identified as being in crisis.” Man was transported to a hospital for evaluation.— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) February 24, 2026
A woman took a run past a Spirit AIrlines jet and that wound up in a pretty harsh takedown. Here a Spirit Airlines passenger https://viewfromthewing.com/spirit-airlines-karen-misses-flight-and-runs-out-onto-tarmac-as-passengers-applaud-her-arrest/” target=_blank>ran onto the tarmac and passengers applauded her arrest.
This man in Denver ran onto the airflield trying to stop a United flight because he was late trying to make it to his 40th high school reunion. These things never end well for the person doing the running, but sadly sometimes they end tragically.
Presumably he walked on from the desert on the southern side of the airport. There’s a hiking trail (paved) that you get excellent views of planes taking off and landing. Only you’d not want to encounter this nutjob on said trail.
@George Nathan Romey would know. He’s a PHX/MIA-expert. Tell us about the two tiny Admirals Clubs, Mr. Key!
Sometimes we forget just how many bat shit crazy people that are loose.
@Michael,
And a lot of them post comments on here and other travel blog sites.