Friday night a Frontier Airlines flight hit somebody crossing the runway as it was on its way to take off from Denver. You can listen to air traffic control and operations communications as the pilot relayed what happened and emergency responders dispatched.
It appears that the person had breached a perimeter fence near the site of the accident. This is surveillance video of the Frontier jet hitting that individual. I will not embed it for obvious reasons. In the dark and at speed the pilot wouldn’t have seen this person off in the distance.
The plane’s engine caught fire. Fire trucks responded to the scene. Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft. You can see them exiting down the slide. Many bring their carry-on bags with them.
🚨#BREAKING: Watch as a Frontier Airlines aircraft forced to make an emergency after a pedestrian on the runway was struck and sucked into one of the jet’s engines⁰⁰ 📌#Denver | #Colorado
Watch as horrifying footage from earlier this morning shows the moment Frontier Flight… pic.twitter.com/jvaWjzvMey
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 9, 2026
There’s now video from inside the cabin as passengers grabbed their bags to leave the plane – and the conversation around taking bags is insane.
Okay. Leave the bags. Leave the bags. Leave the bags.
I’m taking mine out of here. I’m taking mine out of here. I’m taking mine.
Please leave all belongings. Please leave all belongings. Your belongings are safe. Your lives are more important. Please.
Both are important. I can’t afford neither. Okay. Can we jump? I’m assuming. Come this way. Okay.
I don’t know where your mom is. Mommy! Come here. Hey! Are you okay? Are you okay? Where’s your parents? I got something. Yes.
We don’t want people taking their belongings with them because that takes time. Every second counts and in an emergency there’s some chance that those seconds could be life or death for some passengers.
Some people suggest self-locking overhead bins. That probably makes things worse, as passengers stop and fight the bins, trying to open them, not understanding why they won’t open. Announcing that the bings are locked isn’t going to change much. Passengers will still test them. They’ll still fight to see how well the locks work. That takes more time than just grabbing bags.
And there’s a difference between bags in overhead bins and bags under the seat in front of you that you grab before getting up to evacuate. Both take time. Both take space. Bags from the bins are worse.
There are two basic reasons people take their belongings with them during an evacuation.
- People aren’t thinking, they’re reacting. Adrenaline takes over. There’s a natural instinct to hoard your belongings and you’re just not going to consider the consequences. They aren’t going to worry about what someone might do to them later if they make it out alive.
- People think rationally and know they’re going to have their stuff if they take it with them, but if they leave it behind they may not.
Here’s a frustrated passenger on that flight – they ‘did the right thing’ but they’re being ‘punished for it’. They’re without their stuff, while everyone who behaved selfishly has theirs.
I was there and I didn't take anything but Frontier has yet to find my bags that were in the cabin. I had important stuff in there. So even if I had to do it again I wouldn't take my bags but I would appreciate not being punished for doing the right thing. pic.twitter.com/lCLiyFUVfT
— Self Generated (@SelfGenPodcast) May 10, 2026
I’m not going to moralize this – “straight to jail” “death penalty” and similar comments online are common. I want aircraft emergency evacuations to be as smooth and swift as possible, to save lives. And I think we need to meet people where they are. All the passengers taking video, from inside the cabin and during the evacuation itself – long before being far away from the aircraft – seems at least as dangerous!
Evacuation studies should probably include an assumption about passenger carry-ons. The question isn’t “how do we stop people from taking their carry-on bags” (although that may be one strategy), it’s “how do we get people out in time so that emergencies are survivable?” And those questions should be answered based on how passengers actually behave, which includes bags and includes cell phone video.
Again, the most likely solution to “how do we stop people from taking their carry-on bags” is by disallowing their carry-on bags in the cabin.
Because we can’t have nice things anymore.
Yet another reason to put an AirTag in your carry-ons, as well as in your checked suitcases! Also another reason to not put valuables in your carry-on.
When you leave them on the plane in an evacuation, at least then you can track their location until they are delivered to you.
When a slide evacuation is ordered follow the flight attendant instructions like your life depends on it. Because it does. Every time I see this stupidity we all fall closer to living a horror story.
Having seen numerous videos like this, why are the flight attendants not being assertive during the evacuation? Compare how forceful and assertive other airlines train their flight attendants to very loudly yell, “Come This Way. Leave everything”. This doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzy about Frontier training.
Passengers took carry ons? Unlike a video shot in Russia, I don’t see anyone carrying their full size carry ons. I see however someone carrying their personal items, they all seem to be able to fit under the seat. If the aisle was congested as shown in the video, I’d grab my personal item sized backpack as well with cash and drug inside, as long as I’m not blocking anybody, and I strap it in front of me, not on my back like a pax near the door, so my bag and the slide will be less likely to be damaged.
I think its time we mandate some severe penalties for people that drag a carry-on off the plane, including lots of public shaming and doxxing.
“My bag is more important than your life”
I wonder if some of these people taking their carry-on…or more probably their small personal item actually have something inside the personal item that may save their life… or prevent saving it if left behind indefinitely. Like medications for serious health issues.
There could be shades of grey in play here.