Last 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. Here’s the damage to the plane’s engines from the ingestion.
The extent of damage to Frontier Flight 4345's right engine. https://t.co/6SX5Mx9D1w pic.twitter.com/heZC5RaS0v
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) May 9, 2026
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
The person is confirmed dead. That should have been obvious but wasn’t official yet when I wrote earlier. They were on airport grounds for about two minutes before being hit. The perimeter fence remains intact. We don’t yet know how they bypassed it.
Initial reporting noted one minor injury. In fact, 12 passengers reported minor injuries, and 5 were transported to hospitals.
This is when those PAX who leave with carryons need to be fined $10,000 per bag, banned from flying any aircraft for 2 years. There was an injury during the evac . Did that carry on cause it?
Lock the overhead bins in an emergency.
And by “dead,” we really mean “pureed.”
Taking my bag. Sorry. Get over it.