“We just hit somebody, we have an engine fire.” That was the pilot’s call to air traffic control after Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 struck a person on a runway at Denver International Airport during takeoff, according to audio from the ATC app. “There was an individual walking across the runway,” he told the controller.
The person died. The airport said the plane hit a pedestrian at about 11:19 p.m. on Friday, May 8, 2026, and that a brief engine fire was put out quickly by the Denver Fire Department. Crews bussed passengers to the terminal. “231 souls were on board,” the airport wrote on X. The NTSB has been notified, and Runway 17L stays closed during the investigation.
A breach at the fence
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday morning that the person broke through airport security by scaling a perimeter fence and running onto the runway. “The trespasser on the runway was then struck by Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 during takeoff at high speed. The pilot stopped takeoff procedures immediately,” Duffy wrote on X.
The plane was evacuated quickly, he said. Preliminary reports put 12 people hurt, 5 of them taken to the hospital. Local law enforcement handles airport security and is investigating with support from the FAA and TSA. “No one should EVER trespass on an airport,” Duffy added.
An airport spokesperson told Fox News Digital that security teams and Denver Police regularly patrol the perimeter. The person scaled the barbed-wire fence and was hit within two minutes, the spokesperson said. The airport later posted that it had examined the fenceline and found it intact, and said it was “extremely saddened by this incident”.
ABC News reported that the person was struck and “at least partially consumed” by one of the plane’s engines. Frontier told Fox News Digital it is conducting its own investigation.
On the plane
Passenger Jose Cervantes described the moment to CBS News. “We were already taking off, and we’re going pretty fast, and I felt like the plane started to tilt up when out of nowhere, it just, we felt like a thud and heard, like, an explosion,” he said.
He was seated by the wing. “I looked to my right and I just see, like, the right wing just on fire,” Cervantes said, and the crew shut the aircraft off right away. The plane came down and swerved from side to side. Then the cabin began to fill with smoke, he said, and the evacuation started.
Sources
Sources
- Frontier Airlines jet strikes 'trespasser' on Denver airport runway
- Frontier Airlines jet reports striking person on Denver runway…
