Video released Sunday by airport officials shows the moment a Frontier passenger jet struck a person on a Denver International Airport runway.
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The black-and-white security video shows a figure approaching a runway and starting to cross it, seemingly at walking pace, when the aircraft streaks into view. The narrow-body Airbus A321 sweeps in from the left as the person vanishes and one of the plane’s engines catches fire.
The collision happened at 11:19 p.m. Friday local time as the Frontier aircraft appeared to be moving rapidly down the runway en route to takeoff for a scheduled flight to Los Angeles International Airport, Denver International Airport said.
The city and county of Denver’s Aviation Department released the video upon a public records request.
Frontier said smoke entered the aircraft’s cabin as the flight was aborted. The plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.
Kevin Cartas, who was on the flight, described hearing an explosion during takeoff Friday, then seeing black smoke fill the cabin as bright orange flames emanated from the engine.
“It was instantaneous panic, that’s what was happening,” Cartas told NBC News. “Screams, crying, yelling, everyone was freaking out because it was just jarring, the noise, how loud this explosion was.”
All Cartas could think about was his wife and son and celebrating their first Mother’s Day together.
“This is not how I wanted my wife to find out if something went worse,” he said.
Passenger Nikil Thalanki told NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver that he felt the aircraft begin to lift for takeoff when the collision took place.
“We immediately came back down, and there was fire on the engine,” he said. “Smoke filled the cabin, completely. It was super hard to breathe.”
Those on board were evacuated on inflatable evacuation slides, Thalanki said. The airport said 12 people reported minor injuries, with five ending up at hospitals.
Cartas said the evacuation process lacked organization, with crew members sharing conflicting messaging, including to head to an exit and remain in their seats. Once everyone was off the plane, it took a couple hours to get back to the terminal, he said.
“At 1:19 a.m., we walked through the terminal and it was freezing out there,” Cartas said.
While waiting in the field, Cartas said, some passengers learned that the plane had struck an individual after someone made a call to a family member.
“We’re in disbelief,” Cartas said, adding that he couldn’t fathom how the individual got onto the tarmac.
The airport said it will review security along its roughly 36 miles of perimeter fencing.
In a statement Sunday, airport CEO Phil Washington characterized the person who was killed as a trespasser. Airport officials said the person did not appear to be an employee of the facility.
Ryann Money, a spokesperson for the Denver Medical Examiner’s Office, said by email that the person’s name, as well as the cause and manner of death, will be released to the public “once our investigation is complete and next of kin have been notified.”
A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information about the collision. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating.
Cartas didn’t get back to his California home until around 7 a.m. Saturday. While he’s very happy to be alive, he questions how something like this could happen.
“There should have been monitoring, there should have been some kind of defense system, or they had thermal images,” he said.
“I know we can’t change the past, but I think there should be some executive actions that we change for the future.”