The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday it is gathering information about the evacuation of a Frontier Airlines plane after it struck and killed one person on the runway at Denver International Airport during takeoff.
The plane, which was en route to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. Friday,” according to a post on the airport’s official X account.
Passengers were evacuated through slides and emergency crews bused them to the terminal. An airport spokesman said 12 passengers received minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.
Concerns about evacuation
Several people on board expressed concern about the evacuation, including being stuck in the plane for several minutes after smoke filled the cabin and left the tarmac in the cold after they were out. The video also showed several passengers getting off the slide with what appeared to be their carry-on bags.
“We are gathering information about the emergency evacuation to determine if it meets the criteria for a safety investigation,” NTSB spokeswoman Sarah Taylor Sulick said early Sunday, adding that the agency could have more details within hours. Frontier Airlines did not respond early Sunday to a request for information about the evacuation.
Unanswered questions
A spokesman for the Denver Police Department said Sunday that the investigation into the incident was ongoing and that the identity of the person on the runway would be confirmed and released by the Denver Medical Examiner’s Office.
Denver Airport General Manager Phil Washington said he “knows” there are still questions to be answered.
“As this is an active investigation with multiple other agencies involved, it will take some time as we are still confirming what information we can share at this time,” Washington said in a statement. “This was a terrible and preventable tragedy that affected so many because of the actions of one person who apparently trespassed at an airport and lost his life as a result.”
Two minutes after jumping a fence, the person crossed the track and was hit. The only details the airport has released is that they do not believe the person was an airport employee.
Pilot Alarms Control Tower
“We’re stalling on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower, according to ATC.com. “We just hit someone. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot tells the air traffic controller that they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking the runway”. “The air traffic controller replies that they’re “circling the trucks right now” before the pilot tells the tower that “there’s smoke in the plane. We will evacuate to the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one involved in the crash and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear if the smoke was related to the crash.
The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.
“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other security authorities,” the airline said.
Passengers detail the chaotic scene
Passengers said panic set in on the flight after an engine caught fire and the cabin began to fill with smoke. “Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” passenger Mohamed Hassan told Colorado’s 9NEWS.
“A lot of people next to me were screaming and crying. I just closed my eyes,” he said. “At that time, you’re not really thinking about anything, you know? Because we were just about to take off and I heard that boom, so I wasn’t sure what happened. I just thought something really, really bad happened.”
Passenger Nikil Thalanki told local media that he felt “this jerk” as the plane was about to take off, adding that it felt like the wheels had left the ground but then returned.
“There was fire in the engine. There were a lot of sparks going on. Immediately it stopped,” Thalanki said. “As soon as we saw the sparks in flight, the smoke completely filled the cabin. It was very difficult to breathe.”
Kimberly Randle said passengers were panicking and desperate to get off the plane.
“Within minutes, they finally opened the door. People were running to get off the plane,” he said. “It was chaos everywhere.”
Evacuations on the NTSB radar
The NTSB has for years expressed concern about evacuations, particularly passengers leaving with their luggage. In an April report on the evacuation aboard a United Airlines flight at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the NTSB described a disturbing scene.
Passengers were evacuated via slides and stairs last year from the plane after an engine problem during takeoff caused smoke and fire in the right wing.
Despite the flight attendant telling the passengers to stay seated, some started shouting, “engine fire, let me out!”
This caused “widespread panic” and caused many passengers to get up and start picking up their belongings. Some climbed onto the seats and started blocking the aisle.
Three large men insisted the evacuation take place, passing a flight attendant and descending a chute before it was fully deployed – causing it to deflate and become unusable.
“Cabin crew training emphasizes safe command presence and passenger control during evacuations; however, this event demonstrates how rapidly escalating passenger behavior can affect evacuation dynamics even in the absence of confirmed fire or smoke conditions,” according to the report.
The incident in Denver came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident or the employee’s name.
“We are focused on our full support for the family and caring for our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation takes place to establish what happened.” By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
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