Posted on 05/09/2026 5:16:47 AM PDT by V_TWIN
A Frontier Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles reportedly struck a person walking on the runway at Denver International Airport on Friday night, according to the airline.
The incident happened during takeoff at around 10:15 p.m.
In audio traffic control recordings, the pilot can be heard saying the engine caught fire and smoke was in the aircraft before telling ATC the plane had to be evacuated on the runway.
Out of precaution, the passengers used slides to evacuate, Frontier Airlines said in a statement.
"We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities," the Frontier statement read, in part. "We are deeply saddened by this event."
The Airbus A321 had 224 passengers and seven crew members on board, according to Frontier. It was scheduled to land at Los Angeles International Airport at 12:16 a.m., but it appears it had been rescheduled for Saturday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbclosangeles.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
"the pilot can be heard saying the engine caught fire and smoke was in the cabin"
-
Having made my career in the aviation field I'm pretty confident the fire was the result of the person being ingested into the engine......a horrible way to go to be sure however, it's very possible this was a deliberate act of suicide.
Clean up on Runway 3!.........
Wet vac only required. 😟
You’re gonna need a bigger mop...
CC
“I can’t afford a burial plot.”
“Have you considered ...”
Just how does a person manage to elevate themselves so as to be ingested in engine?
🎶 Might as well jump! 🎶
I don’t think you have to get terribly close in order to get sucked off the ground and ingested. I’ve seen films.
“how does a person manage to elevate themselves so as to be ingested in engine?”
Its really not a matter of elevation.
Given the immense suction of a turbine engine, it wouldn’t be difficult at all.
Foreign objects ingested into jet engines has plagued aviation since the first jet engine flew.
The article says it was an Airbus A-321. If you were to walk up to one of the engines, the lower lip of the inlet cowl would be about waist high. If the engine was at idle, it would pull you in.
Actually, I think it’s pretty easy.
The same way dust elevates itself into a vacuum cleaner.
Darwin wins again.
The engines on an Airbus A321 are low to the ground.
It’s like the mouth of a bass once the fan blades are spun up. It sucks in the air in front of it, creating a vacuum, with enough force to lift things off the ground and into the engine’s intake.
There’s a video out there of a jet preparing to be catapulted off a carrier deck. It’s on the verge of being launch when a deck hand gets ingested into one of the intakes. Some piece of metal on the deck hand’s gear gets hang up and his hands and arms strain on the rim of the intake at the force being generated, the fan blades just inches from his face. Even switched off, it takes some long, agonizing seconds before the force slacks off enough for the sailor to be pulled back out.
One of the Concords (supersonic airliner) was fatally disabled when a piece of metallic debris on the runway was ingested into its engines, initiating a catastrophic failure.
Airfields, runways, and career decks constantly have to be cleared and monitored for debris, birds and other animals, and vagrants.
Just passing through.....
Maybe or a doper where am I what’s that noise.............
Hamburger Helper.
There was a video last year of a black women baggage handler being injested after getting too close.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.