Frontier Airlines plane hits person on runway during takeoff at Denver airport | Denver
A Frontier Airlines plane hit a person on the runway of Denver international airport during takeoff, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate, officials said.
According to the Denver airport’s official wrote.
Neither the airport nor the airline disclosed the person’s condition.
“We’re standing on the runway,” the pilot of the plane involved told the control tower at one point, according to ATC.com. “We just hit someone. There was a fire in the engine.”
The pilot told the air traffic controller that there were “231 people” on the plane and that “one person was walking on the runway.”
The air traffic controller said they were “rolling the trucks” before the pilot told the tower “there’s smoke on the plane.”
“We will evacuate from the runway,” the pilot added.
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that the plane involved in the collision was Flight 4345 and that “smoke was billowing from the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It is not yet known whether the smoke is related to the person involved in the accident.
The airline said the Airbus A321 plane was “carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.” “We are investigating this incident and gathering further information in coordination with the airport and other security authorities.”
Passengers were then evacuated using slides and the emergency team took them to the terminal by bus.
The Denver airport said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident occurred, will remain closed until an investigation is conducted.
Friday’s incident at the Denver airport came a day after a Delta Airline employee died Thursday night when a vehicle crashed into the jet bridge next to a plane with passengers at Orlando international airport, the local news outlet reported. WESH reported.
Meanwhile, a United Airlines plane arriving in Newark, New Jersey, from Venice, Italy, on May 3 hit a delivery truck and a utility pole, which in turn hit a Jeep. Only the delivery truck driver was injured, but the plane suffered major damage, and the NTSB classified the incident as an accident while also opening an investigation.
