The person who was struck and killed by an airplane on a runway at Denver International Airport on Friday has been identified by authorities.
The person, Michael Mott, 41, jumped over the airport’s perimeter fence on Friday night minutes before he was hit while crossing a runway as a Frontier Airlines jet was taking off, airport officials said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Mr. Mott died from multiple, blunt and sharp force injuries, Sterling McLaren, the chief medical examiner of Denver, said. She added that his death was ruled a suicide.
The pilots immediately aborted the takeoff after reporting an engine fire and telling air traffic controllers that there was smoke inside, and the plane was evacuated. Passengers exited the jet on the runway using emergency slides.
The Frontier Airbus A321 jet, with 224 passengers and seven crew members, was leaving on Flight 4345 to Los Angeles International Airport when the accident took place, according to Frontier and the Federal Aviation Administration. Frontier is based in Denver.
The plane came to a stop on the runway soon after it started accelerating for takeoff, according to the aviation tracking website Flightradar24.
Denver Airport said in a statement that the episode happened at about 11:20 p.m. and that firefighters put out an engine fire on the plane. The airport said that 12 people sustained minor injuries, with five taken to nearby hospitals. One person remained in the hospital on Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board, the F.A.A., officials at the airport and local agencies were all investigating the accident.
The airport said on Saturday that officials examined its fence line after the intrusion and found it to be intact. But officials planned to conduct a full examination.
In a social media post, Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, described the person killed as a trespasser who “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”
Sonia A. Rao contributed reporting.
Christina Morales is a national reporter for The Times.
The post Person Killed on Runway at Denver Airport Is Identified appeared first on New York Times.




