Denver airport security missed trespasser who was killed by plane on runway
Frontier Airlines jetliner number n646fr sits outside the airlines technical operations center with other jetliners in for service north of Denver International Airport Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Denver. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Workers at Denver airport missed a security breach by a man who scaled a perimeter fence and crossed a runway where he was hit and killed in a fiery collision by a plane with 231 people on board, authorities said Tuesday.
The runway fatality underscores the longstanding challenge of keeping intruders out of major airports. Denver International Airport sprawls across 53 square miles (138 square kilometers) — twice the size of Manhattan — on open prairie northeast of the city center.
The 41-year-old trespasser triggered an alarm as he crossed into the airport in a remote area about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the terminal late Friday night. But security personnel mistakenly attributed that alarm to a herd of deer that was nearby and the airport did not find out about the intruder until after the fact, when the pilot notified the control tower that the plane had hit somebody.
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