Passengers described panic after a border plane hit a person on takeoff on a Denver runway, forcing the pilot to abort the flight.
DENVER — Passengers describe panic and confusion after a Frontier Airlines flight took off from Denver International Airport Hit someone on the runway during takeoffforcing the pilot to abort the flight.
The airline said the Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members when the incident occurred. Authorities said the person broke through an airport fence and entered the runway area.
Frontier said that smoke appeared in the cabin after the impact, and the airport later confirmed that there was a brief engine fire, but it was extinguished by firefighters.
The passenger was eventually rebooked on another flight to LAX.
Several travelers described the experience as horrific.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” said passenger Mohammed Hassan. “A lot of people next to me were screaming and crying. I just closed my eyes. At the time, you’re not really thinking about anything, you know? Because we were about to take off and I heard the roar, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. I just felt like something really, really bad had happened.”
Passenger Nikil Thalanki said the plane appeared to briefly leave the ground before returning.
“There was this sudden vibration in the plane, and then we were about to take off,” Taranki said. “I think our wheels came off the ground and we went down immediately. The engine caught fire. There were a lot of sparks. It stopped immediately. When we saw the sparks on the plane, the smoke completely filled the cabin. It was very difficult to breathe.”
Taranki said passengers remained seated for several minutes before the exits opened.
“This was never supposed to happen,” Taranki said. “Someone has to take responsibility, that’s what I’m saying.”
Another passenger, Omnasch Agarwal, said he was awakened by flashes of light and fire outside the plane as it took off.
“I woke up and I saw to my right side. There was a bright orange light coming through,” Agarwal said. “Everyone started screaming. It was a very strange atmosphere and then sparks flew and then it caught fire.”
He said passengers were asked to remain in their seats despite the visible flames.
“We heard the news about staying seated,” Agarwal said. “So in my mind, I thought, obviously the engine was on fire — but, like, what to do? We couldn’t stand up. We had to stay in our seats. We couldn’t unbuckle our seat belts. It was a — just a weird time.”
Passenger Karen Moon said the passengers were then taken to the airport to await the arrival of emergency personnel.
“It was very confusing at first,” Moon said. “We had to stay in the fields and then they had buses. They brought us in and then there was a long wait before they could do anything.”
Moon said many passengers were initially unable to retrieve their luggage because investigators needed to gain access to the plane.
“A lot of us have stuff on the plane, but they can’t get into the plane because they have to investigate,” Moon said. “Now our luggage – they took all our information, so they were trying really hard to get our luggage to us as quickly as possible, but they were nice to us.”
It could be worse, she added.
“Of course, when you know what happened, you find it very scary and very sad,” Moon said. “You know, I feel bad for the pilot. But we’re alive. Nothing happened to us except a little inconvenience. We’re alive, and that’s a good thing, right?”
Franco Valera, who was traveling with his family, said he initially thought the plane might have hit a car.
“I was just trying to relax because everyone was screaming and people were on their feet,” Valera said. “It was a little scary. (…) It was really weird because I didn’t expect it to happen. I thought we hit someone, a car.”
Another passenger, Kimberly Randle, said many people feared the worst as smoke and panic spread inside the cabin.
“I felt like it was going to explode,” Randall said. “They were trying to get us to calm down – calm down, calm down – because people were panicking.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident along with local police.
