CNN, KABC, KCNC, KEVIN CARTAS, CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, LUIS<\/p>\n
(CNN) \u2014 Denver International Airport is conducting a safety analysis after a person who jumped over a fence into a runway was struck and killed by a plane<\/a> during takeoff late Friday.<\/p>\n The fatal incident has drawn scrutiny to the airport\u2019s security protocols \u2013 and highlighted the challenges of securing a facility twice the size of Manhattan.<\/p>\n The pedestrian, who has not been identified, was killed just two minutes after they jumped a perimeter fence and crossed a runway at the airport. The pilots of the Frontier Airlines Airbus, which was headed to Los Angeles, quickly aborted takeoff. Twelve people were injured during the incident.<\/p>\n Surveillance video taken before the collision shows a blurry figure \u2013 tiny in comparison to the jet and the expanse of land around them \u2013 standing on the runway.<\/p>\n Then the figure is overtaken by the plane, engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re stopping on the runway,\u201d a pilot said, according to audio from ATC.com. \u201cWe just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.\u201d<\/p>\n The airport said it would \u201cperform an incident analysis and after action in the coming days which will include reviewing the ongoing investigation, including our perimeter security program.\u201d<\/p>\n There are 36 miles of perimeter fence at the airport, according to its statement, and staff perform continuous inspections.<\/p>\n Denver International Airport is the nation\u2019s third busiest by passengers, behind only Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s massive: At 53 square miles, the airport is larger than San Francisco, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n That makes securing its facilities a challenge, according to experts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more expansive the land area of an airport, the more perimeter to defend, the more remote areas, and the more complex terrain, all of which provide more opportunities for unauthorized entry,\u201d explained William Rankin, an adjunct professor at Florida Institute of Technology who researches airport management and safety.<\/p>\n Still, pedestrian incursions are extremely rare, Rankin said. Publicly available data shows there are just a handful of pedestrian incursions \u2013 between zero to five \u2013 each year on average, he said.<\/p>\n Fatal pedestrian-aircraft collisions like Friday night\u2019s are even rarer, happening less than once per year on average, he said.<\/p>\n The incident \u201cwas an extremely rare event and should not make the public less confident in the security of the major US airports,\u201d Rankin said.<\/p>\n Past security breaches<\/p>\n As rare as pedestrian incursions are, this isn\u2019t the first time someone has breached a perimeter fence at the Denver airport.<\/p>\n Eight people \u2013 including both pedestrians and drivers \u2013 breached the fence between 2004 and 2015, an investigation by The Associated Press<\/a> found.<\/p>\n At the time, an airport spokesperson<\/a> said, \u201cWe believe many folks do not realize they are even on airport property \u2014 it looks like farmland and a breach may be miles and miles away from a runway or the terminal.\u201d<\/p>\n The AP found 268 perimeter breaches across the country during the same period. They span from intentional stowaways to seemingly accidental trespassing. The Denver incidents included a drunk 28-year-old who drove through a perimeter fence and a man who climbed the fence and said he was on his way to work, according to the Denver Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n FAA data shows<\/a> there were 70 \u201cvehicle\/pedestrian deviations\u201d at airports across the US in the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n Some breaches just cause embarrassment for airport management \u2013 like when a stranded jet skier swam to shore<\/a> and climbed a fence at New York City\u2019s JFK airport, bypassing a $100 million security system. He walked across at least one runway seemingly undetected.<\/p>\n But in other instances, people have been killed after airport security breaches.<\/p>\n In 2020, a man was struck and killed by a commercial jet landing at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, according to the AP<\/a>. The 22-year-old didn\u2019t have a security badge<\/a> and it was unclear how he got onto the runway.<\/p>\n A 30-year-old man<\/a> ran onto the runway at Salt Lake City International Airport in 2023. He was found unconscious inside a Delta jet engine and died at the scene, prompting investigations from federal and local authorities.<\/p>\n Airport security challenges<\/p>\n The breaches underscore the difficulty of airport security. The FAA recommends<\/a> security fencing \u201cto slow the access of pedestrians and vehicles onto an airport\u201d and federal regulations<\/a> require airports install \u201csafeguards to prevent inadvertent entry to the movement area by unauthorized persons or vehicles\u201d to be certified.<\/p>\n