Colorado officials ID man killed by Frontier plane at Denver airport, give new details on incident

"A 41-year-old man struck and killed by a plane taking off at Denver International Airport was intending to end his own life when he scaled a remote fence and walked onto a runway, authorities said Tuesday. Sterling McLaren, chief medical examiner for the city and county of Denver, said no note was recovered and officials determined the cause of death to be suicide based on their post-mortem examination. She did not provide further details. The man was identified as Michael Mott."

"The collision involving the Frontier Airlines plane sparked an engine fire that forced passengers to evacuate. A black-and-white video released by the airport shows, from a distance, a tiny figure walking toward the runway with arms swaying. The person crosses onto the runway at a slight angle and seconds later the plane is seen speeding past. It appears to strike the person with its right engine, which bursts into flame upon impact. Passengers were evacuated via slides."

"An airport spokesperson said 12 people sustained minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals. Breaches of airport perimeters by trespassers is a longstanding problem that happen regularly, perhaps dozens annually nationwide, said security expert Jeff Price, who assistant director of security at the Denver airport in the 1990s. Denver International Airport is located northeast of the city center and surrounded by about 36 miles of perimeter fence, which airport officials say is continuously inspected."

"The vast majority of airport trespassers are intoxicated or simply "messing around just to see if they could do it," said Price, adding that they typically don't post a real threat. Denver also gets the rare individual who will jump the fence seeking to prove a long-running conspiracy theory about a UFO base being based at the airport, he said. The Transportation Security Administration oversees airport security programs, including perimeter security requirements."

A 41-year-old man, identified as Michael Mott, was killed when a Frontier Airlines plane struck him during takeoff at Denver International Airport. Authorities said he intended to end his own life after scaling a remote fence and walking onto a runway. No suicide note was recovered, and a post-mortem examination led officials to determine the death was suicide. The collision triggered an engine fire that forced passengers to evacuate using slides. Twelve people sustained minor injuries, and five were taken to hospitals. Airport perimeter breaches by trespassers occur regularly, often involving intoxication or curiosity, while rare cases involve people seeking to promote conspiracy theories. TSA oversees airport security programs, including perimeter security requirements.

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