Denver Airport Runway Death Ruled Suicide, Identity Revealed
A fatal collision between a commercial passenger jet and a pedestrian on an active runway at Denver International Airport was a deliberate act according to local medical examiners, NYT reports. The victim has been formally identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Denver’s chief medical examiner Sterling McLaren announced that a post-mortem examination concluded Mott died by suicide. He suffered massive blunt force trauma after being drawn into the aircraft’s right engine on Friday evening.
The tragic incident has cast a harsh spotlight on the vast transport hub’s security protocols. Phillip Washington, the airport’s chief executive, revealed that the intruder managed to scale an eight-foot perimeter fence topped with barbed wire situated approximately two miles from the main passenger terminal.
Human factor
While sophisticated ground radar sensors immediately detected the breach and sounded an alarm, human error tragically delayed any response. A security worker reviewing live camera feeds dismissed the alert after concluding a local herd of deer had triggered the system. Officials suspect the airfield’s deep drainage ditches temporarily shielded the trespasser from the cameras.
The timeline of the breach was devastatingly brief. Within just 120 seconds of scaling the boundary, Michael Mott walked onto the tarmac and directly into the path of a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321.
Flight 4345 was rapidly accelerating for a journey to Los Angeles with 224 passengers and seven crew members on board. The impact instantly sparked an engine fire and forced the flight crew to execute a violent high-speed aborted takeoff. As acrid smoke began seeping into the cabin, a panicked evacuation was initiated using the aircraft’s inflatable emergency slides.
Chaotic evacuation
This chaotic escape resulted in minor injuries for a dozen individuals. Five passengers required hospital treatment for further evaluation but four of those have already been discharged.
Denver police chief Ron Thomas clarified that the deceased had no employment ties to the aviation industry but was known to regional law enforcement. Investigators are still searching for a suicide note and have urged any acquaintances of Michael Mott to come forward with relevant information to help establish a timeline of his final days.
A sprawling multi-agency inquiry is now underway to determine exactly how the catastrophic security failure occurred and to prevent future breaches. The ongoing investigation involves the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration and local police departments.
