The man who died after being struck by a Frontier Airlines plane at Denver International Airport has been identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott. The Denver medical examiner ruled his death a suicide following an investigation.
Mott jumped an 8ft fence with barbed wire to access the runway on Friday evening, according to airport chief executive Phillip Washington. Approximately two minutes elapsed between the breach and the collision with the Frontier aircraft.
Mott was not an airport employee and had previous contact with law enforcement, though details of this contact remain unclear. The medical examiner determined the cause of death as multiple blunt and sharp force injuries.
The incident has raised security concerns at the airport. Ground detection sensors triggered an alarm near the breach point, but an investigator initially attributed it to a herd of deer. Washington stated that the fence was found intact after the incident and that the airport is not considering electrifying or raising the fence, noting that a motivated individual could still penetrate it.
Frontier flight 4345, bound for Los Angeles, carried 224 passengers and seven crew members. Mott was pulled into the engine, causing a fire and evacuation. Smoke entered the cabin, and twelve individuals reported minor injuries, with five taken to hospital; four have since been released.
