A Frontier Airlines plane struck and killed a man who officials say jumped a fence and ran onto the runway at Denver International Airport on Friday, May 8. A female passenger has now shared a first-hand account of what it was like on the plane when the accident happened.
The passenger, who posted on Reddit under the username “That_Goat_9791,” described the terrifying moments aboard Frontier Flight 4345 after the Airbus A321 reportedly hit the man during takeoff preparations.
“I’d love to share a bit about my experience on Frontier flight 4345. I was in seat 5C,” the woman wrote. She went on to say he was traveling alone with her infant daughter ahead of Mother’s Day weekend, and praised the pilot and crew for their quick actions after the collision.
“Thank you for knowing there were 231 souls on board, not 230. That 1 is the infant I’m holding on my first Mother’s Day,” she wrote in a message she said she later sent to Frontier.
“Loud booms as the engine ignited”
According to the passenger, the aircraft had not yet left the ground when the impact occurred.
“When the crash happened, my daughter had just fallen asleep on my chest, and I had dozed off,” she wrote. “There was a big impact, and then some loud booms as the engine ignited.”
Her first thought, she said, was that the aircraft itself was crashing. “‘Oh my god, we are in a crash,’ and then, ‘Okay, we are on the ground. We are not falling. My baby is okay. We just need to get off the plane,” she remembered thinking.
The passenger said some travelers attempted to remove luggage from overhead bins despite the flight crew’s evacuation instructions. She said she yelled at nearby passengers to leave their belongings behind so people could escape more quickly.
She also described evacuating down the emergency slide while holding her infant daughter.
“The slide is so fast,” she wrote, adding that flight attendants instructed passengers to help each other at the bottom to avoid injuries.
Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 accident aftermath
The woman said she left behind nearly all of her belongings, including her wallet, medication, car seat, diaper bag, house keys, and identification.
She later criticized Frontier’s handling of stranded passengers after the evacuation, saying essential supplies for infants and people with medical needs were difficult to obtain.
“While my fellow passengers were passing time on their computers, charging their phones, changing into clean clothes, etc, my daughter and I had to fight to receive diapers, wipes, and formula in the airport while we waited for updates,” she wrote.
She also claimed a Type 1 diabetic passenger was separated from insulin during the evacuation and that emergency responders did not immediately have insulin available.
Despite her frustrations with customer service afterward, the woman repeatedly praised the flight crew and emergency responders.
“Our flight crew did absolutely everything they needed to do during an emergency,” she wrote. “It is clear they were focused on keeping us safe.”
Frontier flight 4345: What happened?
According to the AP, the incident happened around 11:19 p.m. local time Friday as the Denver-to-Los Angeles flight accelerated for takeoff, according to airport officials and air traffic control audio. The pilot can be heard telling controllers, “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
Officials said the man who died was not an airport employee and had jumped a perimeter fence before entering the active runway. Authorities have not publicly identified him. Twelve people reported minor injuries, and five were transported to the hospital.
Published: May 11, 2026 01:04 pm