Southwest Flight 1392 Strikes, Kills Man On Runway At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport In Austin, Texas
A Southwest Airlines jet struck and killed a person who had managed to make their way onto a runway at Austin, Texas’ Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, CNN reports.
At about 8:12 p.m. local time on Thursday night, Southwest Airlines Flight 1392 had just landed on runway 17-R when the pilot noticed a person on the ground. The pilot attempted to make an evasive maneuver after seeing the person, reports indicate that it was too late and the person was struck and killed. The pilot stopped the craft on the runway while emergency crews were dispatched to the scene. The airline detailed the situation in a statement.
“The aircraft quickly came to a safe stop, and the pilots reported the event to local air traffic controllers.”
A driver of an airport services vehicle found the victim’s body on the ground.
A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) appeared to leave open the idea that the person may not have been struck by the aircraft, contrary to other reports.
“FAA investigators are on their way to the site and will assist the Austin Police Department and other officials in determining whether the aircraft struck the victim.”
Following the accident, the aircraft taxied to the gate and removed all passengers. There were no reports of any injuries to passengers or crew on the craft.
A photo from the scene does appear to show some damage to one of the aircraft’s engines, although it’s unclear whether or not that damage was done by striking the person on the ground.
.@CBSNews has obtained a photo of @SouthwestAir 1392 that shows damage to one of the engines of the 737 that may be related to the body found on the @AUStinAirport runway tonight. One of the pilots reported seeing a person as they touched down. Person was killed. pic.twitter.com/114hmOI2Pu
— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) May 8, 2020
Initially, officials closed the runway while authorities investigated, while another one remained open to allow regular traffic at the airport. However, by Friday morning, according to a tweet from the airport, the facility had fully reopened.
The crime scene has been cleared and maintenance is preparing the runway to reopen. Operations will resume as normal and AUS will continue to work closely with APD on the ongoing investigation. No additional available information is available at this time.
— Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) (@AUStinAirport) May 8, 2020
According to a Friday morning New York Post report, the person struck and killed by the aircraft is an unidentified man, although other reports do not give any indication as to the victim’s age or gender.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear how or why the person was on the runway. Airport spokesman Bryce Dubee said officials do not believe the man had the authorization to be on the runway at the time of the crash, although whether he was an airport employee remains unclear as of publishing.
Although airports are generally tightly-secured to prevent unauthorized people from being where they shouldn’t be, sometimes those security systems fail. In 2018, as Travel Noire reports, a video showing a woman chasing an aircraft at the Bali, Indonesia, airport went viral. The woman had apparently missed her flight.
