Person hit and killed by Southwest 737 in Austin

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Pilot: Tower, Southwest 1392, We believe there might be a person on the Runway

ATC communications 

 

News story 

Photo of engine cowling after contact was made.

[n4gix 4,947]

Poor fellow probably never even knew what hit him...

[edpatino 1,964]

Just incredible!. Thanks for posting.

Regards, Ed

[Jazz 1,046]

What on earth were they doing there?

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

5 hours ago, n4gix said:

Poor fellow probably never even knew what hit him...

 

5 hours ago, Jazz said:

What on earth were they doing there?

I think they probably didn’t it on purpose as a suicide attempt. Maybe not, but why else would you step in front of a landing aircraft?

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Judging from the sound of the ATC call, I’m not sure the pilots even knew they hit the person.

[Chock 17,769]

7 hours ago, n4gix said:

Poor fellow probably never even knew what hit him...

I'm pretty sure someone who walked in front of a plane on finals had a fairly good idea of what hit him, or at least what was about to. Although in all seriousness, judging from where the dent is in that engine cowling, you are possibly right if he happened to be not looking in the direction the aeroplane was coming from, because based on the size, shape and height of the cowling dent, it looks to me like damage from a head impact, so in all probability, it would have taken his head clean off his shoulders.

6 hours ago, Jazz said:

What on earth were they doing there?

On another note, clearly it's a suicidal thing to do and for all we know that may have been the intention. Other than that, the reasons I can think if for someone doing this are: airport worker in the wrong place (unlikely), a stupid dare gone wrong, mental issues, drunkeness/drug abuse, some sort of dubious criminal intent/terrorism, really irresponsible plane spotting, or taking a really ill advised short cut.

Whatever the reason was, although it's unfortunate for the crew to know their aeroplane finished someone off, I hope they don't feel too bad and console themselves that there wasn't much they could do to avoid someone when they've only just dropped below flying speed, i.e. presumably a bit below 130 mph or so. Their duty is to the safety of their passengers right up until they stick the parking brake on, not some bloke on a runway who should not be there.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Chock

[overspeed3 410]

Landing lights. as we know. can be seen for miles at night, so unless the guy was totally inebriated or high as a kite, he surely knew what was coming... Or maybe he thought he was on the St. Maarten Beach...

[HighBypass 2,339]

If an airport worker was in the wrong place, then identification after the event should be quite quick and relatively easy unless I'm missing something? "Barney didn't sign back out after his shift" or some such.

The truth is out there.

Poor aircrew! This kind of thing happens to train drivers too. Granted an airliner's not on rails but it may as well be when they're landing. 

[KenG 492]

Not surprising at all. When I use to fly into San Diego's Brown Field there use to be a NOTAM to be on the lookout for illegal aliens crossing the runway.  

It is nothing more than a fence and rovering security, it is more painful for a ticketed passenger to make it to their airplane than for someone to sneak onto the airport at night. 

[overspeed3 410]

According to news reports (but not confirmed) the deceased did not have airport ID badge... 

[Bob Scott 7,720]

It appears the last thing to go through that guy's mind was a CFM-56...  😱

Having run a couple of military airports myself, I can tell you that keeping 5-10 linear miles of airport perimeter fence secure is an almost impossible job.  If someone wants to go over/under/through it, it's trivially easy to do.  We've all seen pictures of people going over the 30-foot walls along the border...airport fences are much less substantial; often nothing more sophisticated than 8-10 foot chain link, and much of that unlit and remotely situated away from inhabited areas.