This is a sad and strange story. As reported by KXAN, last night a person was struck by a plane landing at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. On Thursday night Southwest Airlines flight 1392, operated by a Boeing 737-700, was flying from Dallas to Austin. Upon landing on runway 17R at around 8:12PM the plane struck…
Continue reading: Person Struck & Killed By Southwest 737 In Austin
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Austin's motto is "Keep Austin weird". I guess this guy was just trying to do his part.
Interesting to see his toxicology report - Austin is full of druggies
Doesn’t sound like the plane struck them? Maybe they were not alive when the plane landed.
@david: yes, there should be a toxicology report on that one...... some people are not meant for this earth. Very sad.
I agree there should be a toxicology report, however it can be harder for a drunk person to climb over a chain link fence to access the airfield. Perhaps the person was impaired by drugs.
Huge security breach. This just shows how hopeless many airports are regarding security.
It could be an unauthorized runway access by person with proper credentials.
A ramp worker might decide to play chicken with a 737.
It’s very common for people to commit suicide by jumping in front of trains. Perhaps this unfortunate person chose a plane?
" It sure seems like this wasn’t the fault of the crew,"
Is this now going to be a new landing checklist item. "Person on runway". The fact that you would even think that the crew would be faulted for this.
Initially the pilot indicated "on the road"...
@Eskimo
You might be right, if the person had some reason to be there at that time. There could have been an inspection or maintenance issue going on and somebody dropped the ball.
Alternatively, unauthorized runway access by person with proper credentials might be a huge security issue.
Doesn’t sound like the plane struck them? Maybe they were not alive when the plane landed.
The photo of the plane I saw late last night (on west coast time) showed damage to one of the engines (the outer covering was dented pretty good).
According to airport staff, it was a homeless person who'd hopped the fence. KAUS is adjacent to a large homeless camp, and it's not entirely uncommon (even dating back to the days that KAUS was Bergstrom Air Force Base) for the homeless to end up inside the perimeter.
Unfortunately, the City of Austin likely won't report it as anything more than "a troubled individual" since saying the person was homeless wouldn't fit our City Council's narrative...
@Maxell
Thats hilarious!!!
Its a sad story but the Austin (SXSW festival) + Southwest airlines + Cary Grant running from a plane on the runway in north x northwest PUN = gold!!!
kudos
When I was a teen friends and I would get stoned and go over the airport fence at Rochester NY. Thought it was great fun to lay along the edge of the runway night time as a jet landed. It's a miracle I'm here collecting my social security pension. We did three or four times until one night we say many flashing lights headed our way and skedaddled.