We’ve sometimes seen stories of malicious people breaking into the secure area of an airport. However, a food delivery driver accidentally ending up on an airport taxiway is a new one for me…
Driver gains access to secure area of O’Hare
Around 12PM on Saturday, May 17, 2025, there was a serious security scare at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), after a car reportedly drove miles through the interior and restricted areas of the airport, including on taxiways, and even possibly crossing runways.
The wild part is that it wasn’t even a chase, but instead, the 36-year-old driver did that all unnoticed, until someone finally spotted him from the air traffic control tower. Once authorities caught wind of what was going on, they of course approached him.
According to police, the man “accidentally drove into an unauthorized secured area within O’Hare Airport.” What’s so shocking is that according to a preliminary investigation, it was determined that the actions were a mistake, and no charges or citations were filed.
How could a safety lapse like this happen?!
To state the obvious, secure areas of airports are carefully guarded, and generally there are major barriers and gates to prevent unauthorized access.
What’s so unusual here is that no one noticed in the first place when the car entered through some sort of access point. And it’s then even stranger that the car drove for miles before anyone caught onto something unusual going on. The airport needs to seriously review its safety protocols, since something like this shouldn’t happen.
I can’t help but be curious what was going through the driver’s head as this was all going on. Was he legitimately thinking that he was approaching his destination, and that someone tried to order a DoorDash to their seat on a plane? Or did he immediately realize what was going on, but didn’t know how to exit the facility?
Bottom line
A DoorDash driver somehow gained access to the secure area of Chicago O’Hare Airport, and drove around taxiways for miles. Eventually an air traffic controller spotted the unauthorized vehicle, and authorities stopped the car. This seemed to be a genuine mistake. The big question is how a mistake like this could be made, without anyone noticing.
What do you make of this strange O’Hare DoorDash incident?
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