Man Hit by Plane at Denver Airport Died by Suicide
Michael Mott walked onto an active runway at Denver International Airport on the night of May 8. He had just scaled an 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire to get there. Two minutes after he crossed it, a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321 accelerating for takeoff struck him.
The Denver Chief Medical Examiner confirmed on May 12 that Mott, 41, died by suicide. His injuries were caused by the plane's engine.
Police don't know how he got to the airport. No vehicle was found. No note was at the scene. Investigators are looking through his computer and searching for any other information that might fill in what led him there that night.
What Happened on Board
There were 231 people on the plane when the pilots aborted the takeoff. Smoke started filling the cabin. Passengers evacuated down emergency slides. Twelve people reported minor injuries. Five were taken to hospitals — four of those have since been released. Most of the injuries happened on the slides during the evacuation rather than from the abort itself.
The runway was closed for hours before reopening the next morning.
Why Nobody Stopped Him
This is the part the airport has had to answer for publicly. Ground sensors triggered an alarm at 11:10 p.m. — three full minutes before Mott climbed the fence. An operator pulled up the security camera for that section of the perimeter. What the camera showed was a herd of deer standing near the fence. The angles kept switching between the deer and the area where Mott was moving — and he was down in a ditch near the fence for part of that time, out of the frame entirely.
The operator didn't see him. By 11:13 he was over the fence. By 11:15 he was dead.
Airport CEO Phil Washington said the perimeter is about 650 feet from the fence to the tarmac — with farmland on the other side — and that there simply wasn't enough time to intervene once the sensors went off and the camera check came back showing nothing but deer.
He also addressed whether the fence should be harder to get over — electrified, taller, something. His answer was that the airport doesn't want the fence itself to be deadly, and that he doesn't think a taller fence would have stopped someone who was determined to get over it. There have been fence jumpers before, he said, and they were caught quickly. This situation moved too fast.
The fence was inspected after the incident and wasn't damaged.
How They Ruled It a Suicide Without a Note
This is a legitimate question and the answer comes down to how medical examiners actually work.
The ruling didn't require a suicide note. Medical examiners determine manner of death — suicide, homicide, accident, natural causes — based on the totality of evidence available, including the postmortem examination, the physical circumstances, and surveillance footage. In this case the evidence was significant.
Surveillance video released by the airport shows Mott walking toward the runway at a calm, deliberate pace with his arms swaying naturally — not running, not stumbling, not appearing disoriented. He had just spent 15 seconds intentionally climbing an 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire in the middle of the night, in a remote area surrounded by farmland, roughly two miles from the terminal. There was no vehicle, no bicycle, no belongings found anywhere near the entry point. No explanation for why he would be there other than intentional.
The postmortem examination itself also informs the manner of death ruling — the medical examiner looks at the nature and pattern of injuries and how they're consistent or inconsistent with different scenarios.
None of that requires a note. Notes are found in a minority of suicide cases. Medical examiners rule manner of death as suicide regularly without one when the circumstances clearly support that conclusion.
Police are still investigating and are asking anyone who knew Mott to come in. His last known address was in Pueblo. His criminal record in Colorado spans more than two decades and includes violent offenses, trespassing-related incidents, and a 2020 arrest for assault of a peace officer.
For the People Who Were on That Plane
231 people boarded a routine flight and ended up evacuating down emergency slides in the middle of the night after something struck their plane on the runway. Whatever investigation follows, whatever security changes get made — those passengers and crew are sitting with something that doesn't just go away.
"This was an incredibly difficult and traumatic situation for a lot of people," Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said. "My heart goes out to all of them as they process what they experienced."
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available around the clock. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org.
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