AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A man was struck and killed by a commercial jet landing on a runaway at an Austin, Texas, airport, authorities said.
The pilot of Southwest Airlines Flight 1392, a Boeing 737 arriving from Dallas, reported seeing a person on Runway 17R at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport shortly after the jet touched down at 8:12 p.m. Thursday, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA said the driver of an airport operations vehicle later found the body on the runway.
Airport spokesman Bryce Dubee said the man was not authorized to be on the runway at the time, but officials have not released his identity or said whether he was an airport employee.
The airport is working with the Austin Police Department on the investigation, Dubee said.
The airport opened in 1999. The facility has had a handful of security breaches, but this was the first runway “incursion” by an unauthorized person, Dubee said. In April 2018, a man fleeing from police ditched his car and hopped the fence around the airport perimeter before he was caught.