There were two almost air tragedies this week. In aviation, mechanical failures or human errors usually trigger accidents by directly compromising the aircraft during flight. Around airports, flocks of birds can disrupt operations, as happened in 2009 when, just minutes after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the Airbus A320 piloted by Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger struck a flock of geese, disabling the engines at low altitude. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. The maneuver made “Sully” a hero in what became known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
On other occasions, close approaches between aircraft can lead to disaster, such as the Tenerife air tragedy in 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger planes collided on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport with a tragic toll of almost 600 dead.
Alarmingly, these incidents are more reminiscent of chaotic traffic disasters than rare aviation events. Yet in just the first week of May 2026, U.S. aviation suffered two grave breaches that exposed a glaring and immediate vulnerability: direct physical contact between commercial aircraft and unauthorized individuals in airport areas unprepared for such threats.
As a recent precedent, in April, an Air Canada Bombardier CRJ900 crashed into a fire truck at LaGuardia airport, killing both pilots. This incident highlighted the vulnerability of ground operations due to a lack of coordination with support vehicles.
The impact on Flight UA169 in Newark
The most visually striking incident occurred on May 3 at Newark International Airport. A United Airlines Boeing 767 descended below its glide angle during its final approach. While crossing the highway adjacent to the runway at a dangerously low altitude, the aircraft’s landing gear struck the roof of a cargo truck traveling on the highway.
New Jersey police confirmed that the driver, a 42-year-old man, was unharmed despite the total destruction of his vehicle’s roof. After the impact, the plane knocked down a perimeter light pole before landing. Although the 231 passengers on board suffered no physical injuries, the structural damage to the fuselage and landing gear led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to immediately suspend nighttime visual approaches to that runway.
Two almost air tragedies this week: the fatal incursion at Denver Airport
Just five days later, on May 8, tragedy struck Denver International Airport when a security breach at the airfield perimeter turned fatal. During the takeoff roll of a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321, an intruder who had scaled the security barriers ran onto the runway. The aircraft struck the individual at high speed.
Forensic authorities confirmed the instant death, and investigators are currently withholding the victim’s identity. The collision sparked an engine fire after the aircraft sucked in debris, forcing the crew to abort takeoff. The narrow escape has fueled a backlash over the failure of runway monitoring systems, which are supposed to detect hazards before they turn into disasters.
The institutional response of the authorities
Responding to the string of severe accidents, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched an emergency audit of the nation’s 20 busiest airports. Investigators are probing whether airport congestion has reached a breaking point, fearing that the sheer volume of flights may be blinding controllers to dangerous movements on the tarmac.
An immediate review of the perimeter physical barriers was also ordered, along with the installation of advanced thermal detection technology. Regulators are pushing airport authorities to overhaul terminal perimeters in land-locked urban areas, calling for new technological barriers to strictly isolate aircraft operations from the neighboring city.