A man who breached security at Salt Lake City International Airport on New Year’s Day was found dead inside the engine of a Delta plane awaiting takeoff with 100 people onboard.
Kyler Efinger, 30, was discovered “partially inside a wing-mounted engine” of the commercial aircraft after the manager of an airport store reported a disturbance involving a passenger on the secured side of the terminal just before 10 p.m., according to police.
Before airport police could reach him, Efinger — a Park City resident who had a boarding pass for a flight to Denver — somehow got through an emergency exit door and ran out onto the airfield, Salt Lake City police said.
At 10:10 p.m. — just over 15 minutes after he got through security — he was found unconscious inside one of the engines on a Delta Airbus A220-100 being de-iced before flying to San Francisco, officials also said.
He had run up to the plane and “crawled into an aircraft engine that was not running,” the airport said.
Salt Lake City cops and airport staffers found personal items, including shoes and clothing, discarded on one of the airport’s runways.
They requested FAA air traffic controllers notify the pilot of the impacted plane to shut down its engines once learning Efinger was underneath the aircraft.
First responders pulled him out of the engine intake cowling, which directs air to the engine fan section, and attempted life-saving measures including administering naloxone. However, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The plane’s engines were rotating at the time Efinger was found, despite the airport initially reporting they were off. Salt Lake City police said they are investigating “the specific state of engine operation.”
A 30-year-old man was found dead inside Delta Flight 2348’s engine at Salt Lake City International Airport. KUTV“It is unclear at this time what injuries caused the man’s death,” the airport said.
The medical examiner’s office will determine the exact cause and manner of his death.
There were two pilots, three flight attendants and 95 passengers aboard Delta Flight 2348 at the time, the airline said. The plane returned to the gate and all the passengers were rebooked on other flights.
The victim had breached a security door at the airport and ran onto the airfield after an earlier disturbance inside the terminal. AP“As nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and people, Delta is fully cooperating with all aviation authority and law enforcement investigations,” an airline spokesperson told The Post Tuesday.
Police along with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating the security violation and fatality.
