Unusual Case Leave Many Questions, but Few Answers

A Utah man crawled into an aircraft engine cowling and apparently died, after sneaking out onto the tarmac via an emergency exit after getting through security.

Salt Lake City International Airport staff had an unusual incident with a disturbed passenger, starting off when a terminal shop manager reported a disturbance in the secure side of screening. The disturbing passenger was tracked out from the airport terminal, through an emergency exit, and out to the airfield deicing pad. The passenger was found, having crawled into the cowling of a non-running engine of a plane bound for San Francisco. Emergency personnel found the man unconscious and were not able to revive him.

Things remain pretty murky from there, without much indication about what ended the man's life available without further investigation. Given the increasingly frazzled and chemically assisted traveling public, the incident could eventually be chalked up to any garden variety mental or physical illness. A quick snoop in the world of social media brings up some similarly named persons professing some distressing mental diagnoses, but whether or not they and the deceased are one in the same is also a mystery.

"The SLC Department of Airports is working with authorities—including the FAA, NTSB, SLCPD and TSA—to further investigate the incident. Additional details will be released pending the outcome of the investigation."

FMI: www.slcairport.com