A video recording captured the final moments of a Utah man who was discovered deceased in the engine of a Delta plane. The footage shows him breaching an emergency exit door and making his way to the tarmac. Kyler Efinger, a 30-year-old man from Park City, passed away on New Year’s Day after entering the turbine of the aircraft, which was preparing for takeoff at Salt Lake City International Airport with 100 people on board.
Newly released footage obtained from the Salt Lake City Department of Airports presents Efinger attempting to open a locked door at the gate and engaging in a brief interaction with an individual who appears to be an airport employee. He then proceeds to another door, using his shoe to strike a window. Subsequently, he kicks open an emergency exit door and runs down the stairwell, as depicted in video from another camera. Additional footage captured by a thermal imaging camera shows the plane slowly taxiing as Efinger runs toward it before the footage ends. Other footage cited by Fox 13 Now portrays him being dropped off at the airport, passing through security, navigating the terminal, and running away from the gate while discarding his belongings. Efinger’s family believes that the incident stemmed from a mental health crisis as he was about to fly to Denver to see his sick grandfather.
His father, Judd Efinger, stated, “He got held up in security, missed his flight, and those phone calls, I just knew it was coming on. They call it the manic phase. Those just don’t end well for him. Obviously, this one, the worst ever.”
Efinger was discovered “partially inside a wing-mounted engine” of the plane after a disturbance was reported on the secured side of the terminal. The Airbus A220-100 was undergoing de-icing procedures before flying to San Francisco, officials stated, and its engines were rotating at the time Efinger was found, despite the initial report that they were off. Personal items belonging to Efinger, including shoes and clothing, were found discarded on one of the runways. First responders extracted him from the engine intake cowling and administered naloxone, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The exact cause and manner of his death are yet to be determined by the medical examiner’s office. The police, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Transportation Security Administration, are still investigating the security violation and death.