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Plane Crash Kills Two at Frontier Airlines Airport
By Jennifer Larkin | Aviation Herald Tribune | May 9, 2025
DENVER, CO – A tragic accident unfolded late Thursday afternoon at Frontier Airlines’ primary hub, when a small private aircraft crashed on the outer taxiway of Denver International Airport (DIA), killing two people on board and temporarily halting all outbound and inbound flights for over three hours.
The aircraft, identified as a Beechcraft Bonanza G36, went down in a fiery explosion shortly after 4:27 PM local time. According to eyewitnesses and initial FAA reports, the plane appeared to struggle during final approach before veering sharply off course and slamming into the edge of a maintenance runway located less than 600 feet from Frontier Airlines’ domestic terminal. No one on the ground was injured, but smoke was visible for miles, prompting initial fears of a commercial aircraft accident.
Frontier Airlines confirmed that none of its aircraft or personnel were involved in the crash, but emphasized the location was “alarmingly close to active operations.” The airline’s terminal was immediately evacuated as a precaution, and all flights were grounded pending a full safety inspection of the crash site, which sits within a controlled access perimeter adjacent to runway 34L.
The victims have been identified as 53-year-old pilot James R. Millard of Aurora, Colorado, and his passenger, 29-year-old Alyssa Trent, a Denver-based freelance journalist. According to Millard’s flight log, the two had taken off from Centennial Airport just 18 minutes before the crash and were scheduled to conduct a brief touch-and-go maneuver at DIA—a maneuver legal under certain pre-approved flight plans, though rarely performed at such a major hub.
“We saw the nose pitch upward very suddenly, almost violently,” said Alton Graves, a Frontier ground technician who witnessed the crash. “Then it banked hard to the left, stalled, and just went down in a ball of flame. We thought it might be a drone or a bird strike at first, but it became clear fast this was a plane in trouble.”
Airport firefighters responded within 90 seconds, but the fireball had already consumed much of the fuselage. Both Millard and Trent were pronounced dead at the scene. FAA officials say it could take weeks to determine the precise cause of the crash, but early speculation points to possible engine failure, compounded by gusty crosswinds that had already delayed several commercial flights earlier in the day.
A Mysterious Flight Plan
What has raised eyebrows among aviation experts is why the small aircraft was cleared to approach a major commercial airport at peak operational hours. A preliminary tower log shows that Millard had received special clearance under a general aviation clause for training purposes. However, Frontier Airlines’ operational director, Candace Lewinsky, said the maneuver had not been communicated to the airline, which typically coordinates with air traffic control on all incoming aircraft movements near its hangars and service areas.
“There was a breakdown somewhere in the communication,” Lewinsky stated in a tense press conference late Thursday. “We’re deeply concerned by the proximity of this crash to our terminal and the potential risk it posed to our passengers and crew.”
The NTSB has since taken control of the investigation and is analyzing the cockpit voice recorder, which miraculously survived the inferno in a partially intact condition. The flight data recorder, however, was too badly damaged to recover any usable information.
Who Were the Victims?
James Millard, a veteran pilot with over 8,000 flight hours, was known in Colorado aviation circles as a dependable and skilled aviator. He previously worked as a regional jet captain for Midwest Air and had recently taken up freelance flight instruction. Colleagues described him as meticulous and calm under pressure.
Alyssa Trent, meanwhile, was a rising voice in Denver’s media landscape. She was known for her investigative work on infrastructure and public safety issues, and had published a widely read piece just last month about underreported air traffic control violations in the Western U.S. Her family released a brief statement calling her death “a devastating loss to journalism, and to everyone who loved her.”
Strangely, sources close to Trent say she had scheduled the flight with Millard to conduct interviews and footage for an upcoming exposé on “invisible air risks,” possibly relating to the training of private pilots near commercial airports. It remains unclear whether her story had any connection to Thursday’s incident.
Airport Chaos
For nearly four hours following the crash, chaos reigned at Denver International. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at gates as emergency responders cleared debris and ensured there was no secondary hazard, such as leaking fuel or compromised tarmac. Several arriving flights were rerouted to Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City, creating a ripple effect of delays across the Frontier network.
“People were panicking,” said Marco Reyes, who was scheduled to fly to Phoenix for a job interview. “At first we thought a commercial plane had crashed. Some people were crying. No one knew what was going on.”
TSA agents and airport police quickly locked down Terminals A and B, and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in as a routine precaution. By 9:15 PM, flight operations had resumed, though residual delays continued into Friday morning.
The Broader Concerns
The crash has reignited a long-running debate over general aviation traffic operating near or within large commercial airports. While such operations are legal and even routine in some regions, critics argue that the risks are underestimated—especially in congested airspace or during turbulent weather conditions.
“We’ve been warning about this for years,” said retired FAA investigator Dennis Calhoun. “You don’t mix private training flights with a major airline hub unless your controls are air-tight. Something slipped today, and two people paid the price.”
Senator Claire Matthis (D-CO) has already called for an emergency FAA review of Denver International’s air traffic protocols, especially those that pertain to general aviation access.
“This was a tragic, preventable accident,” Matthis tweeted late Thursday. “We owe it to the victims to understand exactly what went wrong—and to make sure it never happens again.”
As the NTSB combs through wreckage and witness accounts, families mourn, and a city reflects on how two lives ended in a flash of fire beside one of the busiest terminals in the western U.S.
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