Parents say airport failures and chaotic response cost their son his life
The parents of a Utah man who died after crawling into a running airplane engine are suing Salt Lake City, claiming officials ignored signs of a mental health emergency and failed to stop a tragedy they believe could have been prevented.
Kyler Efinger, 30, was killed on New Year’s Day 2024 after breaching a restricted zone at the Salt Lake City International Airport and climbing into a plane’s engine cowling while it was running. His parents, Judd and Lisa Efinger, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, accusing airport officials of negligence and “a complete failure to protect the public.”
“He was in obvious crisis,” the lawsuit reads. “If officers had found him even 30 seconds sooner, he would still be alive.”
According to court documents, Kyler was a ticketed passenger bound for Denver to visit his sick grandfather. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder a decade earlier, his parents said he occasionally experienced manic episodes where he became “visibly disoriented.”
Surveillance video shows Kyler wandering through the terminal barefoot, shirt half unbuttoned, running back and forth along the moving walkways. Witnesses described him as confused and panicked.
A Utah Jazz store clerk recalled selling Kyler a jersey for less than the full price just to get him out of the store. “He was acting strangely — like he was scared of something,” the manager told investigators. When Kyler came back minutes later demanding his bag and money, airport staff made two announcements over the PA system but did nothing more.
“He was clearly not well,” the complaint states. “But instead of intervening, they let him run off.”
At 9:52 p.m., Kyler tried multiple locked gates before forcing open an emergency exit door. According to the family’s lawsuit, that door lacked a delayed egress lock — a simple 15-second mechanism that could have slowed him down and alerted security.
Once outside, Kyler stripped down to a jersey and socks as he wandered across the icy tarmac. Despite alarms sounding, the complaint says airport security didn’t know where he was.
Dispatchers allegedly spent eight minutes confused about which gate he exited from. During that time, Kyler ran into a restricted runway area.
“The City failed to maintain any system that would have prevented or even tracked a person in crisis from entering a live tarmac,” the suit claims.
At 10:08 p.m., Kyler approached an Airbus preparing for takeoff in the de-icing zone. The pilot reported seeing a man running toward the plane. Within moments, Kyler climbed into the engine cowling. The engine was still running.
Investigators later said he was pulled in by the force of the turbine. The medical examiner ruled his cause of death as blunt head trauma.
The Efinger family says the city’s emergency response was chaotic and uncoordinated — and that officers searching for Kyler were “wholly ineffective.”
“This wasn’t a criminal act. It was a mental health emergency,” said their attorney in a statement. “Kyler needed help. Instead, he died in one of the most horrifying ways imaginable.”
The family is seeking more than $300,000 in damages and a jury trial. They hope the lawsuit leads to new safety measures for airport emergency doors and better training for handling passengers in distress.
“People experiencing mental health crises need our compassion, not confusion,” the family said.
A spokesperson for Salt Lake City declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
Airport breaches tied to mental health episodes are rare but not unheard of. In recent years, several U.S. airports have reviewed security protocols after similar incidents involving confused or distressed passengers accessing restricted areas.
Experts say this case highlights the intersection of public safety and mental health response. “It’s a wake-up call,” said former TSA official Martin Greene. “We need systems that can recognize when someone’s in crisis before tragedy unfolds.”
If you or someone you know is struggling, text STRENGTH to 741-741 to reach a trained crisis counselor.
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Although a tragedy, if this person was mentally challenged, they should have been looked after especially not neat an airport.
Moat of the people in Utah are mentally ill… he was just one of them…
Crawled into a plane engine? Small dude.