Unauthorized driver on Orlando International Airport tram killed when train makes sudden stop

May 09--A man who was not supposed to be aboard an airport tram during a maintenance run Friday morning was put in control then killed when it made a sudden stop, sending him hurtling through the windshield to the ground 15 feet below, an airport executive said.

Authorities did not release the man's name, but Orlando International Airport Executive Director Phil Brown said the victim was a friend of one of the two maintenance-crew workers doing a routine pre-dawn run of the tram.

Only employees of Bombardier Transportation, the airport contractor that operates the tram system, were supposed to be on board, Brown said.

Instead, the two-person crew allowed two friends to climb on board and allowed one of them to take control, Brown said. He was operating it manually but pulled his hand away, a decision that proved fatal, Brown said. The accident happened about 5:35 a.m.

"When you take your hand off of it, it's got a kill switch," Brown said. "He took his hand off. That's when it stopped, and he was propelled out of the vehicle."

The victim hit the front windshield, popping it out, then fell about 15 feet to the pavement below, said airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell.

She said the accident was being investigated by the Orlando Police Department. She also said the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates the airport, had notified the National Transportation Safety Board and the Florida Department of Transportation.

Bombardier is conducting its own investigation and had contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Fennell said.

An airport rescue crew tried to revive the victim, Fennell said. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Florida Hospital spokeswoman Samantha Olenick.

Normally, the trams are automated, but at the time of the accident, the three-car train was being operated manually, something that Fennell said happens every morning.

A spokeswoman for Bombardier, Maryanne Roberts, said she did not know any details about what happened.

"We're still investigating," she said. "I am sincere when I say this: We are deeply saddened by this accident."

Her company, she said, is cooperating with Orlando police, who would not comment. None of the other people aboard the tram was identified Friday.

The yellow, three-car tram could be seen Friday, stopped on the track between the main terminal and the satellite terminal it serves.

Fennell said she did not know how fast it was traveling when the accident happened but said trams can travel up to 27 mph.

Two trams serve each satellite terminal, Fennell said. The accident happened on one that serves gates 1 through 29.

The second tram serving that satellite terminal was operating normally.

The airport has eight trams that carry about 100,000 passengers a day between the main airport terminal and four satellite terminals, Fennell said.

Fennell described the accident as unprecedented at Orlando International Airport. It did not have an effect on flights to and from the airport, she said.

Orlando International has plans to replace four of the eight trams, which have been running at the airport since 1981. However, they were refurbished in the 1990s.

Last fall, the airport placed a $65.6 million order to purchase new trams to serve two satellite terminals. They are expected to be fully operational by spring 2018.

It is unclear whether the tram the man fell from was to be replaced.

Staff writer Stephanie Allen contributed to this report. rstutzman@tribpub.com or 407-650-6394. dtracy@tribpub.com or 407-420-5444.

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