Two private jets and a fuel truck were damaged early Saturday morning after a suspected drunk driver crashed through a gate at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL).
The Gulfstream IV and Cessna Citation Latitude were parked on the ramp at a Signature Flight Support FBO on the field.
The 21-year-old suspect is facing charges of driving while intoxicated and damaging or destroying critical infrastructure, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Dallas police responded around 3 a.m. to reports of a crash where they found a man had driven a GMC Sierra pickup truck through a gate on the east side of Dallas Love Field and into a space reserved for private hangars.
Signature Aviation said in a statement that the vehicle breach was adjacent to its Signature Flight Support FBO Facility at the airport.
According to police, both jets were hit on the wing and the fuel truck on its front bumper, causing minor damage.
Mark Duebner, director of aviation for the City of Dallas, which owns and operates the airport, told WFAA that the incident is “relatively rare.”
The airport experienced a similar incident 12 years ago when a truck crashed through airport fencing and onto the tarmac at Love Field. Since then, the city has spent nearly $5 million to improve the airport’s security, which includes making the airport owned and controlled gates crash-proof.
The gate from last week, however, was reportedly not crash-proof. Duebner told WFAA that because the hangar space is leased by TAC AIR, the FBO services provider is responsible for the gate.
“There is currently no requirement for our tenants to install crash-proof gates. We will probably be reviewing that,” the director of aviation said to WFAA.
Duebner did say, however, that TAC AIR’s gate meets TSA standards.
GlobalAir.com reached out to TAC AIR for a statement on the incident by phone and email but did not receive a response.
The suspect was arrested at the scene and taken to an area hospital due to his level of intoxication.
Signature Aviation said there were no injuries and the company is cooperating fully with authorities in the course of their investigation.
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