United flight strikes light pole, damages truck while landing in Newark

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: WABC, ABC7, New York City

United flight strikes light pole, damages truck while landing in Newark

Updated 44 minutes ago

{video}
Lucy Yang has the latest updates from Newark Airport.

NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- A United Airlines flight arriving from Italy struck a light pole and a tractor-trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike while on final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday afternoon, damaging the truck and sending its driver to the hospital with minor injuries, authorities said.

A United Airlines flight arriving from Italy struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike while on final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday afternoon, damaging a truck and sending its driver to the hospital with minor injuries, authorities said.

Despite the collision, the aircraft landed safely. There were 221 passengers and 10 crew members on board, and no injuries were reported among those on the plane. United said the aircraft taxied to the gate normally and sustained only minor damage. ... "Our maintenance team is evaluating damage to the aircraft and we will investigate how this occurred," United Airlines said in a statement. "We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process."

The Port Authority Police Department and New Jersey State Police responded to the scene on the Turnpike. Authorities said the tractor-trailer driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released.

{snip}

Read more: https://abc7ny.com/amp/post/united-flight-strikes-light-pole-landing-newark-airport/19030820/

[magicarpet]

1. Are they servinng hard liquor cocktails in the plane cockpits now ?

Sheesh,... This shit never happened when Pete Buttigieg was around running the show. Why does trDUMP hire all the flunkies ?

[bucolic_frolic]

2. The plane's tires brushed the TOP of the truck. They say God helped the safe landing.

That is cutting it close.

[wcmagumba]

3. Those pilots should lose their licenses IMO...

They are not aware of what is going on around them (so it seems) and should not be flying...

[DFW]

4. I'll bet the people working ATC at the time will have a few tapes played back

One might think that ATC would have spotted a landing aircraft coming in that low way before it got critical. Of course, if the pilots were getting faulty readings from their onboard system, that’s something else entirely. The FAA has some investigatin’ to do.

[ananda]

8. Well, yes, I was also thinking ATC as the culprit.

Trump and Musk have pretty much ruined ATC.

I think they want to privatize it.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. NTSB to investigate United plane that struck pole on NJ Turnpike

Transportation
NTSB to investigate United plane that struck pole on NJ Turnpike

by Tara Suter 05/03/26 09:36 PM ET

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Sunday said it will investigate a United Airlines plane that struck a pole on the New Jersey Turnpike.

“The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into Sunday’s incident involving United Airlines Flight 169, a Boeing 767-400 operating from Venice to Newark, which struck a light pole while on approach to Newark Liberty International Airport,” the NTSB said in a post on the social platform X on Sunday.

In a statement Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that as the flight from Italy was preparing to land at Newark, the United flight “struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike” on Sunday afternoon. The FAA said the plane “landed safely” and that the agency will also investigate.

{snip}

[EX500rider]

7. Severe down drafts/wind shear about the only reason that isn't pilot error

[Angleae]

10. That and faulty ILS equipment (ground or plane)

[Bengus81]

11. Yeah except it's obvious in the vid that the conditions are VFR. They knew they were low

and just kept plowing on when they should have gone around.

[Angleae]

12. In other words, they're dumbshits.

[EX500rider]

13. That runway, #29 at Newark is visual approach only, no ILS, PAPI lights only (Precision Approach Path Indicator)

And the threshold is 630' from impact area and 1,000' from touchdown point, 6,500' runway.
Clear visibility, some gusts on the nose, winds were 15k gusting to 30k at landing according to tower.

info from here:

[Bengus81]

14. So they would have been getting red lights on the PAPI all the way in

Yeah United...fire their asses

[EX500rider]

15. Going to be a interesting CVR, somebody should have been questioning whether this was a stable approach or not..

Last edited Tue May 5, 2026, 05:45 PM - Edit history (2)

...and shouting "GO AROUND!"
Wouldn't be surprised if the Ground Proximity Warning Systems alarms went off, "WHOOP WHOOP PULL UP" lol
Or more likely ""Too Low - Terrain" "Sink Rate," and "Pull Up"!

[EX500rider]

16. We should wait for the full investigation. It's possible that the bakery truck was flying too high! lol

[Wonder Why]

9. Ex-Navy pilot thought the truck was an Aircraft Carrier.

[EX500rider]

17. This was posted at Airliners.net:

The VASI for RWY 29 is 3.0° and crosses the threshold (Threshold Crossing Height, or TCH) at 60 feet AGL.

The nearest light pole to the threshold is approximately .1 mile, or 528 feet.

Using the formula H = 60 + (528 x tan(3.0°)), we can determine that the aircraft should’ve been approximately 90 feet AGL (87 to be exact) at the position of the light pole

That seems pretty low to be flying over a turnpike, yikes!
And at 90AGL, how low are the bottom of the tires on the main gear?