United Jet Hit Pole, Truck During Newark Landing Approach

A United Airlines Holdings Inc. plane grazed a vehicle and light post on an adjacent highway in its final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday, the latest in a string of incidents that have put the spotlight on aviation safety in the US.

United Flight 169 from Venice, Italy, hit the pole on the New Jersey Turnpike around 2 p.m. local time before touching down safely, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.

None of the 221 passengers and 10 crew on board the Boeing Co. 767-400 were injured, United said. The crew has been taken off duty and maintenance staff are assessing damage to the aircraft. “We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation,” United said.

The incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of flight safety. In March, an Air Canada Express plane collided with a fire truck shortly after landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing the captain and co-pilot. That crash was the third major commercial aviation accident on U.S. soil in just 15 months.

In Sunday’s incident involving the United flight, the light pole was damaged, and a tractor-trailer traveling south on the turnpike was also hit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. The driver of the vehicle was hospitalized with minor injuries and has since been discharged.

Airport staff inspected the runway for debris and normal operations have resumed, the Port Authority said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Fox News Monday that he didn’t “want to get ahead of the facts” because more information will become available as the investigation unfolds.

“There’s lessons learned from every incident, and from those incidents we take action,” he said.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey State Police said in a statement that based on preliminary information a tire from the plane’s landing gear and the belly of the aircraft hit the pole and the tractor-trailer. The pole then struck a Jeep that was also traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike.

I’ve been briefed on the incident involving United Flight 169 at Newark Liberty International Airport. I’m grateful the aircraft landed safely, and all passengers and crew are unharmed.

Initial reports indicate that a truck on the Turnpike may also have been involved, and we…

— Governor Mikie Sherrill (@GovSherrillNJ) May 3, 2026

The NTSB said in a separate statement Sunday that it has asked United for the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. An investigator from the agency arrived at Newark on Monday morning to conduct interviews with the flight crew.

The NTSB on Monday afternoon said that the mishap will be classified as an accident “due to the extent of damage to the airplane” and that focuses of the investigation include “flight operations, meteorological conditions, human performance, crew resource management, aircraft performance and air traffic control.”

A preliminary report outlining the facts and circumstances of the event is expected within 30 days.

Piloting a jetliner has become heavily reliant on flight-control computers, and pilots calculate the angle and speed of their landing, with their descent automatically measured by the aircraft systems. They also have programs to aid them in the approach, like ground-based radio navigation systems that provide guidance even in zero-visibility weather.

Aircraft have acoustic warning systems like horns, chimes and voice alerts to notify cockpit crew of deviation from recommended altitude or proximity to terrain. Still, in rare cases, planes can come up short as they prepare to touch down.

In 2014, an Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul to San Francisco crashed into a sea wall after pilots aborted their landing too late. The Boeing 777 spun and caught fire near the runway, killing three people and seriously injuring 49 others.

The NTSB at the time said the crew over-relied on automated systems they didn’t fully understand and flew the plane too low and too slow. Asiana then revised its pilot training procedures, acknowledging that its pilots needed more hand flying experience to avoid too much dependency on automation.

Top photo: United Airlines passenger jets at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2023. Bloomberg.