When you’re driving on the highway, you don’t generally expect that you’re at risk of being hit by a commercial aircraft. Yet that’s exactly what happened today…
In this post:
United 767 causes damage on New Jersey Turnpike
This incident happened today (Sunday, May 3, 2026), and involves United Airlines flight UA169, operating from Venice (VCE) to Newark (EWR). Specifically, the flight was operated by a 23-year-old Boeing 767-400ER with the registration code N77066, and there were 231 people onboard, including 221 passengers and 10 crew.
At around 1:50PM local time, after a roughly 8hr30min flight, the aircraft was on short final to Newark’s runway 19. It obviously approached too low, to the point that the plane hit both light poles and even a catering truck on the New Jersey Turnpike, just past the runway perimeter.
One video is taken from inside a car, and doesn’t show a direct impact, but you can hear people cursing, obviously in disbelief at what they saw.
Another video is from inside the bakery truck that was hit by the wheel of the aircraft (the wheel reportedly crashed into the driver’s window). The video is rather graphic, but fortunately it sounds like the driver wasn’t seriously injured.
The airline reports that the plane landed safely, taxied to the gate normally, and no passengers or crew were injured. The carrier’s maintenance team is now evaluating damage to the aircraft, as well as the cause of the incident.
It’s worth mentioning that United’s official statement only references that the plane “came into contact with a light pole,” and makes no mention of the truck it hit. So clearly they didn’t fully know the extent of this incident at first.
The FAA is now investigating this United 767 incident
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now investigating this incident, so let’s see what comes of this. There were no reports of any issues with the aircraft prior to the “contact,” so it sounds like the plane just ended up lower than it should’ve, for whatever reason.
Newark’s runway 29 is commonly used for landings, but it’s not terribly long, at 6,725 feet in length. That’s not problematically short, but it also means that pilots are trying to make sure they don’t land too far down the runway. Furthermore, with the New Jersey Turnpike right there, it makes for some dramatic approaches.
Just a few weeks ago, video footage was uploaded of a United Boeing 777-200ER making what looked like a dangerously low approach to the same runway, to the point that a person in the car was screaming.
While United still has a great safety record in the grand scheme of things, the airline does seem to have more takeoff and landing incidents than American and Delta (at least in terms of those that are widely talked about), and it’s hard to know what to make of that.
A couple of years ago, the FAA even increased oversight of United, due to a series of incidents. However, the investigation ultimately didn’t reveal any major systematic issues.
Bottom line
Earlier today, a United Boeing 767 had an eventful approach to Newark Airport, when it struck a light pole and a truck on the New Jersey Turnpike. While Newark’s runway 29 is known for some low approaches, this is obviously a major issue. Fortunately no one onboard the aircraft was injured, and it still landed safely. Furthermore, the driver of the truck didn’t sustain serious injuries, which is a relief.
What do you make of this strange United 767 incident?
Welcome to the world of the Walter Mitty commenters herein. No nothing, seen nothing, done nothing, post a load of nothing for the consumption of the nobodies.
Worth a click though! Right Ben?
joined by spelling and grammar champions, right?
"No nothing, seen nothing, done nothing,"
Tim, I didn’t think that you would fall for that old chestnut, one was expecting a nobody would bite, you know …. an ORD or an Eskimo type …. :-)
Asian pilot?
yeah.
Capt. Wee Way Too Low
FO.... can you give me those taxi instructions for the 99th time.
and to think the only hazard at JFK is AA pilots cutting their 777 in front of you on takeoff
Whoa is this proof that Tim Dunn is the one using guest accounts to troll? Especially the ones that frequently post the racist comments?
Methinks he forgot to logout of his account before he posted this.
Premature
Easy fix. Just cut EWR capacity further.
No widebody landings on 29
the airport was never designed for the operation that UA is trying to push through it
No need since Delta is reducing crowding by cancelling so many flights.
DL's cancellations are mostly in ATL.
UA can just land its widebodies there.
or teach its pilots to quit taking out ground objects
Accidents like this show why preferential training / hiring / promotion of professionals who meet minimum standards but are still objectively less qualified / competent / etc than others of non-preferred demographics is so corrosive. This may or may not have been a "DEI" pilot flying. And even if it was, there might even be an innocent explanation - ILS malfunction, 5G interference, something wrong with the avionics, etc.
But for the time being, the...
Accidents like this show why preferential training / hiring / promotion of professionals who meet minimum standards but are still objectively less qualified / competent / etc than others of non-preferred demographics is so corrosive. This may or may not have been a "DEI" pilot flying. And even if it was, there might even be an innocent explanation - ILS malfunction, 5G interference, something wrong with the avionics, etc.
But for the time being, the default assumption is DEI.
And if you happen to think that as long as a professional meets minimum standards, then all is well.... and if there are problems, then the minimum standards themselves are at fault and should be adjusted...
... would you choose to be operated on by any surgeon who met minimum standards? or a surgeon that was the best that the training program could recruit and then the hospital could subsequently hire?
And if you're willing...
And if you happen to think that as long as a professional meets minimum standards, then all is well.... and if there are problems, then the minimum standards themselves are at fault and should be adjusted...
... would you choose to be operated on by any surgeon who met minimum standards? or a surgeon that was the best that the training program could recruit and then the hospital could subsequently hire?
And if you're willing to sacrifice your own life for your political principles, just imagine that it's your child on the operating table.
Blaming a demographic category without evidence skips the entire investigative process and replaces it with pointless speculation. There’s no data or hard evidence showing that diversity initiatives in aviation reduce safety.
Surgery often relies on one human’s capability and aviation is built on team decision making involving multiple pilots, ATC, redundant avionics, etc so that’s really not a logical comparison.
I did my homework before my hip replacement and ensured my surgeon was board certified...
Blaming a demographic category without evidence skips the entire investigative process and replaces it with pointless speculation. There’s no data or hard evidence showing that diversity initiatives in aviation reduce safety.
Surgery often relies on one human’s capability and aviation is built on team decision making involving multiple pilots, ATC, redundant avionics, etc so that’s really not a logical comparison.
I did my homework before my hip replacement and ensured my surgeon was board certified with no active or past actions on his license. Finding all that out doesn’t mean that maybe he’s not secretly kinda sloppy or might be hungover or any other of the thousands of factors that could have played into success which have nothing to do with whether he was the best candidate ever or a middle of the road doctor. (It went fine of course)
Assuming DEI with no evidence says a lot more about YOU than the pilots’ qualifications.
@Timtamtrak - I'm not blaming any demographic category. I'm saying that treating people preferentially based on immutable innate characteristics is wrong. That's all.
Imagine that if the name of the street you grew up on had an "e" as the 3rd letter, you were given preferential treatment all the way through. Special programs, special scholarships. Special recruiting to aviation school. Which is all very nice, especially if you turn out to have aptitude for being...
@Timtamtrak - I'm not blaming any demographic category. I'm saying that treating people preferentially based on immutable innate characteristics is wrong. That's all.
Imagine that if the name of the street you grew up on had an "e" as the 3rd letter, you were given preferential treatment all the way through. Special programs, special scholarships. Special recruiting to aviation school. Which is all very nice, especially if you turn out to have aptitude for being a pilot. But no fear, even if not, you will get all the extra help you need, retakes after retakes, etc, until you barely scrape past the minimum standards. Would it be any wonder then that after such a program were instituted people might wonder if future aviation accidents could be caused by a person who grew up on Pleasant Way Rd?
I will admit that I'm aware of no data or hard evidence that diversity initiatives in aviation reduce safety. Totally fair. But imagine that such data / hard evidence existed to your satisfaction - then what would be your response?
The literal dumbest guys I met in medical school were entitled rich white guys whose dads were physicians and who got in for that fact (and probably some fat checks to the school’s alumni fund).
You want to talk about meritocracy? How about you start there.
@Dan - Yes, I am against the "legacy" system. And I'm also against preferential treatment for the relatives of large donors to universities; it's just "fancy" bribery and corruption.
Capt: Lee Tulow
FO: Del Vanderclip
Sure sure, names that just scream DEI
Well it does. Proving once again if it wasn't for DEIA, two men who obviously got their jobs because of their skin colour would not have been flying that plane.
How the hell is the default assumption “DEI”? This is just coded racism that folks tell themselves to feel better than admitting anytime *anything* goes wrong is *must* be because of a minority or woman. For the record, both pilots in this case were white.
The default assumptions are incorrect instruments, incorrect glideslope, or bad piloting. MAGA racists need to stop hiding behind blaming DEI for everything and realize their own mediocrity is their own fault.
Correction, it’s runway 29. There is no runway 19 at EWR ;)