NTSB says United 767 was too low before Newark landing incident

The United Airlines jet came down low enough to turn Newark’s approach path into a ground hazard: a Boeing 767 from Venice clipped a light pole over the New Jersey Turnpike, sent debris into a tractor-trailer, and still managed to land safely at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Federal investigators say United Airlines Flight 169, a Boeing B767-424ER registered N77066, was on final approach to Runway 29 on May 3, 2026, at about 1:50 p.m. EDT when it struck the pole beside the highway. Debris from the pole hit a southbound tractor-trailer traveling on the turnpike. None of the 231 people aboard the aircraft were injured, but the truck driver sustained minor injuries. The airplane suffered substantial damage, and the National Transportation Safety Board classified the event as an accident.

The preliminary report sharpens the picture of how little margin remained. Investigators said the turnpike is 5 feet higher than the runway and that the aircraft descended 6 feet in one second, between 13:50:04 and 13:50:05. In a newly released account, the first officer told safety investigators that he warned the captain the aircraft was “slow and a little low” before the runway. That warning now sits at the center of a broader look at cockpit decision-making on an approach where a few feet mattered.

The NTSB has directed United to provide the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and invited the Federal Aviation Administration, United Airlines, the Air Line Pilots Association and Boeing to participate in the investigation. United said it removed the crew from service pending a safety investigation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the incident “This is unacceptable,” as regulators and the airline faced questions about how a transatlantic arrival ended up so close to highway traffic.

Video of the event showed how near the jet came to a bakery truck on the turnpike, underscoring how the risk extended beyond the airplane itself. The landing ended without further incident, but the episode exposed the tight overlap of airfield operations, highway traffic and approach discipline at one of the nation’s busiest airports, where a missed altitude cue can quickly become a public safety event on the ground.