United jet strikes pole and truck on Newark approach, lands safely

A United Airlines Boeing 767-400 carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike while descending toward Newark Liberty International Airport, then landed safely after the hit. The aircraft, Flight 169 from Venice, Italy, made contact around 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, May 3, turning an ordinary arrival into a close call that exposed how tightly Newark’s flight paths run over one of the region’s busiest highway corridors.

New Jersey State Police said the plane’s landing gear tire and underside struck both the pole and a tractor-trailer on the turnpike. The pole also hit a Jeep traveling on the highway. The truck driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and later released, while United said no passengers or crew members were hurt. The airline said its maintenance team was evaluating damage to the aircraft and that it would investigate how the incident occurred.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have both launched investigations. Officials have identified the approach as Runway 29, a path that sends arriving aircraft low over traffic moving beneath them, intensifying concern about altitude, wind and approach procedures when visibility and timing leave little margin for error.

The episode is drawing added attention because Newark has already been operating under FAA-imposed limits aimed at easing pressure on the airport’s strained operations. The FAA extended the reduced arrival and departure rate through October 24, 2026, and increased the hourly cap from 68 to 72 operations. The agency said those restrictions were intended to address staffing and equipment challenges as well as delays, a reminder that congestion at the airport is not just an inconvenience but a safety issue with consequences that can reach beyond the runway.

For passengers, the flight ended without injury. For the community below, the strike raised a more troubling question: how a widebody jet could come close enough to highway infrastructure to hit a pole and a truck on final approach to one of the country’s most heavily used airports. The investigations now underway will need to examine not only the aircraft’s path, but the safety of the airspace and ground environment Newark has forced people to share.