A United Airlines 767 Flying From Venice Hit a Bakery Truck and a Light Pole on the New Jersey Turnpike Before Landing at Newark

One of the most extraordinary and alarming aviation incidents in recent American history unfolded on the afternoon of Sunday, May 3, 2026, when a United Airlines Boeing 767-400ER on final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport flew so low over the New Jersey Turnpike that its landing gear and underside made physical contact with a highway light pole and the cab of a bakery delivery truck travelling below. The aircraft, arriving as Flight UA169 from Venice, Italy, carried 231 people to a safe landing, but the truck driver was hospitalised, the falling pole struck a Jeep on the highway, and the aviation safety community is now asking a direct and uncomfortable question: how did a commercial aircraft come that close to the ground over a public highway?

The Incident: What Happened and When

The incident occurred on Sunday, May 3, 2026, and involved United Airlines flight UA169, which was flying from Venice to Newark. Specifically, the flight was operated by a 23-year-old Boeing 767-400ER with registration code N77066, and there were 231 people onboard, including 221 passengers and 10 crew. At around 1:50 PM local time, after a roughly 8-hour 30-minute flight, the aircraft was on a visual approach to Newark's runway 29. 

A preliminary investigation shows a tire from the plane's landing gear and the underside of the plane "collided with a pole and a tractor-trailer. The pole then struck a Jeep," New Jersey State Police spokesman SFC Charles Marchan said in a statement. 

The point of impact was a little over 700 feet from the runway threshold. Before the landing, the tower advised the pilots that winds were 320 degrees at 12 knots, gusting to 24 knots, and visibility was good. 

The Truck Driver and What He Experienced

The truck driver, Warren Boardley of Baltimore, was heading north on the turnpike to deliver bread products to a Newark airport depot when the incident occurred, Chuck Paterakis, senior vice president of transportation for Schmidt Bakery and co-owner of H&S Family of Bakeries, told CNN. Boardley sustained cuts to his arm from broken glass but did not suffer serious injuries and was able to pull over safely, according to Paterakis, who added that Boardley was expected to be released from the hospital later Sunday. 

One of the plane's landing gear tires went through the truck's window and windshield, according to Paterakis. Dashcam footage recovered from inside the truck was described by multiple aviation outlets as disturbing. A frame-by-frame review of the footage shows what appears to be the wheel of the plane outside the driver's window. 

An eyewitness driving on the Turnpike at the time captured the scale of the shock experienced by those on the highway below. Patrick Oyulu was driving nearby when the aircraft passed directly in front of him. "It was just coming directly in front of the truck," he said. 

The Aircraft Landed Normally 

The plane, a Boeing 767, was going more than 160 miles an hour when it crossed over the New Jersey Turnpike, just outside the airport. No one on board the flight was hurt, and the plane landed normally, United said in a statement.

What emerged from air traffic control recordings added a striking layer of detail. Air traffic control recordings capture a conversation between Newark tower and an operations vehicle. They are discussing checking the runway for debris after the pilots "felt something" over-flying the threshold of the runway. Air traffic controllers reported "a hole in the side of the airplane" to an operations vehicle preparing to inspect the runway about half an hour after the landing. 

The 767 was given instructions to taxi to the gate as other aircraft continued to land on the same runway. 

United Airlines issued a brief initial statement: "The aircraft landed safely, taxied to the gate normally, and no passengers or crew were injured," United said, noting the plane's crew has been removed from service as part of the investigation. The airline confirmed its maintenance team was evaluating damage to the aircraft and promised "a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident." 

Why Runway 29 Is So Unforgiving

The approach geometry at Newark's Runway 29 is unlike almost any other major airport in the United States, and understanding it is essential to contextualising what happened.

Runway 29, where the plane landed, starts less than 400 feet from the edge of the busy New Jersey Turnpike. It is not always used, but when wind conditions are right, it can see numerous landings, which can startle drivers as planes pass at low altitudes over the highway.

The two runways at Newark that this flight would typically use are 11,000 feet long and 9,999 feet long, while Runway 29 is just 6,725 feet. The recommended minimum runway distance for a 767-400 is 6,000+ feet, so the landing was not unsafe, but it had a smaller margin of error than usual. 

Former NTSB Chair and retired 737 captain Robert Sumwalt provided authoritative context on the specific challenges of this approach: 

"As a former airline pilot, I would consider this runway to be relatively short, and so I suspect that the pilots wanted to make sure that they were not landing long," Sumwalt told Van Cleave. He also characterised landing on that particular runway as a "difficult approach." 

"It's not a straight-in approach. You have to come in and circle and to line up with that runway," he said, noting it also lacks some of the technology the other runways have to help with landings. 

Early indications point to a simple but serious issue: the aircraft was too low on approach. Initial findings suggest the aircraft flew much lower than it should have during the approach, approximately 200 feet or 60 metres. 

The Precision Approach Path Indicator lights were operational during the landing, which should have given the pilots a clear indication that they were too low. 

The NTSB Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigator to Newark and will analyze the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder as part of their investigation, the agency announced. 

The FAA and NTSB have launched a comprehensive investigation into the incident. United has temporarily suspended the flight crew to monitor the situation. 

The investigation will focus on the precise altitude profile flown on final approach, the crew's decision to continue the approach in gusty crosswind conditions on a relatively short and technically demanding runway, and whether any stabilised approach criteria were breached before the point of impact with the Turnpike infrastructure.

A Pattern of Incidents at United Under Scrutiny

While United still has a great safety record in the 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. 

For Newark specifically, the May 3 incident arrives at a moment of acute sensitivity. The airport has been the subject of significant coverage in 2026 following repeated ATC communication outages that prompted United to voluntarily reduce its Newark schedule by 35 flights per day in late April. The combination of staffing-related ATC vulnerabilities and now a serious approach incident at the same airport is unlikely to reduce regulatory or public scrutiny of operations at one of the United States' most important and challenging international gateways.

The truck driver, Warren Boardley Jr., is recovering. The 231 passengers and crew on board UA169 are safe. And the aircraft, now grounded, is being inspected for structural damage that investigators say includes a hole in its fuselage. The NTSB investigation will determine exactly how a commercial airliner came close enough to a highway on a Sunday afternoon to shatter a truck driver's window with its landing gear.