United 767 Clips Truck And Light Pole Near Newark; NTSB Calls It An Accident
NTSB classified the landing strike as an accident after a United Boeing 767-400 hit a truck and light pole near Newark Liberty, with dashcam footage capturing the impact.
Breitbart NewsWATCH — Bakery's Truck Driver Survives Plane Hitting Vehicle at Newark Airport: 'It's a Miracle'
RedStateDOT Sec. Sean Duffy Weighs in on Newark Airport Near Disaster — 'Should Never Happen in America'
Associated PressA United jet narrowly avoided catastrophe when it struck a truck near Newark airport during landing
The GuardianDriver injured after United plane strikes truck while landing at Newark airport
Overview
The NTSB reclassified the event as an accident and opened an investigation after a United Boeing 767-400 struck a light pole and a tractor-trailer while approaching Newark Liberty International Airport.
United Flight 169 was arriving from Venice, Italy, with 221 passengers and 10 crew aboard when the aircraft passed over the New Jersey Turnpike and clipped a truck and a light pole.
The truck driver, identified as Warren Boardley, suffered minor cuts and was treated and released from a hospital, and United removed the flight crew from service as investigators collected evidence.
Dashcam video from the H&S Family of Bakeries truck captured the impact, New Jersey State Police said a landing tire and the underside of the plane hit the pole and tractor-trailer, and the pole struck a Jeep.
NTSB investigators arrived to interview the flight crew, the agency directed United to preserve the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, and airport operations resumed after runway inspections.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the incident as a narrowly avoided disaster by foregrounding dramatic leads and headlines, prioritizing alarmed expert and witness reactions, and invoking a past fatal crash. Loaded terms and placement of ATC audio amplify peril, while technical context and official uncertainty are present but receive less emphatic treatment.