A United jet struck a light pole and a truck near Newark airport, police say

A United Airlines 767-300ER at the gate at Newark Liberty International Airport on March 18, 2026.

Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation after a United Airlines plane struck a light pole and damaged a truck as it was coming in for a landing at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday.

Dashcam video footage appears to show the moment the Boeing 767-400 passenger jet struck the truck.

VIDEO: I just obtained this dash cam video from H&S Bakery. It shows the moment a United Airlines plane crashes into his driver’s side window on the NJ Turnpike near Newark Liberty. @wjz pic.twitter.com/AR0AWKHmJ5

— Tara Lynch (@thetaralynch)

May 4, 2026

The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

The plane’s approach to the runway passed directly over the New Jersey Turnpike, a busy highway that’s also designated as Interstate 95 through much of the state.

New Jersey State Police said that “a landing tire and the underside of the plane collided with a pole and a tractor-trailer” during the approach. The light pole then struck a Jeep on the highway, state police said.

United Airlines flight 169 was arriving from Venice, Italy. The airline said none of the 221 passengers or 10 crew members on board the plane were injured.

“Our maintenance team is evaluating damage to the aircraft,” a United spokesperson said in a statement. “We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process.”

The NTSB said an investigator would arrive in Newark on Monday, and that it had directed United to provide the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder for the investigation.

“This is unacceptable.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X. “We have really well-trained pilots. This should never happen in America. An incident like this, we study and we learn from, and we take action on. That’s why America is the safest place to fly.”

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