United Airlines Flight 169 hits bakery truck while landing at Newark Airport
Posted by madman320@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 686 comments
Posted by madman320@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 686 comments
More_Than_I_Can_Chew@reddit
Any word if the PAPI was out of service?
More_Than_I_Can_Chew@reddit
Any word if the PAPI was out of service?
Kellykeli@reddit
This guy is about to have neck pain for the rest of his life
Kellykeli@reddit
Correction: neck pain from sleeping in every day living off that fat united airlines settlement funded retirement fund because his truck didn’t overturn hell yeah
archer2500@reddit
Glad the dudes ok! That sound is epic!
enduserfeedback@reddit
But the bread was OK. It was loaded onto the next flight.
kgb4187@reddit
Newly released photo of the truck.
ThePrimCrow@reddit
He looked like he was having such a pleasant day too. Smiling, checking his right mirror, checking his left….and POW.
aquoad@reddit
didn't check UP though, did he?? /s
keyToOpen@reddit
Does this have anything to do with the widely reported ATC shortages in the area? This seems like an almost unheard of error. Automation overhaul with human pilots being overseers is waaaaay past due. I know a lot of the landing is already automated, but we need more. Computers are incredibly, remarkably accurate nowadays. With our software and hardware knowledge, it should be a cake walk to make air traffic far safer.
rckid13@reddit
You have no idea what you are talking about.
keyToOpen@reddit
You are just misreading my comment. Firstly, modern airliners do automate a lot of the landing process, even on manual landings. And, the technology for a fully automated landing already exists and is used at major airports when needed. If you knew how to read context clues, you'd understand my comment is saying we need to develop the systems and processes to where they are used all the time. A complete overhaul so hand flying is not even the exception, but just simply doesn't exist. Again, I know autoland is the rare exception usually, but I think it should be the standard.
rckid13@reddit
I have been a captain on multiple modern airline jets and I have over 10,000 flight hours. Again you do not know what you are talking about. Stop repeating things you learned from the media or reddit.
keyToOpen@reddit
Idk about that . Maybe you simply are so used to flying that you forget what parts are automated.
Cruise to initial decent is always automated. How in the world are you hand flying that when it’s way safer to let the fms do its thing?
Approach setup is very often automated when there is an ILS system. You are definitely controlling flaps and speed and the like (even then some aspects of these are automated)
rckid13@reddit
You just switched from saying "a lot of the landing is already automated" to talking about autopilot on cruise and the arrival. You're not arguing consistent things.
keyToOpen@reddit
A lot of the landing is automated. That's an objectively true statement. Hell, autopilot can fully land a plane at most major airports. There are GA planes that can fully land themselves in case of emergency anywhere.
rckid13@reddit
The runway 29 approach at EWR does not have an autoland so your whole argument wouldn't have even worked to fix this situation.
keyToOpen@reddit
I'm saying we need a complete overhaul. If you think we cant design, and don't already have systems that can land planes, even through emergencies and malfunctions without ILS in plnace, then you are just simply unaware. Cirrus vision jets can land 1000,000 times /100,000 without needing ILS. Imagine if there was an incentive to make an even better system (again, there are multiple very good existing systems plus the very reliable Cat 3 ILS) which we can use so a bad day doesn't ending in catastrophe. Having an excellent autopilot + a competent flight crew to operate it and step in in case of a catastrophic malfunction would be awesome.
rckid13@reddit
The problem is that the safety data from every airline shows that pilots make significantly more errors when they over rely on automation and never hand fly. If we automate everything and take the flying away from the pilots then you won't have competent pilots when the automation fails. They will be very inexperienced and out of practice since they're not flying. It's a problem that's complicated to try to solve.
miianwilson@reddit
Doubtful, almost certainly on a visual
Agent7619@reddit
Captain Steeve gonna have fun with this one.
Agent7619@reddit
https://youtu.be/IZE88BsKwqA?si=bMLI6WhowPXhWiGb
cosine-t@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1t3k1lx/united_airlines_767400_newark_incident/
This post/photo shows the plane clipping the truck
GrahamCrackerCereal@reddit
Imagine trying to fit that explanation on the three lines the insurance forms give you
cptspeirs@reddit
Ezpz. "Hit by airplane."
Jetsgopro@reddit
Insurance company probs: denied
squuidlees@reddit
Only in America rip
(Seriously though, glad from what I’ve read the guy didn’t get seriously injured whew)
aviation-ModTeam@reddit
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foxhelp@reddit
When "act of pilot" is next to the "act of God" and "natural disasters" clauses.
TheLordB@reddit
I can't find where I read it, but a delta II exploded on launch and took out some personal cars and the owner had to call their insurance and say it was destroyed by a rocket.
This article mentions the cars destroyed, but doesn't have anything from the quote I remember reading somewhere. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1997/01/22/rocket-explosion-destroys-cars-trailers/
LoornenTings@reddit
This is going to cost them a lot of dough.
kona420@reddit
Meanwhile the airline is probably putting in a million dollar claim just to inspect the landing gear.
ajw_sp@reddit
The insurance adjuster
t-poke@reddit
Allstate Mayhem guy: “I’m a 767 on final approach…”
flecom@reddit
happened a couple years ago, N57HP overran the runway and struck a vehicle killing the driver on a perimeter road
GodOfOpps@reddit
Is he ok? Why isn't it NSFW
Katana_DV20@reddit
Baffled as to why you got downvoted for showing concern for another human. Well, have my upvote!
GodOfOpps@reddit
Thank you 😃
AtomWorker@reddit
Apparently the driver got a few cuts but is otherwise okay.
lotuskid731@reddit
He wasn’t seriously hurt, that’s why
RiccWasTaken@reddit
What the fuck?
True-Industry-4057@reddit
Waaaaay too low on approach.
EggsceIlent@reddit
So what happens now to the pilots? Do they lose their license? I'm sure they didn't know they hit something (I guess?) as they were laughing or "jovial" on contact with ground (reportedly) once landed.
Just curious as to like the consequences of this for a pilot. Is it a career ender or more of a cop style release and they'll pop up on some other airline after it all blows over type deal.
True-Industry-4057@reddit
Neither. Probably an investigation and some sim time.
Safety culture in the aviation world is generally not punitive, since it would discourage pilots from reporting issues if they feared retribution
budgefrankly@reddit
That openness and no-blame culture to discourage the instinct to cover-up flaws instead of addressing.
However in this case there’s nothing to cover up. On a high risk approach over a populated area the pilots failed to maintain altitude and crashed into a _vehicle on a road with a Boeing jet-aircraft_.
That falls into the category of gross negligence
chaosattractor@reddit
On a day when the winds were ~15 knots gusting 30, landing on a runway that has pretty much zero clearway, you cannot think of a single reason other than "technical problems" or "gross negligence" for an aircraft on approach to end up hitting obstacles on the road that runs right next to the runway threshold?
budgefrankly@reddit
I explicitly mentioned gusts, and their effect, in my comment. I'm not sure what your response is meant to be achieve.
The reality, quite simply, is that if a combination of pilot, conditions and runway preclude a safe landing for an aircraft, then -- assuming safety is the most important thing -- one of those three factors should be changed.
That's the captain's call, the consequences are his responsibility.
chaosattractor@reddit
Mmmhmmm, and again do you maybe think that there is any secret third option at all between "technical problems" and "gross negligence" given the other factors I pointed out in my comment that you ignored to talk about the gusts alone? Any party at all you can think of that might bear responsibility that isn't the crew or the aircraft?
budgefrankly@reddit
The only other things you mentioned were the appropriateness of the runway -- its length and it's location.
To which my answer is that if they couldn't land safely on it they should never have tried.
This crew was a matter of feet away from killing a man. 767s have landed in Newark before. It's been gusty in Newark before. A 767 hasn't crashed into a car on the New Jersey turnpike before.
chaosattractor@reddit
And in a somewhat more extreme example, no Black Hawk had ever collided with an airliner at DCA before January last year. Are you one of those people who's ignorant enough to argue that therefore it was all just down to "gross negligence" by one or both crews?
Devoplus19@reddit
Another thing to remember is the 767-400 is a combined fleet with the 757 and 767-300 at UA, unlike DL. If there had been a good amount of time since the crew operated a -400, that could be a factor.
So no, it’s not as cut and dry as you may think.
Malcolm2theRescue@reddit
No report necessary on this one.
SugarBeefs@reddit
There absolutely is. By going over the crew's inputs and conversation, and the technical flight data from the aircraft, investigators can assess why the plane came in so low. Miscommunication? Inattentiveness? Technical malfunction? Outright incompetent risk-taking?
The airline might change something to a procedure based on the outcome. The manufacturer might push out a software update. The pilots might shitcanned for "Hey Mike, check this out".
But you gotta answer the Why's first.
Malcolm2theRescue@reddit
Wow! I never knew this. The investigate airplane accidents? Wow! Actually, I was referring to the self reporting requirement of ASRS mentioned in the previous response. Since it is on film, I have a pretty good idea the local FSDO already knows all about it but maybe you need to tell them.
TogaPower@reddit
There was no incompetent risk-taking here. The approach to 29 at Newark is standard. The issue is that the crew impacted terrain short of the runway on a well established, albeit challenging, procedure.
Almost certainly no technical malfunction either. Seems like a classic case of getting too low and not getting called around.
j_shor@reddit
Not the point
TogaPower@reddit
That’s generally the case, but something like this may be handled differently than your typical runway incursion / hard landing kind of incident.
This is a legacy aircrew impacting terrain short of the runway. It could’ve been a major disaster.
LupineChemist@reddit
I mean, if it's determined that it was outright risk taking on the part of the crew knowing the danger involved, then there's probably room for punishment.
If they just did it wrong, probably not.
FuzzzyRam@reddit
Everyone uses the autopilot on approach, if anything they'll punish it. Put it on Waymo duty for a couple years.
precense_@reddit
Wie Too Low
too-much-shit-on-me@reddit
Ho Lee Fuk
KGBspy@reddit
Captain Wi Tu Low from Asiana 214
ThomasTheDankPigeon@reddit
Damned unleavened aircraft can't rise for shit
intern_steve@reddit
Over proofed. It fell.
TheManWith2Poobrains@reddit
I see what you did there.
Someone isn't getting their bread today.
Ready_Freddy123@reddit
Clever. 👍
True-Industry-4057@reddit
Degassed the aircraft too hard, more like
RogLatimer118@reddit
Pull up! Pull up!
FuZhongwen@reddit
Retard retard!
-Badger3-@reddit
I mean, duh
lol
actionerror@reddit
Wi Tu Lo? Not him again
QeveQobs@reddit
Captain Sum Ting Wong and copilot Wi Tu Lo are to blame
doyouevenglass@reddit
I know I shouldn't but....I believe you mean We Tu Lo
DentateGyros@reddit
Why would they mean that?
sourcefourmini@reddit
Someone hasn't seen this actual Asiana flight 214 news segment that got an anonymous intern fired
doyouevenglass@reddit
lol auto mod got me in 7 minutes and still hit +30
festivus@reddit
Because of a rqcist meme
aviation-ModTeam@reddit
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tropicbrownthunder@reddit
my 2 brain cells can only think that dude.
I'm more than shocked
RabbitSignal8527@reddit
Crazy how you can see the landing gear in the top right of the frame
tomdarch@reddit
They came really, really close to hanging up the landing gear on those concrete barriers that define the edge of the roadway. Hitting stuff that is relatively movable like a truck (and likely the breakaway light poles) is bad, having stuff hanging off the aircraft snag on literal concrete would be really, really bad.
SugarBeefs@reddit
Especially something really sturdy like the landing gear, I imagine.
Winjin@reddit
Oh shit I haven't even considered the fact that hitting the strut dead on should be some of the strongest anchor on a plane. Like it's not a sideway strike or something, this is the angle at which the wheel takes on the full weight of the plane, damn
The jerk and loss of speed could be extreme, depending on how strong these barriers are, but I'm assuming reinforced concrete and really strong
AreThree@reddit
there's another frame I found that gives a good hint to what hit him
aviation-ModTeam@reddit
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whats_a_quasar@reddit
Wow great spot
This shot is a certified "i'm in danger" moment
Agent_of_talon@reddit
"It was at this moment that he knew, ..he was f*cked!"
40KaratOrSomething@reddit
Looks like he had none life threatening injuries.
hogey74@reddit
You know what you have to do!
juko43@reddit
One of those "once you see it" photos
RogLatimer118@reddit
Honey, you won't believe what happened to me at work today.
Conscious_Raisin_436@reddit
“The airlines are really coming down on us!”
DutchBlob@reddit
That’s absolutely insane. Unless the plane was in an emergency with control issues, that pilot should be fired.
pissy_corn_flakes@reddit
It was at that moment that he knew… shit was about to get fucked up
Basis_Mountain@reddit
Driver could hear it coming, thankfully he only had cuts from flying glass!
Stranger1982@reddit
Hoooooly moly that's some Final Destination horror.
Figit090@reddit
So those look like mains, was he hit by the fuselage?
mnztr1@reddit
His spidey sense was def. tingling!!
aquoad@reddit
holy shit
King_Turduckin@reddit
The plane hit them AND the light pole. If you slow down the video, after the camera starts to tumble, you can see the underside of a new livery UA 767:
King_Turduckin@reddit
And the current livery:
pissy_corn_flakes@reddit
I imagine the current livery has an outline of a truck
ZeePM@reddit
Imagine they paint a silhouette of a truck and light pole on the nose of that plane.
AreThree@reddit
this frame as well
CARCaptainToastman@reddit
Well that's terrifying
_Nippler_@reddit
Apparently the hit a light pole.
Hot_Net_4845@reddit
https://xcancel.com/Turbinetraveler/status/2051050892388893083
Marisa_Nya@reddit
Light pole dislodged and flew at the truck? Or did it bend to hit?
Jazzlike_Common9005@reddit
Light pole took the wheel off the landing gear and the wheel hit the truck.
SugarBeefs@reddit
Seems honestly unlikely to me that a flimsy light pole can take the wheel off an airliner.
racerviii@reddit
So the plane landed with a wheel missing?
ThePrimCrow@reddit
There are four wheels on each of the main landing gear. Sounds like one was knocked off so they landed with 7 wheels
BPfishing@reddit
No. News articles say the plane landed and taxi’d to the gate with no issues. And only minor damage reported.
racerviii@reddit
Above person says a wheel got knocked off though.
railker@reddit
Lot of people saying a lot of things with no confirmation right now. I'm struggling to envision how a light pole knocks a main wheel off an airliner. Especially as far as I know, traffic light poles have to be frangible so they breakover rather than shear a vehicle in half in an accident.
bstone99@reddit
Holy shit
Also, the spirit planes parked there 😕
Jake_77@reddit
I will not shed a tear for Spirit
friendIdiglove@reddit
No matter what anybody thought about their service, a bunch of people just lost their jobs all at once and that sucks. Don’t be insensitive.
trashbinrubbishtrash@reddit
Sad seeing all those Spirit A320s parked in the second video.
_Nippler_@reddit
Thank you 🤙
DaBingeGirl@reddit
Holy shit! I was always a little worried about that when landing at Midway but never thought it would actually happen anywhere.
Coreysurfer@reddit
The shadow it seems..and the wheel as someone pointed out..scary
friendIdiglove@reddit
And another person pointed out the belly of the plane after the collision in at least one frame.
Kanyiko@reddit
What the truck, you meant? >.>
... I'll see myself out. v_v
LearningDumbThings@reddit
They got KEWR confused with TNCM.
FragrantExcitement@reddit
The bread rising allowed the plane to hit it.
marvk@reddit
That's exactly what I said outloud before clicking the comment section. Seriously, what the fuck?!
blue_cadet_1@reddit
he evaporated
Redoron@reddit
I’ve tried landing a 737 on an aircraft carrier in FS, but not a bakery truck.
Economy_Ad59@reddit
That is genuinely terrifying. Hope he's okay
vinticious@reddit
Saw in another post he had some minor injuries. Very lucky for him!!
True-Industry-4057@reddit
He gets to tell everyone he got hit by a plane and survived
Basic_Butterscotch@reddit
I'm not usually a litigious person but I hope he sues United and gets a fat check. This is insane.
Kiramiraa@reddit
I agree - I normally roll my eyes at most lawsuits but this is warranted! Get that bag my guy
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
Is this not what insurance is for? Why would he need to launch separate legal action?
mfigroid@reddit
The insurance is his employers. He was driving a work truck.
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
Maybe things work differently in the USA but in the UK the insurer of the party at fault pays for all injuries and damage, regardless of whether someone is at work or not.
The work insurance would fight for the best deal for the worker in this instance if this happened in the UK
I know this isn't the UK I'm just explaining why I made that comment.
mfigroid@reddit
In the US, the employer will be made whole for the vehicle, and the employee will, probably, be taken care of for medical. The employer's insurance will not get a pain and suffering or emotional distress payout for the employee. The employee could sue on his own though.
pezdal@reddit
I agree. How much more for our future seats are we willing to pay so that he can get a "bag" for his minor injuries? I know it's not up to us, but I think I am ok with paying $17 more per plane ride. That number work for you?
Kiramiraa@reddit
Fine with that !
pezdal@reddit
Awesome. Let's swing by and grab some Thoughts and Prayers from r/TrueChristian on our way over to give him the good news.
Cautious_Buffalo6563@reddit
Thots and prayers you said?
ProwerTheFox@reddit
If this happened to you, you'd 100% sue. Stop acting like a weapon.
pezdal@reddit
Yes. I absolutely would if I lived in the US. Where I live it's not quite as lucrative, so I think the settlement offered would be closer to the final judgment, but if not, yeah I'd sue here too.
Wanting to be excessively enriched is not the same. thing as wanting someone else to be unjustly enriched at my expense. Just making that point. I do wish him well.
I don't know what acting like a weapon means
Blood_Incantation@reddit
What you're describing is not litigious. Litigious implies falsity. This would be completely appropriate to anyone.
Cautious_Buffalo6563@reddit
The most time-efficient way to find out if ATC gave faulty instructions on approach or if the pilot came in low. Or worse, if NOTHING wrong happened.
DFA_Wildcat@reddit
If it's not fault insurance he's on the hook for damage to the aircraft.
seriousbusinesslady@reddit
ya he should be set for life IMO. how terrifying those few seconds must have been for him!
HillarysBloodBoy@reddit
Enormous flex. Could you imagine him at an airport walking up to the United lounge?
CWinter85@reddit
"Hey, I'd like to file a complaint."
TacTurtle@reddit
"I'm sorry, I can't find your flight reservation."
lechiengrand@reddit
“Ohhh, I’m sorry, you can’t do that here… You need to fill out a form on this obscure page of our website. Someone will get back to you in 3-6 months.”
SugarBeefs@reddit
Clothes in tatters, bloody nose, angry look on his face. Straight out of a cartoon.
airfryerfuntime@reddit
"My neck hurts"
EggsceIlent@reddit
Ptsd from driving and plane noises and can't ever drive again.
Get that bag my dude
Terrh@reddit
I fell out of an airplane with no parachute (bumped the door open, it didn't latch properly and I didn't have my belt on) and survived.
shah_reza@reddit
Care to expand?
Lampwick@reddit
Probably similar to the time I fell out of a Cessna 172 when I was 7 years old. Door was stuck and my uncle in the left seat said "bump it, it'll open". Sure enough it did. Fell 3 feet onto the floor of the hangar.
HawkorDove@reddit
Free United lounge passes for life.
ArsErratia@reddit
Imagine he picks the tyre up, walks into the United Crew area, and says "You dropped this".
NotAPersonl0@reddit
AKA the 787 (my humor is broken)
Quattuor@reddit
Insurance claim is going to be very interesting...
FixergirlAK@reddit
He and the lady that had the Baron land on her should start a club.
htnut-pk@reddit
Ground Strike Society
Axel737ng@reddit
The Humpeds from Above
Long_Pomegranate2469@reddit
Plowing the fields since 1949
Flame_beard_forge@reddit
Hopefully he gets paid out and can live the rest of his life enjoying his hobbies
Long_Pomegranate2469@reddit
If it's anything like my uncle who got disability because he lost a leg... he'll be playing Euro Truck Simulator 24/7
not_so_subtle_now@reddit
I like to tell people I had a blackhawk helicopter land on my head once during slingload training. Getting crashed into by an airliner is a big more exciting.
KeepItPositiveBrah@reddit
And hopefully a good lawyer will let him retire
Lyuseefur@reddit
Manager: Sure ... sure... You're late because a JUMBO JET hit you. Come on. No way.
This driver: Seriously!!!
Shankar_0@reddit
"That all you got?!?!"
Carribeantimberwolf@reddit
Well yeah but I'd rather just not get hit by a plane
Jimi_Hotsauce@reddit
How was your day?
Well it was ok, made some deliveries and survived a plane crash.
hilhilbean@reddit
Years ago while waiting on my bus, another bus had a tiny piece fly off and hit me in the head.
Obviously I tell people I got hit by a bus.
This guy has a MUCH cooler story (soooo glad he is okay!!).
Anning312@reddit
And a video to prove it
Isme1@reddit
Thank god. For a second there I thought I woke up to r/watchpeopledie
NotThatMat@reddit
Must’ve been a van full of Wonder Soft?
gistya@reddit
That's it, I'm getting a bakery truck.
Kiramiraa@reddit
I was about to come in here and comment about how this should have a NSFL warning or something because holy fuck that’s crazy and there’s no way he survived. So happy to hear that he is safe!
vinticious@reddit
I know! The video made my heart skip a beat so I quickly checked to see what happened to him. I can't believe he's alive, let alone mostly okay!
McDonaldsSoap@reddit
How the fuck is that possible
DamNamesTaken11@reddit
It’s a small miracle the guy got that. Based how that looked, I was worried I was seeing it on a different subreddit.
iheartgt@reddit
Source?
vinticious@reddit
https://x.com/breaking911/status/2051046157137117662 <- this was what I saw
kpop_stan_@reddit
Glad he’s alright, jfc.
HENMAN79@reddit
Brown Boxers
WTXRedRaider@reddit
Code Brown
unperturbium@reddit
Brown sound on the poop deck.
Economy_Ad59@reddit
Oh that's good news at least, it could've been way worse. That loud engine sound from the plane right before being flipped over in a truck is horrifying, the not knowing what just happened.
RandoDude124@reddit
Holy fuck.
Spirited-Effort5560@reddit
he gonna be rich after suing
Slggyqo@reddit
He’s just lucky it was the wheel and not the rest of the plane, he’d be dead for sure.
samaramatisse@reddit
This should have been the top post, oh my god.
SwimmingThroughHoney@reddit
What's the ICD10 code for injuries sustained from aircraft when on the ground driving?
mstill1@reddit
Spirit never hit a truck
ajw_sp@reddit
And they never will.
mfigroid@reddit
Too soon, man. Too soon.
userhwon@reddit
They hit the bricks...
TheEDMWcesspool@reddit
They hit your soul..
tfourthreeseven@reddit
Obviously nobody paid the extra $30 for the in-flight bread service
DJSeeker2001@reddit
Ha
marcm232@reddit
That was about an hour or so later
s0ulfire@reddit
Americans and their INSISTENCE to fly visual approaches inspite of world class ILS infrastructure installed at every major airport
daygloviking@reddit
World-class ILS include having PAPIs/VASIs, and visual approaches still have stabilisation criteria in most sensible company SOPs.
Not an American, but there were a few airfields we flew visually for, with very clear descent criteria at every stage of the approach, despite the presence of ILS/LOC-DME, and RNAV approaches.
s0ulfire@reddit
You are taking away from the spirit of the comment which is visual approaches require flying manually and force automation disconnection or using auto pilot on raw data clues.
Anything non precision renders it as NON PRECISION.
It’s in the culture of things as most airlines around the world DISCOURAGE visual and circling approaches for this very reason
cosmoassmankramer@reddit
You have no clue what you are talking about.
s0ulfire@reddit
Great argument. Must be a lawyer. 🥱
cosmoassmankramer@reddit
Nope, just a real airline pilot that’s pointing out your staggering lack of industry knowledge and experience.
daygloviking@reddit
You are taking away from the very well documented and studied fact of automation dependence, and that a lot of carriers actively encourage their pilots to maintain basic flying skills.
Flying a **stabilised** visual approach with HIALS, PAPIs/VASIs, following on from radar vectors or own line-up should be well within the skill set of a crew. Full autolands require LVOs to be in place so practically every approach WILL end in a hand-flown visual segment.
s0ulfire@reddit
You are correct but this crew did not fly using PAPI/VASI, they flew it VISUALLY looking at the aiming point and screwed up.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been in this position of being in all reds.
It’s bad practice all over to disregard ILS. This is just an example of having no ILS coupled with poor visual flying because of lack of sim practice.
daygloviking@reddit
You know you can use PAPIs without an ILS? You contradict yourself in the same breath.
We had one approach where we actively disregarded the glide path due to the conditions and clearances.
It is bad practice all over to disregard SOPs.
rckid13@reddit
Runway 29 is a charted visual or RNP approach. Also every US airline I know of requires visual approaches to be backed up by an instrument approach. The ILS if available is always tuned in as a backup.
s0ulfire@reddit
You are correct, the crew did not use any back ups in this case. If they had followed the Threshold distance callouts, they would have not been in this position.
It is the insistence to fly looking at the aiming point inspite of having Navaid back up which is the problem.
ATC is also a culprit in clearing traffic VISUALLY
rckid13@reddit
I assure you that they had the RNP 29 programmed in which provides a LNAV/VNAV backup. Clearly they got low on the glide path for some reason. We don't know why yet.
Build-A-Pilot@reddit
no ILS to runway 29
s0ulfire@reddit
Sure but the point remains
Build-A-Pilot@reddit
What are your qualifications? You have zero idea what goes into installing an ILS on a runway. It's much more than buying the equipment.
s0ulfire@reddit
Did you even understand my comment?
It’s about the insistence of ATC to clear air traffic visually inspite of having an ILS.
This incident is similar, they don’t have an ILS sure, but the fact remains that the tendency to fly visually without the reference of Navaids is the problem.
I reckon these boys disconnected way early and disregarded their distance chart callouts throughout the approach.
Build-A-Pilot@reddit
Are you a flight simmer? Like clearly you have no idea how any of this works. No airline in the US will let you fly an approach visually with no backup. The point of a visual approach is not to fly the approach with no reference to instruments, it's to give the separation requirements to the pilots.
On a visual approach, busy airports can increase hourly capacity by reducing separation between aircraft. On an ILS or similar, you need greater separation, leading to delays.
Even when cleared for a visual, you're supposed to have an approach loaded into the system to provide guidance down to the runway. In this case I'm pretty sure it's an RNAV GPS or RNP.
TexasBrett@reddit
Always has to be someone on Reddit blaming Americans.
s0ulfire@reddit
Naturally, American Aviation is plagued by mishaps
rckid13@reddit
There has been one fatal airline crash in America in the past 20 years. It has been 25 years since the last fatal crash by a major US carrier. The accident rate for European and US airlines is about the same per million flights.
s0ulfire@reddit
You are only exploring US carrier mishaps vs the mishaps of all carriers which take place on American Soil.
Case in point Air Canada Express crash last month.
Keep defending ‘Murica using cherry picked stats boy
Blythyvxr@reddit
NY metro area airspace being ludicrously congested, with three major airports on top of each other probably has something to do with it.
s0ulfire@reddit
So, it’s unsafe to fly in US? Gotcha.
cosmoassmankramer@reddit
As an airline pilot myself, I must say congratulations. You’ve typed the dumbest thing I’ve read online in weeks.
s0ulfire@reddit
Ok Captain Jackass
spoiled_eggsII@reddit
I've read in here that this runway has no ILS.
SubsidedRhyme11@reddit
Holy crap, this is bad. Unless crew declared an emergency, this screams of Asiana 214 at SFO.
How could the crew deviate from glide slope on final approach…that bad?
This is egregious coming from one of the US legacy carriers.
Thankfully no one else was injured or hurt.
tallerpilot@reddit
That’s runway 29. There’s no glide slope it’s an RNAV/Visual to a short runway.
WildPineappleEnigma@reddit
There is a 4-light PAPI, so it’s got a glideslope. It’s probably a safe bet that if all lights were red as he hit the truck.
UltimatePorkMan@reddit
A runway having PAPI doesn’t automatically imply a runway has got a glideslope
WildPineappleEnigma@reddit
The FAA disagrees with you. Look at AIM 2-1-2. A PAPI is a type of “Visual Glideslope Indicator.” So are a VASI and even an Alignment of Elements System.
TJhambone09@reddit
A PAPI is a visual glide slope indicator. The approach has a glide slope. What it doesn't have is a instrument landing system glide path.
UltimatePorkMan@reddit
Maybe just terminology but what I’ve learned in my ATPL is that the glide slope is the vertical guidance of an instrument landing system, and the PAPI is independent of any approach procedure and simply indicates the approach (or glide)-path of the runway.
The airport I train at has PAPI’s but no published approach procedures, only a visual approach
TJhambone09@reddit
Never.
It may be independent of an instrument approach procedure, but it's never independent of some approach procedure. One does not simply put a PAPI at (near) the end of a runway.
miianwilson@reddit
TJhambone09@reddit
Except it does. /u/WildPineappleEnigma is using the term correctly.
AJohnnyTruant@reddit
Can’t really see the PAPI in the turn. Can’t really see ANYTHING from the left seat either.
Ok_Breath911@reddit
Today at: stuff that is basically Impossible in Western Europe.
aviation-ModTeam@reddit
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peterpanic32@reddit
Yes, that's exactly why nothing like this ever, ever happens in Western Europe...
coma24@reddit
I have flown hundreds of visuals into N07 which is right near a road. I keep an eye out for 18 wheelers and there is no vasi or papi. You generally know if you're on path or not.
asmrhead@reddit
Six reds. The 4 glideslope reds plus the two truck brake lights.
miianwilson@reddit
In a 767 though, it’s difficult to tell how far the landing gear is below you, as it’s roughly 80 feet behind you and 20 feet down. Couple that with the left seat having limited visibility in the right turn, no glideslope, autopilot/auto throttles are off by this point, going ≈160 mph, there’s a lot more going on than landing a 172
coma24@reddit
Wasn't a 172, but I hear you. It's actually 85kts on final, which is pretty swift for a 40ft wide rwy and less than 3k length. I'm guessing the visual 29 is a bit like the approach into OSH, which is super tight. Have also done that a bunch of times.
It's a rough approach at EWR, would be interesting to analyze approach data to see how frequently aircraft are on profile vs below, and by how much.
miianwilson@reddit
40 ft runway is bonkers, I don’t think I’ve landed on something that narrow before. If I can ask, what’re you flying in there? TBH I’ve only been to Oshkosh once for the airshow, and I chickened out and just landed at ATW and drove in.
HesSoZazzy@reddit
If it's all the same to everyone, I'm just gonna stick with driving my car with all its wheels firmly connected to the pavement thankyouverymuch. This flying shit is too complicated.
storyinmemo@reddit
There's a PAPI aka visual glideslope
TroublesomeFox@reddit
I'm not entirely sure what's happened here.
Did they fly too low and hit the truck or did they hit something else and that hit the truck? I'm very relieved he's got minor injuries only but I'm struggling to understand how this happened.
headphase@reddit
Not quite as egregious as 214 considering that one was a straight-in ILS. The approaches to 29 are definitely more complex because of the final turn and, from my understanding, being a rare configuration for the airport. If this crew was from 'out of town' I could see them being more prone to an error like this although it still doesn't excuse such an unstable approach overall.
CollegeStation17155@reddit
Maybe they entered the wrong pressure into the altimeter; data could have been stale, ATC could have misread it, or crew could have misheard it. Pressure based altimeters have always seemed to be an accident waiting to happen.
Apprehensive_Cost937@reddit
This is why more and more ATC sectors (well, perhaps not in the USA) are getting BPS (barometric pressure settings) from Mode S transponders, so if you've set the wrong one, it will give the controller an alert, prompting you to verify your setting, kind of like with cleared levels, which ATC can also cross-check.
Pristine-Damage-2414@reddit
Would any alarms be going off in plane cockpit indicating they are too low,
Lt_Dream96@reddit
Woop Woop! Glideslope! Glideslop! Woop Woop!
railker@reddit
ADS-B Track for UAL169
Altimeter at the time was 29.88 if someone wants to try and figure actual altitude. Though obviously 'close enough to hit a truck'.
adoggman@reddit
Yikes. If the baro vspeed is to be believed, it's a very unstable approach, fluctuating between -1400fpm and -320fpm all under 1000 ft:
Ecthelion-O-Fountain@reddit
It’s gusty as hell here today and 29 is a tough approach to a shortish runway.
Secret_Account07@reddit
You think there’d be some kind of rule regarding buffer zones around airports. Seems kinda tight
railker@reddit
There certainly are, there's whole sets of dimensions around a runway that have to be clear, which is what ends up limiting the height of buildings or hangars or anything on airport grounds and the heights of what can be nearby. My company accidentally shut down the airport for a bit once cause we had a mobile crane a couple hundred feet closer to the runway than we'd been approved for, and it infringed on the safe zone so operations were stopped.
Likely the reason why the threshold of runway 29 is offset so far away from the Turnpike, the touchdown zone markers where the glideslope lights are installed is over 1,600 feet away from the closest lane, that'll have a cleared any obstacles on that glidepath with some safety margin. I'm just unsure how big that safety margin is without doing a lot more digging.
SaltyCAPtain1933@reddit
Yes and no. The FAA can't stop someone from building something in to a protected surface. You are only required by law to notify the FAA that you are going to do so with 45 days notice via an FAA Form 7460-1. The FAA cannot deny it, they only take this information and publish NOTAMs with it, ie: raising approach minimums, closing certain operations etc. The only protection airports have against construction in to the protected surfaces are city zoning laws. Most major cities have zoning laws that prohibit penetrating these surfaces but not all cities do. If you are smart enough to know the zoning laws and your city doesn't protect the airport, you could submit your 7460-1 to the FAA and 45 days later build a 30 story resort hotel at the end of a runway and the airport and the FAA couldn't do anything about it.
railker@reddit
Today I learned shit too. Time to go find me a spot for a hotel ... 😂
Looks like you're exactly right, from 'Policy Guidance on Approach and Departure Surface Protection':
Sure enough, whole bunch of lines in the OAS database that line up with the highway objects that run down the NJ turnpike. Seeing as they've intentionally made some of the streetlamps in the area shorter, wonder where the line was drawn for how call tall can be.
SkiingAway@reddit
The spite hotel (Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor) exists entirely because local pols wanted to be real sure that no one was going to try to change the rules on runway 14-32 later on to start routing more flights close to downtown.
railker@reddit
That is ... kindof amazing.
Also now reading it was like a 3-decade fiasco to get that runway in the first place, wild.
2006 Boston Globe article on the runway and hotel construction
SaltyCAPtain1933@reddit
I love airspace design stuff. I fly professionally but my bachelors was in airport management and basically everything we studied in that degree program included protected surfaces, airspace design etc in some way shape or form.
oh-pointy-bird@reddit
I am genuinely too dumb to understand what is shown in your attached visual. It doesn’t appear to show the approach, correct? If you have time, do you mind explaining?
adoggman@reddit
It's just an example case showing the stadium-shaped safety margins around a random runway to help visualize what's allowed. Basically, if anything building/tower/crane/whatever aren't allowed ABOVE those boxes. In the case of the Newark runway this happened at, the turnpike the truck was on would be inside (but near the top of) the red box.
oh-pointy-bird@reddit
Thanks! Still can’t believe this happened.
railker@reddit
Not too dumb, just don't know yet. 😁 Above was asking more vaguely about 'buffer zones' around airplanes for obstacles, that's vaguely showing the 'protected' area for obstacles around an airport. There's a LOT of information out there and calculations and different 'areas'.
In that above diagram, the 'approach' itself isn't shown but the safety area for it is the red trapezoid leading to the runway, the yellow ones would be the 'safety areas' that expand out from the runway to make sure if you have to leave the runway centerline and climb out in a turn there's margin for that.
This video does a nice <5 minute summary in 3D for how this looks for an airport. For more in-depth digging, you can dig into 'CFR Part 77' and 'FAA AC 150/5300-13B'. This is already about as much as I know about it myself without doing more reading. 😅
oh-pointy-bird@reddit
Thanks so much for the kindness and the awesome answer - interesting and informative!
Secret_Account07@reddit
Interesting. Today I leaned
robbak@reddit
There is. But transport businesses want to be close to the airport, so build right up to that buffer zone/boundary. Then the airport needs a longer runway, so lengthens it right out to the boundary. So you have a highway with approach lights on top of the shortened street lights.
adoggman@reddit
I sure wouldn't want to fly that approach after an 8.5 hour flight.
Secret_Account07@reddit
Talk to me like I don’t know what the fuck this means (I obviously do but others may not) so what was his height off ground even when he hit?
tj_wetdialer@reddit
At most airlines, more than 1000 feet per minute below 1000 feet is a mandatory go around.
Charlie3PO@reddit
Depends on the airline, but often it's only a mandatory go around if it's sustained for more than a few seconds. Sometimes in gusty/turbulent conditions it's impossible to keep under 1000ft/min for the whole approach.
This is particularly true for aircraft with high approach speeds. Throw in a high elevation airport and a bit of tailwind and you might have a ground speed of 160-180kts. The ROD just to hold a 3 degree slope will be 800-900ft/min in this case, so it'd be basically impossible to correct being above slope if 1000ft/min was a hard limit in these conditions.
adoggman@reddit
Interesting to know! Of course in this case it's definitely not a high elevation airport. Descent rate was >1000fpm from 17:49:28z to 17:49:46z, or 18 seconds, and at the time the ground speed was went from 163kt to 140kt, assuming the ADS-B data is accurate.
adoggman@reddit
Seems like they spent nearly half of the altitude below 1000 feet violating that rule (assuming the data is valid).
adoggman@reddit
I haven't compared the altitudes to other approaches to this runway, and the altitude isn't very accurate due to atmospheric conditions and limitations in the barometric sensors they use to determine altitude. This is instead looking at how fast they're moving towards the ground. Under 1000 feet, they should be at a relatively stable vertical speed, usually around 700-800 feet per minute for the ideal 3 degree glideslope at their approximate speed. This shows them going from near zero vertical speed at 775 feet to nearly double that rate at 600 feet. Some fluctuation is to be expected, especially on visual approaches, but that's pretty extreme.
randombrain@reddit
To be super clear, and I know you know this because of your comment elsewhere, the lefthand column should not be titled "baro alt." It should be titled "baro flight level" (and the decimal place shifted over to compensate, of course).
That said, 29.88 is extremely close to standard 29.92. The numbers you posted should only be 40' higher than reality.
adoggman@reddit
You're right that this is uncorrected barometric altitude so I've added that for clarity.
cinnasota@reddit
That seems like an insanely low approach (obviously) and a sharp turn. Is that normal?
railker@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/dashcams/comments/1kqtbsu/united_plane_gets_close_in_nj/
According to locals, pretty normal. How much lower they were than actual "normal" I don't know. I believe this is a visual approach?
maxdragonxiii@reddit
why is the runway permitted to be there that close to the highway in that direction? is it not possible for it to be away from the highway or at least not that direction both ways?
railker@reddit
The threshold of the runway is offset, and the actual touchdown zone on the runway is about 1,600 feet away from the nearest lane of the Turnpike for 29. The approach path to that point will have been designed and approved to meet all obstacle clearance requirements for the angle of glidepath.
maxdragonxiii@reddit
oh ok so the plane was far too low than what it was needed.
LupineChemist@reddit
You can tell because it hit a truck.
cinnasota@reddit
Holy fucking shit, that has to be only 30-50ft off the highway. It almost clipped the light pole.
Nkosi868@reddit
It clipped the light pole, based on photos.
cinnasota@reddit
https://i.imgur.com/sFNNCRX.png
you're totally right - going frame-by-frame here, it does hit the light pole
K20017@reddit
That is a 777, not a 767.
gburgwardt@reddit
No, this is a different flight
jpharber@reddit
The video the commenter posted was a different flight.
--TAXI--@reddit
I used to (and still occasionally do) pass there all the time, and for me, yup, they look jus like that
discombobulated38x@reddit
This is an absolutely fascinating example of constant bearing meaning you're on an intercept course.
-rendar-@reddit
Yet another reason to avoid New Jersey
FreeOmari@reddit
11/29 isn’t heavily used, but I’ve been on a couple flights that have landed on it coming from the east and it feels like an insane approach. Very sharp turn and feels like you’re nearly skimming the top of the Casciano bridge and then every light pole.
spunkyenigma@reddit
Reminds me of the old Austin airport and I-35. There’s still some short light poles in the area even though it’s been closed since ‘99
FreakinB@reddit
I live in the area and drive past this spot semi-frequently. It happens when they use runway 29, though that runway is used sparingly. If you’re on the I-78 bridge over Newark Bay the planes look like they’re coming pretty close. And the start of runway is really close to the Turnpike (I-95), so the planes pass over it very low.
mcgoldcard@reddit
The sharp turn and approach by itself is typical for the newark rwy 29 approach. The way too low altitude is of course not.
Evilbred@reddit
Well Newark is on the coast, so I would guess about 30 feet.
turpentinedreamer@reddit
Field elevation for Newark is 18’.
dubvee16@reddit
It got revised down last year.
17’
PatrickBaitman@reddit
Did Ginny Sack move in?
miianwilson@reddit
Okay, so about 26 feet?
mjgross@reddit
Would be good if NTSB has the recorders pulled for learning opportunity. Doesn’t have to wait for a fatal one.
khando@reddit
Looks like they will be.
Apprehensive_Cost937@reddit
Unfortunately letting CVRs be overwritten seems to be quite the trend, which finally led to USA adopting ICAO recommendation for 25h CVRs, but this aircraft likely only had a 2-hour recording capability.
railker@reddit
As far as I know that is standard practice, would have to find whereabouts in the FARs it lives as I deal more with the Canadian regs. In ours the requirements for a Company Operations Manual includes "FDR and CVR procedures as applicable, including instructions for company personnel on how to ensure that flight recorder records and, if necessary, associated flight recorders, are preserved in safe custody pending their disposition, in the event that the aeroplane becomes involved in an accident or incident".
RetardedChimpanzee@reddit
I would reckon the altimeter is mounted somewhere above the landing gear.
maxdragonxiii@reddit
wtf, thats far too low even compromising for the altimeter being a bit less accurate in lower ground.
Which_Material_3100@reddit
Thanks. The track versus altitude comparison is very helpful.
khalaron@reddit
That stretch of highway needs to be lowered, maybe made into a tunnel.
SkiingAway@reddit
Lowering 15 lanes of traffic that's already at ground level, right next to the ocean, would be one hell of a project.
You'd probably have an easier time just shifting the runway over to the West a few hundred feet and burying some of those roads, not that it would be easy or cheap either.
headphase@reddit
29 already has a displaced threshold, which implies that the obstacle clearance envelope is sufficient. An incident like this means United needs to reconsider their training and special airport qualification regimes
DosEquisVirus@reddit
From the other sources on the net - it was a wheel that struck this truck.
BTMarquis@reddit
Looks like it
fridaynightarcade@reddit
PULL. UP.
PULL. UP.
PULL. UP.
DosEquisVirus@reddit
TERRAIN…. TERRAIN… DAMN TRUCK… TRUCK… TRUCK….
userhwon@reddit
Someone else said the plane hit a pole and lost a wheel that then hit the truck. I've seen nothing else say that tho.
HeatTiny7041@reddit
Well we hope he wasn't inverted.
icheinbir@reddit
Other comments are asking if the plane hit a light pole which then fell on the truck.
P01135809-Trump@reddit
This seems far more likely than it being the tail.
invertedspheres@reddit
[20:55] - https://archive.liveatc.net/kewr/KEWR-Gnd-May-03-2026-1730Z.mp3
Sounds like the crew had no idea they hit anything.
Jazzlike_Climate4189@reddit
That’s surprising, I would think hitting a truck and light pole would be loud.
Klutzy-Residen@reddit
Helps that planes are loud and moving quickly through the air.
PoppedCork@reddit
A worrying incident to happen in such a built up area around an airport
MysteriousCup3958@reddit
Turns out that one guys wife was correct to scream bloody murder when she saw that 777 flying an approach into newark 😭
Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit
Iconic video
metarinka@reddit
What video is this?
Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit
Enjoy lol
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1ks2slj/plane_gets_close_in_nj/
TroublesomeFox@reddit
She gets alot of flak for screaming like that but honestly i GET IT. I'm the "passenger princess" so I'm usually looking out the window at stuff and if I happened to look up and see a random plane right in front of me yeah I'd probably scream too.
cosmicrae@reddit
There is one frame in that video, right near 0.16, where you can get a feel for the landing gear and the light pole height. Perspective doesn't permit a perfect comparison, but it may be time to change the light poles for something a bit shorter.
Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit
Yeah true! Not crazy that a plane flying a bit low on approach would hit one. Crazy
Trashy_pig@reddit
That’s the first thing that came to mind when I saw this lol.
Brilliant_Night7643@reddit
Dash cam- What the approach looks like to RWY 29 (this is not the incident airplane)
TroublesomeFox@reddit
Im disabled so can't drive but I feel like seeing a plane that low in front of my car would make me reflexively slam on the breaks in panic and just cause an accident that way instead 😭
fridaynightarcade@reddit
I would literally shit my pants if saw this while driving.
Any_Branch_6993@reddit
I love the turnpike for the plane spotting but omg I’ve never been nervous til today about my vehicle getting clipped.
SomeConsumer@reddit
I remember screaming one time as a kid thinking it was going to hit us, causing my mom to swerve.
gefahr@reddit
And now you know you may have been right.
Alklazaris@reddit
I'm sure it was a freak accident that probably was caused by Pilot error but can't they just sink the turnpike down
superdupercereal2@reddit
Given that this is a rare occurrence and it has recently occurred, now is likely the safest time to drive under planes there
EBtwopoint3@reddit
This is the gamblers fallacy. This happening recently has no impact on it happening again. It’s the same as betting on tails after 3 straight heads come up.
Now if we go beyond the probabilities and ignore how rare this occurrence is, there is an argument that pilots will be much more alert in this approach than usual, which would increase safety.
superdupercereal2@reddit
What you’re referring to is the pontificator’s paradox. And I’m not having any of it.
Own_Pop_9711@reddit
You're assuming that future pilots and air traffic control will not change their behavior going forward. Pilots will be much more alert to this risk since it has been featured so prominently.
EBtwopoint3@reddit
That is literally my second paragraph reworded. But that has nothing to do with a rare occurrence happening recently. When you mentioned the rarity of something in the same sentence as it recently occurring, it implies a rare event won’t happen twice for probability reasons. And that just isn’t how probability works.
Also, I don’t think ATC has anything to do with this. This happened because a pilot continued an approach way too low. There’s nothing ATC can really do there, and they are close enough to the airport that the GPWS is likely silenced.
chinggisk@reddit
Any_Branch_6993@reddit
Me staring in awe at the planes landing while driving is probably (certainly) more of a hazard.
ABoutDeSouffle@reddit
Wouldn't it make sense to lower the street level? That seems like the planes have to go unreasonably low there.
phwayne@reddit
Any lower and that aircraft will be obligated to pay a turnpike toll.
Idunnosquat@reddit
What is the height at that point?
NorthernSparrow@reddit
This dashcam of another close call turned up on Tiktok today: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8pdyQjN/
NorthernSparrow@reddit
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8pdyQjN/
Brilliant_Night7643@reddit
NTSB has chimed in on X
crowcawer@reddit
Toyota has entered the chat as well:
cosmicrae@reddit
Notice that NTSB mentions the light pole, but not the truck. Maybe the light pole was flying debris after contact with the tire.
Tupcek@reddit
or tyre was flying debris after contact with the light pole
danny2mo@reddit
Was this the same incident involving a light pole or something like that?
JDubStep@reddit
Honestly impressive getting low enough to hit a truck while avoiding those lights.
delinquentfatcat@reddit
As others said on here, the truck may have been hit by debris (possibly, a detached plane wheel) following the plane's impact with the light pole
3MATX@reddit
So many airports are configured this way. They started off at the edge of town and now are in awful locations. Our cities old airport was next to an interstate. they actually used shorter roadway lights on the runway spans because the approach was that low.
Illustrious-Run3591@reddit
Something something "flying is the most regulated form of transport"
I bet if we cut back airline flights by 80% that would reduce a lot of crashes and free up resources for these less safe airports to be shutdown or redesigned/rebuilt.
entered_bubble_50@reddit
It would also increase the number of deaths, as people chose other, more dangerous forms of transport.
slaff88@reddit
He's not clearing them light poles by more than a few inches either by the looks of it! Assuming they are still on a downward slope there can't have been much clearance.
Johannes_Keppler@reddit
They've also hit a light post according to reports.
moon__lander@reddit
Wouldn't the wash cause turbulence for the cars? Sometimes when I pass a semi you can feel the air it pushes, now imagine 100 semis flew over you.
BigJellyfish1906@reddit
Yet another incident waiting to happen that the FAA approved for the sake of commerce.
2wicky@reddit
Was wondering why the light poles are so high so near a runway, but looks like they double as landing light beacons.
TwoAmps@reddit
And I thought SAN was bad…
ArsErratia@reddit
wow the dashcam lens really messes with the proportions of the triple seven.
iksbob@reddit
It takes a lot of engineering and expensive glass to make a wide-angle lens without fisheye distortion.
dread_beard@reddit
Yep. Had this with a Delta plane (again, I THINK it was Delta) to me today. Fucking terrifying. I hate driving during RW 29 approaches.
flying_wrenches@reddit
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TroublesomeFox@reddit
I don't mean to be rude but I'm wondering if perhaps a cheerful note about an AMA as the very first comment on a post about some poor man maybe? Definitely? Losing his life in a freak accident is a smidge insensitive. I've been part of the sub for a while and your all usually fantastic at this stuff but it felt out of place for this particular post perhaps.
impactedturd@reddit
Please update your sticky to include status of driver, because I think people would appreciate knowing he did not die.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/nyregion/newark-airport-plane-light-pole.html
(Archive Link)
pixeltackle@reddit
All the news reports I've seen only mention the plane hitting a light pole.
Wilawah@reddit
The light poles there are quite low…
Because of the airport.
Wilawah@reddit
More_Than_I_Can_Chew@reddit
Oh. Ok. Yeah that makes it better.
pixeltackle@reddit
Who reads that comment and thinks I'm arguing 'that's better' 😂 It must be hard not being able to comprehend the meaning of words without adding a whole other storyline.
Merker6@reddit
So did it hit a light pole which then hit the truck? Or is this just completely unrelated footage?
SirSourdough@reddit
Rumor elsewhere is that a wheel (or part thereof) was knocked off by hitting the light post and that is what hit the truck.
Incredibly unlucky guy.
Black_Walker@reddit
All wheels were still installed when it landed
racerviii@reddit
So the plane landed with a wheel missing?
Black_Walker@reddit
No it did not.
aviator_jakubz@reddit
Based on news reports, the aircraft was a 767-400er.
This model has 2 wheels on the nose gear. The main gears have 4 wheels each, in a 2x2 arrangement. While it's obviously not ideal, 1 missing wheel isn't a guaranteed disaster for the aircraft.
doctorfortoys@reddit
Yes. It has nine more.
Figit090@reddit
Or incredibly lucky?
😬
Imkisstory@reddit
Did he die?
AppropriateCattle69@reddit
Minor injuries. And a massive payday.
aquoad@reddit
Where’s the payday though? The airline will make the bakery whole for ruining their truck and pay for whatever injuries the driver sustained, which were apparently minor. I guess they could offer more for PR reasons but it doesn’t sound like the driver will have incurred a lot of monetary damages. I feel like he’ll get much less than he really ought to.
timmy6169@reddit
My good sir. People have sued for everything less, let alone getting hit by a negligent airplane/pole/tire/whatever it was. Minor injuries that he did not plan on sustaining when he went to work. There are 100 different reasons to sue and even so much as him having a law firm send a notice of intent on letterhead will have the airline immediately offering a large settlement. Shit happens and this is one that will get him living comfortably.
chaosattractor@reddit
Suing, actually winning your case, and actually winning the amounts of money that y'all start fantasising about whenever you see things like this are three vastly different things.
LupineChemist@reddit
He'd better have unlimited UA flights in business class for the rest of his life.
Orcapa@reddit
In this crazy world, his employer will probably claim all damages because he was on the clock.
elkab0ng@reddit
And some brown pants
Strong_Coffee_9999@reddit
Good for him
the_silent_one1984@reddit
Now he can work on that Jump to Conclusions mat he's been putting off!
FatSteveWasted9@reddit
“I’m a goddamn people person!”
Digger_Pine@reddit
Why should I change? He's the one that sucks!
Gluten_maximus@reddit
My sentiments exactly
ThePrussianGrippe@reddit
Woohoo!
Payday, minor injuries, and gets to tell people he got hit by a plane.
ThisIsMyBigAccount@reddit
He's got that next game of "two truths and a lie" on lockdown!
mythrilcrafter@reddit
Is this the airline industry's equivalent of "if you get "hit" by a university vehicle, you get free tuition"?
ArsErratia@reddit
I'd assume if he died the Police would have the dashcam footage at this point, rather than twitter.
Lusankya@reddit
Any good fleet monitoring solution will push its footage and logs to offsite backup using a cell modem when the system detects a major incident or crash.
Given the camera survived well enough to record the aftermath, it likely survived well enough to push to the company's server.
That's likely where this copy came from. The cops aren't going to turn over the cameras to the company until the NTSB has had a chance to go through everything.
ArsErratia@reddit
Yeah, I was thinking Fleet wouldn't know there was anything interesting to download. But I didn't consider there could be an alert system to flag up big crashes like this that can get reviewed pretty quickly.
Crafty-Bunch2975@reddit
Minor injuries according to the article
Puzzled_Date3459@reddit
Minor injuries due to glass
ahmc84@reddit
I find that a bit unlikely, since that wheel would still be hanging around the scene. That, and FR24 shows the plane taxied to the gate after landing, which they would not have done if they'd lost a wheel.
drdrp@reddit
https://abc7news.com/amp/post/united-flight-169-strikes-light-pole-landing-newark-liberty-international-airport-new-jersey/19030977/
I assume that the pole hit the van. Not mentioned in the new articles
hugh_jorgyn@reddit
They updated the article:
drdrp@reddit
“The driver experienced a commercial plane's tires landing on the tractor or brushing the top of the tractor," Paterakis told ABC News.
experienced 😂
Orcapa@reddit
Also: "The trailer is not damaged, and the bread product was not touched,"
Oh good, the bread is undamaged.
ahshitidontwannadoit@reddit
Truck drivers company:
Yeah, that's an avoidable accident. Points on your record.
teapots_at_ten_paces@reddit
Driver forgot to check his clearance height. Happens all the time at bridges, delivery bays, under airplanes.
MightyTribble@reddit
Wow.
Could also have gone with "was blessed by", or perhaps "graced with" there, just to class it up some more.
Immediate-Repeat-201@reddit
Here's some pizza
kjerski@reddit
The light poles are a lot shorter than I expected. At least from this video. You can see the bent over post 1 second into the video.
https://x.com/aviationbrk/status/2051053068729635262
RaisinDetre@reddit
Forking hell now we have a damaged plane and no bagels at Newark.
backshell@reddit
So the US will invade Warsaw?
Cgy_mama@reddit
Or the light pole hit by the plane proceeded to fall onto/hit the truck.
FragrantExcitement@reddit
Or the plane was just doing it's thing and the evil light pole jumped out in front of it.
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
In my layman's opinion that looks like significantly more energy than a a street light could deliver, even accounting for it being hit by a plane first.
theredmokah@reddit
It's not like the plane hits the light pole and the pole slowly crashes into the ground.
This is akin to a baseball bat swinging twice the speed of your avg professional MLB batter and hitting the baseball (the pole)-- which happens to weigh between 300-400 lbs.
That bitch was smacked to the ground and by extent, the dude's car.
SerowiWantsToInvest@reddit
That's exactly what they said.
Scotsch@reddit
Those lightpoles are not very tall, so it's not very unlikely to hit the truck as well.
Conor_J_Sweeney@reddit
It seems like they hit both the light pole and the truck. If I had to guess I'd say the pilots probably realized they hit the pole but only found out about the truck later.
infoway777@reddit
i think the plane definitely hit the truck for sure ,and also hit the pole
VanillaTortilla@reddit
I mean, it probably hit one of those too.
Speedbird14@reddit
When does the media ever report on aviation stories accurately?
TerpBE@reddit
The truck should have been traveling at a lower altitude.
NoRodent@reddit
– Baker 86, please lower you altitude to avoid collision.
– United 169, recommend you raise your altitude to avoid a collision.
– Negative, Baker 86, I'm a captain of fully loaded 767 carrying 221 passengers, you lower YOUR altitude.
– Negative, United 169. I'm a semi-truck. Your call.
Toadsted@reddit
Go go gadget bakery truck
PatrickBaitman@reddit
Traffic Traffic Descend Descend
Graylag@reddit
Chances of you getting hit by an airplane on a random sunday is low, but not zero.
userhwon@reddit
I live close enough to the pattern that I think about this from time to time.
JamSee27@reddit
Surely warrants a tiny bakery truck painted just beneath the cockpit…
cosmicrae@reddit
and a Jeep, which hit the downed pole after the bakery truck.
angryPenguinator@reddit
VASAviation has the ATC/Ground audio up - says there's a hole in the plane.
Old-Library5546@reddit
Is the truck driver ok???
Emily_Postal@reddit
Yes apparently
Old-Library5546@reddit
Good, thanks!
asmrhead@reddit
TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS, BITCHES!!!!
ChainringCalf@reddit
So the viral video of the lady freaking out as the plane into Newark went over them wasn't wrong, just early.
TampaPowers@reddit
And they say Kai Tak had a dangerous approach close to things you could hit. Who is laughing now? Not Newark.
dace747@reddit
Minimums minimums
hookahsmokingladybug@reddit
Pull up pull up
Conor_J_Sweeney@reddit
It's terrifying that he could clearly tell something was coming.
CWinter85@reddit
Maybe he's one of us and really wanted a good look?
radioref@reddit
He definitely was looking at it like “yeah baby driving under the United sweeeet!”
phluidity@reddit
To me, that is the look of "I know it is the perspective like that airport on the beach, but that plan really seems like it is low."
jalexandref@reddit
I know a road next to an airport and it's impossible to not hear a plane approaching a runaway just above you. You can have radio at max, but you will hear those jet engines sucking air no matter what
iksbob@reddit
I think he was looking over at the airport. Looking at the video frames just before impact, landing gear wheels are visible through the driver's side window (opposite where he was looking). That suggests the plane was moving from the truck's left to right.
PengPenguin888@reddit
If he was driving north, plane would be coming from right to left for Runway 29.
iksbob@reddit
Video shows left to right. Consideration of the facts indicates he was driving south.
PengPenguin888@reddit
As usual, media spouting incorrect info. They all say he was driving northbound.
iksbob@reddit
After looking at the map, I think the reporters must have gotten the NB / SB wrong. Runway 29 is off the southbound (westerly) side of I-95. If it hit a truck on the northbound side, its glide path would have taken it even closer to the road surface as it crossed over another ~150 feet of elevated road surface on the southbound side (3 lanes + 3 lanes + 2 lanes + a bunch of shoulder and median space, which I'm all together guesstimating around 13 lane widths, multiplied by at least 12 feet per interstate highway lane). A 3° glide slope (admittedly not a great assumption due to the erratic descent rates that others have pointed out) would result in a further 8 feet of descent going from the center divider to the west edge of the roadway. Assuming the truck cab is about 8 feet tall, that puts the wheels about at road surface level, best case. The west edge of the roadway has a ~6 foot tall concrete barrier when passing the end of the runway. I expect that barrier would have catastrophically damaged the landing gear, if not the engines.
The roadway light posts are also much taller on the northbound side - maybe twice the height of a semi truck. That suggests the damaged light post would be tall enough to strike the wing, which contains the fuel tanks. Though I suppose it's possible the jet was flying nearly level as it crossed over '95, clipped the roof of the truck as it flew between the tall light posts, but still hit one of the short lights (also with the landing gear I assume) on the southbound side.
Fenton_Ellsworth@reddit
Yeah he is looking the wrong way for sure. Possible he heard it but couldn't tell which direction it was coming from
lolrdrmmr@reddit
I go to Port Newark across from the turnpike right there for work a lot. When they're coming in on the 29 it sounds like they're gonna land on you from half a mile out. Got me to pucker factor 9.6 a couple times.
semioticmadness@reddit
Nah he’s just always on the lookout for griffons pilfering fresh bread.
unclefire@reddit
You've got to have some incredibly bad luck to be right at that point where a low plane hits your vehicle.
A Hondajet (IIRC) hit a car right off the end of the runway near me. That plane was taking off though and they tried to abort way too late. That road doesn't even have all that much traffic on it that time of day. (Falcon field, Mesa, AZ)
NoDoze-@reddit
When did this happen!?!
BiggyShake@reddit
sunday, i think.
chrizbreck@reddit
Did they go around after feeling the whack or did they proceed to land not even noticing? Able to taxi after landing?
Figit090@reddit
Terrifying audio, too. Sounds like they tried to throttle up.
Bit late. I wonder if this ends up being a case of a downburst. I don't know this approach and how close the highway comes to the numbers.
ahmc84@reddit
550 feet from the threshold to where the truck was.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/H76cHPrjeuJbXCJK7
Figit090@reddit
😬😬😬😬
ndksv22@reddit
A shame we won't see a blancolirio video about it (doesn't he work at United?)
Arch-by-the-way@reddit
The ‘smug guy explaining aviation incidents’ market is pretty saturated right now
mrvarmint@reddit
Blancolirio is ok. Captain Steve is intolerable though
NedTaggart@reddit
I miss Admiral Cloudberg's writeups, but as i understand she is working with Petter's (Mentour Pilot) staff now. Captain Steve doesnt bug me that much, but Blancolirio seems like a solid source of info when something happens.
Dreamerlax@reddit
Pretty sure she still writes, no? Just that they might be bigger gaps between the articles.
kaesura@reddit
The issue is that Mentour pilot wants to sell me scam products, like most youtubers, even if the rest of his content is good
Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit
People say this but I think he’s fine
mrvarmint@reddit
I guess you just missed all of his rushing to get content out and speculate on the causes of accidents (wrongly)
Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit
Doesn’t bother me. The industry is SO scared of speculating that I’m okay with seeing some content that talks through why something could’ve happened - as long as it’s clear it’s speculation and not final
mrvarmint@reddit
Oh yeah, why care whether the finger is pointed at a manufacturer vs a pilot, totally makes sense.
ajw_sp@reddit
Can we get the Lord of the Rings mech to explain this one?
AshleyAshes1984@reddit
The guys at Cineflix who make Mayday/Air Crash Investigations must be salivating after the last year or so, they were doing eps on old obscure crashes for so many years.
Hot_Net_4845@reddit
American
nist7@reddit
Recently saw a short video of him and some fire lookout YouTuber, in it Juan says he flies 777 out of LAX and has about couple years before he hits 64.
I do follow another AA pilot YouTuber, geek on the flight deck (darren byrd) who also flies a 777 but is based out of DFW
ndksv22@reddit
Oh, okay. Then I'm looking forward to it.
Circle_Runner@reddit
AA.
halazos@reddit
How TF could this happen?
MetroBR@reddit
bit shallow there captain
djDef80@reddit
The details surrounding this incident will be interesting. Did the wheel fall off the airplane?
YellowAdventurous366@reddit
Seems so according to the comments bere
ptear@reddit
That's not very typical
JustaRandoonreddit@reddit
This man will never lose 2 truths and a lie
dick_for_rent@reddit
Every cloud has silver lining
AreThree@reddit
police: Did you see who hit you?
driver: I have a dash cam, maybe it recorded something?
one frame from the video
grackychan@reddit
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/plane-wheel-crashes-into-bakery-truck-on-nj-turnpike-driver-survives-with-cuts-schmidt-federal-avaiation-administration-port-authority-new-york-new-jersey-bread-video
Driver survived. As someone who has been up and down I-95 and passed EWR countless times this possiblity has always crossed my mind when they're landing RWY 29...
hugeyakmen@reddit
"A plane crashed into a bakery truck while traveling northbound on the New Jersey Turnpike"
Wait, so was the plane was traveling northbound on the New Jersey Turnpike?! Lol. Or both were on the Turnpike together?
LevoiHook@reddit
They got together for sure.
shit_ass_mcfucknuts@reddit
Right, their participle is dangling!
DenverTechGuru@reddit
These goddamn Max9 drivers are always cutting me off on the turnpike.
superspeck@reddit
Ugh they should’ve given it longer landing gear like those chad airbuses.
HendrickRocks2488@reddit
I also feel like I’m bugging but I feel like he’s going southbound in the video since it looks like the ship cranes are on the left.
adoggman@reddit
If he was looking at the plane, which seems likely, it's northbound.
1-Word-Answers@reddit
The approach to 29 is perpendicular roughly with I-95
TJhambone09@reddit
They're making fun of the shitty sentence structure employed by KOMO news.
planenut767@reddit
Judging by the video I saw it actually looks like the southbound entrance to the Turnpike from Interchange 14.
death_by_chocolate@reddit
Says there the plane was on the highway.
CantSeeShit@reddit
As a trucker myself, I never thought I'd see my industry and the aviation industry colliding like this
cookiesarenomnom@reddit
Like 12 years ago when I first moved here, I happened to drive right under a plane as they were landing on that runway. I freaked the fuck out and started swerving on the highway. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have like 8 intersecting highways around an airport, is a special kind of stupid.
HHOwner4002@reddit
Misplaced modifier in the lead sentence in this story. "A plane crashed into a bakery truck while traveling northbound on the New Jersey Turnpike on Sunday at 1:50 p.m. EST". It reads that the plane was traveling on the turnpike. This could have been a much worse disaster. Glad everyone is okay.
ThrowAwayColor2023@reddit
I grew up next to ORD and worked next to MDW, and I always got a kick out of being so close to the landing planes. I trusted the engineering and all the safety layers to keep me safe. I'm glad I got to enjoy that before insanity like this started happening!
Cute_Flatworm_9049@reddit
This is genuinely terrifying. The driver hearing that whistling sound and trying to trace where it was coming from… I’ve taken this route so many times. Praying he made it out safe.
hajileeeeeee@reddit
Geniuenly, why dont pilots just auto land rather than manually fly it during landings?
I_Am_Zampano@reddit
Having not read any other comments or articles my initial guess is a bad baro setting, either from improper reporting or more likely a mess up in the cockpit
truscotsman@reddit
This frame....
https://imgur.com/a/QZDdDSQ
Good lord
Goatzzi@reddit
Incorrect altimeter setting? i dont understand how this can happen in VFR conditions.
ajw_sp@reddit
Seems like a TCAS fail
FrankReynoldsCPA@reddit
Bread truck driver didn't have his transponder on, FAA will pull his cert
Maleficent_Rip_865@reddit
Still, at this point in the approach you oughta be using your eyeballs over your altimeter
Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit
Ask asiana 214 at SFO
Landed short of the runway with like an experience line check captain in one of the pilot’s seats. VFR
Malcolm2theRescue@reddit
I flew the -200 and -400. Personally, I would prefer not to land the 400 on Runway 29. It is 40 ft. Longer and the gear sits farther back and therefore lower lower than what one would expect having flown the 200 or 300. Also RWY 29 is almost 3,000 ft. shorter than 22L. 6,500 vs 9,300 ft. There used to be triple bar VASIs and PAPIs for long body airplanes. I don’t see them as much anymore. Anyone?
ruppert777x@reddit
We did that landing on a 777-200er back from Haneda on the 29.
Would the 777 somehow be a better aircraft to land due to better braking or another capability over the 764?
Malcolm2theRescue@reddit
It’s significantly heavier.
CARCaptainToastman@reddit
Holy shit, that's one of the closest calls in terms of nobody dying that I've ever seen. Not every day that a 767 has an in-flight collision with a civilian vehicle and everybody survives.
FrankReynoldsCPA@reddit
Still pretty far down on the list of bad things involving a 767 in the area though
MyDespatcherDyKabel@reddit
Daschams are priceless
Puppy_1963@reddit
crikey!
Scared_Breadfruit_26@reddit
The sky is falling. The sky is falling.
CoolasheckDad@reddit
In grade 6, our class was leaning about probabilities and predictions. My teacher gave us an assignment to predict events to see if they came true (for shits and giggles I guess). One of my predictions was a plane crash to happen because they were "very rare" according to my teach and I just wanted the ego boost if that happened. We'll, it didn't.
Growing up we were continually taught that planes were the safest way to travel, statistically. Never hearing of plane crashes in my youth just solidified this belief that it's just this huge rare and shocking occurrence when one does.
But over the last 2-3 years there have been so many reports of crashes involving planes. It's wild to see so many happening all of a sudden, whether that's because some sort of shift in aviation or just more accessible information/me being an adult and more aware.
theholyraptor@reddit
Still safer. We do need to improve faa employment situation to ensure things into the future but the news also only exists to get views so anything negative with planes, especially when people were sitting on Boeing. Not to say it wasn't newsworthy but it's one thing to report and another to chase and amplify to drive narratives and get interactions.
eltonjohnpeloton@reddit
You not remembering specific news stories as a child doesn't mean planes never had crashes.
alveolar_nebulous@reddit
Man legit question though. If he lost a whole wheel that would have been a whole landing incident in itself, right? Like he would have had to circle while they set up the fir equipment for the landing right?
CaptainPonahawai@reddit
As mentioned by railker, at that stage, no one would know.
Additionally, it depends on how many wheels were lost. The 764 has 8 MLG wheels.
railker@reddit
Not if they don't know about it, not like there's a 'wheel's missing' indicator, and you're 5 seconds away from touching down on the runway. Doubt they even felt hitting anything, found out about it after they got to the gate, maybe on the walkaround.
Legend-TitanOwl@reddit
For a single frame you can see the 767 from INSIDE the truck
oh-pointy-bird@reddit
Great screen pull. Wow.
Competitive_Coat9599@reddit
Ty for posting!
capmb_4stripes@reddit
I wonder if the pilots realized they're too low or not and if there were any sop violations. Let's say that they didn't realize they were so low, are their jobs potentially at risk or is it back to the sim/retraining kinda thing... 767 venice to newark should be a very senior crew
CaptainPonahawai@reddit
It appears that they did not know. ATC doesn't indicate that they had any inkling.
The investigation will reveal if it was unexpected wind gusts or weather issues, a screw up, SOP violations or something else. If it was crew, unless they purposely did something against policy, it likely will be training for them and possibly everyone else.
railker@reddit
IMO, the CVR would have to contain the words, 'Hey Jim, watch this' to really be job-loss territory. Anything other than pure malicious negligence would be the role of NTSB to look at what the winds were doing, what was their glidepath, their conversation in the cockpit, was the PNF calling out they were too low / too high / too fast / too slow, etc. to get a picture of how they ended up there.
JustaRandoonreddit@reddit
What about hey Bob watch this is that fine?
skywrench87@reddit
The article talks about the trailer and the bread and that they are ok. Who the hell cares about the bread? Only thing we should be worried about is the driver!
CaptainPonahawai@reddit
Which article? If it is the one linked above (komonews), it's a factual retelling of what happened. The wheel hit the cab and not the trailer.
It then closes with
gistya@reddit
I never have liked the Newark airport.
jamesfordsawyer@reddit
He somehow simultaneously shit in every pair of pants he owns.
LilFunyunz@reddit
Does anyone that knows this approach have an idea how far out of the normal approach path you have to be to hit the highway?
How close is that highway to airliners who are on the glide path?
I guess we would have to know what runway he was landing on.
schakoska@reddit
usa is the new third world country
KHWD_av8r@reddit
Someone’s going to get dry-fucked in the ass with a sandpaper dildo by the FAA.
pturtle@reddit
2 questions because I don't know...
Have there been any reports about damage to the plane? I would think it would mess up the landing gear.
What happens to this pilot? Does he lose his job? Or get a stern talking to?
jet1392@reddit
Was the GPWS not working properly or something? How was this plane not screaming at the crew well before this?
Devil_Doge@reddit
Insurance company be like:
“You got hit by WHAT!?”
binaryhextechdude@reddit
That was no love tap
SneakyFire23@reddit
Someone was catastrophically in the wrong place. what the fuck
k_dubious@reddit
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it wasn’t the person who was on the public road.
mrvarmint@reddit
Yeah, the United flight was
haroldstickyhands@reddit
We don’t know that for sure. We’ll need to wait for the full investigation
gumball2016@reddit
It's the Jersey Turnpike. Tony Soprano's crew probably jacked up the light pole just to send a message to that bakery truck! A lot of money in those airport bread contracts...
Current_Tax6571@reddit
More creative than Spielberg this guy
Helpinmontana@reddit
Fucking had us in the first half
mrvarmint@reddit
No, we know if a plane hit a light pole it was not in the right place. Because the alternative is that the light pole was in the wrong place.
AdoringCHIN@reddit
That front view shows the driver on a highway so I'm going to guess it was the plane's fault here
CARCaptainToastman@reddit
No way. The truck driver was clearly too high.
infoway777@reddit
he was driving absolutely fine - just some pilot who misjudged height catastrophically
Dangerous-LemonBar@reddit
Nah, he was loafing.
Wallbreaker-g@reddit
There are articles from an hour ago saying it hit a light post upon landing. Now as it’s still being uncovered it’s been revealed that it hit a truck.
I believe it still arrived at its gate… but I am curious about more info regarding the 767’s descent…
deiprep@reddit
There’s rumors going around that the plane hit the light pole first, one of the wheels detached and ended up hitting the van.
The driver of the van is very lucky to only have minor injuries.
ThatRunwayBehindUs@reddit
I highly doubt thats a true story...
The wheel hitting a light pole is meh compared to the forces involved when the aircraft actually lands. Even accounting for the direction of the forces the wheel wouldn't have an issue taking out a light pole intentionally designed to break off in an accident...
JazzHandsNinja42@reddit
Wow! Terrifying.
I had to see if the driver was okay. If you’re in my boat, it’s good news.
“The Port Authority Police Department and New Jersey State Police responded to the scene on the Turnpike. Authorities said the tractor-trailer driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released.”
Sowhataboutthisthing@reddit
Obviously just a maintenance issue
cfd253@reddit
“The truck driver had his cell phone in his hand.. clearly it was his reckless driving that caused his truck to strike our airplane” - United’s lawyers probably
mplsandrew@reddit
Terrain ,terrain. Too low, pull up.
ajw_sp@reddit
Traffic
prof_r_impossible@reddit
You are still on the fastest route
SlowPokeInTexas@reddit
How dare that truck driver drive so close to the runway... /s
danmarce@reddit
This seems another case of complacency.
Thankfully the guy survived with a great story to tell. But just a few ft, and this could have been a disaster.
reflectionsinapond@reddit
That “Oh shit” made me laugh ngl
kb8705@reddit
Thought the video was wild and then I realized it had sound. That engine whine as it was right on top of him is terrifying.
InflncrPltSukDezNuts@reddit
Been wondering how long it would take for there to be an accident landing 29. Difficult approach made worse by the fact that it's mostly use when there's strong gusty westerly winds.
HabANahDa@reddit
This looks fake.
bunbun8@reddit
Not the pecan pies!
wolftick@reddit
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/plane-wheel-crashes-into-bakery-truck-on-nj-turnpike-driver-survives-with-cuts-schmidt-federal-avaiation-administration-port-authority-new-york-new-jersey-bread-video
jtraf@reddit
United breaks ... Trucks?
sch0f13ld@reddit
The sound of the engines screaming louder in those final seconds is terrifying
theLuminescentlion@reddit
They finally realized how low they were and applied power.
trackday21@reddit
Na. The FAA already did an audit and said United had no significant safety issues. This must be a mistake
Any-Worldliness-679@reddit
Way to go you stupid fucking pilots.
Source: Am pilot
FlyJunior172@reddit
Looks like it was about the best possible outcome here. Will be watching for the NTSB report.
Aviation Safety Network
LeadingScorer@reddit
As a kid I was always scared this would happen. At least I’m validated that it wasn’t as irrational as I thought
trackday21@reddit
Nice shot United!!! Hope he's alive
SteveCorpGuy4@reddit
A lot of people are saying that he was looking to the right at the aircraft that would hit him.
This is not the case.
The aircraft came from his left (right of the screen). You can even see the main gear in the driver side window for a couple frames.
Acrobatic-Post9811@reddit
That is not how the cookie is supposed to crumble😲
Life-Win-2063@reddit
Too low…pull up….bwup bwup
BusyContract2599@reddit
oops my bad
imagek2@reddit
Well who put the light pole there?
pac4@reddit
I drive up and down the turnpike all the time and enjoy watching the planes coming in or taking off, and I always have the same intrusive thoughts. Frankly I’m surprised this wasn’t much worse.
hesdeadjim1434@reddit
Statement from Pilot: " Worse Landing Ever."
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ShabazzCCR@reddit
How low did they even go to hit a bakery truck and a light pole?
Powerful-Spell-4987@reddit
Under 200 Feet
ShabazzCCR@reddit
They should've been at 400ft or smth
Powerful-Spell-4987@reddit
It was under 100 feet from the runway (Exact view towards Runway 29)
ShabazzCCR@reddit
K.
JS150000@reddit
I hope the delivery driver enjoys retirement after that law suit payout.
NeptuneTTT@reddit
Amyblanket@reddit
That’s insane. Was the pilot DRUNK? I hope the truck driver survived
dread_beard@reddit
So, I must have missed this by a few minutes.
I saw another plane come in SERIOUSLY low on approach. Like, insanely low. Scared the actual fuck out of me. I am guessing it was a bit before this incident (I drove past EWR at around 1:40 or so). I think it was a Delta flight, but I honestly forget.
I am down in Philly on a work trip. The flights were coming in SUPER low and perpendicular to the Turnpike (I guess due to the way the winds were blowing).
RealADSB@reddit
Exact time is 1:50:00pm
donanton616@reddit
How do we have this video already?
Mushy1852@reddit
Are the bagettes fine?
RealADSB@reddit
they fine, just shaken a little
radioref@reddit
Dude was literally looking like anyone driving under a huge airliner on final passing right over you… “LOOK AT THIS UNITED ON FINAL WHOOOOOOOO” and then boom he got rocked.
Kruse@reddit
How even?
flyingcircusdog@reddit
The runway ends right at the NJ Turnpike. Less than 500 ft from the threshold.
ajw_sp@reddit
It really is a short merge there. /s
sh4nsei@reddit
Holy hell😧
Videodepo@reddit
Wrong place, wrong time…
Gabriel_00048@reddit
im sorry what in the fuck?
GrthWindNFire@reddit
Glad to see the Spirit pilots have already found new jobs
sltwill@reddit
Link to article from NJ. Com. https://www-nj-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nj.com/news/2026/05/united-airlines-flight-hits-nj-turnpike-light-pole-while-landing-at-newark-airport.html?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&outputType=amp&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17778485801828&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nj.com%2Fnews%2F2026%2F05%2Funited-airlines-flight-hits-nj-turnpike-light-pole-while-landing-at-newark-airport.html
mc98tw@reddit
I drive commercial vehicles, and I have to drive under planes all the time in DFW. This is literally one of my biggest fear. There's Alliance Airport and I drive on Westport. Sometimes I feel like the planes are going to hit me.
Crazy_Arrival_1052@reddit
UAL 2022 hire strikes again
Imkisstory@reddit
Yeah, but what happened to the baked goods…?
The_Skippy73@reddit
Good news Spirit airlines pilots! There is a job opening!
PreviousEmu457@reddit
Anyone know the drivers name?
TylxrG@reddit
That boy is getting paid
SPECTRE-Agent-No-13@reddit
That driver baked some brownies in his pants
OneSkepticalOwl@reddit
Hmm... he is looking to the passenger side and tracks the plane to driver's side. That indicates he is northbound on the turnpike. The split video also shows the cranes at Port of Newark on the driver's side and that means southbound.
What is going on? The airport is on the west side of the turnpike
Bud_wiser_hfx@reddit
Terrain, Terrain
JustaRandoonreddit@reddit
Insurance: You got hit by a what?
CindyKitty@reddit
I commute by an airport for work every day and the landing planes come low and close to the highway… this is like my worst fear.
Purple_Foundation288@reddit
2 spirit pilots ready to fill 2 vacancies
mbatt2@reddit
I don’t understand why there are seemingly so many more collisions and weird accidents since early 2025.
747ER@reddit
People said things like this in 2024 and 2022 as well.
Kardinal@reddit
There aren't. Negativity bias makes us pay attention to every bad thing that happens.
Check the stats. That's where you'll find the truth.
Artevyx@reddit
Is dude okay? The article makes no mention of the truck.
RWLemon@reddit
I’m never flying again.. too many incidents in the last few months 😂
Old-Struggle2122@reddit
So did it hit a light pole and the pole hit the car or did the plane hit the car?
hchn27@reddit
Before I click anything ….I’m guessing this is runway 29
cinnasota@reddit
Welp that pilot's career is done.
Looking at runway 29 on maps, that is......... very poorly designed. An elevated turnpike/freeway literally on the approach to a sunken runway? what?
imme267@reddit
Yeah, probably not. Unless they find the pilot to have been doing something grossly negligent and knowingly unsafe, pilots are protected from accidents like this
nwpa97@reddit
Why should they be? He could’ve killed someone.
Airbusa3@reddit
He looked over like “that seems kinda low” and then it proceeds to give him a fist bump
tehgengen@reddit
UPS 1072 747-400 just landed on that runaway scoring to flight radar, this is nuts I thought they use this runway for smaller planes
Mrrobotico0@reddit
Pilot is probably gonna kiss his job goodbye.
AirplanesMakeMeHard@reddit
Twinkies' stocks in shambles right now
lucius-vorenius@reddit
Bro sensed something was wrong before the hit.
Accomplished_Shift34@reddit
I hope he’s okay, next sue the draws off
rwills@reddit
Glideslope Glideslope
dinomax55@reddit
Wow, hope he’s ok..
sfeicht@reddit
I’m always surprised how low the planes approach when crossing the highway when driving past there.
mollyyfcooke@reddit
New fear unlocked! The fuck!
unperturbium@reddit
Was it returning from Maho beach?
wizer1212@reddit
I thought it was gonna be a love tap
PlebBot69@reddit
Pilots gotta go get color blind tested if they couldn't see 4 red PAPI lights. Wonder if they cleared the displaced threshold.
unperturbium@reddit
Red on red, you're eating bread.
TheEpicGold@reddit
Holy shit that is bizarre.
voujon85@reddit
can't tell you how many times I thought I was going to get hit my a plane driving on the turnpike, or hit a car when on final approach into EWR. As a kid my Dad always told me not to worry about it... uh oh.
SubsidedRhyme11@reddit
Holy crap, this is bad. Unless crew declared an emergency, this screams of Asiana 214 at SFO.
How could the crew deviate from their final approach pitch…that bad? RWY 11/29 (6800ft) does not have an ILS approach, instead uses RNAV.
Increased pucker factor for sure with the shorter runway and non-instrument approach. I wonder if the pilot flying just misjudged it. Even with PAPI this sounds crazy.
This is egregious coming from one of the US legacy carriers.
Thankfully no one else was injured or hurt.
lablizard@reddit
Someone was aiming to land on the numbers.
ALexGOREgeous@reddit
holy shit any lower they would have hit the freeway
CategoryUpper7471@reddit
Two or three feet lower and the wheel would’ve received enough pressure to sustain serious damage. We would be talking about UA169 rolling down the runway without front landing gear.
jpgene@reddit
surely it was a rear wheel that struck it? how could it have been the front?
christianbro@reddit
So now airplane warning sign on the road gets a totally new meaning. Hope he is ok.
Number_One_Pilot@reddit
WELL THAT escalated quickly. 😳
230Amps@reddit
*deescalated
LetsGoNYR@reddit
Runway 29? Everyone’s could this happen just happened.
skyfaring55@reddit
Literally, every time I land on this runway I think about this
Salty-Passenger-4801@reddit
Unbelievable
MilkJiggers88@reddit
What the helly?? 😳😱🤯😮😲😯
Kinder22@reddit
No it was an airplane.
excavatorTV@reddit
Weird that the plane didn’t full stop on the runway given the impact that had to have been felt
yavinmoon@reddit
This happens when they hire retired Tornado "mud mover" pilots.
CollegeStation17155@reddit
Crop duster pilots… those guys fly under power lines while working.
Happy-Table-9515@reddit
That’s just fucked….….
Live_Ostrich_6668@reddit
Is the truck driver dead?
khalaron@reddit
He's a little banged up but OK from reporting I've seen linked in this thread.
Goatzzi@reddit
So I guess that girl screaming was right
ndksv22@reddit
Reverse Aerosucre.
saml01@reddit
Welp. Someone lost a bet.
BlueDotty@reddit
Fucking hell
ndksv22@reddit
I don't think the bakery truck was hit by the plane, mire likely that it was hit by the light pole (which the plane collided with)
Maybe I'm wrong but it seems impossible for the plane to be that low and still make it to the runway.
Admiral_Cloudberg@reddit
Very likely not real, the location depicted doesn’t match the location of the incident.
DigitalPhear13@reddit
Spirit pilots already flying at United?
Frequent_Leopard_146@reddit
Spirit has a pristine record
schrutesanjunabeets@reddit
Spirit never had a fatal accident in 33 years, but ok.
HENMAN79@reddit
Holy Crap!
post-explainer@reddit
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