A United Airlines jet came dangerously close to disaster when it hit a semitrailer and light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike as it came in to land at Newark Liberty International Airport.
“A major catastrophe was avoided by [a few] feet,” said safety expert Steve Arroyo, who landed on that same short runway many times during his career at United.
“Had it been another five feet lower, eight feet, I mean, no more than 10 feet, that plane would have been all over the New Jersey Turnpike.”
The driver of the bakery delivery truck was treated in hospital for minor injuries. The Boeing 767 was flying in from Venice, Italy, with 231 people aboard and was able to land safely on Sunday (US time). No one on the plane was hurt.
Air traffic control audio suggests the incident may have created a hole on the side of the plane, but the airline and the National Transportation Safety Board haven’t confirmed that.
The NTSB said today that it had reclassified the incident as an accident because of the extent of the damage to the plane, but it didn’t provide any details.
Patrick Oyulu was among those on the turnpike when the plane struck the truck. He posted a short video showing the aftermath of the collision as the plane landed on the runway, just past the highway.
“Truck driver must have seen his life flash by,” Oyulu wrote on X.
AP
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