Dashcam footage has captured the terrifying moment a wheel from a United Airlines plane struck a bakery delivery truck on the New Jersey Turnpike during a tense near-miss.
The incident occurred around 2 p.m. as United Flight 169, arriving from Venice, Italy, made its final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport.
As the Boeing 767 descended toward Runway 29, it flew unusually low and clipped traffic on the roadway below.
Video of the encounter shows a truck driven by Warren Boardley for H&S Family of Bakeries moving normally before the aircraft’s landing gear and underside suddenly slammed into the vehicle. The force of the impact scattered debris across the highway and sheared off a light pole, which then collapsed onto a nearby Jeep.
According to CBS News, New Jersey State Police confirmed the sequence of events in a statement released shortly after the crash.
“While a United Airlines aircraft was approaching the runway, a landing tyre and the underside of the plane collided with a pole and a tractor-trailer. The pole then struck a Jeep on the NJ Turnpike,” the department said.
Despite the chaos on the ground, the aircraft managed to land safely at the airport.
No injuries were reported among the more than 200 passengers and crew on board, while Boardley was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and later released from the hospital.
Aviation experts have since highlighted how close the flight came to a catastrophic ending.
Steve Ganyard told ABC’s Good Morning America that the crew appeared to struggle with their altitude on approach, noting the aircraft came “literally inches from disaster.”
In response to the incident, United Airlines announced it will conduct a thorough safety investigation and has removed the flight crew from service.
The airline is also required to preserve all cockpit voice and flight data recorders for federal authorities.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched their own probes into the matter.
The NTSB has officially classified the event as an accident due to the significant damage sustained by the Boeing 767.
Investigators are now analyzing weather conditions, flight operations, and air traffic control records to determine the cause of the low altitude.
They are working to establish whether the dangerous descent was the result of sudden wind shear, pilot error, or a failure in guidance from the ground.