United Jet Smashes Into Tractor-Trailer on Approach to Newark; NTSB Seizes Black Boxes

Flight UA169, a Boeing 767 carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members, ‘struck an object over the southbound New Jersey Turnpike, causing damage to a lamp post and an articulated lorry travelling south on the road’, the Port Authority Police Department said. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A United Airlines Boeing 767 arriving from Venice struck a light pole and a tractor‑trailer on Sunday afternoon as it came in to land at Newark Liberty International Airport, injuring a lorry driver on the New Jersey Turnpike and triggering a federal investigation into what went wrong.

The United jet, operating as Flight 169, was on final approach to Newark at around 2 p.m. local time when it made contact with the pole over the southbound carriageway, according to state police and aviation officials.