A United Airlines flight experienced an unsettling landing at a New Jersey airport last month, as detailed in a recent report. The copilot admitted to investigators that he noticed the aircraft was descending too low but realized it too late to initiate a go-around, according to the findings released on Thursday.
The flight, arriving from Venice, Italy, on May 3, encountered a loud “thump” and a “mild jolt” as it landed at Newark Liberty International Airport. This account was shared by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in their preliminary report. The first officer recalled alerting the pilot with the words, “you are still slow and a little low” during the approach. However, by the time he confirmed the plane’s low altitude, it was already on the verge of touchdown.
This report marks the first time that the crew’s perspective on the incident has been publicly shared. Although it outlines the sequence of events, it stops short of pinpointing the exact cause of the low approach or suggesting measures to avoid future occurrences. Such conclusions are anticipated in the NTSB’s final report, expected to be released next year.
Additionally, the report clarifies that debris from the light pole, not the aircraft itself, struck a truck traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike. Initial statements from law enforcement had suggested that the plane had directly hit the top of a bakery truck, slightly injuring the driver. According to the report, while the truck’s windshield was damaged and its trailer punctured, there was no evidence of tire marks on either the tractor cab or trailer.
But the report clarifies for the first time that it was debris from the light pole, and not the plane itself, that hit a truck traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike. Law enforcement officials initially said the plane had hit the top of a bakery truck, causing minor injuries to the driver.
The report says the truck’s windshield was damaged and its trailer punctured, but that there was no evidence of tire marks on either the tractor cab or trailer.
The Boeing 767 was able to land safely, though it sustained “substantial” damage to its fuselage and one of its landing tires had evidence of slash marks, according to the NTSB report. None of the more than 200 people aboard the plane were hurt.
Regular drivers on that stretch of Interstate 95 near the Newark airport are likely used to seeing planes coming in low as they cross the highway in preparation for landing.
Dashboard camera video from inside the truck showed the moment of impact. The driver is seen singing happily to himself, then glancing out his window with a slight look of concern as the sound of the jet’s whining engines begins on the recording. A moment later, part of the plane zooms into view out the driver’s side window.
Spokespersons for United didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
But the NTSB report suggests the pilot intentionally took a shallow approach to the runway that was below the established flight path, said D. Blake Stringer, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University.
“It’s not surprising that the airplane clipped infrastructure near the runway,” he said. “If a pilot can’t fly the intended flight path, the general recommendation is to steepen the angle of descent, not shallow it out.”
Steve Arroyo, a retired United Airlines captain and safety expert, said the pilots don’t appear to have properly prepared for their designated runway’s unique landing requirements, even though they could have made or requested more time.
“They were already below where they should have been before they even crossed over the New Jersey Turnpike,” he said.
The plane’s runway assignment changed three times before landing, the report states. The tarmac it ultimately landed on is the shortest runway at the airport and is generally only used when there are strong winds like there were that afternoon.
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said those strong winds also appeared to be challenging for the pilot.
At one point shortly before landing, the pilot told investigators that he “got fast” as he turned the airplane into the headwind, the report states. The pilot pulled the power levers back to compensate as wind gusts produced “moderate turbulence.”
An air traffic controller told the pilots at the time winds were gusting up to 31 mph (50 kph).
