In a startling video that has recently surfaced, a United Airlines plane is seen colliding with a light pole and a trailer during its landing approach at Newark Liberty International Airport.
According to a spokesperson from the New Jersey State Police, United Airlines Flight 169’s underside and tire made contact with a light pole and a tractor-trailer hauling bakery goods on the New Jersey Turnpike around 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the Boeing 767-400 successfully landed and was returning from Venice, Italy.
The flight carried a total of 221 passengers and 10 crew members on board.
Newly released footage captures the tense moments as the passenger jet narrowly avoided a major disaster, grazing objects during its final descent.
In the video, traffic on the highway beneath the United Airlines plane is seen moving at high speeds, as the aircraft came uncomfortably close to the ground.
The nail biting clip showed that the landing occurred during a relatively clear weather day, with good visibility.
‘Our maintenance team is evaluating damage to the aircraft,’ said a United spokesperson. ‘We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process.’
New video has shown the moment the United flight hit a light pole and a truck while landing at Newark Airport on Sunday
Pictured: The driver of the truck that was clipped by the airplane. He was working for H&S Family of Bakeries. His windscreen was shattered and there was a puncture hole in the cab of the truck
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said no injuries were reported on the plane while minor damage to the aircraft was observed.
Airport staff inspected the runway for debris and normal operations were quickly resumed, according to a spokesperson.
The tractor-trailer driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and has since been released, the Port Authority added.
He was driving a truck for H&S Family of Bakeries. His windscreen was shattered and there was a puncture hole in the cab of the truck.
After being hit by the plane, the pole also struck a Jeep traveling on the parkway.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board have launched an investigation into the incident.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said: ‘This is unacceptable. We have really well-trained pilots. This should never happen in America, but here’s what happens though, an incident like this, the big and small incidents, we look at an study and learn from.’
NTSB said it has directed United Airlines to secure and provide both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to support the investigation.
American airlines and airports have experienced a harrowing number of close calls and near-misses in recent years.
New video from the ordeal showed the passenger plane coming within inches of total disaster as it clipped the objects during its final descent
In April, a UPS cargo plane had to abort its landing in Louisville when a small plane crossed the runway just as it approached.
The air traffic controller yelled ‘Skylab 25, stop!’ at the small plane before quickly ordering the UPS plane to pull up and perform a maneuver called a go-around to avert another tragedy at Louisville International Airport, a major hub for UPS.
The Boeing 767, identified as UPS flight 1303, was arriving from Atlanta when it was ordered to cancel its landing.
And earlier this year, an American Airlines pilot was forced to ‘slam on the brakes’ after a truck came within feet of colliding with him on the taxiway at a North Carolina airport.
The unidentified pilot was maneuvering his plane toward the runway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport when he suddenly had to stop the aircraft.
Two vehicles drove past the plane, seemingly unaware that Flight 1197 had its taxi lights on.
‘They just went right in front of us,’ the male pilot told the air traffic controller, according to CBS News. ‘We nearly hit them, I had to slam on the brakes.’
He informed the air traffic controller they had already begun moving before the car passed by.
In March this year, an Air Canada Express plane collided with a Port Authority fire truck on a runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York – killing the pilot and co-pilot.
The airport was shut down and dozens of passengers were injured.
Last January, a catastrophic mid-air collision occurred in DC above the Potomac River between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter.
The two crafts collided when the plane was about to land. All 67 people aboard both aircraft were killed in the crash.
