United Jet Hits Truck On Turnpike After Newark Landing Gets Very Weird Indeed

It's perfectly normal to watch for traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, but one direction you don't normally have pay much attention to is up. Truck driver Warren Boardley was singing to himself while he drove, until an airplane landing at Newark Liberty International Airport hit his truck with its landing gear, reports ABC 7. Dash cam video shows the violent crash, yet Boardley suffered only minor injuries, and was able to pull the truck over safely. He was briefly hospitalized with cuts to his arm from broken glass, and has since been discharged.

United Flight 169 out of Venice, Italy, was landing in Newark when its landing gear hit the truck. It also struck a light pole, which the Guardian reports hit a Jeep as it fell. The United Boeing 767 landed safely and taxied to the gate normally with only minor damage. None of the 221 passengers and 10 crew were hurt. From ABC 7:

"Our maintenance team is evaluating damage to the aircraft and we will investigate how this occurred," United Airlines said in a statement. "We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process."

Chuck Paterakis, vice president of transportation for Schmidt Bakery and owner of H&S Family of Bakeries, released the shocking dash cam footage of the crash and explained what happened. The truck involved was delivering bread products to the airport. From ABC 7:

"The driver experienced a commercial plane's tires landing on the tractor or brushing the top of the tractor," Paterakis told ABC News.
...
"The trailer is not damaged, and the bread product was not touched."

Aircraft routinely fly low over the NJ Turnpike just before landing on runway 29, which is right next to the highway. This plane, for whatever reason, was a little bit too low. The National Transportation Safety Board has sent an investigator to Newark to try to figure that out, and instructed United Airlines to preserve the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

This is just the latest in a series of incidents at Newark. Air traffic control is regularly understaffed, and ancient technology that may catch on fire doesn't help, either. It's unclear at this point whether the incident was caused by an ATC issue, pilot error, or some other factor.