NEW YORK: A United Airlines jet with 231 passengers and crew escaped a major disaster on Sunday (May 3) after one of its wheels clipped a lamp-post and truck on a highway while on final approach to land in New Jersey.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials said the Boeing 767 landed safely at Newark Liberty International Airport after arriving from Venice, Italy, and the agency would investigate the incident.
A preliminary investigation from New Jersey State Police said “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” that was also travelling on the highway, state police said.
No injuries were reported on the plane, and the delivery truck driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement.
United Airlines flight 169 was carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members when the incident occurred around 2pm local time on Sunday on a section of road near the airport runways.
The H&S Bakery truck “was unscathed” but “the wheel of the commercial plane crashed into the driver’s window”, according to Chuck Paterakis, a senior vice president for the company, who added that “the truck driver suffered small cuts from the incident”.
Paterakis also told TV broadcaster ABC everybody in the incident was very fortunate “because it could have been the opposite of what happened, and a little help from God went a long way tonight for everybody on the plane, and including the driver”.
United Airlines said in a statement it plans to “conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of this process”.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.