United flight struck pole, not truck as it landed at Newark last month: NTSB
The flight came close to a truck that was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike.
NEWARK, New Jersey -- New details were released Thursday about the close call at Newark Liberty International Airport last month.
On May 3, United Flight 169 from Venice, Italy, flew about 15 feet above the busy New Jersey Turnpike on its approach to the runway.
The plane, with more than 230 passengers and crew on board, hit a light pole in the process and the pole hit a bakery delivery truck, the report said.
Investigators say the pilots had been given multiple runway changes in the minutes before the incident, as they descended in strong winds and were eventually told to land at Newark's shortest runway.
The first officer warned the captain, who was manually flying the plane, that the airspeed was slow, eventually saying, "You are still slow and a little low."
Moments later, the plane hit the light pole, which crashed down onto a delivery truck, injuring the driver.
According to the NTSB, the captain said he "heard a thump" shortly before touchdown.
Passengers deplaned normally, but the plane suffered "substantial damage" with a gash in the side of the fuselage.
"The NTSB is going to want to go back and say what is it about this approach, this runway, how can we take out the possibility of error that almost led to tragedy in this case," an expert said.
The truck driver's father spoke out in the days after the accident
"Imagine that, struck by a plane, generally nobody walks away from a plane crash, nobody," he said.
The first officer said he looked outside seconds before touching down and recalled thinking the plane looked too low above the turnpike, but at that point it was too late to change anything.
The Boeing 767 has not flown since the incident.
