Surveillance video has emerged from the Sunday mishap on the New Jersey Turnpike involving a United Boeing 767. A still from the video was released Monday but 40 seconds of video now shows the incident and just how close it was to a major crash. New photos have also been shared on social media showing damage to the truck and the airplane. The windshield of the truck was apparently damaged by the light pole. There’s also a gash in the side of the plane. The image was captured by a surveillance camera overlooking the New York Port Authority impound lot at the east end of Runway 29 at Newark Liberty Airport. AvBrief did some geolocation sleuthing and the camera location and angle of the picture match.
New details have emerged on the incident, which sent the truck driver, now identified as Warren Boardley, 39, to a hospital with minor scrapes. He was released within hours. His boss, Chuck Paterakis, of H&S Bakery in Baltimore, told the New York Times Boardley was “shaken up and amazed at what happened, and thankful he is still alive.” The plane took out the light pole, which may have hit another vehicle on the highway, according to New Jersey State Police. There is also white paint on one of the plane’s tires. The NTSB and FAA are now investigating. The incident occurred as Flight 169, with 221 passengers and 10 crew, arrived from Venice, Italy. The pilots told controllers they felt something over the threshold but it wasn’t until they reached the gate that ground crews saw significant damage to the plane, including a hole in the fuselage.
CCTV is circulating on social media of the moment United Airlines 767-400 struck a truck before landing at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday.
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 5, 2026
New Jersey State Police say the bottom of the plane and a landing gear tire collided with a light pole and a truck, while… pic.twitter.com/wZG3Izz7rg
Does this count as a reportable accident to the NTSB?
YES.
There’s a discrepancy between the headline and the story.
The headline says the 767 hit a truck. But the text says the plane hit a light pole, which in turn hit the truck and another vehicle on the turnpike.
Situation: NORMAL
When you step through the security video, what it looks like is the plane, in the last few seconds was banking/rolling slightly as it hit the truck. Conditions were gusty and it would seem, margin for errors almost zero so any deviation…
I’m now also slightly confused and as always, the NTSB report should tell all, but stepping through, if the plane’s wheels “hit” the truck it had to have been hitting/brushing the top, because even a glancing side blow should have rocked and even tipped it over (mass/energy of the plane and all). I can better understand a light pole smashing into the wind screen and that main gear breezed inches over the top.
Fate dealt a fair hand to all involved this time.
Light pole or Truck, no matter. What the heck was UA doing so low on the approach?
Well, the light pole was unpiloted, so different….
I am guessing one or two pilots just lost their jobs
I understand busy airports are in congested areas, but it ticks me off when the FAA allows roads right up to runways at these major airports but may not approve a warranted runway extension at my home airport because a tiny portion of a road (at a lower elevation than the runway) is within the footprint of the Runway Safety Area of the extension!
A few more feet down the road and that truck would have been destroyed, or 2 feet shorter and just a blur w/no damage. Very fortunate for all involved.
All near misses should be addressed as accidents, and corrective actions implemented appropriately. That has been demonstrated to reduce the low accident rate drastically.