{"id":209670,"date":"2026-05-04T12:33:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/driver-on-n-j-turnpike-hurt-as-united-plane-hits-pole-on-approach-to-newark-airport-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T12:33:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:33:49","slug":"driver-on-n-j-turnpike-hurt-as-united-plane-hits-pole-on-approach-to-newark-airport-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/driver-on-n-j-turnpike-hurt-as-united-plane-hits-pole-on-approach-to-newark-airport-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver on N.J. Turnpike hurt as United plane hits pole on approach to Newark airport – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morning Rundown: Iran threatens U.S. forces in Strait of Hormuz, Bernie Sanders supporters eye a new leader, and previewing the Met Gala<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
A United Airlines plane hit a light pole during its final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport, injuring a driver on the New Jersey Turnpike and causing damage to the aircraft, officials said Sunday.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Flight UA169, a Boeing 767 carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members, \u201cstruck an object over the southbound New Jersey Turnpike, causing damage to a light post and a tractor trailer traveling south on the turnpike,\u201d the Port Authority Police Department said.
A source familiar with the situation confirmed a piece of the light pole struck the vehicle. The driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and has since been released, police said.
The flight originated from Venice, Italy, and landed around 2 p.m., the department said. The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate normally, with no injuries reported on board, a United Airlines spokesperson said.
In dashcam video shared with NBC News, a loud whizzing sound can be heard before glass breaks as a piece of the light pole hit the truck while the driver was traveling on the turnpike.
Chuck Paterakis, who oversees transportation for Schmidt Bakery, said the driver was transporting products from the company when the incident occurred.
Paterakis said the driver’s injuries included glass in his arm and hand.
\u201cIt\u2019s a miracle,\u201d Paterakis told NBC News. \u201cIt could have been traumatically worse.\u201d
Port Authority police said the plane sustained minor damage, and United said its maintenance team was evaluating the aircraft.
\u201cWe will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process,\u201d the airline said.
Airport staff inspected the runway for debris after the incident, and normal operations at Newark \u201cquickly resumed,\u201d Port Authority police said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board confirmed they are investigating.
An NTSB investigator is scheduled to arrive in Newark on Monday, and the agency directed United Airlines to provide both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.
The NTSB said a preliminary report is expected within 30 days.
Joe Kottke is an assignment editor at NBC News covering domestic news, including politics, immigration, crime, entertainment and severe weather.
Jay Blackman is an NBC News producer covering such areas as transportation, space, medical and consumer issues.
Emma Caughlan is an assignment editor for NBC News\u2019 New York bureau.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morning Rundown: Iran threatens U.S. forces in Strait of Hormuz, Bernie Sanders supporters eye a new leader, and previewing the Met Gala news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA United Airlines plane hit a light pole during its final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport, injuring a driver on the New Jersey Turnpike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}