If you think air travel has become routine and predictable, a recent incident involving a United Airlines flight might change your mind in a hurry. A Boeing 767 coming in for a standard landing somehow managed to collide with a bakery truck driving along the New Jersey Turnpike. Yes, you read that correctly, a commercial jet and a delivery truck crossed paths in a way that sounds more like a movie stunt than real life.
The aircraft, identified as a Boeing 767-400 operating as United Airlines Flight 169, was arriving from Venice, Italy, heading toward Newark Liberty International Airport. As it made its final approach, flying low as jets typically do before landing, something went very wrong.
JUST IN: Baltimore bakery truck struck by a United Airlines plane coming in for a landing at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
According to local reports, the plane was a United Airlines Boeing 767-400.
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According to reports, one of the plane’s wheels struck the bakery truck as it traveled along the highway below. The truck driver, who had been minding his own business and, unbelievably, singing along to music moments before impact, suddenly found himself in the middle of a near-disaster. Dashcam footage shows the moment the wheel hit the truck’s window, sending shattered glass into the cab.
And somehow, this is where the story takes a turn that almost defies logic. The driver walked away with only minor injuries. A few cuts, a trip to the hospital, and that was it. Considering the circumstances, that outcome borders on miraculous.
Meanwhile, the plane, carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members, continued its approach and landed safely. Not a single person onboard was injured. Let that sink in. A mid-approach collision with a vehicle on a highway, and everyone involved lives to talk about it.
Chuck Paterakis of H&S Bakery summed it up in a way that cuts through all the technical explanations: “To me, that everybody on that plane, everybody and the driver, God was looking after them, there’s no doubt.” Hard to argue with that sentiment given how easily this could have gone in a much darker direction.
Now, the obvious question is how this even happens. Planes routinely pass low over highways near airports, especially at Newark, where Runway 29 runs perpendicular to the turnpike. But “routine” is not supposed to include making physical contact with vehicles below.
United Airlines says its maintenance team is now evaluating the damage and investigating the cause. And they should, because this is not the kind of incident you can just shrug off as a fluke. When you’re dealing with hundreds of passengers, massive aircraft, and busy roadways, the margin for error is supposed to be zero.
This time, luck carried the day. Next time, that might not be the case.
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