A United Airlines pilot said that he heard a thump just before landing at Newark Liberty International Airport last month but did not realize that his plane had clipped a light pole that crashed onto a tractor-trailer, injuring its driver, an investigative report revealed Thursday.
The jet’s co-pilot had warned the pilot that “you are still slow and a little low” as they descended over the New Jersey Turnpike on a gusty Sunday afternoon, according to the report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board.
As the plane, a Boeing 767 carrying 220 passengers from Venice, approached the airport, it had to shift its route to land into the wind on a runway that begins just west of the turnpike, the report said. The 15-foot-tall light pole that was struck by the plane stood along the southbound side of the turnpike, it said.
None of the passengers or any of the plane’s 11 crew members were injured, but the plane sustained “substantial” damage, including three punctures to its fuselage, one of which was nearly four feet long, the report said. Investigators also found slash marks on a landing gear tire on the plane’s left side.
The truck, which was transporting bread and rolls, had large holes in its windshield and a “major puncture” in its trailer, the report said. “There was no evidence of tire marks on either the tractor cab or trailer,” it said.
The truck’s driver, Warren Boardley, was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and later released. Mr. Boardley’s employer, Northeast Foods in Baltimore, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. A Baltimore lawyer who was representing Mr. Boardley after the crash, J. Wyndal Gordon, also did not respond to a request for comment.
United Airlines declined to comment on the report.
The report, which was preliminary, did not assign blame. The safety board said it would continue to investigate.
Along with interviewing the pilots and other members of the flight crew, investigators reviewed data from the jet’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
The captain said that as the plane approached the airport, wind gusts were producing moderate turbulence, the report said. He said that he heard the first officer say, “Hey, you are slow” and, a few moments later, “You are still slow and a little low.”
The co-pilot, who had been monitoring the plane’s gauges, recalled that he looked outside and “I thought we were low.” But he said they were so close to landing that there was not time to suggest going around for another attempt, according to the report.
The captain, who was not identified, told investigators that “he heard a thump,” the report said. A third pilot, the relief officer, also reported hearing a thump. After the plane landed, a crew member called the flight deck to relay that the flight attendants in the back of the plane had heard a “loud bang” just before touchdown, it said.
After landing, the plane taxied to the gate, and the passengers disembarked normally, the report said. Then, the pilot surveyed the plane’s body and found the damage near the rear of the fuselage.
Patrick McGeehan is a Times reporter who covers the economy of New York City and its airports and other transportation hubs.
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