United Airlines flight was traveling 160 mph when it struck a truck on the NJ Turnpike. Here's what we're learning.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday interviewed the flight crew from the United Airlines plane that struck a light pole and a truck on the New Jersey Turnpike before landing safely at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday.
Investigators are looking into whether the wind, the plane itself, air traffic control, or flight operations played a role in the accident. Flight UA169, a Boeing 767, was traveling at 160 mph at the time of the collision.
The Federal Aviation Administration was also at the airport on Monday morning as part of the investigation, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Gusty winds may have been a factor
New Jersey State Police say the bottom of the plane and a landing gear tire collided with a light pole and a truck, a stunning moment that was captured by the truck driver's dashboard camera.
Speaking on Fox & Friends, Duffy said the collision never should've happened.
"These are good pilots. We don't quite know yet what happened," Duffy said.
CBS News has learned the truck driver has been released from the hospital and is at home recovering from minor injuries.
"We don't want to get ahead of the facts and oftentimes the first facts are wrong, but obviously there's issues with a couple vehicles on the roadway," Duffy said, "and what could've happened is there was gusty winds yesterday, and, again, I don't want to speculate, but I guess I will with you for a moment. If the plane was too low and he flared up, the tail will come down."
No one else was hurt in the accident, but police say the pole also struck a Jeep.
Daily United flight from Venice landed on shorter runway
It's not the first time that planes approaching Newark alarmed people on the New Jersey Turnpike. A few have shared videos over the years, including one posted to YouTube in 2012 showing a plane coming in very low over the highway.
"Well, I was wondering when it was going to happen," aviation expert Peter Trabucco said.
Trabucco said Runway 29, where the plane landed, is the shortest one at Newark Liberty.
"Well, landing on a shorter runway, you need to come in steeper, and, of course, you don't have much runway, so when you do land, you don't have much land, you know, you don't have much, much runway to slow the aircraft down, even though you have reverse thrusters," Trabucco said.
Sunday's United Airlines flight, a daily one from Venice, Italy, typically lands on another runway, but it switched to due to windy conditions Sunday. The airline said the plane landed safely and taxied to the gate.
Air traffic control audio reveals crews on the ground talking about the plane about an hour after the landing.
"They felt something over the threshold and they, there's a hole in the side of the airplane. So I'm going to get you on the runway here in a moment. They said it was right at the threshold, so it'll just be a minute," the tower said.
United said it's also investigating how that happened, adding that crew has been removed from service as part of that process.
