An investigation is underway after a United Airlines flight destined for Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday struck a light pole while landing, damaging the pole and a tractor-trailer traveling along the New Jersey Turnpike, the authorities said.
The unidentified driver of the tractor-trailer was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and has since been discharged, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said on Sunday.
No passengers or crew members aboard the flight were injured, United Airlines said.
United Airlines Flight 169 was traveling from Venice Marco Polo Airport in Italy and was on its final approach to Runway 29 at Newark when the aircraft struck an object over the southbound New Jersey Turnpike at about 2 p.m. on Sunday, the Port Authority said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane struck a light post.
A preliminary investigation showed that a landing tire and the underside of the plane struck a pole and a tractor-trailer, and the pole then struck a Jeep traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike, according to Charles Marchan, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police.
It was not immediately known if the Jeep driver was injured.
The plane, a Boeing 767-400 with 221 passengers and 10 crew members on board, landed safely at the airport and taxied to a gate normally, United Airlines said, adding that its maintenance team was evaluating damage to the aircraft.
“We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process,” it said.
The Port Authority said airport crews inspected the runway for debris, and “normal operations were quickly resumed.”
The Port Authority Police and New Jersey State Police responded to the damaged tractor-trailer on the turnpike, the Port Authority said.
The F.A.A. said it was investigating. A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said that it had begun an investigation into the incident and that an agency investigator was scheduled to arrive on Monday.
It has directed United Airlines to secure and provide both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.
A preliminary report is expected within 30 days, the safety board said.
The episode came weeks after an Alaska Airlines flight and a FedEx cargo narrowly avoided each other as they landed on intersecting runways at Newark.
Earlier in March, a Singapore Airlines plane’s wing clipped the tail of a Spirit Airlines plane at Newark while leaving a gate.
Chelsia Rose Marcius and Patrick McGeehan contributed reporting.
