The first officer on a United Airlines Holdings Inc. plane that struck a light pole while landing at Newark Liberty International Airport last month told safety investigators that he warned his captain that the aircraft was “slow and a little low” as they were approaching the runway.
The first officer said he didn’t process the information fast enough to call for the plane to abort its landing and climb back into the air, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the US National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB has been digging into the cause of the May 3 accident, which left the driver of a tractor-trailer with minor injuries after debris from the light pole hit his truck. The agency appears to have ruled out that the plane made direct impact with the vehicle, saying that there was “no evidence of tire marks” on the truck.
United Flight 169 was flying in from Venice, Italy, when the accident occurred. None of the 231 passengers and crew on board the Boeing Co. 767-400 were injured, but the aircraft was left with substantial damage.
The NTSB’s investigators discovered that the route and type of plane the crew were supposed to fly changed shortly before the trip. Originally, they were slated to take a Boeing 757-200 from Newark to Shannon, Ireland, and back. On the day of the accident, the runway they were meant to land on changed several times as they approached Newark.
“The captain stated he briefed the new approach after each change and that even though they were compressed briefings, all required items were covered,” according to the NTSB.
Prior to landing, the captain turned off the autopilot and auto-throttles. He told investigators he “got fast” when he turned the plane into a headwind and pulled back the power levers to compensate. The NTSB said the airspeed “began to decay” as the aircraft descended, which prompted the first officer’s remarks about the plane being slow and low.
The captain recalled hearing a “thump” just before touching down at Newark.
Photo: A Boeing 737 MAX passenger aircraft, operated by United Airlines Holdings Inc., on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, US, on Monday, June 2, 2025. A runway at Newark Liberty International Airport that’s been under construction and is partially responsible for some of the disruptions there will reopen Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Friday. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg
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