“This Is Unacceptable”: Duffy Sounds Off After United Jet Clips Light Pole, Truck In New Jersey

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy joined Fox Business on Monday morning, where he described Sunday’s midair incident, in which a commercial jumbo jet’s landing gear clipped a light pole and truck on a New Jersey highway, as “unacceptable,” despite the aircraft being flown by “really well-trained pilots.”

“So I don’t want to get ahead of the investigation. Again, it seems pretty clear a light pole at least was hit. Was the truck hit? That will be ascertained as the NTSB arrives today. The FAA is going to arrive today. They’re in contact with United,” Duffy said.

United Airlines Boeing 767 aircraft (N77066) struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike on approach at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

The Flight UA169, operated by a Boeing 767-424 from Venice, Italy, with 221 passengers and 10 crew members on… pic.twitter.com/Stpzf7hJ1Z

— FL360aero (@fl360aero) May 3, 2026

Local news outlet Fox Baltimore confirmed that a delivery truck owned and operated by the Baltimore-based Schmidt Bakery was struck by the United Airlines jet.

Chuck Paterakis of H&S Family of Bakeries said the driver had departed from the Baltimore metro area and was headed to a company depot in New Jersey when the incident happened near Newark Liberty International Airport. He said the driver suffered minor injuries from broken glass.

Duffy continued, “This is unacceptable. We have really well-trained pilots. This should never happen in America.”

He added, “The big and small incidents we study, we look at and we learn from and we take action on, and that’s why America is the safest place to fly. We have the safest guys, the busiest guys, bar none, and we’re the best because we look at every incident and learn from it.”

Sec. Duffy on the United Airlines collision at Newark: This is unacceptable. We have really well-trained pilots. This should never happen in America. An incident like this, we study and we learn from, and we take action on. That’s why America is the safest place to fly. pic.twitter.com/SzshEpfZ7I

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 4, 2026

Why the United Airlines flight had a low angle of attack during final approach will be determined and released in a future FAA report on the incident.