{"id":219822,"date":"2026-05-04T21:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219822\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T21:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:50:14","slug":"newark-airport-route-where-united-plane-crashed-into-truck-is-notoriously-dangerous-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219822\/","title":{"rendered":"Newark airport route where United plane crashed into truck is notoriously dangerous: expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of pilots have reported near-misses and other problems on the Newark Liberty International Airport approach where United Flight 169 smashed into a truck this weekend<\/a>, putting hundreds of lives at risk.<\/p>\n

Years of confidential reports submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration detail problems with \u201cStadium Visual Rwy\u00a029\u201d \u2014 a notoriously difficult and dangerous landing route,\u00a0known for its irregularities and potential hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe a midair collision is imminent,\u201d one pilot wrote last year in the FAA\u2019s Aviation Safety Reporting System, specifically referencing Stadium Visual Rwy 29 in a desperate plea for the airport to update safety protocols.<\/p>\n

That approach is infamous for a sharp, 70-degree turn, an unusually short runway, nonstandard guidance lights, and other challenges, said Robert Joslin, former FAA\u2019s chief scientific and technical advisor.<\/p>\n

Joslin said veering to the right of the runway \u2014 as United 169 appears to have done<\/a> \u2014 puts passenger planes right over New Jersey Turnpike traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you undershoot it, then you\u2019re out there in the Wild West,\u201d Joslin, who is now a professor at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told The Post.<\/p>\n

Pilots reported receiving sudden low altitude and obstacle warnings and getting thrown off course by the jet blasts of nearby aircraft.<\/p>\n

Many reported losing sight of the critical \u201cPAPI\u201d lights that guide planes to the runway.
\u201cWe were \u2026 listening to the Air Traffic Control chatter and also trying to follow the aircraft in front of us and find the runway, which was very difficult to see with all the lights coming from that direction,\u201d wrote one pilot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost sight of the runway in the sea of lights and ended up right of the final approach path by maybe 1500\u2032 to 2000\u2032,\u201d reported another.<\/p>\n

More complained of confusing instructions from air traffic control.<\/p>\n

\u201cATC communication failure is a grave threat to safe operations at EWR,\u201d said the aforementioned pilot who warned of impending disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompany management is using the insufficient procedures that always exist as a shield instead of facing this reality\u00a0in order\u00a0to provide better guidance or establish new protocol,\u201d the complaint reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The driver of a bakery truck looks up as United Flight 169 comes in for a botched landing at Newark Liberty International Airport this weekend. H&S Family of Bakeries<\/p>\n

Aircraft have to maintain a certain angle to safely land on runway 29 \u2014 the airport\u2019s shortest landing strip at around 6,700 feet \u2014 and they must maintain an altitude of exactly 500 feet.<\/p>\n

Making matters worse, the orientation lights (\u201cPAPI lights\u201d) are on the right side of the runway, which is less common and can be \u201cconfusing\u201d for pilots who aren\u2019t expecting it, Joslin explained.<\/p>\n

Normally, pilots use an \u201cinstrument approach\u201d to land on the runway, but if air traffic is high, a pilot can request a \u201cvisual approach,\u201d in which they guide the plane by sight.<\/p>\n

Visual approaches are faster and more efficient, but they are also more challenging and rely on the skill and experience of the pilot.<\/p>\n

Dozens of pilots have filed complaints about Stadium Visual Rwy 29 on the FAA\u2019s confidential reporting system.<\/p>\n

The plane hit a light pole. <\/p>\n

The accident was caught on dashcam video. H&S Family of Bakeries<\/p>\n

Joslin insisted the approach is perfectly safe if a pilot does everything right.<\/p>\n

He also wouldn\u2019t speculate on what, exactly, went wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always extenuating circumstances, and we\u2019re not privy to those yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of pilots have reported near-misses and other problems on the Newark Liberty International Airport approach where United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,7607,1086,6649,15967,58],"class_list":["post-219822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-newark","tag-newark-airport","tag-plane-crashes","tag-united-airlines","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}