United flight strikes light pole on NJ Turnpike
- Thread starter Arjun
- Start date
Same crew that flew Asiana 214 into SFO years ago.
Captain Sum Ting Wong
Wi Tu Lo
Ho Lee Fuk
Bang Ding Ow
Captain Sum Ting Wong
Wi Tu Lo
Ho Lee Fuk
Bang Ding Ow
A light pole? Possibly....but it's also reported the plane hit a bakey truck!
Whta a crappy, spastic video, and a banner in the middle of what little is visible. TV station news editor must be absent or DWW (Drunk While Working). What a waste of 2 mins 48 secs.
It's early on the investigation but I'll wager the plane was too low AND the pole was a normal (out of compliance) height, the plane hit it and a piece of it or from the plane hit the truck. I'm surprised the landing gear wasn't involved. If the plane HAD directly hit the bakery truck I doubt it would have looked that good in the crappy video.
FWIW, most standard highway lighting poles are 30 feet tall and may have a 3 foot rise on the mastarm, and likely vary state to state. The county I worked for also managed 3 county airports. All the roadway poles for lighting and traffic signals were reduced height at the approach and takeoff ends of the runways, for FAA compliance. A conscious effort was made to eliminate or reduce structures and other posssible hazards in the flight path.
FWIW, most standard highway lighting poles are 30 feet tall and may have a 3 foot rise on the mastarm, and likely vary state to state. The county I worked for also managed 3 county airports. All the roadway poles for lighting and traffic signals were reduced height at the approach and takeoff ends of the runways, for FAA compliance. A conscious effort was made to eliminate or reduce structures and other posssible hazards in the flight path.
Extracted from video posted by @sdkid 's post #7 . Yep, plane hit pole, a pole at reduced height. My question: if vehicular traffic headed one direction did not require ANY light poles in the flight path, what rocket scientist figured vehicular traffic in the other direction DID require lighting? 
Based on ATC and ground communication, Captain Steeve seems to think the pilots didn't even know they hit something. They were probably just elated they didn't crash. I bet the passengers and flight attendants knew.
About his 2 or 3 feet lower comment, the gear is stout and the trailer frame and skin is comparatively lightweight. I'd vote for the landing gear to win.
Assuming the same runway, it's just too dang short for the widebodies. Yes, it works when everything is done correctly, but it begs for low approaches where some minor slipup puts the planes, the trucks, and the lightposts on a collision course. At a high level, it's kinda sorta the same situation as with helicopters flying across the approach path at DCA. A dumb idea that works ok until it doesn't.