Around 2 p.m. on Sunday, United Flight 169 from Venice, Italy, attempted to land at Newark Liberty International Airport but flew too close to traffic as it made its final approach and struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The driver of a truck for H&S Family of Bakeries was seen on video cruising along the turnpike when the aircraft made impact. Debris flew across the roadway.
It's still not clear if it was the light pole or the actual tire from the plane that struck the truck.
Dashcam video shows moment truck is hit by a plane's tire or falling debris
The NTSB will gather information from both the truck and the plane to determine exactly what happened. In a statement Monday, officials said the event "has been classified as an accident due to the extent of damage to the airplane."
"This aircraft was literally inches from disaster," said aviation expert and ABC News contributor Steve Ganyard. "Clearly, we saw [the crew] fighting that altitude as they come in."
According to a preliminary investigation by the New Jersey State Police, while the inbound United Airlines flight was approaching the runway, a landing tire and the underside of the plane stuck a pole and the top of the tractor-trailer.
The pole then struck a Jeep also traveling on the turnpike.
The driver of the tractor trailer was able to pull over safely but was taken to the hospital because he was cut by the shattered glass.
"This is unacceptable, we have really well-trained pilots, this should never happen in America, but here's what happens though, an incident like this, the big and small incidents, we look at an study and learn from," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview.
Untied Airlines issued a statement that said in part, "We will conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of the process."
There were 221 passengers and 10 crew members on the Boeing 767. The plane landed safely and no one was hurt.
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
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