Truck Driver Narrowly Survives Terrifying Crash With a Boeing 767

A Baltimore bakery truck driver was hauling a routine delivery on the New Jersey Turnpike when he found himself in a life-threatening situation. He was just miles from his destination when a Boeing 767 descended from the sky and collided with the truck, turning a regular commute into a desperate fight for survival.

On Sunday, May 3, Warren Boardley Jr. was behind the wheel for H&S Bakery when he witnessed a flash seconds before United Flight 169 –arriving from Venice, Italy – clipped his tractor-trailer and a nearby light pole while attempting to land at Newark Liberty International Airport. Terrifying footage captured the massive plane looking out of its passenger-side window before impact, sending it crashing into a concrete barrier.

According to The New York Post, the driver’s father, Warren Boardley Sr., shared his feelings about the ordeal. “I’ve never seen nothing like it,” Boardley Sr. shared in a press conference. “He described fear, total fear that he wouldn’t walk away from it, that he would be decapitated. That’s what he thought.” 

The probability of survival was extremely thin. “Had he been going one mile per hour faster, or one mile per hour slower, it would have more than likely killed him, more than likely,” Boardley Sr. said. “So that alone shook me to my core. No parent wants to see that.” 

Though Boardley Jr. is back in Baltimore, this is only the beginning of a long road to recovery. While he survived the impact, family attorney J. Wyndal Gordon said he suffered blunt-force trauma to the head and is being evaluated for potential brain injuries. Despite early reports of minimal physical damage, his family remains concerned but in positive spirits about the long-term effects of the trauma and the “acute distress” of the crash.

“Today could’ve been the day we were mourning his loss, but instead our prayers and everything have been heard,” he said in the press conference. “I’ve never known anyone that walked away from something like that. He feels the same way.”

While the family focuses on recovery, Gordon is waiting to hear from United and airport officials to determine what caused the plane to collide with Boardley’s truck. “We expect that there’s some negligence there because planes just don’t drop out of the sky, and they just don’t ordinarily and routinely hit 18-wheelers traveling along the New Jersey Turnpike,” Gordon said. “We expect some negligence there, but we’re not just gonna file a lawsuit without having all of the facts,” the lawyer added. “So in terms of litigation, we’re nowhere near there.”

Following the life-threatening ordeal, social media erupted with their thoughts. 

“Thank God everyone is ok,” one TikTok user wrote. “ I was so worried about him.” 

“Hope he is ok man,” another wrote. “He looks like a good hard working dude.”

And a third wrote: “Airlines are skipping basic maintenance on their fleet to try and keep us with rising fuel cost to main profitability. I promise this will not end well.”