Mysterious space debris smashes plane windscreen at 36,000 feet
The plane had to make emergency landing in Salt Lake City after the incident on Thursday.
A United Airlines pilot was injured during the flight from Denver to Los Angeles and was forced to make emergency landing in Salt Lake City.
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United Flight 1093 from Denver to Los Angeles had to make an emergency landing after an unidentified object struck the Boeing 737 MAX plane as it was cruising at 36,000 feet.
Photos circulating online reportedly show the pilot’s arms bleeding and bruised, as well as broken glass in the cockpit of United Flight 1093. Other photos show what appear to be scorch marks at the point of impact.
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Experts said the windshield crack could be explained by an electrical malfunction, but the scorch marks and the broken glass indicate the plane was likely hit by something.
At lower altitudes bird strikes or hail interference are not uncommon.
However in this case, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was at cruising altitude, far above the height where bird or hail strikes tend to occur.
The captain of the flight reportedly described the object that hit the plane as “space debris.”
The Federal Aviation Administration placed the probability of space debris causing serious injury to a commercial airline passenger at one-trillion-to-one in a 2023 report.
“On Thursday, United flight 1093 landed safely in Salt Lake City to address damage to its multilayered windshield.
"We arranged for another aircraft to take customers to Los Angeles later that day and our maintenance team is working to return the aircraft to service,” United said.
The amount of space debris circling the Earth continues to grow, with NASA tracking over 25,000 pieces of space debris larger than four inches.
The plane remains grounded in Salt Lake City and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident according to reports.