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Possible Meteorite Strikes United 737; Injures Pilot

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A Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight traveling from Denver to Los Angeles as United flight 1093 with 140 souls on board was forced to divert to Salt Lake City after a cracked windshield was discovered midair. The incident occurred on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at an altitude of 36,000 feet. No definitive cause has been declared for the incident, although a meteorite strike is the leading theory. A pilot was injured in the incident. If a meteor strike is to blame, it would be an aviation first. There’s been… (weatherboy.com) More...

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glendonplace
glendonplace 15
John Dean, cofounder and CEO of WindBorne Systems, a Palo Alto, Calif.–based aerospace company that designs and operates long-duration weather balloons, announced on X that one of his company’s balloons may have been involved in the collision.


https://x.com/johndeanl/status/1980462264974209292
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WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 7
A close up photo of the impact area of the frame shows abrasions as well as a dimpled area that would look like a sandblasted area would. The weather balloons use sand as ballast. Hitting even 3 pounds at 500+ MPH, would cause serious damage.
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JHanson907
Jerome Hanson 6
Excellent display of corporate integrity, whether or not this was a cause of damage to the aircraft. Well done, John Dean at WindBorne Systems!
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bbabis
bbabis 10
Everyone onboard should immediately buy a lottery ticket.
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limafabioh
limafabioh 4
They have already spent their lucky shocking with a meteorite.
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robertthoyer
robert hoyer 7
Actually a airforce C130 in the 80s was thought to have been brought down in the NW Territories. Numerous hits on top of the aircraft that burn through the structure was found at wreckage. Meteorite showers were confirmed in the area the aircraft was flying through. The Airforce tried to keep this quiet. But surfaced when a mid east airliner crashed in mid Atlantic for no apparent reason. The plane was never recovered. But high meteorite showers were known the be in the area the plane was flying through.
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JamesWhitaker
James Whitaker 6
Presumably detailed mechanical and chemical analysis of the impact area will show what hit them?
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FlyingSeagull
Chris Browne 9
The window has to come out before damage to the skin and adjacent structural components can be fixed. This is an unusual repair.

With Starlink burning up almost 100 satellites a month, this might become commonplace with potentially fatal outcome for some or all onboard.
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GMillipede
G M -2
Elon: “what’s a few hundred dead if it means you can download Season 2 of Succession from anywhere in the world?”
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DougHaviland
Doug Haviland 0
And there it is. That didn’t take long. When are you going to throw Boeing in as well.
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hmabboud
Hassan Abboud 6
Discovered?! Haha! What does that mean, discovered?! Lol
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tgrugle
Thomas Grugle 3
I think the pilot's bloody arm made them think something might be wrong with the airplane...
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ScottShook
ScottShook 3
Wasn't there an incident with an Air Force plane too a long time ago?
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ZombieSazza
Sorcha MacLennan 2
The chances of this are so much lower than winning the lottery
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bartmiller
bartmiller 3
Darn. And I thought that my biggest inflight concern were all those !@$@!% drones.
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BoomerG
Boomer C 7
It would not be a meteorite, it would be a meteor. A meteorite is found embedded in the earths surface after passing through the earths atmosphere. No wonder the press is losing credibility. Glad all are ok.
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Iceman999
Iceman999 8
While there were previously no reported instances of materiel from a Meteoroid becoming a Meteor in the atmosphere and impacting an aircraft in flight, there have been reports of them striking a man-made object, such as a building or a car above the ground. In those instances, the remaining materiel, that was transformed by atmospheric entry heat and subsequent high velocity impact are referred to as Meteorites by scientific bodies. Presumably, the same definition would apply to materiel left after striking an aircraft, either on the ground or in flight?
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JHanson907
Jerome Hanson 1
Actually, this issue is addressed in the article. Clearly explained.
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MADombrowski
Michael Dombrowski 1
It's VERY HONORABLE that WindBorne came forward with this info!
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kenhash
Kenneth Hash 1
There is an old saying, "there's a first time for everything". Whatever struck this aircraft may belong to this category.
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BigTuna
BigTuna 1
Like 99% of UFO sightings, this too was a balloon. Space debris was always a silly theory.
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sparkie624
sparkie624 -5
One of the most probable causes of a window crack is a Failed Window Heat Controller that failed and caused a crack. Most Pilots (the smart ones anyway) will immediately descend to a lower altitude and divert to suitable landing site! Window changes are a real pain and time consuming... Multiply that by 10 if you are not at a maintenance base and Multiply by a 100 if you are at an outstation! A lot of times the plane can be ferried if it is only one of the inner panes that is cracked. An Outer or Inner crack is not Ferryable... I remember a Road trip for one that there was no hangar available, it was COLD and Rainy.... No Choice, we did what we had to do... Deferred the Sealant until we got it home!
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linbb
linbb 9
Sorry you lost it was caused by an object which caused damage to the window frame and fuse sheet metal. There was shattered glass inside the aircraft also. There is a pix of it on line seems to have been a small object about the size of a baseball from the dent shown.
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JHanson907
Jerome Hanson 3
In the USAF as a Crew Chief on large transport aircraft for nearly 3 decades, changed many a cockpit window, including those damaged by a failing heat thermistor. @sparkie624 is right, they are labor intensive to replace, and foul weather makes it just a miserable job! However, from the photos, this was clearly not a heat thermistor failure. This was an exterior impact. Crew and passengers very lucky to be alive.
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OnTheAve
OnTheAve -1
Sloppy journalism. A meteor becomes a meteorite only after it strikes the ground. So, the plane was struck by a meteor. This fact should have been learned during elementary school
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JHanson907
Jerome Hanson 1
This issue of definitions was clearly addressed in the article.
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