{"id":945,"date":"2025-11-24T16:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=945"},"modified":"2025-11-24T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:37:12","slug":"mystery-object-that-broke-united-airlines-plane-windshield-at-36000ft-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=945","title":{"rendered":"Mystery object that broke United Airlines plane windshield at 36,000ft revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The mystery of what shattered a United Airlines plane\u2019s windshield in midflight appears to have been settled.<\/p>\n

A Boeing 737 MAX plane made an emergency landing near Moab, Utah, on October 18, 2025, after sustaining serious damage in a collision with an unidentified object.<\/p>\n

WindBorne Systems said it suspected that one of its weather balloons had collided with and cracked the windshield of United Flight 1093 as it flew at roughly 36,000 feet.<\/p>\n

The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed the company\u2019s suspicions, saying the track for the WindBorne long-duration, high-altitude weather balloon was consistent with the path of the plane.<\/p>\n

One day before the collision, the balloon departed from Spokane, Washington, passing over Oregon and Nevada, before crashing into the plane above Utah.<\/p>\n

As the windshield shattered, shards of glass struck both pilots, leaving the captain with multiple superficial cuts on his right arm.<\/p>\n

The first officer was not injured.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The captain reported seeing a distant object on the horizon, but didn\u2019t have time to alert his co-pilot before it struck the windshield with a loud bang.<\/p>\n

Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, said last month the incident \u2018could have been really devastating for the aircraft and those on board.\u2019<\/p>\n

The NTSB said the flight departed from Denver with 112 passengers and crew.<\/p>\n

After the captain diverted safely to Salt Lake City, passengers were transported on another aircraft to\u00a0Los Angeles<\/a>\u00a0later that day.<\/p>\n

Before the identity of the object was confirmed, there were concerns that the damage could have been caused by space debris.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kai Marshland, co-founder of WindBorne, told Ars Technica before the confirmation: \u2018I think this was a WindBorne balloon. We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11 pm PT on Sunday and immediately looked into it.<\/p>\n

\u2018At 6am PT, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.\u2019<\/p>\n

The company said they have rolled out changes to minimise the amount of time its balloons spend between 30,000 and 40,000 feet in the air.<\/p>\n

These changes include four additional safety measures in order to reduce the possibility of similar incidents happening in the future.<\/p>\n

What is a weather balloon?<\/h2>\n
\n

A weather balloon is\u00a0a type of\u00a0long-duration, autonomous balloon\u00a0that collects atmospheric data for advanced AI-powered weather forecasting.<\/p>\n

The data forms a strong, real-time understanding of the current state of weather and the environment.<\/p>\n

With an average flight time of seven days and a maximum flight time of 16, the balloons are capable of flying for a significantly long time.<\/p>\n

WindBorne states that their products are the lightest and most sustainable balloons on the planet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mystery of what shattered a United Airlines plane\u2019s windshield in midflight appears to have been settled. A Boeing 737 MAX plane made an emergency landing near Moab, Utah, on October 18, 2025, after sustaining serious damage in a collision with an unidentified object. WindBorne Systems said it suspected that one of its weather balloons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t