A plane was hit by an as yet unidentified object while flying over Utah. Hypotheses include space debris or a meteorite.
On the night of October 16, 2025, a United Airlines flight (number 1093) en route from Denver to Los Angeles was forced to divert to Salt Lake City after an object — still unidentified — impacted the pilot’s windshield while the aircraft was traveling at very high altitude over Utah. The event, which caused partial glass breakage and minor injuries to the pilot, has now attracted the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has opened an in-depth investigation.
According to the federal agency’s statement published on Platform X, “the NTSB is collecting radar, weather and flight data” and has sent the damaged windshield to its laboratories for detailed analysis. The images released on social media show the front window of the Boeing 737 MAX cracked and the pilot’s arm slightly cut by glass splinters.
What happened? The plane was flying at cruising altitude — approximately 11,000 meters — when the impact occurred. Despite visible damage to the windshield, the cockpit maintained internal pressure and the flight was flown safely to Salt Lake City International Airport.
The event generated apprehension among passengers: one of the witnesses described moments of tension as the aircraft descended rapidly to allow the emergency landing.
What object hit the plane? At the moment, the nature of the object remains a mystery. The flight captain informally spoke of “space debris” as a possible cause, but this statement is not yet verified by investigators. Experts point out that the likelihood of a commercial plane being hit by space debris is extremely low, so much so that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that the chance of a serious passenger accident due to space debris is less than one in a trillion.
Other hypotheses under consideration include the possibility of a meteorite impact, which according to one study would be more frequent than previously thought (it is estimated that around 17,000 meteorites hit the Earth every year), or hail at high altitudes or extreme weather conditions that could have generated the impact on the glass at high altitude levels. A final hypothesis is that the impact occurred with unusual atmospheric objects, such as weather balloons or non-space debris that could survive at high altitudes.
Because it’s an unusual episode. Hitting a cruising aircraft at high altitude is a very rare event. Collisions with birds, for example, almost always occur during takeoff or landing phases — not above 10,000 meters.
Additionally, the images show damage to the metal frame near the glass, suggesting an impact with significant force. The fact that the aircraft was able to land safely confirms that modern commercial aircraft windshields are made with multiple laminate layers: even if one layer is damaged, the others manage to maintain the cabin’s seal.
What happens now. The NTSB is conducting a technical investigation that includes analyzing radar data to check for objects along the flight path; examination of the meteorological conditions at the time of impact; inspection of the windshield in laboratories to identify residues, abrasions or traces that may indicate natural or artificial origin of the impacting body.
The outcome of these analyzes will be crucial to clarify whether it was a highly unlikely but natural event (meteorite), an accident with space debris, or a more ordinary but unusual phenomenon (hail or high-altitude impact).
