UPDATE: It appears it was a weather balloon, not an interstellar object, that struck a United Airlines 737 MAX 8 windshield, forcing a diversion to Salt Lake City.

Two days after the incident, John Dean, the CEO of WindBorne Systems speculated that one of the company’s weather balloons may have hit the United aircraft. WindBorne Systems is a technology company that uses a global constellation of long-duration weather balloons, called Global Sounding Balloons (GSBs), to collect atmospheric data and improve weather forecasting and climate change modeling. Dean explained:

Yes, I think this was a WindBorne balloon. We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11pm PT on Sunday and immediately looked into it. At 6am PT, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.

We file NOTAMs, follow all specifications required by FAA 14 CFR part 101, and share all live balloon positions with the FAA via API and our website. The photo from Scott is old hardware, the current version operational is about 2x lighter.

WindBorne operates a constellation of long duration lightweight weather balloons to improve weather forecast, with much of our data going to both US and international governments. We have been coordinating with the FAA for the entire history of the company.

The system is designed to not pose a risk to human life in the worst case event of a collision. This is what the FAA 101 and ICAO weight limits are for. And indeed, there were no serious injuries and no depressurization event to my knowledge as a result of the collision.

However, I’m still surprised to see spallation of the windshield on the inside. I find this extremely concerning, and unacceptable in the case of a collision, regardless of what the official regulations are. It resulted in injury to a pilot, which I’m simply not okay with whatsoever.

As mentioned, we are working closely with the FAA on this. We haven’t yet received any operational guidance. Regardless, we just deployed a software change to minimize time at active flight levels and are manually checking it across the full constellation. Additionally, we are actively working on new hardware designs to reduce impact force magnitude and concentration.

While this may be the prevailing theory, the investigation is ongoing.

The original story, published on October 18, 2025, is below.

It’s not often that a cracked cockpit windshield turns into a national headline, but this one might deserve the attention. On a routine United Airlines flight from Denver to Los Angeles, a Boeing 737 MAX diverted to Salt Lake City after the front windscreen cracked mid-flight, allegedly leaving scorch marks and even a bruised pilot. Was the aircraft struck with space debris or another interstellar object?

United 737 MAX 8 Windshield Cracks At 36,000 Feet, Scorch Marks Found

The Aviation Herald flagged that United Flight 1093, operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 8 (N17327), departed Denver (DEN) on October 16, 2025 bound for Los Angeles (LAX) with 140 passengers onboard. About 30 minutes into the flight, the crew reported a cracked windshield at cruising altitude, 36,000 feet, and began descending. The jet landed safely in Salt Lake City (SLC) roughly an hour later.

At first glance, this could sound like a straightforward windshield failure, something that does happen occasionally due to manufacturing stress or temperature differentials. But this case was different: the damage showed apparent burn or scorch marks, and one of the pilots suffered bruising on his arm, consistent with a sudden jolt or partial depressurization, in an image shared by aviation-insider JonNYC.

That has fueled speculation online that an external object may have struck the aircraft, possibly a small meteor fragment or even a piece of space debris. It sounds far-fetched, but similar events have occurred before (there’s documented evidence of micrometeorites making it to the lower atmosphere).

United quickly dispatched a replacement 737 MAX 9 to take passengers onward to Los Angeles. The damaged jet was taken out of service for inspection and passeners arrived in LA about six hours late.

What Could Cause Scorch Marks On A Windshield?

Commercial aircraft windshields are built to handle enormous pressure differentials and impacts from hail or birds. They consist of multiple layers of glass and plastic laminate with embedded heating elements to prevent icing.

When those heating elements malfunction, overheating can occur. That has caused burn patterns and cracks in the past, though usually without physical injury. If that’s the case here, the scorch marks could be electrical rather than external and the bruised pilot might have been struck by fragments or startled by the loud pop such cracks can make at altitude.

The FAA and Boeing will no doubt look closely at whether electrical arcing or static discharge played a role, or if there’s evidence of an external object strike. Until the investigation concludes, all we have are alleged photos and a lot of theories.

It’s worth noting that this flight diverted safely, the pilots followed procedure perfectly, and there were no passenger injuries, though the pilot’s arm looks concerning.

CONCLUSION

We don’t yet know what caused the crack, the burn marks, or the pilot’s injury (if the images are even from UA1093) but this isn’t something that should happen on a modern jet. Whether it was electrical arcing or a small piece of debris from space, the image of a bruised pilot behind a scorched windshield at 36,000 feet is a story I hope we will soon get to the botom of.

image: JonNYC / X // hat tip: One Mile At A Time