A United Airlines jet whose windscreen was broken while flying at 36,000 feet may have struck a high-altitude weather balloon.
Investigators are looking into how the jet, which was operating United Flight 1093 from Denver to Los Angeles last Thursday, sustained damage to its windshield in midair.
37 minutes after takeoff, near the Utah city of Moab, the Boeing 737 Max began unexpectedly descending, per data from Flightradar24.
After another 10 minutes, it abruptly turned north and diverted to Salt Lake City.
In an X post on Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating “a cracked windscreen on a Boeing 737-8 during cruise flight.”
It added that the NTSB is gathering radar, weather, and flight recorder data. The windscreen is being sent to the agency’s labs.
One potential explanation for the damage came from John Dean, CEO of WindBorne, which operates weather balloons.
In a Monday evening X post, he said he believed Flight 1093 was hit by a WindBorne balloon, and that the firm is working with the NTSB.
Dean added that the firm shares all live balloon positions with regulators, and he found images of the damage “extremely concerning.”
United confirmed to Business Insider that the plane’s windshield had been damaged, adding that the “plane landed safely in Salt Lake City to address damage to its multilayered windshield.”
Plane windscreens are designed with several layers so that they can still function safely in case any individual layer is damaged.
xJonNYC, an aviation enthusiast who runs popular accounts on X and Bluesky, was first to report details of the damage.
He shared photos that appeared to show the broken windshield, glass in the cockpit, and the captain’s bloodied forearm.
The plane also appeared to have scorch marks, suggesting that it could have been damaged by space debris or a small meteorite.
Business Insider has not independently verified the images shared on X.
In its statement to Business Insider, United added that passengers on the original plane were put on a new plane, noting that its “maintenance team is working to return the aircraft to service.”
The second Boeing 737 Max landed in Los Angeles at 1:12 p.m. PT, about five and a half hours behind schedule.
Meanwhile, the original plane flew to Chicago Rockford Airport on Sunday. A maintenance facility there has previously said it performs work on United’s 737s.
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