The plane was flying from Denver to Los Angeles when, at about 36,000 ft., it collided with an object that cracked a layer of the aircraft’s multilayered windshield.
PALO ALTO, Calif. - A Palo Alto-based company said one of its weather balloons may have struck a United Airlines flight mid-flight, injuring the pilot and prompting an emergency landing.
What we know:
United Airlines Flight 1093 – a Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 134 passengers and six crew members – was flying from Denver to Los Angeles on Thursday when, at about 36,000 ft., it collided with an object that cracked a layer of the aircraft’s multilayered windshield and left the pilot scratched and bruised.
The collision prompted the plane to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City, where all passengers safely deplaned and were rebooked on another aircraft, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport about six hours late.
Images shared widely on X depicted the front of the aircraft with the cracked windshield clearly visible, and showed the pilot’s scratched and bloodied right arm.
United Airlines issued the following statement in the wake of the crash: "On Thursday, United Flight 1093 landed safely in Salt Lake City to address damage to its multilayered windshield. We arranged for another aircraft to take customers to Los Angeles later that day, and our maintenance team is working to return the aircraft to service."
Company speaks out:
WindBorne Systems, a startup company that operates weather balloons in order to collect atmospheric data, said in a statement released on Monday that it began investigating the collision on Sunday, and the company determined that the object that collided with the plane "was likely a WindBorne balloon."
WindBorne Systems said in its statement that its balloons are specifically designed to be lightweight, adding on its website that the balloons weigh at most 2.4 pounds and would disintegrate on impact due to their designs.
However, the company added an amendment to its webpage acknowledging the damage reportedly caused by its balloon.
"In light of the incident with UA1093 we are rapidly rolling out new safety systems," WindBorne Systems said. "While no one was seriously injured to our knowledge, we deem this level of plane collision damage to be unacceptable."
The company said it sent its findings on Monday morning to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, and is working with both organizations to further investigate the crash.
"We are working closely with the FAA on this matter. We immediately rolled out changes to minimize time spent between 30,000 and 40,000 feet," WindBorne Systems. "These changes are already live with immediate effect. Additionally, we are further accelerating our plans to use live flight data to autonomously avoid planes, even if the planes are at a non-standard altitude."