“Windscreen being sent to NTSB laboratories for examination.” The strike occurred Thursday, during a United Airlines flight from Denver to Los Angeles.
Object’s origin not confirmed The captain of the flight reportedly described the object that hit the plane as “space debris.” This has not been confirmed, however.
So was it space debris?
That was the initial conclusion of the pilot, but a meteor is more likely than space debris.
That is at least an order of magnitude greater than the amount of human-made space debris that survives reentry through Earth’s atmosphere.
On Sunday, the NTSA announced that it is looking into an airliner that was hit by something in its windscreen while flying over Utah.
“NTSB is collecting flight recorder, radar, and weather data,” the federal agency posted on the social media platform X. “The windshield is being sent to the NTSB labs for analysis. “”.
A United Airlines flight from Denver to Los Angeles was struck on Thursday. A 737 MAX aircraft had two large windows at the front, and one of them was seriously cracked, according to pictures posted on social media. A pilot’s arm is also seen in related photos to have been repeatedly sliced by what look to be tiny glass fragments.
The origin of the object is uncertain.
According to reports, the plane’s captain referred to the object that struck it as “space debris.”. Nevertheless, this has not been verified.
Following the impact, the plane was diverted and returned to Salt Lake City International Airport safely.
The metal frame of the window was damaged when an object struck it violently close to the upper right corner, according to photos taken during the incident. Aircraft windows are made of laminate and have several layers, so the window pane did not break entirely. The plane was flying over 30,000 feet, probably around 36,000 feet, and the cabin pressure seemed to have been maintained.
So, was it space debris? Without more information, it is impossible to say. Few bird species are able to soar higher than 30,000 feet. Rüppell’s vulture, the highest-flying bird in the world, is primarily found in Africa. It’s also possible that an uncontrolled weather balloon could have caused the damage seen, though it’s unclear if the velocity would have been high enough. Hail is another possible offender.
Photo not verified.
I heard that the scorch marks were caused by either meteorites or space debris. A TWO THEORY IS THAT.
[picture or incorporate].
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc . bsky . social) at 1:39 PM on October 17, 2025.
An object from space is the only other possible cause of the damage, assuming it was not a home run ball from Shohei Ohtani.
That’s what the pilot initially thought, but a meteor is more likely than space debris. Although estimates differ, a recent study published in the journal Geology estimated that 17,000 meteorites hit Earth annually. The quantity of man-made space debris that survives reentry through Earth’s atmosphere is at least an order of magnitude smaller than that.
It should be possible to determine the object’s origin by closely examining the glass and metal that it struck.
