United Airlines Pilot Injured After High-Altitude Debris Cracks Windshield

The pilots of a United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX flying from Denver to Los Angeles experienced an in-flight scare after an object apparently impacted and cracked the cockpit windshield while at cruising altitude. One of the pilots received injuries to his arm and the plane diverted to Salt Lake City for a safe landing.

Although a windshield failure is not being ruled out, images lend strong credence to the idea that the aircraft was struck by something. Given that this debris hit the aircraft at an altitude of 36,000 feet, many speculate it could have been a meteorite or space debris.

United Pilot Injured After Suspected Debris Impact

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As reported by The Aviation Herald, the incident occurred on Thursday, October 16 as the United 737 MAX 8 was performing Flight UA1093 from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The aircraft was cruising at FL 360 south of Salt Lake City when it descended to FL 260 before diverting to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

Images posted by aviation insider JonNYC on X show significant damage to the entire windshield, along with an apparent impact spot in the top-right corner. A picture of the pilot’s arm shows multiple abrasions and bloody bruises consistent with glass injuries. Simple Flying reached out to United Airlines and received the following response,

“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.”

Scorch Marks On Windshield

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Based on images of the windshield after the incident, which show evidence of scorch and impact marks, the damage is believed to be from an external object rather than some sort of malfunction with the windshield itself. While foreign object debris (FOD) or bird strikes tend to happen at lower altitudes in and around airports, a commercial aircraft being struck by debris while at cruising altitude is almost unheard of.

Other causes are not being ruled out yet, though. It is plausible that the windshield could have suffered an electrical arcing malfunction, which has led to scorch marks in the past, or it could have been peppered by large hail (which would be rare at that altitude). However, if space debris is determined as the cause of this incident, it would be the first-ever recorded instance of space debris hitting a commercial aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has previously stated that the risk of space debris impacting commercial flight safety is minimal, giving a less than a trillion‑to‑one chance of it causing passenger injury. While extremely rare, there are now more human-made objects orbiting the Earth than ever before, with NASA said to be tracking over 36,000 pieces of space debris.

Aircraft Remains Grounded

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The aircraft involved in this incident is a Boeing 737 MAX 8 bearing the registration N17327. Data from ch-aviation shows this airframe is less than two years old, having been delivered to United in December 2023. A thorough investigation of the damaged aircraft will likely reveal the cause of the cracked windshield.

The 737 MAX 8 remains on the ground in Salt Lake more than two days after the incident. It is configured to seat up to 166 passengers across two cabin classes, with 16 in business and 150 in economy.

During this incident, there were a total of 140 passengers onboard. Passengers deplaned the aircraft in Salt Lake City, and United arranged a replacement Boeing 737 MAX 9 to carry passengers onwards to Los Angeles. This flight reached LAX approximately six hours after the scheduled arrival time.