Overview
- United Flight 1093, a Boeing 737-8 from Denver to Los Angeles, descended from 36,000 feet and diverted to Salt Lake City on Oct. 16 after an impact cracked a cockpit windscreen layer.
- The first officer sustained minor cuts and bruises, and 134 passengers with six crew were rebooked to Los Angeles with roughly a six-hour delay.
- The NTSB is collecting radar, weather and flight-recorder data and has sent the damaged windscreen to its laboratory, with no final cause confirmed.
- WindBorne Systems submitted a preliminary report to the NTSB and FAA indicating a likely involvement of one of its long-duration balloons and has reduced balloon time between 30,000 and 40,000 feet while accelerating autonomous aircraft-avoidance and hardware changes.
- Officials note no commercial airliner has been documented as struck by space debris, with FAA estimates putting the odds of such an event at less than one in a trillion.