Mysterious Object That Hit United Airlines Plane May Have Been Balloon, Says Company

A weather balloon company has said that a mysterious object that smashed into the windshield of a United Airlines flight (UA1093) from Denver to Los Angeles could have been a weather balloon. The flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City with 134 passengers, who were taken to their destination on a different aircraft.

WindBorne Systems, a long-duration smart weather balloon company, released a statement on Monday night stating that it is working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to probe the incident happened at 36,000 feet. 

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"On Thursday, 16 October, Foreign Object Debris (FOD) struck the windshield of UA1093, a 737 MAX aircraft, at approximately 36,000 ft. WindBorne began investigating this incident on Sunday, 19 October, and we believe that the FOD was likely a WindBorne balloon," WindBorne said in a statement.

"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. 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. We are also actively working on new hardware designs to further reduce impact force magnitude and concentration."

A United Airlines 737 MAX suffered a shattered windshield midair at 36,000 ft, injuring the pilot. Investigators suspect space debris or a tiny meteor—but some believe it could be linked to 3I/ATLAS, the interstellar object now vanishing behind the Sun. Could this be the first… pic.twitter.com/vUyRROJ5bG

— Astronomy Vibes (@AstronomyVibes) October 21, 2025

Passenger recalls horror

A passenger recalled that the incident occurred at 36,000 feet, and it shattered a layer of glass and injured one of the pilots. The passenger named Heather Ramsey told Fox 11 that she saw flight attendants in panic when she was coincidentally recording the sunrise out her window.

"One flight attendant raised her voice and told the other, 'Get back. Get to the back of the aircraft, stop service,'" Ramsey said as quoted. After a few seconds, the crew announced that "we have some bad news. The aircraft has collided with an object."

"We were all holding our breath until the very end. You could definitely feel the tension on the entire aircraft," she said.