Aircraft Hit by Space Debris Mid-Flight

In a first-of-its-kind event, an aircraft in the United States was forced to make an emergency landing after being struck by what investigators suspect was space debris. 

The aircraft in question was United Flight 1093, which had departed from Denver en route to Los Angeles. The pilot of the flight suffered several cuts on his arm after the piece of debris hit the cockpit's windshield, and the glass shards flew right into his arm. 

The aircraft was diverted to Salt Lake City and is currently undergoing repairs. In a statement, the airline confirmed that another aircraft was arranged to take the passengers to Los Angeles. 

At the time of the incident, the aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 36,000 feet, well beyond the reach of any bird or hail. 

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating possible causes. One possibility could be a collision with a weather balloon’s data package. “NTSB gathering radar, weather, flight recorder data. Windscreen being sent to NTSB laboratories for examination” the agency revealed in a statement. 

In 2023, the FAA estimated in a report that the likelihood of such an event occurring was close to one in a trillion. The same report also mentioned that the number of hazardous fragments surviving re-entry each year will reach 28,000 by 2035. 

Although a bizarre incident today, this may become a serious problem in the coming decades.