This is one of the most bizarre diversion incidents that we’ve seen in a long time, and I’m not even sure what to make of it…
In this post:
United Boeing 737 MAX diverts over cracked windshield
The Aviation Herald covers an incident that happened on October 16, 2025, and it involves United Airlines flight UA1093, scheduled to operate from Denver (DEN) to Los Angeles (LAX). The planned 862-mile flight was operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 8 with the registration code N17327, and it had 140 people onboard.
While the plane was around 200 miles southeast of Salt Lake City (SLC) at an altitude of 36,000 feet, the pilots made the decision to divert. The reason? There was a crack in the (flight deck) windshield. The pilots initially descended to 26,000 feet, before ultimately diverting to Salt Lake City, where they landed on runway 16L, around 50 minutes after the incident first started.
United ended up getting a replacement Boeing 737 MAX 9 for this flight, and passengers made it to Los Angeles with a delay of around six hours.
Was the United plane hit by space debris or a meteorite?
You might not initially think much of this incident, because airplane windshield cracks do happen once in a while. However, JonNYC provides some insights that make this noteworthy — as he wrote, “I’m hearing a pretty unusual reason for this windshield crack,” and he then shares a picture that’s reportedly from the flight (obviously the paper clips were added on after the fact, so that people don’t steal the picture).
This shows the pilot’s arm with bruises and blood, and scorch marks on the windshield, suggesting this was either space debris or a meteorite. While JonNYC notes that the photo isn’t confirmed, everything adds up — for example, you can see the course indicator set to 164 degrees, which is also exactly the heading of runway 16L, on which the United flight landed at SLC.
Another set of pictures show the damage to the exterior of the windshield.
So this is way beyond my area of expertise now, but this is quite something. Cracked windshields happen every once in a while, but if this was something from space and it caused scorch marks, that would be a new one for me…
Bottom line
A United Boeing 737 MAX had to divert after the windshield cracked inflight. What makes this particularly strange is that there seem to be scorch marks, and the pilot was also reportedly bruised from this incident. Rumor has it that this may have involved either space debris or a meteorite, which would be mighty strange. Hopefully we learn more about what really happened here.
What do you make of this cracked windshield situation?
An interesting article Ben.
...From the photographs and with little additional information, it would appear that the aircraft was hit with a soft metal object (possibly aluminium) which was extremely hot. The scuff mark on the window frame, apparent burn marks plus damage to the fuselage, together with the fragmentation of the laminated glass, could lead one to speculate that the impact was with man made space debris rather then a meteorite fragment.
An interesting article Ben.
From the photographs and with little additional information, it would appear that the aircraft was hit with a soft metal object (possibly aluminium) which was extremely hot. The scuff mark on the window frame, apparent burn marks plus damage to the fuselage, together with the fragmentation of the laminated glass, could lead one to speculate that the impact was with man made space debris rather then a meteorite fragment.
I do hope that an update is published when more facts are known and that the injuries sustained are minimal.
What am I missing? How did his arm get bruised/burned if there was nothing that came through the glass? There didn't appear to be depressurization. Could the heated glass just have malfunctioned (overheating, cracking a layer, and then somehow he burned himself on that?)
Dendave, in my experience the injuries caused to pilot were caused by the internal layer of window glass fragmenting because of the impact. A common occurrence with military aircraft sustaining incoming.
"in your experience"??
Yes, my extensive combat experience as a military aviator actually.
Riiiiiight
100% …. and your claim to fame is what? A simple Walter Mitty character, NYC?
Search “spalling”
United has the most premium pilot injuries. A Delta pilot probably would have passed out from that impact.
Disgusting photo, pls remove
No
Disgusting troll, definitely remove!
Really? You want them to remove the photo Because YOU don't like looking at bruises and blisters? Because they clearly stated.That's what was going to be in the picture below.You could have scrolled past it if you don't like it... Its evidence presented so people can analyze the situation and draw Conclusions based on the facts at hand. I'm not trying to be rude or mean, but be realistic and not so selfish....You want thousands...
Really? You want them to remove the photo Because YOU don't like looking at bruises and blisters? Because they clearly stated.That's what was going to be in the picture below.You could have scrolled past it if you don't like it... Its evidence presented so people can analyze the situation and draw Conclusions based on the facts at hand. I'm not trying to be rude or mean, but be realistic and not so selfish....You want thousands of people to not see key evidence ...which is supporting this article because you think injuries on human beings are disgusting? If that's how you truly feel don't expose yourself to it okay?Don't read articles like this If it bothers you that much and I mean that in the nicest way possible