The mystery of what shattered a United Airlines plane’s windshield in midflight appears to have been settled.
A Boeing 737 MAX plane made an emergency landing near Moab, Utah, on October 18, 2025, after sustaining serious damage in a collision with an unidentified object.
WindBorne Systems said it suspected that one of its weather balloons had collided with and cracked the windshield of United Flight 1093 as it flew at roughly 36,000 feet.
The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed the company’s suspicions, saying the track for the WindBorne long-duration, high-altitude weather balloon was consistent with the path of the plane.
One day before the collision, the balloon departed from Spokane, Washington, passing over Oregon and Nevada, before crashing into the plane above Utah.
As the windshield shattered, shards of glass struck both pilots, leaving the captain with multiple superficial cuts on his right arm.
The first officer was not injured.
The captain reported seeing a distant object on the horizon, but didn’t have time to alert his co-pilot before it struck the windshield with a loud bang.
Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, said last month the incident ‘could have been really devastating for the aircraft and those on board.’
The NTSB said the flight departed from Denver with 112 passengers and crew.
After the captain diverted safely to Salt Lake City, passengers were transported on another aircraft to Los Angeles later that day.
Before the identity of the object was confirmed, there were concerns that the damage could have been caused by space debris.
Kai Marshland, co-founder of WindBorne, told Ars Technica before the confirmation: ‘I think this was a WindBorne balloon. We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11 pm PT on Sunday and immediately looked into it.
‘At 6am PT, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.’
The company said they have rolled out changes to minimise the amount of time its balloons spend between 30,000 and 40,000 feet in the air.
These changes include four additional safety measures in order to reduce the possibility of similar incidents happening in the future.
What is a weather balloon?
A weather balloon is a type of long-duration, autonomous balloon that collects atmospheric data for advanced AI-powered weather forecasting.
The data forms a strong, real-time understanding of the current state of weather and the environment.
With an average flight time of seven days and a maximum flight time of 16, the balloons are capable of flying for a significantly long time.
WindBorne states that their products are the lightest and most sustainable balloons on the planet.
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