A United Airlines pilot was left with a bloody arm after something mysteriously smashed the windshield of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 craft at 36,000 ft. The flight was ultimately left with no choice but to make an emergency landing after the cockpit’s main window was left smashed on Thursday. The plane was approximately 36,000 ft in the air as possible “high altitude debris” damaged the windscreen, according to Air Live.

Flight UA1093 was carrying 140 passengers, including crew members, from Denver to Los Angeles. It was about 200 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, where it made an emergency landing, when reports of a cracked windshield were sounded off on October 16 (US time). The plane ultimately diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

United Airlines’ mid-air horror as windshield cracks – Photos surface

Photos shared on social media showed the pilot’s arm bruised with glass cuts. Aviation insider JonNYC on X posted a bunch of pictures highlighting severe damage to the aircraft.

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“On Thursday, United flight 1093 landed safely in Salt Lake City to address damage to its multilayered windshield. We arranged for another aircraft to take customers to Los Angeles later that day and our maintenance team is working to return the aircraft to service,” United Airlines said in a statement. Officials also shared with the Daily Mail that travellers’ journey to Los Angeles continued on a separate plane, with the passengers arriving at the destined location following an approximately six-hour delay.

‘Space debris theory’ surrounds United Airlines emergency

While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the incident, certain reports have been describing the debris that hit the windshield as “space matter.” However, these claims have yet to be confirmed.

“Information on this claiming space debris is far from confirmed,” astrophysicist and YouTuber Scott Manley tweeted on X. “I expect the NTSB will get a look at the damage and see what FOD traces are left. There is a reddish brown material at the top of the frame which could conceivably be left over from the impact.”

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Further explaining that cockpit windows have three layers, with glass on the inside and outside and polymer in the middle. Reports suggested that both glass layers cracked, but Manley said, “by the time small space debris reaches the flight levels it’s no longer hypersonic and has cooled off,” as per the Daily Mail.

Similarly, a 2023 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report estimated the chances of potential space debris causing an airline casualty as 0.1%, bringing individual passenger risk to less than a trillion-in-one.