A mysterious object that cracked a windshield on a United Airlines flight, injuring a pilot and forcing an emergency touchdown, may have been a weather balloon.
WindBorne, a California start-up centered on superior weather forecasting and atmospheric information assortment, stated in a statement Monday it believes one among its balloons probably hit the airplane.
United Flight 1093, a Boeing 737 touring from Denver to Los Angeles, landed safely in Utah Thursday with 134 passengers and 6 crew members onboard, in keeping with the airline.
Air visitors management audio from LiveATC.internet confirmed the pilots remained calm and declared an emergency as they diverted to land at Salt Lake City.
The first officer within the cockpit was handled for minor accidents upon the airplane’s touchdown, the Salt Lake City Fire Department stated.
Windborne stated it’s cooperating with the NTSB and FAA on their investigation.
“We immediately rolled out changes to minimize time spent between 30,000 and 40,000 feet,” the company stated. “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.”
The airplane later flew to Rockford, Illinois, the place United Airlines performs upkeep on its 737s, in keeping with the flight monitoring web site FlightConscious.