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Title: Mystery Object From 'Space' Strikes United Airlines Flight Over Utah

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/10/21/0...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: The National Transportation
Safety Board confirmed Sunday that it is investigating an airliner that was
struck by an object in its windscreen, mid-flight, over Utah. "NTSB gathering
radar, weather, flight recorder data," the federal agency said on the social
media site X. "Windscreen being sent to NTSB laboratories for examination."
The strike occurred Thursday, during a United Airlines flight from Denver to
Los Angeles. Images shared on social media showed that one of the two large
windows at the front of a 737 MAX aircraft was significantly cracked. Related
images also reveal a pilot's arm that has been cut multiple times by what
appear to be small shards of glass. The captain of the flight reportedly
described the object that hit the plane as "space debris." This has not been
confirmed, however. After the impact, the aircraft safely landed at Salt Lake
City International Airport after being diverted. Images of the strike showed
that an object made a forceful impact near the upper-right part of the
window, showing damage to the metal frame. Because aircraft windows are
multiple layers thick, with laminate in between, the window pane did not
shatter completely. The aircraft was flying above 30,000 feet -- likely
around 36,000 feet -- and the cockpit apparently maintained its cabin
pressure.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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