A United flight from Denver to Los Angeles diverted to Salt Lake City on Thursday. The airline reported that flight 1093 made the decision to address a crack in one layer of its windshield. But was the plane actually hit by space debris?
That’s one leading theory based on a photo shared by aviation watchdog JonNYC of the cockpit of the United Boeing 737 MAX 8 (registration N17327).
Photo NOT confirmed Hearing there were scorch-marks, so space-debris or meteorite. pic.twitter.com/ird6QKEZv8 — JonNYC (@xJonNYC) October 17, 2025
The aircraft was carrying 140 passengers and cruising at 36,000 feet. A replacement aircraft took customers to LA, arriving six hours later than planned.
#AirportAlert United Airlines Flight UA1093, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 (N17327), took off from Denver (DEN) headed to LAX just 1hr ago—but now it’s diverting to SLC after a cracked window in the cockpit. Fire Dept is standing by waiting their arrival. #Aviation Follow Here:… pic.twitter.com/oWtXlPyLKv — SLCScanner (@SLCScanner) October 16, 2025
As of this writing, the aircraft that diverted remains on the ground in Salt Lake City more than a day later.
On modern airliners the forward windshields are laminated, multi‑ply, electrically heated structures designed to survive a single‑ply failure without loss of pressurization or bird penetration. A crack in one layer is consistent with:
Windshield heat/connector fault leading to localized overheating, thermal stress, and cracking of a ply. This an leave heat discoloration or “scorchy” marks.
Benign thermal/structural crack of a ply due to temperature gradients and residual stresses. This is a routine, known in‑service failure. The laminated construction is fail‑safe to continue flight, but procedure would typically involve crew descending to reduce pressure differentials, manage heat, and land at a suitable airport. That descent from 36,000 feet is exactly what you’d expect after a ply crack.
Given the altitude the plane was flying at, bird or hail impact is unlikely. The description of the issue being “one layer of its multilayer windshield” points to a ply crack rather than penetration.
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