A United Airlines passenger plane suddenly broke the windshield during a cruise last week and had to make an emergency landing.Many media on October 21 that preliminary investigations suggested that this might be because the aircraft hit a weather balloon.
According to the Associated Press, the Boeing 737 MAX took off from Denver, USA on the 16th, carrying 134 passengers and 6 crew members to Los Angeles. When cruising at an altitude of about 10,000 meters, the windshield of the aircraft broke, but the cabin did not lose pressure. Eventually, the plane made an emergency landing in Salt Lake City.
California's renowned weather balloon design and operating company, Wind Systems, began an investigation on the incident on 19th, then quickly concluded that the aircraft was likely to collide with a weather balloon flying by the company.
John Dean, CEO of the company, said that the location data of the above flight was highly consistent with the last known location of one of the company's balloons, and the balloon stopped signal transmission just before and after the collision time. The company has submitted all relevant data to the National Transportation Safety Board, and the final conclusion will be determined by the agency.
However, the committee has not yet responded because of the U.S. government’s downturn. The Associated Press expects the preliminary investigation report to be published within a few weeks, but the full report may take more than a year to be completed.