United midair collision may have been caused by weather balloon
The United Airlines flight which suffered a shattered windshield and was forced to divert, could possibly have collided with a high altitude weather balloon.
John Dean, CEO WindBorne Systems, said on social media he thinks it could have been one of the firm’s weather balloons that struck the Boeing 737.
The flight was diverted to Salt Lake City after an impact with a then unknown object at high altitude.
It was speculated that it could have been a piece of space debris.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident
“I think this was a WindBorne balloon,” Dean said.
“We learned about the incident and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons and immediately looked into it.”
“We sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA are working with both of them to investigate further.”
WindBorne operates ‘long duration lightweight weather balloons to improve weather forecast.’
The plane was able to land safely in Salt Lake City with no passenger injuries reported.
However, an unconfirmed photo from inside the cockpit showed cuts to a pilot’s arms caused by what is thought to be shattered glass
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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