WindBorne Weather Balloon Payload Impacts United Airlines Boeing 737 Max | Aviation International News

WindBorne Weather Balloon Payload Impacts United 737

Flight crew were not seriously injured after windshield cracked at FL360

WindBorne weather balloon — This image was posted on X by Scott Manley and shows a WindBorne weather balloon payload (left) and the United Airlines 737’s cracked windshield. Manley wrote: “...looks like - they used sand as ballast. And here’s the plane, I now understand why the paint on the window frame looks like it’s been sand blasted.” John Dean, CEO of WindBorne, replied to the X post: “Yes, I think this was a WindBorne balloon...we are working with [the FAA and NTSB] to investigate further.” © X/Scott Manley

By Matt Thurber • Editor-in-Chief

October 28, 2025

After the flight crew of a United Airlines Boeing 737 Max reported a cracked windshield and glass particles hitting them on October 16, speculation arose that it may have been caused by impact with falling space debris. However, weather balloon company WindBorne has acknowledged that the foreign object debris (FOD) event, which occurred at FL360, likely was caused by one of its balloons and payloads.

According to a WindBorne blog post, “We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11 p.m. PT on Sunday (October 19) and immediately looked into it. At 6 a.m. PT October 20, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.”

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