Object that cracked windshield of United flight in midair may have come from Silicon Valley startup

(KRON) — An object that struck a Los Angeles-bound United Airlines flight, forcing an emergency diversion, may have come from a Silicon Valley startup. The flight, United 1093, took off from Denver at 5:51 a.m. bound for Los Angeles. However, after an unknown object struck the plane’s windshield, it diverted to Salt Lake City for an emergency landing.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane, a Boeing 737 MAX, suffered a cracked windshield. The NTSB said it is investigating the incident.

Now a Silicon Valley weather startup has come forward to say the plane most likely struck a weather balloon. That’s according to WindBorne, a weather data company based in Palo Alto that uses atmospheric balloons to collect data it leverages for AI-based forecast models.

WindBorne, in a post Monday, said it began investigating the incident independently and believes the object was “likely” a WindBorne balloon. The startup said it had sent its preliminary investigation to the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“Yes, I think it was a WindBorne balloon,” the company’s CEO John Dean said on X.

The startup said it was working with both agencies to further investigate the incident.

“We are grateful that to our knowledge there were no serious injuries and no loss of pressurization,” WindBorne said. “The flight, which was en route from Denver to Los Angeles diverted to Salt Lake City. The plane itself later flew to Chicago.”

WindBorne said it has launched more than 4,000 of its long-duration weather balloons and coordinates with the FAA for every balloon it launches. According to Dean’s post, the balloons use sand as ballast, which resulted in the paint around the plane’s shattered windscreen looking “sand blasted.”

WindBorne said its balloons are designed to be safe in the event of a midair collision. The balloons, the company said, weigh 2.4 pounds at launch and get lighter throughout their flight.

“We are working closely with the FAA on this matter,” the company said. “We immediately rolled out changes to minimize time spent between 30,000 and 40,000 feet. These changes are already live with immediate effect.”

The company also said it was accelerating plans to use live flight data to “autonomously avoid planes, even if the planes are at a non-standard altitude.” WindBorne also said it was working on revised hardware designs to further reduce “impact force magnitude and concentration.”

There were 134 passengers and six crew members on board the plane when the collision occurred.