United Airlines flight 1093, carrying 134 passengers and 6 crew members, took off from Denver on the morning of October 16 (local time), expected to make a short journey to Los Angeles.
However, 37 minutes later, while flying near Moab City in Utah state, the Boeing 737 Max suddenly began to drop in altitude, according to data from Flightradar24. and just 10 minutes later, the plane suddenly changed direction north and turned toward Salt Lake City.
United flight 1093 from Denver to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in Salt Lake City when it discovered the windshield was cracked.
In a post on X on October 19, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Committee (NTSB) said it was investigating a vehicle cracking of a Boeing 737-8 while flying at altitude.
NTSB is collecting radar, weather and flight black box data. The damaged windshield was sent to the NTSB laboratory for analysis.
United Airlines also confirmed that the plane's windshield was cracked, adding that "the plane landed safely in Salt Lake City to fix damage to multi-layered windshields".
A social media user shared images that appeared to show broken windshields, pieces of glass scattered throughout the cockpit and the captain's arm covered in blood.
The fuselage also had fires, raising speculation that the plane may have collided with space debris or a small piece of meteorite.
According to the airline, passengers on the flight were initially transferred to another aircraft and the airlines maintenance team is working to get the aircraft back into operation.
After the incident, United Airlines dispatched a Boeing 737 Max to replace it and it landed in Los Angeles at 13:12 (local time), about 5 and a half hours behind schedule.
Meanwhile, the crashed plane was taken to Chicago Rockford Airport on October 19. The maintenance facility here previously said it often does technical work for the United Airlines flight crew of 737s.
