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A United Airlines The plane appears to have collided with a weather balloon during takeoff utah Last week at an altitude of 36,000 feet, its windshield layers broke and it was forced to make an emergency landing.
A California The company, Windborne Systems, said it began looking into the situation on Sunday shortly after National Transportation Safety Board Said that it is being investigated. Windborne immediately concluded that the Boeing 737 Max likely collided with one of its balloons, despite the company’s best efforts to prevent such collisions.
The plane, which was flying from Denver to Los Angeles, did not lose cabin pressure and landed safely in Salt Lake City last Thursday. United said there were 134 passengers and six crew members on board.
Windborne CEO john dean He said he was surprised by the extent of the damage done to the plane’s windshield because the windborne balloons weighed only 2.4 pounds at takeoff, with a simple bag of sand serving as ballast. Due to the impact, pieces of glass flew into the cockpit.
The company said it follows all Federal Aviation Administration regulations for the size and design of its balloons that gather data to help improve weather forecasts.
Dean said in a post on
The airline referred questions to the NTSB, which is not responding during the current government shutdown. The NTSB statement did not mention any injuries.
Dean said in an email Tuesday that data about the flight’s location was closely tied to the company’s balloon’s last known location and altitude before it was broadcast right around the alleged time of collision. Windborne sent all of its data to the NTSB, which would ultimately determine what happened.
Windborne has launched more than 4,000 balloons, and the company said it coordinates with the FAA each time, filing notices for pilots and sharing live updates on the balloon’s status with the FAA.
The company said it has already made software changes to reduce the time its balloons spend between 30,000 feet and 40,000 feet. It is also considering various ballast designs to reduce the force of any future collision and reduce the likelihood of damage or injuries.
NTSB investigators will release a preliminary report in a few weeks, but the full report may not come for more than a year.