A United Flight Meets Mystery Midair Over Utah Skies

When the Sky Falls, Utah Catches You

If space debris ever smacks your plane mid-flight, don’t panic — just aim for Utah. That’s what a United Airlines flight did after a mysterious object struck its fuselage somewhere between Denver and LA.

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The windshield cracked, the pilots rerouted, and where did they land safely? Salt Lake City. Of course they did.

This Scenario is Incredible

We’ve got wide skies, calm runways, and a population trained to handle weirdness. And this story is full of weirdness, at impact the flight was at 36,000 feet, well above where fowl or even hail can make impact. We are assuming space debris, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating what it might have been.

Add to that the fact that the offending flying matter hit the windshield of the airplane. The windshield of all places, it broke and cut the pilot's arm. The odds of space debris hitting and damaging an aircraft are one trillion to one. I mean this is a story for the ages.

Utah: The "Break-in-Case-of-In-Flight-Emergency” State

What do you do when the world turns upside down and you need support? Head to Utah, of course. Maybe we can adopt a new motto, something like: “Utah: We catch what falls from heaven.” Hmmm that might be too religious. Let's workshop that one.

But next time your flight path crosses the cosmos and fate decides to play dodgeball with your fuselage, remember: Utah is standing by. We’ve got the altitude, the attitude, and the aerospace chops to turn your interstellar mishap into a smooth touchdown.