Not sure but first thought was part of the right to repair movement having adopted clippy as a mascot/logo (louis rossman)

Probably OPs’ version of watermark..?

If it's not an unusual watermark, perhaps it's to confuse AI classifiers?

It could be a size reference.

A lot doesn't add up from that article though. The writer mentions the window in question is the Captain's window. From the pictures, it appears to be the First Officer's window. Also, the writer mentions pock marks consistent with hail damage in other areas of the aircraft but I haven't found any images substantiating that.

Hail is absolutely the most probably explanation, the article points to two other instances with similar outcomes. I think the doubt comes from the lack of evidence of hail or convective activity or other hail damage on the aircraft. Also, the pilot reportedly said he saw something coming at the aircraft.

I was thinking it could be blue ice - leakage from another jet's waste holding tank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ice_(aviation)

Would hail form that high up? I thought any water would have frozen / solidified well below that height, it's -55 celsius up there.

Go for a scroll up https://neal.fun/space-elevator/

Demoiselle crane flies over Himalayas and over Everest during its yearly migration, so it'd be flying at least 30k feet high.

I only know that from Planet Earth documentary, which was such a great show!

In this case, it should be easy to detect genetic or biological material if it was a meat sack strike & rule out space debris. They don’t tend to do well when hit at several hundred mph.

The only other thing really up that high would be space debris, weather balloon payload (the balloon itself is very thin and soft), or maybe a sounding rocket (but don’t these come with NOTAMs?).

It hit the plane on the front. Doesn't something like a bird that flies at a stable altitude increase the chance of a collision on the front?

I can't remember the species, but there's a bird that files crazy high. I think it's a vulture.

Yes, however this incident appears to have been caused by an object smaller and denser than a bird.

Likely candidates are 1) some metal payload dangling from a defunct high-altitude balloon and

2) space rock.

Was wondering the same the moment I posted.

Here’s what appears to be the prior version from archive.ph, which does align more with the submitted hed:

Authorities are now considering whether a falling object, possibly from space, caused damage to the windshield and frame on a United 737 MAX over Colorado on Thursday. Various reports that include watermarked photos of the damage suggest the plane was struck by a falling object not long after taking off from Denver for Los Angeles. One of the photos shows a pilot’s arm peppered with small cuts and scratches. In his remarks after the incident, the captain reportedly described the object that hit the plane as “space debris,” which would suggest it was from a rocket or satellite or some other human-made object. Some reports say it was possibly a meteorite.

Whatever hit the plane, it was an enormously rare event and likely the first time it’s ever happened. The plane diverted without incident to Salt Lake City where the approximately 130 passengers were put on another plane to finish the last half of the 90-minute flight. Apparently only one layer of the windshield was damaged, and there was no depressurization. The crew descended from 36,000 feet to 26,000 feet for the diversion, likely to ease the pressure differential on the remaining layers of windshield. Neither the airline nor FAA have commented.

Would be nice to update the HN hed though.

And in tank warfare this is called spalling

A projectile hits the armor and doesn't penetrate it, but the armor inside still fragments and injured the operators

That would be two layers though.

But the coloration in the window sure suggests spalling. I’m surprised the tempered glass did that much damage. That takes a lot of velocity. Which is probably why they aren’t thinking bird.

Now I'm just imagining the object hitting the window, the pilot looking down at his arm injury from the bowl of petunias that hit the plane yesterday, and thinking "not again."

Making sure the plane continues to fly would be the top priority for a pilot. Second to that, formulating an emergency plan and communicating with air traffic control. Taking pictures of you wounds should be extremely far down the list

Why would there be a picture of the arm circulating if the injuries are from another incident? I won’t dispute your analysis of the photo because I don’t know anything about the subject

Consider how many flights have been taken. If you had taken your son to that many baseball games, you'd probably have a shed full of baseballs by now.

There are pictures of the outside where you can clearly see impact damage to the top of the window frame.

> it seems weird that glass fragments would be projected inward in that scenario

At speed, I don't know what the outside pressure on the windshield would be, but I'd be surprised if it was lower than the cabin air pressure.

After all, it is called a wind "shield".

Don't worry, if it can be blamed on Boeing, it will be.

I'm sticking to Airbus for the foreseeable future. Though there are plenty of older Boeings still flying too.

It’s gonna be like Honda Accord thefts. Super common car, with certain attributes that make is slightly more tempting.

Wouldn't the 737 Air have a lower chance of hitting debris head on?

It was higher than any bird reasonably found in that area normally flies. The plane was over twice the altitude that any bird there should be able to reach on its own. The birds that normally can fly higher than that are as far as I know not found in North America.

However, that area does get thunderstorms that can catch birds and tremendously boost their altitudes to 45-60k feet. The bird would almost certainly die on the way up and maybe also freeze, but that might make it more dangerous if it hits a plane on the way back down.

I don't know if there were any storms that day close enough to make such a strike possible in this case.

Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture is the only bird clocked that high, but my understanding is that we’ve been moving estimates higher for a bunch of birds over the last couple of decades. Absence of proof and proof of absence and so forth. I think people have been paying more attention.

That vulture looks like a big boy too. So not impossible.

Edit: this bird is South American, adapted to the Andes, which is a bit of a hike to Colorado.

Terminal velocity for a meteorite is still thousands of mph. It’s going to hit like a bullet.

Much higher than a few decades back, but still effectively zero. Even after putting up X thousands of satellites up into orbit, they still physically cover a tiny total surface area. And the same goes for planes. So two of these colliding would be a monumental freak accident, which is why I'm still assuming it's not space debris until more information shows up.

50-50, either it happens, or it doesn't

But it has to be _exactly_ a million to one

That's if it was coming from Mars specifically.

But still they come.

Just that many more of them are present in the atmosphere than reentering space debris pieces.

We are nearly at the peak of the annual Orionid meteor shower. [0] There should be a higher probability of encountering meteor debris during this period than during periods where there are no meteor showers in progress. We are passing through the debris from Halley's Comet right now and for about another two weeks.

[0]https://www.space.com/stargazing/meteor-showers/orionid-mete...

From the article:

> “Apparently only one layer of the windshield was damaged, and there was no depressurization.”

And from the photos, it looks like it was the outer layer. So, where would the glass have come from?

They were busy demising until the plane interrupted the demising?!