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My first guess would a bird. Bird strikes happen all the time; there are billions of birds. Next guess would be a drone; there are a lot more drones flying arou

by Stevvo 1y ago

My first guess would a bird. Bird strikes happen all the time; there are billions of birds. Next guess would be a drone; there are a lot more drones flying around than spacecraft.

michaelcampbell 1y ago
At 36000'?
- hinkley 1y ago
  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.
  - delfinom 1y ago
    Doubt birds can leave damage on the metal frame of the window like the case here. It looks like metal on metal contact
    - hinkley 1y ago
      At ballistic speeds? You should watch more Myth Busters.
throwawayffffas 1y ago
Unlikely to be either it's too high. Drones that can fly that high are typically the size of a small aircraft. And there are no bird bits stuck to the plane, no blood either. It could be parts of a weather balloon, or small meteor fragments, or even something that came off another plane flying slightly higher, but that would probably have been discovered already. Could be space debris as well, more likely if there was a launch around the same time.
- tzs 1y ago
  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.

by Stevvo 1y ago

My first guess would a bird. Bird strikes happen all the time; there are billions of birds. Next guess would be a drone; there are a lot more drones flying around than spacecraft.

michaelcampbell 1y ago

At 36000'?

hinkley 1y ago
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.
- delfinom 1y ago
  Doubt birds can leave damage on the metal frame of the window like the case here. It looks like metal on metal contact
  - hinkley 1y ago
    At ballistic speeds? You should watch more Myth Busters.

throwawayffffas 1y ago

Unlikely to be either it's too high. Drones that can fly that high are typically the size of a small aircraft. And there are no bird bits stuck to the plane, no blood either. It could be parts of a weather balloon, or small meteor fragments, or even something that came off another plane flying slightly higher, but that would probably have been discovered already. Could be space debris as well, more likely if there was a launch around the same time.

tzs 1y ago
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.