Pilot left covered in blood after object smashes into plane windscreen at 36,000ft

A United Airlines pilot was left covered in blood and forced to make an emergency landing after a mystery object smashed into the plane's windscreen.

The captain was flying at 36,000ft as he transported passengers between Denver and Los Angeles on Thursday (16 October) when he was likely left with the shock of his life, as something hit the windscreen, sending glass flying and injuring those inside the cockpit.

Fortunately, despite his arms being left bloody, the pilot was still able to land the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane safely in Salt Lake City, not far from the neighbouring state where they originally took off from.

United Airlines said: “On Thursday, United flight 1093 landed safely in Salt Lake City to address damage to its multilayered windshield.

How the pilot's arm allegedly looked (X)

“We arranged for another aircraft to take customers to Los Angeles later that day and our maintenance team is working to return the aircraft to service.”

Graphic images have shown off the state of the pilot's arm and also the huge dent that was put in the windscreen, although it's not yet confirmed if they are connected to this particular incident.

It also remains unclear exactly what struck the plane but given the height they were travelling at, there is mounting suspicion that it could have been something from space.

This seems all the more likely given the US Secretary of State spoke honestly about the existence of unidentified flying objects recently, while shocking footage was also released to the public, showing a missile in the United States striking a suspected UFO.

In a trailer for the documentary The Age of Disclosure, Marco Rubio said: "We've had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities - and it's not ours."

Congressman André Carson added: "These are otherworldly things that are performing manoeuvres that haven't been seen."

However, given a missile didn't even seem to damage a UFO, the object that struck the plane is likely to have been something far smaller, such as some debris or even a minuscule meteor from space - as you would imagine an alien spaceship would have probably done far more damage.

It's unlikely to have been a bird at that height (Getty Stock Image)

But even then, more likely is still far from likely at all, as the Federal Aviation Administration has previously estimated the probability of space debris causing serious injury to a commercial airline passenger as less than one in a trillion.

Planes more often collide with birds or pieces of hail at lower altitudes but it is unlikely that these things would have hit the aircraft while it was cruising close to 40,000ft.

Passengers were able to reach their destination after a six-hour delay, with local media suggesting that the original plane remains grounded in Salt Lake City as engineers try and fix it up, while also trying to figure out exactly what caused this unfortunate damage.

United Airlines told LADbible: "On Thursday, United flight 1093 landed safely in Salt Lake City to address damage to its multilayered windshield. We arranged for another aircraft to take customers to Los Angeles later that day and our maintenance team is working to return the aircraft to service."