Plane Crashes and Incidents

[Joe]

The Boeing 737 MAX dropped 10,000 feet in seconds.

No word on whether this was the pilot's action or a result of the "impact". Seems unlikely that that pilot, or even the plane, could descend 10k feet in "seconds". So probably didn't happen "in seconds". Flight radar data seems to suggest it descended to 10,000ft over 8-10 minutes.

 

[Charade]

I’ve been camping in the desert 50 miles west of Moab since Monday the13th. We stay in an area between Moab and Green River. There have been meteor showers over the area this past week. Monday-Tuesday the 20th-21st were predicted to be when you could see meteor showers and two different comets. One to the east and one towards the south. One person in our group saw 6 shooting stars on Sunday. I’ve been looking but haven’t spotted anything.
It does seem like a one in a million hit but it would be interesting get confirmation.

 

[Possibility of Being]

A B744 cargo airplane, broke apart on landing at Hong Kong airport!

Captain Steeve has an explanation (porpoise landing), FWIW:

VASAviation posted recordings from the ATC, animation of the landing and some photos and videos. (4 min long)

ADDED: Cpt. S. also explains the Boeing 737 misadventure; apparently a close encounter with WindBorne's weather balloon, by the company's own admission.

 

[Vulcan59]

Another image of the First Officer's window after hitting the WindBorne's weather balloon. The startle factor would have the pilots necessitate an emergency descend even though the 737 MAX did not depressurized. Joe timings mentioned in his post above, seems logical and consistent, bearing in mind that the Salt Lake City airport is at an elevation of about 4200ft.