A leading space scientist has proposed a startling extraterrestrial explanation for the severe turbulence that injured 20 people on a JetBlue flight last year, challenging the official assessment from the aircraft's manufacturer.
The Incident: A Sudden Plunge from the Sky
On 30 October 2025, a JetBlue Airbus A320 en route from Cancun to Newark, New Jersey, experienced a terrifying and unexplained event. The aircraft suddenly plunged thousands of feet without warning, forcing the pilots to execute an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.
The violent motion caused significant injuries to approximately 20 passengers. Fifteen people required hospital treatment, with some suffering serious head wounds that left them bloodied for the remainder of the harrowing flight.
Solar Flares or Stellar Explosions? The Radiation Debate
Airbus officials initially pointed the finger at 'intense solar radiation' from the sun, suggesting it interfered with the plane's navigation systems. However, Professor Clive Dyer, a space and radiation expert from the University of Surrey, has put forward a more distant cosmic culprit.
In an interview with Space.com, Dyer argued that the radiation levels from solar activity on that day were insufficient to cause such a malfunction. Instead, he theorises the jet may have been struck by high-energy particles from a supernova explosion in another part of our galaxy.
"Cosmic rays can interact with modern microelectronics and change the state of a circuit," Dyer explained. "They can cause a simple bit flip, like a zero to one or one to zero. They can mess up information and make things go wrong. But they can cause hardware failures too, when they induce a current in an electronic device and burn it out."
A Call for More Resilient Aviation Electronics
While cosmic rays and solar particles constantly bombard Earth's atmosphere, most lack the potency to disrupt aviation systems. This rare event has highlighted a potential vulnerability in modern aircraft design.
Professor Dyer warns that complacency may have set in over two decades of relatively quiet space weather. He insists the onus is on manufacturers to future-proof their technology. "It's down to manufacturers to produce hardy electronics, especially in safety critical units," he stated. "A slight problem is that over 20 years, they've become complacent, because there have not been any [significant solar weather] events."
The incident remains under investigation, but the cosmic ray theory opens a new frontier in understanding and mitigating rare but high-impact risks to global aviation safety.
