Millions of viewers who tuned into Thursday’s broadcast of SpaceX Starship’s eighth test flight experienced a collective déjà vu as the mammoth rocket exploded and rained down flaming hunks of metal in eerily similar fashion to Flight 7. So too did pilots flying over the Caribbean ocean, many of whom were forced to change course to avoid the falling debris.
As was the case during Starship’s previous mission, the FAA swiftly activated a debris response area to warn nearby pilots and temporarily slowed aircraft. Multiple flights operated by carriers including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and JetBlue were diverted or rerouted to their origin, per data from FlightRadar24. Several airports in Florida—and reportedly even as far away as Philadelphia International Airport (KPHL)—experienced ground stops or delays.
