A PACKED plane that dropped 100ft in just seven seconds was likely struck by cosmic rays from space, scientists say.

The New-Jersey-bound flight may have been struck by rays from a star exploding in another galaxy.

Twenty passengers were injured by the sudden drop on the JetBlue Airbus A320 flight on October 30, though the pilot quickly regained control of the aircraft.

The plane was hit by high-energy particles that had travelled millions of light years caused by a supernova, which is an exploding star.

This is according to Clive Dyer, a space and radiation expert from the University of Surrey – he rubbished earlier claims from Airbus that “intense solar radiation” had caused the drop.

Dyer told space.com that cosmic rays “can interact with modern microelectronics and change the state of a circuit”.

He thinks a ray struck the onboard computer of the plane, causing it to malfunction.

The powerful rays are caused when huge stars explode at the end of their lives.

Supernovas then shoot protons across the universe at the speed of light.

Dyer said: “They can cause a simple bit flip, like a 0 to 1 or 1 to 0. 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.”

The plane had been travelling from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey when it suddenly plunged 100ft in the air.

Around 20 passengers were seriously injured in the extreme turbulence, some with bloody head wounds.

Once pilots regained control of the plane, they made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, where 15 people were sent to hospital.

The space expert’s cosmic rays theory contradicts claims made by Airbus in a statement on November 28.

The operator said at the time that “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”.

It announced that it had “identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted”.

The manufacturer then grounded 6,000 A320s to fix the vulnerability.

Space expert Dyer said that radiation levels mentioned by Airbus were not strong enough to affect the flight.

He added: “It’s down to manufacturers to produce hardy electronics, especially in safety critical units.”