[fracus]

Isn't the speed of descent of objects falling out of orbit so great they usually burn up before hitting the ground, and wouldn't that speed cause them to easily penetrate into the interior of the plane?

[mikkupikku]

If an object survives reentry far enough to be at airliner altitudes, it will have significantly slowed down already and probably be falling at or near terminal velocity. Of course it depends on the shape and density of the object.

[mr_toad]

Terminal velocity for a meteorite is still thousands of mph. It’s going to hit like a bullet.