Damaged engine elements shattered a window on a Ryanair flight shortly after takeoff in Greece final month, inflicting a person’s head to be sucked by means of the opening earlier than fellow passengers pulled him again inside, U.S. investigators stated Thursday.
A fan blade within the Boeing 737-800’s proper engine broke free, sending fragments flying out of the engine that broke the window and broken the fuselage in a number of different locations, in line with a preliminary report by the Nationwide Transportation Security Board. Greece turned the investigation over to the U.S. company underneath worldwide aviation guidelines.
The July 10 accident occurred after the flight departed the northern Greek metropolis of Thessaloniki. Investigators discovered fowl stays contained in the engine, suggesting the airplane might have struck birds throughout takeoff, although they have not decided what triggered the fan blade to interrupt free.
The 61-year-old passenger suffered neck and shoulder accidents and friction burns.
Panicked passengers helped the person after the window broke
The flight attendants advised investigators they heard and felt loud, steady vibration and noticed smoke or fog fill the cabin earlier than the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.
One flight attendant then observed some passengers standing and calling for assist. The person in a row 11 window seat was partially lodged within the broken window, and different passengers pulled him again into the cabin.
The injured passenger was moved to row 12, the place a health care provider on board tended to him. Different passengers retrieved a steel field from the flight attendants and used it to attempt to block the opening till the airplane might land.
A sequence of quick movies recorded contained in the airplane and shared by Radio Thessaloniki confirmed passengers sporting oxygen masks after the cabin misplaced strain. One other appeared to indicate the damaged window, with a person seated close by sporting an oxygen masks. A 3rd video, apparently filmed after the plane landed, confirmed first responders working within the aisle.
Nationwide Transportation Security Board through AP
Nationwide Transportation Security Board through AP This undated photograph offered by the Nationwide Transportation Security Board on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, reveals the shattered window on a Ryanair airplane that was damaged by a stray engine half shortly after takeoff, inflicting a person’s head to be sucked into the opening. Nationwide Transportation Security Board through AP
The engine’s fan blades had been inspected in Could
Upkeep information present the fan blades in the appropriate engine had undergone ultrasonic inspections in Could 2026 and November 2025, with no harm discovered. However flight crews had reported 4 suspected fowl strikes to the identical engine over the earlier 12 months, in line with the NTSB. Chicken stays had been discovered after two of them.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator who reviewed the preliminary report, advised The Related Press that the required upkeep seems to have been carried out on schedule. Investigators, nevertheless, will doubtless look at how the inspections had been carried out and whether or not the earlier suspected fowl strikes contributed to preexisting harm.
“We all know what occurred and even to some extent why it occurred, however there’s nonetheless unanswered questions that the NTSB will get at,” Guzzetti stated.
The NTSB final month reprimanded Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary after he advised buyers the investigation was targeted on international object harm somewhat than the airplane’s age or upkeep historical past. The company stated investigators had not dominated something out and O’Leary wasn’t licensed to debate the investigation.
Ryanair stated Thursday it might not remark additional till the NTSB investigation is full. Boeing and CFM Worldwide, the engine maker, stated they’re helping with the investigation.
FAA had ordered fixes after related accidents
The FAA issued three directives final 12 months requiring airways to strengthen elements of the engine coverings on Boeing 737s after two earlier fan blade failures despatched items of the engine coverings flying. In a single accident, a Southwest Airways passenger was killed in 2018 after particles struck the fuselage and knocked out a window, inflicting the cabin to quickly lose strain.
The directives, which took impact in April 2025, require adjustments aimed toward maintaining items of the engine protecting from breaking away and placing the airplane if a fan blade breaks free. Amongst different issues, airways should substitute sure fasteners and spacers that connect the engine’s inlet protecting and revise their upkeep and inspection applications.
The FAA gave airways till July 2028 to finish the most important modifications, and the NTSB report says the required adjustments had not but been made to the Ryanair airplane.
Guzzetti stated the newest accident might immediate the FAA and NTSB to look at whether or not that deadline ought to be moved up.
“It takes time to do the upkeep, to get the elements, and the danger on the time was assessed such that the business might in all probability wait that lengthy. Now with this occasion,” Guzzetti stated, “which will change issues.”
Requested whether or not the July 2028 deadline might change, the FAA declined to touch upon the open investigation, saying it carefully helps the NTSB and can “take any mandatory security actions primarily based on the proof.”
The airplane returned about an hour after takeoff
The 737-800, which might seat as much as 189 passengers, was delivered new to Ryanair in 2008, in line with flight-tracking web site Flightradar24.
Flight information present the airplane climbed above 15,000 ft (4,570 meters) about six minutes after departure earlier than descending to about 6,000 ft (1,830 meters) “to burn gas for half-hour” and returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after takeoff, Flightradar24 stated.
The flight was operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of Ryanair, Europe’s largest funds service.
The airplane landed usually and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and acquired medical help on the bottom, the airline stated in a press release on the time.
