A Ryanair passenger was partially sucked through a broken aircraft window after a fan blade from the plane’s engine broke apart and struck the cabin shortly after takeoff from Greece, a preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found.The July 10 flight to Memmingen, Germany, had been in the air for less than 10 minutes when the engine suffered a major failure, forcing the Boeing 737 to make an emergency landing in Thessaloniki.The passenger, 61-year-old Serbian national Ljubisa Karović, was sitting in seat 11F when the engine debris shattered the window beside him. His head and right shoulder were pulled outside the aircraft, leaving him seriously injured.His wife, Svetlana Grković Maksimović, later told BBC Serbia that she and two other passengers held onto his legs for several minutes while he was being pulled back inside the plane.The NTSB said other passengers managed to pull him back into the cabin.
What caused the window to break?
According to the report, the aircraft’s No. 2 engine began showing signs of trouble about seven and a half minutes after takeoff, when the pilots received a warning indicating high engine vibrations.The vibrations increased almost two minutes later. The pilots then heard a loud bang and the autopilot disconnected.An examination found that a fan blade had separated inside the CFM56-7B26 engine. Fragments from the broken blade struck the aircraft’s fuselage and right horizontal stabiliser.The debris damaged several parts of the aircraft, including the metal surrounding the engine, the window at row 11 and the fuselage below the wing. The aircraft also suffered damage to its tail.The NTSB said the remaining part of the broken blade showed evidence of fatigue cracking, in which repeated stress causes a metal component to gradually fracture.Eight other fan blades were also found to have damage along their leading edges.
Bird remains found inside engine
Investigators also found bird remains, including feathers, inside the damaged engine.The NTSB said four suspected bird strikes involving the same engine had been reported during the previous 12 months. Bird remains were reportedly found in two of those incidents, although inspections at the time found no damage.The agency has not yet determined whether a bird strike caused or contributed to the July engine failure.The aircraft’s fan blades had been inspected in May, less than three weeks before the incident, with no problems reported.
Incident contradicts Ryanair CEO’s earlier comments
The NTSB’s findings differ from comments made by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary shortly after the incident.During a July earnings call, O’Leary dismissed reports that a passenger had been partly pulled through the window.“Some of the more salacious reports that one passenger was halfway out the window, head out the window. Nobody was out any window,” O’Leary said.He also suggested that the early indications pointed to foreign-object damage to the engine.The NTSB later criticised O’Leary for publicly commenting on the possible cause while the investigation was still underway.NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy wrote to O’Leary saying that investigators and their representatives were prohibited under international rules from publicly discussing potential causes or investigative information while the inquiry remained open.“Mr. O’Leary’s public statements violate (international rules) as they provide an opinion and analysis of the accident and suggest potential areas of interest in the ongoing investigation,” Homendy wrote.One such incident occurred in April 2018, when a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 suffered an engine failure that shattered a cabin window and partially pulled a passenger outside the aircraft. The passenger, Jennifer Riordan, later died from her injuries..
