A harrowing mid-air emergency occurred on a Ryanair flight departing from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on July 10, when a mechanical failure resulted in a cabin window shattering shortly after takeoff. According to a preliminary report released Thursday by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a fan blade in the Boeing 737-800’s right engine broke loose, sending fragments flying that shattered the window and caused damage to the fuselage in several other locations. Greece transferred the investigation to the U.S. agency in accordance with international aviation protocols.
The force of the cabin depressurization caused a 61-year-old passenger seated in a row 11 window seat to be partially sucked through the opening. Fellow passengers intervened immediately, pulling the man back into the cabin. The injured passenger, who suffered neck and shoulder injuries along with friction burns, was relocated to row 12 where a doctor on board provided medical assistance. Passengers also utilized a metal box provided by flight attendants to help block the opening until the aircraft could safely land.
Flight attendants reported hearing a loud, continuous vibration and observing smoke or fog filling the cabin before oxygen masks were deployed from the ceiling. One attendant noticed passengers standing and calling for help, leading to the discovery of the man lodged in the window. Short videos recorded by passengers and shared by Radio Thessaloniki captured the cabin atmosphere, showing passengers wearing oxygen masks, the damaged window, and first responders working in the aisle after the plane landed.
Investigators discovered bird remains inside the engine, suggesting the aircraft may have struck birds during takeoff, although the exact cause of the fan blade failure has not yet been determined. Maintenance records indicate the fan blades had undergone ultrasonic inspections in November 2025 and May 2026, with no damage reported. However, NTSB records reveal that flight crews had reported four suspected bird strikes to the same engine over the previous year, with bird remains recovered in two of those instances.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator who reviewed the report, noted that while required maintenance appears to have been performed on schedule, investigators will likely examine the quality of those inspections and whether previous bird strikes contributed to preexisting damage. Guzzetti remarked that while the cause is partially understood, there remain unanswered questions for the NTSB to address. The NTSB previously reprimanded Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary after he suggested to investors that the investigation was focused on foreign object damage rather than the plane’s age or maintenance history, stating that investigators had not ruled out any possibilities.
The aircraft, a 737-800 delivered new to Ryanair in 2008, was operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of the airline. Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the plane climbed above 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) before descending to 6,000 feet (1,830 meters) to burn fuel for 30 minutes, eventually returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after takeoff. The plane landed normally, and passengers returned to the terminal, with one individual receiving medical assistance on the ground.
The incident has drawn scrutiny regarding FAA directives issued last year following previous fan blade failures on Boeing 737s, including a 2018 Southwest Airlines accident where a passenger was killed after debris struck the fuselage and broke a window. The FAA mandates, which took effect in April 2025, require airlines to replace specific fasteners and spacers on engine inlet coverings to prevent debris from striking the plane. While the FAA set a deadline of July 2028 for these modifications, the NTSB report confirmed that the required changes had not yet been made to the Ryanair plane. The FAA declined to comment on the potential for changing the deadline, stating it supports the NTSB and will take necessary safety actions based on evidence. Ryanair stated it would not comment further until the investigation is complete, while Boeing and engine maker CFM International are assisting with the probe.
“It takes time to do the maintenance, to get the parts, and the risk at the time was assessed such that the industry could probably wait that long. Now with this event,” Guzzetti said, “that may change things.”
