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US to probe Ryanair window incident where passenger was partly sucked out
🇮🇪 Ireland /Disasters & Emergencies

US to probe Ryanair window incident where passenger was partly sucked out

From RTÉ News · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The US National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into a Ryanair Boeing 737 incident where a passenger was partially sucked out of a broken window over Greece.
  • A piece of engine broke off the plane shortly after takeoff, causing the window to smash and the cabin to lose pressure, forcing an emergency landing.
  • The incident has similarities to a prior fatal Southwest Airlines flight, prompting a reevaluation of the FAA's response to past events.

A passenger was nearly sucked out of a Ryanair Boeing 737 after a piece of engine smashed a window and caused the cabin to lose pressure. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will lead the investigation into the incident, which occurred over Greece on July 10. Greece has delegated the lead investigative role to the NTSB.

I don't think the early indications are that [the recent Ryanair problem] mimics what the Southwest incident was.

— Bryan BedfordFAA Administrator Bryan Bedford commented on the similarities between the Ryanair incident and previous Southwest Airlines flights.

The plane, en route to Germany from Thessaloniki, made an emergency landing after the failure. The 61-year-old Serbian passenger, Ljubisa Karovic, was held by fellow travelers as he was pulled toward the broken window. He sustained injuries and required hospitalization.

Eyewitnesses described chaos as oxygen masks deployed and panic spread. Karovic's wife recounted how her husband was partially outside the aircraft for up to three minutes, held by his seatbelt and the efforts of other passengers and a man who assisted them. "Chaos broke out," she said.

Did we miss something? Way too early to tell - but we can't take it off the board yet.

— Bryan BedfordFAA Administrator Bryan Bedford discussed the ongoing investigation and its potential to reevaluate the FAA's response to a 2018 incident.

The incident bears similarities to two prior Boeing 737 NG flights on Southwest Airlines in 2016 and 2018. In the latter, a passenger died after being partially sucked out of a window damaged by a broken fan blade. However, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters that early indications do not suggest the recent Ryanair problem mirrors the Southwest incident. Following the 2018 event, the NTSB had called for a redesign of the 737 NG's fan cowl structure, and the FAA issued an airworthiness directive in 2023, with a completion deadline of 2028. Bedford indicated the current investigation prompts a full reevaluation of the FAA's response to the 2018 incident, stating, "Did we miss something? Way too early to tell - but we can't take it off the board yet."

Chaos broke out.

— Svetlana MaksimovicThe wife of the passenger partially sucked out of the window described the scene on the flight.

Southwest Airlines reported it has completed about 80% of the required work on its affected planes, ahead of the 2028 deadline. Ryanair's Boeing 737 NG models are equipped with CFM56 engines. The 737 NG is the generation that preceded the current MAX models.

At that exact moment, he [her husband] was pulled out through the window. He was outside for a maximum of two to three minutes.

— Svetlana MaksimovicSvetlana Maksimovic described the terrifying moments her husband was outside the aircraft.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by RTÉ News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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