Broken engine parts shattered a window on a Ryanair flight shortly after takeoff in Greece last month, causing a man’s head to be sucked through the opening before his fellow passengers pulled him back inside, US investigators said Thursday. A fan blade in the Boeing 737-800’s right engine broke loose, sending fragments through the fuselage, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the AP reports. It happened on July 10 after the flight departed the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Investigators found bird remains inside the engine, suggesting the plane may have struck birds during takeoff, though they haven’t determined what caused the fan blade to break loose.
The 61-year-old man who was nearly sucked out of the plane suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns. Passengers helped the man after the window broke. Flight attendants told investigators that they heard and felt loud continuous vibration and saw smoke or fog inside the cabin before the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. One of them then noticed passengers standing up and calling for help because the man, who was in a row 11 window seat, was partially lodged in a damaged window. The other passengers managed to pull him back into the cabin.
International aviation rules allow Greece’s Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority to hand over investigations to the NTSB, which happened in this case, with Greece participating. The NTSB reprimanded Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary after he told investors last month that the investigation was focused on foreign object damage and not the plane’s age or maintenance history. The NTSB said investigators hadn’t ruled anything out and that O’Leary wasn’t authorized to discuss it. Maintenance records show the fan blades on the right engine that failed had undergone ultrasonic inspections in May 2026 and November 2025 without finding damage. But the NTSB said that four suspected bird strikes to the same engine had been reported by the flight crews over the past year. Bird remains were found after two of those suspected strikes.