What caused man to be sucked out of Ryanair plane window revealed

Investigators have released their preliminary report into a Ryanair flight in which a passenger was left sticking out the window following a blowout.

Fragments of the plane’s right engine caused the window to be smashed and the cabin depressurised, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found.

Flight 1879, operated by Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air, had left Thessaloniki in Greece and was en route for Memmingen, Germany when a fan-blade failure set off the dramatic sequence of events.

According to the report, cabin crew were preparing the inflight service when they reported a loud vibration and smoke, before oxygen masks dropped down automatically.

It confirmed that the passenger sitting in seat 11F had been partially sucked out of the broken window beside him.

The plane made an emergency descent and returned safely to Thessaloniki airport.

Ljubiša Karović, 61 was sleeping as disaster unfolded onboard and was held inside the cabin thanks to his wife Svetlana Grković grabbing onto him.

Forensic examination has confirmed that three fan blades had separated inside the engine, with the other blades showing deterioration.

This was traced to several failed fasteners which were not fitted with enhancers recommended by an FAA directive issued in 2025 following two similar blade-out incidents.

Bird remains including feathers were also discovered in the engine’s IDG oil cooler which uses either fans or fuel to stop the equipment from overheating, as well as on two other parts.

Investigators found another mandated enhancement to brackets on the engine’s exhaust nozzle had yet to be carried out, with a due date by July 2028.

The flight’s captain had 8,270 flight hours, of which 7,683 were on the Boeing 737.

Fan blade failures have proved to be a recurring issue on aircraft, with some incidents proving fatal.

In 1989, a total of 47 people were killed when a British Midland aircraft crashed at the side of the M1 near the village of Kegworth in Leicestershire.

The Boeing 737-400 experienced a fan-blade fracture in its left engine, misdiagnosed in the cockpit as a failure in the right engine, which itself was shut down despite operating normally.

Ryanair said it would not comment until the NTSB investigation has concluded.

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