In brief
During a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on 10 July, a fan blade failure on the right engine caused a fragment to break the cabin wall, pulling passenger Ljubisa Karović’s head and shoulder into the void. The crew declared an emergency and returned to Thessaloniki where the aircraft landed safely. The NTSB reports a fan‑blade‑out event, with prior inspections showing no faults. Karović suffered serious injuries, and his wife and other passengers clutched his leg as he was partially lodged in the broken window. Ryanair officials suspect foreign object damage may have triggered the failure.
Engine fragments smashed a cabin window of a Ryanair plane last month, causing a passenger's head and right shoulder to be sucked into the hole.
The incident occurred on flight 10 July from Greece to Germany when a fan blade failure on the right engine caused a piece of the engine to detach and crash into the cabin.
Serbian national Ljubisa Karović was pulled out of the window, suffering serious injuries and shock. His wife and two other passengers clutched his leg for minutes as he was partially lodged in the broken window.
Crew members received an alarm of high engine vibration during climb, reduced power, performed checks, and when vibrations ceased they continued autopilot. Vibrations then rose again, a loud bang was heard, and the crew declared an emergency, descending to Thessaloniki.
The aircraft landed safely after the crew returned to SKG. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated, finding the 10 July flight had a fan‑blade‑out (FBO) failure. They noted no fault in the 8‑May ultrasonic inspection.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has suggested the incident could have been caused by foreign object damage to the engine.
For more details, see the original BBC report: BBC News coverage.
