A Ryanair passenger was reportedly almost sucked out of a window after the acrylic pane shattered mid-flight during an engine failure. The 61-year-old Serbian man was lifted from his seat into the aircraft's slipstream, hanging headfirst out of the window, but was saved by his wife who held him by the legs.
The incident occurred on Ryanair flight FR1879 from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, on Friday. The Boeing 737, operated by subsidiary Malta Air, experienced an engine failure that caused parts to smash the window, leading to rapid depressurisation. Oxygen masks deployed, and the plane turned back to Thessaloniki.
The man was taken to hospital suffering from shock and friction burns from the freezing outside air, according to Michalis Giannakos, a trade union official. The president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees described the event as 'almost a tragedy'.
Data from FlightRadar24 shows the flight reached 16,000ft before descending back to Thessaloniki after just over an hour in the air. A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed the window dislodged inflight, the aircraft landed normally, and a replacement aircraft later transported passengers to Memmingen.
The incident echoes a 2024 Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 blowout, where a cabin panel failed mid-flight. In that case, a passenger's shirt was ripped off and sucked out, and two seats beside the hole were unoccupied. The co-pilot described 'chaos' as the cockpit door was torn off and his headset lost. The final report found four door bolts had been removed and not reinstalled.
