Chilling video has emerged from inside a Ryanair plane after a passenger's head and right shoulder were sucked through a shattered window during a terrifying mid-air incident. Footage shows the smashed plane window and oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling after the Ryanair flight landed back in Greece last month.
Serbian national Ljubisa Karović was left seriously injured and in shock after becoming partially lodged in the opening on the July 10 flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, Germany. His wife, Svetlana Grković Maksimović, previously told BBC Serbia that she and two other passengers held onto his legs for several minutes during the ordeal.
NTSB preliminary report reveals engine failure
A preliminary report from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has now revealed further details about what is believed to have happened. Investigators said the aircraft suffered a fan-blade failure in its No. 2, or right-hand, engine while climbing after take-off. A piece of the engine reportedly broke off and smashed the window, while the aircraft lost cabin pressure and was forced to make an emergency landing.
According to the NTSB, the flight crew initially received a "high vibration" engine alert during the climb. They reduced engine power and carried out a series of checks before continuing to climb on autopilot when the vibrations stopped. However, the vibrations later increased and the crew heard a loud bang, prompting them to declare an emergency and begin their descent.
Cockpit voice recorder captures loud bang
The cockpit voice recorder captured a loud bang around nine minutes and 20 seconds after the start of the take-off roll, Reuters reports. Flight attendants also reported hearing and feeling vibrations and seeing a small amount of smoke before oxygen masks were deployed.
One flight attendant then noticed passengers calling for help and saw a passenger "partially lodged in a damaged cabin window", with the entire window missing. The aircraft returned to Thessaloniki International Airport and made an uneventful landing.
Ryanair responds and investigators find bird remains
Following the incident, Ryanair said the flight had "returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged inflight". The airline said the aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal, while a replacement aircraft was arranged to take the remaining passengers to Memmingen.
Investigators examining the right-hand engine subsequently discovered bird remains, although the NTSB has not said they caused the fan-blade failure. The preliminary report also revealed flight crews had reported four suspected bird strikes involving the same engine during the 12 months before the incident. Bird remains were reportedly found in two of those cases, but no damage was discovered during subsequent maintenance. Examination following the July incident found fractured fan blades, with three loose fan-blade fragments recovered from the engine. The engine had been inspected in May with no findings, according to the NTSB.
Not long after the incident, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary initially said: "Initial indication would suggest it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki, but we don't have, we can't say that definitively." Asked by the Express about the latest NTSB findings, including the discovery of bird remains in the engine, a Ryanair spokesperson said the airline won't comment until the NTSB investigation has concluded.
The NTSB told the Express that its preliminary report "contains only factual information", adding that analysis, the probable cause and any contributing factors will be determined at the conclusion of the investigation. The agency said these findings will be published in its final report, which is expected to take between 12 and 24 months.
