Bird strike blamed for Ryanair cabin depressurisation

A preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has attributed the blow-out of a cabin window on a Ryanair flight in July to a fan blade from a damaged engine, likely caused by a bird strike.

 

The accident on a Ryanair service from Thessaloniki to Memmingen in Germany on July 10 resulted in a passenger being partially sucked through the window before being rescued by fellow passengers.

 

The aircraft, operated by Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air, returned safely to Thessaloniki with the injured passenger. No other injuries were recorded among the 149 passengers and six crew.

 

More: Ryanair passenger ‘seriously injured’ after engine part shattered window

 

Ryanair chief insists ‘everyone was belted in’ when aircraft window broke

 

The NTSB reported the number two engine on the right wing of the Boeing 787 suffered extensive damage after a fan blade broke off about nine minutes into the flight at a height of 16,000 feet, with fragments tearing through the engine before smashing the window and breaching the fuselage, causing the cabin to depressurise.

 

Crew reported a loud bang followed increasingly load vibrations from the engine just before this occurred.

 

Accident investigators found the engine “experienced a fan blade separation that resulted in engine fragments striking the fuselage.

 

“One fan blade had fractured and separated . . . The outer blade tips were fractured and separated on two additional fan blades. Remaining blades . . . exhibited varying levels of impact deformation.

 

“Three loose fan blade fragments were recovered from the engine . . . [and] bird remains, including feathers, were recovered.”

 

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary insisted no passenger had been partially sucked through a window when addressing analysts and investors last month, blaming “salacious media reporting”.

 

He acknowledged it had been “a dramatic event for passengers” but insisted: “All passengers and crew were belted in [at the time]. Nobody was out of any window.”

 

However, the NTSB report notes that following the bang a flight attendant “noticed some passengers standing up and asking for help” and that: “The passenger in seat 11F was partially lodged in a damaged cabin window, and the entire window was missing. 

 

“Other passengers were assisting and managed to pull the injured passenger back into the cabin.”

 

O’Leary correctly attributed the broken window as due to “a fan blade issue”. He dismissed the age of the aircraft as a factor, saying: “The aircraft was 18 years old. The engine had been fully overhauled within the last two years. It has nothing to with the age of the aircraft or engine.”

 

The NTSB noted the aircraft’s maintenance records show the engine fan blades had undergone ultrasonic inspection in November 2025 and been checked most recently on May 24 this year.

 

It recorded four suspected bird strikes on the aircraft’s No. 2 engine in the 12 months before the accident, with no damage found in subsequent maintenance. 

 

The investigation continues.