Ryanair window man was sucked out of was broken by engine debris, report confirms

A preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found that the window of a Ryanair plane that a man was briefly sucked out of in July was broken by a piece of engine debris.

NTSB publishes intial findings in Ryanair investigation

A preliminary report by the NTSB has found that a piece of engine fan blade debris likely broke the window of a Ryanair plane travelling from Thessaloniki to Munich in mid-July.

The story made headlines after a passenger sitting beside the window was briefly sucked out of the plane. Ljubisa Karović sustained serious injuries to his head and right arm, surviving only because his seat belt was attached and other passengers grabbed hold of him. The flight returned to Thessaloniki to make an emergency landing.

The initial NTSB report details that flight crew experienced a “high vibration” engine alert during ascent, and decided to reduce engine power and carry out a series of checks in response. The vibration reduced, and the plane continued to ascend on autopilot.

The vibrations then significantly increased and the crew heard a loud bang. The report explained that the plane “experienced a No 2 (right) engine fan-blade-out (FBO) failure during climb out from the Thessaloniki international airport (SKG)”.

It also found that the plane recorded four bird strikes to the right engine in the 12 months leading up to the accident, but bird remains were only found in two of these incidents. The fan blades had been inspected using ultrasound in recent months, but made “no findings”. 

Ryanair yet to confirm compensation for Karović

Shortly after the incident in mid-July, Ryanair told the Guardian that its crew had done a “phenomenal job” in handling the accident.

The situation was more complicated according to Karović’s lawyer, Vasilis Tsiaras. “My client fainted two or three times, once outside the aircraft when he was partially sucked out of the window, and twice inside when, again, he lost consciousness,” Tsiaras explained to the newspaper, “At no point did the cabin crew offer to help.”

Ryanair disputes Tsiaras’ claims and said that “as soon as the aircraft descended to a safe altitude”, cabin crew moved Karović to a different seat, beside his wife, and arranged for an onboard doctor to sit with him until the plane had landed.

Karović later explained to the media that in the days following the accident, Ryanair contacted his son Danjell, who booked the flight, but not Karović and his wife. When Ryanair did contact Karović, it was only to offer to rebook his flight.

The Irish budget airline has now said it will not comment on the NTSB’s preliminary report, and only after a final report is published will a decision be made about whether to issue compensation to Karović.