A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, suffered a serious mid-air incident on 10 July when fragments from a failing engine shattered a cabin window, partially pulling a passenger out of the aircraft. US investigators have now confirmed the sequence of events in a preliminary report, shedding new light on what caused one of the more alarming aviation incidents in recent years.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which was delegated the full investigation by Greek authorities, determined that the plane's No. 2 right engine suffered a fan-blade failure shortly after takeoff. Debris from the engine struck and destroyed a cabin window, and Serbian national Ljubisa Karović — who was seated beside it — was sucked out up to his head and right shoulder. His wife, Svetlana Grković Maksimović, told media that she and two other passengers held onto his legs for several minutes to prevent him from being pulled further out. Karović survived but was left seriously injured and in shock.

According to the flight crew's account, the first warning was a "high vibration" engine alert during the climb. The crew reduced engine power and ran through a series of checks; when vibrations appeared to subside, they continued climbing on autopilot. The situation then deteriorated sharply — vibrations intensified, a loud bang was heard, and an emergency was declared. Flight attendants reported seeing a small amount of smoke before oxygen masks deployed, and shortly afterwards noticed passengers calling for help as Karović became partially lodged in the shattered window frame. The aircraft returned to Thessaloniki and made an uneventful landing.

The engine had been inspected using ultrasonic testing as recently as May, with no faults detected. However, investigators note that bird-strike residue had been found on the aircraft on two occasions during the preceding twelve months, and the aircraft's crew had logged four bird-strike reports in that period. Whether bird ingestion contributed to the blade failure remains under investigation. The aircraft was operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of Ryanair; Ryanair's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, had previously suggested foreign object damage as a possible cause.

The incident has drawn comparisons to a 2018 Southwest Airlines accident in the United States, in which a woman died after being partially pulled through a broken window following an engine failure on a plane using the same CFM engine family. Whether the two events share underlying technical causes is still being examined. The NTSB's full findings are expected at a later date, and the case highlights ongoing questions about engine inspection standards and the management of repeated bird-strike events on commercial aircraft.