An airline passenger almost got sucked out of the plane. A new report shows how it happened.
The NTSB released its preliminary report investigating how a Ryanair passenger was nearly sucked out of a plane window on a flight last month.
A Ryanair passenger narrowly avoided being sucked out of a plane window when an engine fan blade broke off, shattering the window, according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report. The incident occurred on a flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany on July 10. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and six crew members.
As the aircraft climbed to 16,000 feet, the right engine experienced high vibration. The crew followed the checklist, but the vibrations increased significantly. A loud bang and a cabin altitude warning were heard, prompting passengers and crew to don oxygen masks. The pilots initiated an emergency descent, and one flight attendant noticed a partially lodged passenger and a missing window.
Other passengers assisted in pulling the injured individual back into the cabin. One passenger provided a metal box to temporarily block the hole. The injured passenger was later attended to by a medical professional. The NTSB found engine damage consistent with a bird strike. The Federal Aviation Administration had previously issued airworthiness directives to prevent similar incidents, but they had not been implemented on the Ryanair plane as of the report. Ryanair stated they would comment upon completion of the investigation.
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