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 revealed that a man was briefly ejected from a Ryanair plane in mid-July due to a piece of engine fan blade debris breaking the window. The incident occurred on a flight from Thessaloniki to Munich. Ljubisa Karović, who was seated beside the window, suffered severe injuries to his head and right arm, but survived due to his seat belt and the assistance of other passengers.

The plane returned to Thessaloniki for an emergency landing. Initial NTSB findings indicate that the crew experienced a high vibration engine alert during ascent, leading to a reduction in engine power and further checks. After the vibrations increased significantly, the crew heard a loud bang and the plane experienced a fan-blade-out failure in the right engine.

The report also noted that the plane had encountered four bird strikes to the right engine in the 12 months prior to the incident, but bird remains were only found in two cases. The fan blades had been inspected using ultrasound, but no findings were reported. Ryanair praised the crew's handling of the situation but Karović's lawyer claims the cabin crew did not offer assistance.

Ryanair refutes these claims, stating that they moved Karović to a different seat and provided an onboard doctor upon landing. Karović later revealed that Ryanair contacted his son after the accident, not him or his wife, and only offered to rebook his flight. Ryanair has now stated they will not comment on the NTSB's preliminary report, and will only consider compensation after a final report is published.