Engine fragments smashed a cabin window on a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Munich last month, leaving a passenger partially sucked out of the aircraft before fellow passengers pulled the passenger back inside, an investigation has found.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a report Thursday that the Malta Air flight, operating as Ryanair, suffered a failure of a fan blade in its right engine while climbing after takeoff from Thessaloniki International Airport in Greece.
Investigators found that the fan blade separation sent engine fragments into the fuselage and right horizontal stabilizer.
"The pressurized section of the fuselage was penetrated 1) through the passenger cabin window located at row 11, as well as 2) lower lobe fuselage skin behind the right wing-to-body fairing," the report said.
Investigators found that the passenger seated in 11F "was partially lodged in a damaged cabin window, and that the entire window was missing."
Other passengers helped pull the injured passenger back into the cabin, according to the report.
Investigators also found bird remains, including feathers, in several parts of the engine.
The July incident left the passenger injured, while the aircraft returned safely to Thessaloniki.
