Ryanair Boeing 737 engine contained bird remains after Greek window blowout

Bird remains have been discovered inside the engine of the Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft involved in a dramatic mid-air window blowout earlier this summer, according to investigators.

The incident occurred on July 10, when a Boeing 737-800 operating a flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, suffered a catastrophic engine failure shortly after takeoff. A piece of the right-side engine broke off, sending fragments through the fuselage and smashing a cabin window. The aircraft lost cabin pressure and was forced to make an emergency landing with 155 people on board.

During the chaos, one passenger — identified as a 61-year-old Serbian traveller in seat 11F — was partially pulled through the shattered window before fellow passengers managed to drag him back inside. He sustained neck and shoulder injuries alongside friction burns, emerging as the sole serious casualty of the flight.

According to a preliminary report released on August 13 by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an examination of the engine revealed fractured fan blades with fractures consistent with fatigue. Three loose fan blade fragments were recovered from the engine. Investigators also found bird remains deep within the machinery, which have been sent to the Smithsonian's Feather Identification Lab in Washington for analysis.

The NTSB report noted that flight crews had reported four suspected bird strikes to the airplane's No. 2 engine in the 12 months preceding the accident. Bird remains were reportedly found in two of those prior cases, though subsequent maintenance inspections located no structural damage at the time. The engine itself, a CFM model produced by a joint venture between France’s Safran and US-based General Electric, had undergone an inspection in May with no findings recorded.

The mechanics of the failure have drawn immediate comparisons to previous aviation accidents. In April 2018, a CFM56 fan blade snapped on a Southwest Airlines flight out of New York, sending cowl debris that smashed a passenger window and resulted in a fatal cabin breach. A nearly identical failure had also occurred on a Southwest flight in 2016. In those cases and the recent Greek incident, when a blade lets go, the engine's inlet and fan cowls can break apart and strike the aircraft, transforming a contained engine malfunction into a ruptured fuselage.

The broader regulatory response to these mechanical risks highlights a significant timeline gap for commercial fleets. In March 2025, the FAA finalised three airworthiness directives ordering reinforced safety fixes across the Boeing 737 Next Generation fleet. These mandates require operators to fit reinforced inlet and fan cowls, replace crushable spacers and cowl fasteners, and add brackets designed to hold exhaust nozzles in place during a blade failure. However, regulators granted airlines a compliance deadline stretching until July 31, 2028, meaning aircraft lacking the updated hardware remain permitted to carry passengers in the interim. The Ryanair aircraft involved in the July incident had not received the upgrades, and under current regulations, it was not required to have them.

Official responses from corporate stakeholders have varied following the release of the preliminary findings. Ryanair declined to comment on August 13, while a spokesperson for CFM confirmed it was assisting with the investigation. Boeing deferred all inquiries to the NTSB, citing agency requirements and international rules governing air crash investigations. In the immediate aftermath of the July flight, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary publicly blamed a foreign object for the incident, a claim that NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy subsequently rebuked.

Key timeline and investigation details

• July 10: The Boeing 737-800 departs Thessaloniki, Greece, experiencing a fan blade failure and window blowout shortly after takeoff.
• May: The aircraft's CFM engine undergoes routine inspection with no findings reported by maintenance crews.
• August 13: The NTSB publishes its preliminary report, confirming the recovery of bird remains and identifying fatigue-consistent fractures on the failed fan blade.
• July 31, 2028: The final regulatory deadline set by the FAA for airlines to install reinforced inlet and fan cowls across the applicable 737 Next Generation fleet.

As the NTSB continues its work to determine the exact sequence of events and whether foreign object debris or material fatigue initiated the blade failure, attention remains focused on the international standards governing engine inspections and structural containment up to the 2028 compliance milestone.