On July 10, 2026, a passenger on Ryanair Flight 1879 was nearly pulled through a shattered window following a Boeing 737 engine failure.. The incident occurred shortly after the aircraft departed from Thessaloniki, Greece.
Metal fatigue and bird remains in the No. 2 engine
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the failure of the Boeing 737's No. 2 engine caused debris to pierce the plane's fuselage. According to the NTSB report, a fan blade broke off during the ascent, creating a breach in the cabin wall that resulted in a passenger being partially sucked outside the aircraft. The injured passenger was saved by fellow travelers who managed to pull him back into the cabin to receive medical treatment.
Technical analysis conducted by the NTSB found physical evidence of bird remains, specifically feathers, inside the failed engine. Furthermore,investigators identified signs of metal fatigue at the base of the fan blade, suggesting the component may have been compromised before the final failure. Data recorders confirmed that the No. 2 engine exhibited significantly higher vibration leels than the No. 1 engine during the final stages of takeoff.
Four bird strikes and the missing 2028 engine updates
The aircraft involved in the Ryanair Flight 1879 incident had a documented history of avian encounters, with four reported bird strikes occurring in the 12 months prior to the accident. This pattern of strikes may have contributed to the structural degradation of the engine components, though the NTSB is still analyzing the exact correlation between these events and the eventual blade faillure.
A critical finding in the preliminary report is that this specific Boeing 737 had not received certain engine updates. As the NTSB reported, these updates are currently required for all US-based airlines to complete by 2028. The absence of these modifications on a Ryanair aircraft highlights a potential discrepancy in how safety mandates are applied across different international jurisdictions, even when the hardware is manufactured by a US company like Boeing.
The NTSB's 24-month window for a final verdict
Greek authorities have officially delegated the NTSB as the lead agency for this investigation, granting the US board primary oversight of the technical findings. The NTSB expects to release its final, comprehensive report within the next 12 to 24 months, a timeline that will likely include a deeper dive into the metallurgical failure of the fan blade.
Boeing has stated that it is continuing to support the NTSB's efforts and remains in active communication with both Ryanair and Malta Air. The cooperation between the manufacturer and the operators will be essential in determining whether the failure was an isolated mechanical fluke or a systemic issue affecting a wider fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft.
Whether the 2028 US mandates should be global standards
The revelation that the aircraft lacked updates required for US airlines by 2028 raises a pressing question: why were these safety enhancements not implemented by Ryanair? The source report does not clarify if these updates were optional for non-US carriers or if Ryanair had a different maintenance schedule that lagged behind US regulatory requirements.
Additionally, it remains unverified whether the metal fatigue found by the NTSB was a result of the four previous bird strikes or a manufacturing defect. Because the current report is preliminary, it is unclear if Boeing intends to recommend the 2028 updates as an immediate requirement for all global operators of this engine type to prevent similar fuselage breaches.
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