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NTSB Examining Bird Strike Line of Inquiry in Ryanair 737 Engine Blade Failure Near Thessaloniki

The Air Current reports a fan blade separated from the number two engine of Ryanair flight 1879, piercing the fuselage and blowing out a cabin window; one passenger was seriously injured.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Jul 10, 2026, 5:02 p.m. ETUpdated Aug 13, 2026, 8:52 p.m. ET
Developing

This is a developing story. Details reported early are provisional and are frequently revised. Where sources disagree, both readings are given.

More on this incident

A Ryanair operating flight returned to , , and landed safely after an engine failure and cabin window rupture during on a , according to The Air Current. The outlet's own reporting gives the date as both July 10, 2026 and July 10, 2025; the two accounts conflict and neither outweighs the other. There were people on board, according to The Air Current. The investigation is open and details may change. The Air Current reported one injury: a passenger was partially lodged in a window that blew out, suffering serious injuries before being rescued by other travelers. Witnesses described the passenger as being partially sucked out of the aircraft. According to The Air Current, the number two CFM56-7B26 engine was heavily damaged, a fan blade separation struck the fuselage and the right horizontal stabilizer, engine fragments pierced the fuselage and the cabin depressurized. The cause has not been determined. The Air Current's reporting describes the status of the inquiry as both open and . On the record of what investigators have said: the NTSB said the fan blades were most recently inspected on May 24, and bird remains were sent to the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Lab in Washington, DC, according to The Air Current, which also reported that flight crews had logged four suspected bird strikes to the damaged engine in the 12 months preceding the accident. None of that establishes a cause. One of the few figures to have publicly characterized the cause is Michael O'Leary, the chief executive officer of Ryanair, the airline that operated the flight. The Air Current reported that the Ryanair chief executive said on July 20 that a foreign object struck the aircraft, and that his statement drew a rebuke from Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is taking part in the investigation. The Air Current also reported that the engine lacked reinforcements recommended by the FAA in several 2025 Airworthiness Directives, and that Boeing 737 Next Generation operators have until July 2028 to comply with those directives. The outlet drew a comparison to an April 2018 uncontained blade-out event on a Southwest Airlines 737-700 in which one passenger was killed. The aircraft has not been identified by registration in the available facts. The Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Committee (AAIIC) of the Republic of North Macedonia and the NTSB are the investigating bodies, according to The Air Current. The NTSB has appointed an accredited representative, with technical advisors from the FAA, Boeing and GE Aerospace standing by. No findings on cause have been announced.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
9H-QEU
Type
BOEING — twin-engine jet landplane
Terrain elevation
23 ft
Nearest aerodrome
8.6 miles NNW of Thessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (LGTS/SKG)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 914 Aug 2026, 14:05current

    Added AirlineGeeks' August 14 report that the NTSB said broken right-engine components burst the passenger's window and that Greek investigators found bird remains but the failure cause is still under review, plus the official handover of the investigation from Greece to the NTSB.

  2. Version 814 Aug 2026, 00:52current

    Gave Michael O'Leary a full introduction (name, title as chief executive officer, and his connection to the operator) in a dedicated sentence before anything attributed to him, and referred to him afterward by title rather than surname alone; likewise introduced Jennifer Homendy by full name, title and organization. Moved that material into its own paragraph for clarity. Deleted the paragraph asserting registry records of 70 Ryanair aircraft, 66 of them Poland-registered 737-800 variants, as no such figures appear in the fact set. Kept both date variants (July 10, 2026 and July 10, 2025) and both inquiry-status descriptions (open and preliminary) as sourced conflicts with neither favored, and kept all attribution to The Air Current, the May 24 inspection date and the July 2028 compliance deadline exactly as given.

  3. Version 814 Aug 2026, 05:03

    No new facts; headline and dek revised to lead with the NTSB's bird-remains finding and the undetermined cause, wording otherwise unchanged.

  4. Version 77 Aug 2026, 15:09

    Removed the geographic reference-data paragraph as redundant for an event already located at a named city and airport; tightened closing line on investigation status.

  5. Version 714 Aug 2026, 04:57

    Restructured to five paragraphs, moving the altitude and onset-of-failure detail into the sequence-of-events lead; no new facts added.

  6. Version 614 Aug 2026, 04:52

    Rewrote headline and dek to lead with the NTSB's bird-remains finding and the recovered blade fragments; clarified that the NTSB airframe case record says nothing about this accident's cause.

  7. Version 64 Aug 2026, 23:39

    No new verified facts; wording tightened and headline/dek clarified, with cause still undetermined.

  8. Version 514 Aug 2026, 04:22

    Headline and dek reframed around the NTSB's bird-remains finding and the undetermined cause; body unchanged in substance.

  9. Version 54 Aug 2026, 23:28

    No new facts in this update; headline and dek revised to state the injury and safe return, story text otherwise unchanged.

  10. Version 44 Aug 2026, 23:20

    Removed the incorrect claim that the aircraft's registration is unknowable, stating only that it is not identified in the available facts.

  11. Version 414 Aug 2026, 04:17

    Noted that July 10, 2026 fell on a Friday, matching the reported Friday-morning timing; condensed the closing paragraphs on the airworthiness directives and investigating bodies.

  12. Version 314 Aug 2026, 04:12

    Attributed the Ryanair chief executive's foreign-object statement to the two reporting outlets by name and consolidated it with the airworthiness-directive paragraph.

  13. Version 34 Aug 2026, 20:07

    Added a paragraph stating the aircraft has not been identified by registration and why, and corrected the airport bearing description in the reference-data paragraph.

  14. Version 214 Aug 2026, 04:08

    n/a for schema compversantness statary paragraph.''chair.O'Leary reference is now the first mention of him in the story.'foHomendy rebuke retained.'foLeary statement moved into its own paragraph with a full appositive introduction ("Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair"), and the follow-up reference identifies him again by role ("The airline chief executive's account"). Homendy is likewise introduced by name and role. No facts, figures, codes or attributions were added, removed or altered; the airworthiness-directive material was split into its own paragraph for readability. changelog: The O'Leary statement was moved into its own paragraph with a full appositive introduction ("Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair"), and the follow-up reference re-identifies him by role. Jennifer Homendy is introduced by name and role. No facts, figures, codes or attributions were changed; the airworthiness-directive material was split into a separate paragraph.

  15. Version 24 Aug 2026, 20:03

    Corrected the garbled geographic reference paragraph and clarified that the AAIIC and NTSB are the investigating bodies.

  16. Version 14 Aug 2026, 18:10

    First published.

  17. Version 114 Aug 2026, 04:04

    First published.

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