NTSB Preliminary Report Cites Bird Strike Indication in Malta Air Engine Failure Over Greece
A passenger on Flight 1879 was partly pulled through a broken window after engine parts struck the fuselage during climb from Thessaloniki on July 10, 2026; the investigation remains open.
By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 14, 2026, 12:13 p.m. ETWritten Aug 14, 2026, 12:20 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.
The US National Transportation Safety Board's report into an accident involving a flight says the initial indication is that a bird strike was involved, with bird remains and feathers found in the affected engine, according to reporting by Simple Flying. The report draws no conclusions about the ultimate cause, and the NTSB's investigation into all aspects of the accident — including the potential involvement of a bird strike — continues. Simple Flying reported that it is unclear whether there was a bird strike during the flight itself or whether engine parts disconnected because of previous damage. This remains a developing story.
The accident occurred on July 10, 2026, during the from Thessaloniki International Airport (SKG) on Flight , near , . According to Simple Flying, engine parts smashed the window next to a passenger, Ljubisa Karović, a Serbian national, whose head and right shoulder were sucked out of the plane window while his wife held onto his legs. The outlet reported that a replacement aircraft took the passengers on to Memmingen Airport (FMM) with a four-hour delay, and that the NTSB found cabin procedures were followed, including proper deployment of all oxygen masks.
Simple Flying reported that bird remains and fan blade samples were sent to the Smithsonian Institution Feather Identification Lab in Washington, DC, and that the report noted cracking and 360° shear buckling on the exhaust case aft of the engine turbine rear frame. Fan blades underwent ultrasonic inspections on November 11, 2025 and May 24, 2026 with no findings, and flight crews had reported four bird strikes to the no.2 engine in the 12 months before July 2026, the outlet said.
Michael O'Leary is the chief executive of Ryanair. Speaking about the accident, the airline chief executive said it "looks like foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki," the outlet reported. Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, then wrote to Michael O'Leary saying investigators had made no such determination and that he had violated ICAO disclosure rules, according to Simple Flying.
The official NTSB case record for the accident, DCA26FA274, gives the aircraft's registration as . Maltese aircraft registry records list as a Boeing twin-engine jet landplane registered in Malta.
As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 713 other cases involving the Boeing 737, of which 17 involved a fatality. That count is a tally of cases, not a safety rate, and it says nothing about the cause of this accident.
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