A Ryanair Boeing 737who was operating the flight FR1879 from Thessaloniki (Greece) a Memmingen (Germany), was forced into a emergency landing after that a cabin window it broke up in flight – as seen in the video below – causing a rapid depressurization and the injury of a 61-year-old Serbian passenger.
The man was partially sucked outwardsmanaging to save himself thanks to the seat belts and the intervention of his wife and at least one other passenger, who forcefully held him back. The plane is landed safely in Thessaloniki and the 61-year-old was transferred to hospital, together with 3 other passengers taken as a precaution. Meanwhile, the Greek aviation authorities have initiated a technical investigation on the engine to ascertain the causes of the failure.
The causes have not yet been clarified: according to the first information reported by the Greek media, a fragment engine fragment yes it would unhooked in flight, ending up breaking the cabin window.
The possible dynamics of the accident
The flight FR1879 took off from Thessaloniki airport at 6.12am (local time, 05.12am in Italy) today 10 July. About 8 minutes later, in the middle of boarding, several passengers heard a noise loud noise coming from right engine of the aircraft. According to the first reconstructions spread by the Greek media, a engine fragment yes it would unhooked in flight – at almost 600 km/h speed – ending up impacting the fuselage and shattering one of the cabin windows on the same side.
The breaking of the window generated immediate and violent violence depressurizationwith the oxygen masks activated automatically.
The passenger sitting next to the damaged window, a 61-year-old Serbian citizen, was hit head-on by the difference in pressure between the inside of the cabin and the outside: according to the statements of some passengers, head and shoulders would have been sucked towards the openingwith the man managing to stay inside the plane thanks to the intervention of his wife, aided by at least one other traveller, managing to hold him until landing.
One detail that probably proved decisive is that man He was still wearing his seatbeltmandatory during the take-off phase: without it, the consequences could have been worse.
After the window broke, the commander reacted immediately, starting a fire rapid descent from approximately 5,000 to 1,800 meters above sea level and reversing course to return to Thessaloniki. The plane he touched the track at 7:09where he was joined by firefighters, ambulances and police.
In total, four passengers were transported to hospital: three were discharged after precautionary checks, while the 61-year-old Serbian remained hospitalized with neck injuries and friction burns, in a state of shock but not life threatening.
In a note reported by Euronews, Ryanair confirmed that
A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, which departed on Friday morning (10 July), returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off after a passenger window broke off during the flight. The plane landed safely and the passengers returned to the terminal. A passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. To minimize the delay, a replacement plane was arranged to transport passengers to Memmingen, taking off from Thessaloniki at 9.53 local time this morning.
The precedent of 2018: what had happened
Among other things, the same plane involved in today’s accident had already been forced to return yesterday evening, during another connection due to technical problems.
The episode is very reminiscent of the accident that occurred on April 17, 2018 in the United States, again on board a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. On that occasion, flight 1380, which departed from LaGuardia in New York and headed to Dallas, suffered a failure of the left engine while he was at about 32,000 feet (almost 10,000 meters) of altitude, approximately 30 minutes after takeoff. As confirmed by the NTSB, a shovel of engine fan it broke due to a cyclic fatigue crack and struck the fan casing, generating loads that caused several portions of the engine cowling (i.e. the cladding) to separate in flight.
One of these fragments it hit the fuselage near a window of the cabin, causing its complete detachment. The rapid depressurization that followed sucked partially outward the passenger sitting next to the window, Jennifer Riordan. The flight attendants and other passengers tried to pull her in with all their strength, but the woman, despite resuscitation attempts, lost her life.
The pilots of the time, the commander Tammie Jo Shults and the first mate Darren Ellisorthey managed to land the plane in Philadelphia without any other fatal consequences: there were 144 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
In short, the dynamics presents clear analogies with the Greek accident: engine failure, fragments hitting the structure of the plane, breaking a window, violent depressurization and the passenger being partially sucked out.
