Ryanair’s chief executive has said early evidence from an investigation into a terrifying incident in which a passenger was partly sucked through a shattered Boeing 737 window points to possible “foreign object damage”.
“Initial indication would suggest it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki, but we don’t have, we can’t say that definitively,” Michael O’Leary told analysts as he presented Ryanair’s results for the April-June quarter.
O’Leary said investigators were expected to release a draft report on the incident in about 28 days, with a more comprehensive account to follow.
The episode unfolded earlier this month when a window “detached” in mid-air on a Ryanair flight bound for Germany, nearly pulling a 61-year-old man out of the aircraft.
Mr Karovic’s wife said his seatbelt prevented him from being fully ejected. She and two other passengers then hauled him back inside the cabin as oxygen masks dropped and panic swept through the plane.
The US National Transportation Safety Board is leading the inquiry. The Federal Aviation Administration said part of an engine broke away from the Boeing 737 NG and struck the window shortly after the aircraft departed Thessaloniki, Greece, on 10 July.
After losing cabin pressure, the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing.
