WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has assumed the lead role in the investigation into a structural failure involving a Ryanair Boeing 737 NG that resulted in a passenger being partially ejected from the aircraft over Greece.
The decision follows a formal delegation of authority from Greek accident-investigation officials to the U.S. agency to oversee the probe under long-standing international arrangements for inquiries involving U.S.-designed aircraft. The incident, which occurred on July 10, involved an engine component breaking off and shattering a cabin window shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki.
The aircraft, bound for Germany, suffered a rapid loss of cabin pressure and performed an emergency landing. A 61-year-old Serbian national, Ljubisa Karovic, was injured and hospitalised after being pulled through the window opening.
The event places renewed scrutiny on the safety protocols and hardware specifications of the 737 NG, the predecessor to the current 737 MAX generation. Boeing remains the primary manufacturer of the airframe, while the engines are produced by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines.
Regulatory Review of Airworthiness Directives
The failure echoes previous incidents involving Southwest Airlines in 2016 and 2018. In the 2018 case, a broken fan blade damaged a window, leading to a passenger fatality after they were partially sucked out of the aircraft.
Following those events, the NTSB recommended a redesign of the fan cowl structure on 737 NG models. That work fed into a 2023 airworthiness directive issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under its statutory mandate to ensure continued airworthiness of U.S.-certificated aircraft, requiring structural and inspection modifications to be completed by July 2028. The directive is one of a series of binding safety measures issued through the FAA’s airworthiness directives framework, which compels operators worldwide flying U.S.-approved designs to comply or face operational restrictions.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated on July 16, 2026, that the current investigation is triggering a re-examination of how the agency handled the 2018 incident and its subsequent rulemaking.
“Did we miss something? Way too early to tell – but we can’t take it off the board yet,” Mr Bedford said.
Bedford noted that early indications do not suggest the Ryanair incident precisely mimics the Southwest event, though the structural similarities in engine location and window design have prompted the federal review. He added that any new findings could lead to amendments of the 2023 directive or additional mandatory inspections.
Fleet Management and Technical Specifications
Ryanair operates a large fleet of Boeing 737 NG aircraft equipped with CFM International CFM56 engines. The CFM56 is one of the most widely deployed turbofan engines in the global aviation market, serving as a critical workhorse for narrow-body operators worldwide and forming the backbone of short-haul networks across Europe. Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, has built its operating model around high-utilisation, single-type fleets, making any grounding or heavy modification programme particularly consequential for scheduling and costs.
Corporate responses to the FAA’s 2023 directive vary by carrier. Southwest Airlines confirmed on July 16, 2026, that it has completed the required modifications on approximately 80% of its affected fleet, placing the company ahead of the 2028 deadline. Industry officials say regulators in Europe are closely tracking such progress, as many non-U.S. safety authorities align their own mandatory instructions to the FAA’s technical findings through the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which can adopt parallel measures for operators based in EU member states.
The human impact of the July 10 failure was described by Svetlana Maksimovic, the wife of Mr. Karovic. She stated that “chaos broke out” as oxygen masks deployed and passengers panicked.
Maksimovic noted that her husband’s seatbelt prevented his complete ejection from the aircraft. She and two other passengers, including a man she believed to be from Albania, worked to pull him back into the cabin.
“At that exact moment, he [her husband] was pulled out through the window. He was outside for a maximum of two to three minutes,” Maksimovic said, adding that cabin crew and passengers continued to assist him until the aircraft was safely on the ground.
The NTSB is now analyzing the engine debris and the window’s structural failure to determine if the incident stems from a known issue addressed in the 2023 directive or a new mechanical failure. Investigators are also expected to review Ryanair’s implementation of manufacturer guidance and any interim inspection regimes adopted since the earlier Southwest events.
The investigation remains open as the NTSB evaluates the technical data provided by the FAA and the aircraft’s flight recorders. Any formal findings and safety recommendations – which, while not legally binding, typically shape subsequent regulatory action – will be published in a final report, a process that can take months or longer.
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