The first images have been released of the engine of the Ryanair flight on which a window exploded and a passenger risked being sucked out. The absence of a fan blade is highlighted, which may have broken causing the known damage. In 2016 and 2018, a blade detached in the same engine model (in one case the passenger who was sucked in died). There is an ongoing investigation, at the moment the possible link between the three incidents is only speculation.
Friday 10 August a window of the Ryanair flight FR-1879 (operated by subsidiary Malta Air) from Thessaloniki (Greece) to Memmimgen (Germany) exploded shortly after takeoff; The passenger sitting next to him, a 61-year-old man, was almost sucked outreporting various injuries (he is still hospitalized). THE’airplanefortunately, is back in Greece without consequences, approximately 75 minutes after takeoff. An in-depth investigation involving several actors is currently underway, based on strict international procedures. Among them are the aviation authority of North Macedonia – because the accident occurred in its airspace – and the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States, bearing in mind that the aircraft involved is a Boeing 737-800 belonging to the named family 737 Next Generation.
In these hours the Images of motor of the aircraft involved, strengthening themain hypothesis emerged from the first hours: a fragment detached from the engine it would have hit the window, shattering it, causing injury to the unfortunate passenger (who was brought back inside thanks to the intervention of his wife and another person) and a very rapid depressurization of the cabin, which made a rapid descent from 5,000 meters to 1,800 meters. At the moment, we underline, this is only a hypothesis and the facts will only be ascertained at the end of the investigation, however, as indicated, the images of the engine that are circulating seem to support this possibility. In addition to damage from perforation of the engine nacelle (the structure that contains the various parts of the jet engine), both lateral and frontal, we note the complete absence of one of the fan blades – le fan bladesalso known as palette – and a damaged one. The hypothesis is that the blade may have detached and that the fragments caused the various damages to the plane, including the shattering of the window.
These events, which at the moment can be regarded as mere speculations because they have not been ascertained, they have an impressive analogy with what happened in two accidents of the recent past, once with a tragic outcome. As confirmed by investigations, during the flight Southwest Airlines 1380 took off on April 17, 2018 from LaGuardia Airport (New York) and headed to Dallas Love Field, the plane’s engine suffered a broken down and the fragments hit the fuselage. In that case too, a window exploded; the passenger sitting next to her was partially sucked in and died due to the very serious injuries sustained (other passengers suffered minor injuries). The plane, a Boeing 737-700managed to land, but it was radiated due to the damage reported. The investigations, as reported by the specialized aviation portals theaircurrent.com and airwaysmag.com, reached the conclusion that the cause of the tragedy was an engine blade which, when detached, produced debris and damage. In 2016, another accident of this type occurred, again with a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, with the blade causing damage but fortunately no one was injured.
Window exploded on Ryanair flight, Recine (ANPAC): “Bird strike unlikely”. And he hypothesizes technical causes
The two cases of 2016-2018 and that of 2026 have in common the involvement of the same engine, the CFM International CFM56-7Bequipped on the 737 Next Generation family aircraft. Investigations related to old accidents have concluded that the fan blades of this engine may be subject to “fatigue cracks“, i.e. tiny fractures that can be generated for various reasons, such as cyclic stress, vibrations and the like. Following the events of 2016-2018, as explained by theaircurrent, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States issued “airworthiness directives to mitigate the risk of break of the fan blades through inspections and a redesign of the engine air intake to ensure containment.” The retrofit deadline for all engines has been set by the FAA for July 31, 2028.
Basically, as they are indicating above Reddit Some aviation experts suspect that a similar event may have occurred on the Ryanair flight of 10 July 2016 to Germany, i.e. that a blade possibly affected by fatigue cracks may have detached, causing the well-known damage to the window and injuring the passenger. “Blade detachment is one of the most serious failures a turbofan engine can suffer, and much work is done to prevent and contain these events. It’s honestly shocking to me to see this happen again with the same engine,” said user pigeontheoneandonly on Reddit, who introduced himself as engineer. Beyond the statements that can be read on social networks, at the moment, we reiterate, we are only faced with speculations which will need to be confirmed by the investigation currently underway.
