WEALTH August 14, 2026 0 Comments

Ryainair’s Mid-Flight Crisis: How a Tiny Bird Almost Grounded a Multi-Million Dollar Operation—And What Every Entrepreneur Must Learn From It

Ever wonder what happens when a bird decides to play chicken with a plane’s engine at 30,000 feet? Well, last month, a Ryanair flight got a little too up close and personal with some feathered troublemakers—so much so that a passenger was partially sucked out through a busted window. Yeah, not your everyday in-flight experience! The US National Transportation Safety Board dug into the aftermath and found bird remains clinging to crucial engine parts, painting a vivid picture of just how messy bird strikes can get. This Malta Air Boeing 737 was cruising from Thessaloniki to Memmingen when fragments of a failing engine sliced through the fuselage, causing rapid depressurization and chaos in the cabin. Passengers rallied to save a seriously injured seatmate, while pilots turned the plane around for a safe landing back in Greece. But here’s the kicker: this wasn’t some freak one-off. The engine, a CFM model co-produced by Safran and General Electric, had multiple bird strike alerts in the year before—and the investigation is still untangling whether this incident echoes the tragic 2018 Southwest Airlines crash. So, is aviation security keeping pace with nature’s unpredictability, or are these “bird strikes” a warning sign we can’t afford to ignore? Buckle up—it’s one heck of an eye-opener. LEARN MORE

Investigators found bird remains and feathers in the engine of the Ryanair plane that a passenger was partially sucked out of through a broken window last month.

The US National Transportation Safety Board recovered bird remains from the forward face of the integrated drive generator oil cooler, one of the thrust reverse blocker door drag links, and the lower of the engine fan case near the thrust reverser split flange.

The Malta Air Boeing 737 aircraft was operating a Ryanair service from Thessaloniki International Airport (SKG) to Memmingen, Germany when engine fragments breached the fuselage and the cabin depressurised.

A loud bang sound was recorded about nine minutes and twenty seconds after the start of the takeoff roll, according to the cockpit voice recorder cited in the report.

The window next to seat 11F was damaged, causing the passenger seated in that seat to become lodged in the window.

Other passengers assisted the passenger, who sustained serious injuries during the incident, and managed to pull them back inside.

The passenger was moved to another row and attended to by another passenger who was a doctor.

The flight crew then elected to return to SKG, where the plane made an uneventful landing.

An examination revealed that the aircraft experienced a fan blade separation that resulted in engine fragments striking the fuselage and the right horizontal stabiliser.

The NTSB said in its preliminary report into the incident that four suspected bird strikes to one of the aeroplane’s engines were reported by flight crew in the 12 months preceding the accident.

“Bird remains were reportedly found in two of the cases,” although no damage was located during subsequent maintenance, it said.

The NTSB said the CFM engine made by a venture between France’s Safran and US-based General Electric had been inspected in May with no findings.

The NTSB, an independent US government agency that investigates civil transportation accidents, is leading the investigation into the Ryanair flight.

The agency said it is still looking at whether the incident is similar to other cases, such as an April 2018 engine failure on a US Southwest Airlines flight that killed a passenger who was partially sucked out the window.

“The investigative team is aware of previous events with similar engine models that resulted in damage to engine inlets or cowlings and fuselage structures,” the report said.

“Determination of any relevant similarities or details between this accident and previous events remains under investigation.”

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters last month in an interview: “I don’t think the early indications are ‌that (the ⁠recent Ryanair problem) mimics what the Southwest incident was.”