A passenger on a Ryanair flight was reportedly almost sucked out of a window after it shattered mid-air during a trip from Greece. According to local reports, the man was lifted from his seat into the plane’s slipstream and ended up hanging headfirst out of the window after an engine failure caused parts to smash the acrylic window. The passenger, said to be a 61-year-old Serbian man, was saved from being fully sucked out of the Boeing 737 because his wife “held him by the legs.”
The incident happened on Ryanair flight FR1879, which was scheduled to fly from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen near Munich in Germany on Thursday. The flight was operated by the budget airline’s subsidiary, Malta Air. Michalis Giannakos, a trade union official, told the Greek news website Newsit that the man was taken to hospital suffering from shock and friction burns caused by the freezing wind outside the plane.
The president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees described the incident as “almost a tragedy.” Images and videos show that the shattered window caused oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling as the cabin lost pressure. Data from the tracking company FlightRadar24 indicates that the flight was in the air for just over an hour and reached 16,000 feet before descending back to Thessaloniki airport.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window came loose in flight. The aircraft landed normally, and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger asked for and received medical help on the ground in Thessaloniki. To minimize delays, a replacement aircraft was arranged to take passengers to Memmingen, which left Thessaloniki at 9:53am local time this morning.”
In 2024, a cabin panel on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 blew out mid-flight. The plane, carrying over 170 passengers and six crew members, was forced to make an emergency landing. One passenger said he saw a boy’s shirt ripped off and sucked out of the plane as his mother held onto him, while two seats right next to the gaping hole in the fuselage were luckily empty. Another passenger, sitting directly behind the door plug that blew out, was saved by his seatbelt as the force of the air rushing out tore off his socks, a shoe, and sucked away his iPhone. In testimony to investigators, a co-pilot described “chaos,” saying the blowout, which happened as the plane traveled at 400 mph, ripped off the cockpit door and tore off his headset. Seven passengers and one flight attendant suffered minor injuries. The final report into the incident, released last year, confirmed that four door bolts securing the door plug had been removed for rivet work during the jet’s construction, but when the door plug was reinstalled, the bolts were not put back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the Ryanair window incident written in a natural tone with clear simple answers
General Questions
Q What actually happened on the Ryanair flight
A A window pane on a Ryanair plane shattered at high altitude The difference in air pressure caused a passengers shirt to get sucked toward the broken window Crew members pulled the passenger back and covered the window until they landed safely
Q Was the passenger actually sucked out of the plane
A No Part of their clothing was pulled into the gap but they were not pulled out of the seat or the aircraft Other passengers and crew held them back immediately
Q Did anyone get hurt
A The passenger was shaken up but not physically injured The flight landed safely and no one else was hurt
Q Which flight was this and where was it going
A It was a Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Zagreb The incident happened in February 2025
How Why It Happened
Q How can a plane window just shatter like that
A Aircraft windows are made of multiple layers of strong acrylic and glass This was likely a failure of the inner or middle pane Its very rare but possible due to a manufacturing defect age or a previous small crack
Q Why did the passengers shirt get sucked out
A At cruising altitude the air pressure inside the cabin is much higher than the thin air outside When a window breaks air rushes out through the hole creating a powerful suction effect that pulls anything nearby toward the gap
Q Is this a common problem with Ryanair or other airlines
A No Window failures are extremely rare on any airline This was a oneoff mechanical issue not a pattern with Ryanair specifically
Safety What Happens Next
Q Why didnt the plane depressurize completely
A Modern aircraft windows have multiple layers If only the inner pane fails the outer pane usually holds the pressure Also the cabin crew may have quickly covered the window and the pilots likely descended to a lower safer altitude to reduce the pressure difference
