A Ryanair 737 engine failure over Greece on 10 July 2026 involved an engine that had sustained four prior suspected bird strikes in the preceding 12 months, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has disclosed in a preliminary report. Bird remains and feathers were recovered from inside the damaged engine following the latest incident, in which a fan blade fractured shortly after takeoff, sending debris into the fuselage and shattering a passenger window.
The aircraft, registered 9H-QEU and operated by Ryanair through Malta Air, had departed Thessaloniki International Airport bound for Memmingen, Germany. It was climbing through approximately 16,000 feet when the No. 2 engine began vibrating and a loud bang was heard. Flight attendants reported a loud, continuous vibration and a small amount of smoke or fog in the cabin before oxygen masks deployed.
Passenger partially pulled through shattered window
A fragment of engine debris struck and broke a window in Row 11, causing a rapid loss of cabin pressure. The 61-year-old passenger seated beside the broken window was partially pulled into the opening before fellow passengers dragged him back inside. He suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns. According to the NTSB preliminary report, the aircraft was carrying 2 pilots, 4 flight attendants and 149 passengers, including one lap child, at the time of the occurrence. The aircraft returned safely to Thessaloniki approximately an hour after departure.
Bird remains were found after two of the four earlier suspected bird strike incidents on the same engine, the NTSB said. Despite those finds, maintenance inspections following each of the four events did not identify damage to the engine. The fan blades additionally underwent ultrasonic inspections in November 2025 and May 2026, with no damage reported on either occasion. Investigators subsequently recovered three loose fan blade fragments from the engine following the July incident.
Ryanair 737 engine failure and the FAA airworthiness directive timeline
The Ryanair 737 engine failure has drawn comparisons with earlier Boeing 737 Next Generation fan blade events, including the 2018 Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 accident, in which engine debris broke a passenger window and a woman was killed. The FAA issued three airworthiness directives in 2025 requiring modifications intended to reduce the risk of engine inlet and cowling debris striking the airframe following a fan blade failure. Those changes include revised fasteners, spacers and maintenance procedures.
The 9H-QEU had not yet received the major modifications required by those directives at the time of the July accident. Operators have until July 2028 to complete them, and the NTSB has not stated that the absence of those modifications contributed to the July event.
Bird strikes remain a persistent operational hazard in commercial aviation, particularly during the climb and approach phases when aircraft are at lower altitudes. Engine ingestion events are a subset of all bird strikes and, while the majority result in little or no damage, ingestion into a turbofan can cause serious engine damage and, in rare cases, an in-flight shutdown or uncontained failure. The NTSB’s preliminary report does not include probable cause findings; those will follow as the investigation continues.
