A Ryanair flight travelling from Greece to Germany was forced to return to its departure airport after a passenger window shattered in mid-air, with local reports claiming one passenger was nearly pulled through the opening before being rescued by his wife.

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The incident happened on Ryanair flight FR1879, operated by Malta Air, which departed Thessaloniki for Memmingen near Munich on Thursday.

Passenger reportedly pulled towards broken window

According to Greek media reports, a 61-year-old Serbian man was partially pulled out of his seat after the aircraft suffered an apparent engine failure that sent debris into an acrylic passenger window, causing it to shatter.

Picture courtesy The Times

The reports said the man was left hanging headfirst outside the aircraft after the cabin rapidly depressurised. His wife reportedly prevented him from being pulled completely through the opening by holding on to his legs until the situation was brought under control.

Michalis Giannakos, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN), described the incident as "almost a tragedy", according to the Greek news website Newsit.

The passenger was taken to hospital after landing, reportedly suffering from shock and friction burns caused by exposure to the freezing airflow outside the aircraft.

Emergency return to Thessaloniki

Images and videos shared online showed oxygen masks hanging from the cabin ceiling, indicating the aircraft had experienced a loss of cabin pressure after the window was damaged.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed the Boeing 737 remained airborne for just over an hour. The aircraft climbed to around 16,000ft before turning back and landing safely at Thessaloniki Airport.

The circumstances that caused the window to fail have not been officially confirmed.

Ryanair confirms window came loose

In a statement, Ryanair confirmed the aircraft returned shortly after take-off because of a problem with a passenger window.

"A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged inflight," a company spokesperson said.

The airline did not comment on reports that a passenger was nearly sucked through the damaged window or provide details on the number of people injured.

It remains unclear whether investigators have confirmed the sequence of events described in local media. The aircraft landed safely, and emergency services met the flight after its return to Thessaloniki.

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10 July 2026

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Nothing my waist wouldn't have blocked up.

Pretty scary stuff. Talk about an out of the blue type incident. Bizarre.

Subpar maintenance. He is going to get a very large cheque.

I call bull craap people.

Just another story to scare you out your socks so you don't get on them tin birds.

Buckled in there's no way he's getting pulled out that window, not even partially.

Quit hittin that snooze bar

8 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

Subpar maintenance. He is going to get a very large cheque.

Correct...The airline is liable even if they weren't negligent.

That’s one reason why I allways have my seatbelt fastened when seated,that and turbulence…..hope the dude is ok!

9 hours ago, Woke to Sounds said:

I call bull craap people.

Just another story to scare you out your socks so you don't get on them tin birds.

Buckled in there's no way he's getting pulled out that window, not even partially.

Quit hittin that snooze bar

Where did you read that he was buckled in? Or did you just make it up?

18 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Where did you read that he was buckled in? Or did you just make it up?

I saw it in Slovenian media: https://www.24ur.com/novice/tujina/let-groze-pocilo-okno-potnika-skoraj-posesalo-skozi-odprtino.html

"Na srečo ni odpel varnostnega pasu, kar mu je rešilo življenje. Njegova glava je bila zunaj letala. Potnici, ki sta sedeli poleg njega, sta ga prvi zgrabili in začeli vleči nazaj, kmalu pa so na pomoč priskočili tudi zdravniki, ki so bili med potniki," je opisala še ena izmed potnic.

As exact and all details including translation as I can make of the above:

"Luckily, he didn't unbuckle seatbelt, which saved his life. His head was outside the aircraft. The 2 female passengers who sat next to him, grabbed him first and started pulling him back in, and soon the doctors who were also among passengers jumped in to help," described another one of the female passengers.

10 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

Subpar maintenance. He is going to get a very large cheque.

Nah; It's Ryanair that'll cost him 10 quid extra.

I don't care what anyone says people, it's a bullcrap :

"His wife reportedly prevented him from being pulled completely through the opening by holding on to his legs..."

But he is belted in. There's no way his head be out the window.

And even if he wasn't strapped in, her grip gonna be stronger than the supposed vacuum force?

🤣

Ryanair tried charging people to use the toilet so this guy will get the bill for a new window.

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Where did you read that he was buckled in? Or did you just make it up?

And more, in English this time:

"The masks dropped and there was a strong smell. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn't taken off his seat belt."

Man nearly sucked out of window mid-air on Ryanair plane,...

The man's wife held onto his legs for around five minutes to stop him from being sucked out, officials say.

Shrapnel from fan blade failure isn't unusual and aircraft manufacturers have reinforced engine nacelles and the fuselage adjacent to the fan areas. What's unusual is that some part of this fan failure penetrated these "bulletproof" areas around the engine, and flew high enough to hit the window.

"The masks dropped and there was a strong smell.

I'd have been right there with them.

I think they refer to that as a Code Brown.

17 hours ago, webfact said:

a passenger window shattered in mid-air, with local reports claiming one passenger was nearly pulled through the opening before being rescued by his wife.

This reminded me of one of the World's most extraordinary accidents back in 1990 :

British Airways Flight 5390 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Birmingham Airport in England to Málaga Airport in Spain. On 10 June 1990, the BAC One-Eleven suffered an explosive decompression. While the aircraft was flying over Didcot, England, an improperly installed windscreen panel separated from its frame, causing Captain Tim Lancaster to be partially ejected from the aircraft. He was held in place by a Steward through the window frame for 20 minutes until the first officer landed at Southampton Airport.

Edited July 11Jul 11 by Burma Bill

18 hours ago, Packer said:

Nothing my waist wouldn't have blocked up.

Not me. I'm in good shape--pear shaped.

Not many people have been outdoors in 600mph winds! Maybe more coming with climate change. Oh wait--that doesn't exist, America has spoken.

The importance of wearing your seat belt in flight can't be stressed enough!

Cool way to die. My dream.

9 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Where did you read that he was buckled in? Or did you just make it up?

"Just another story to scare you out your socks so you don't get on them tin birds."

Think again. Airlines want you on their 'birds', they need the revenue or they will be bankrupt.

... weird event! Almost as weird as the other aircraft incident in the past few days where a trainee pilot was flying a small plane with her instructor beside her. The instructor comments that she seems to know what she is doing and promptly jumps out of the plane to his death....

Edited July 11Jul 11 by simon43

AT 16,000 feet a decompression is not that severe; if at 25.000 feet the passenger and his wife would have lost consciousness quickly.