A Ryanair plane crash scare on FR1879 left a 61-year-old Serbian passenger hanging headfirst from a shattered window on a Friday flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen. His wife held him by the legs until the cabin crew could respond, and the aircraft turned back to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff.
Michalis Giannakos said the man was taken to hospital with shock and friction burns from the freezing wind outside the airliner, calling the incident “almost a tragedy”. FlightRadar24 data showed the flight stayed airborne for just over an hour, reached 16,000ft, then descended into Thessaloniki airport.
Ryanair FR1879 from Thessaloniki
The flight was operated by Malta Air and was scheduled to go from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen near Munich in Germany on Friday. The shattered acrylic window also sent oxygen masks down as the cabin became depressurised, adding another layer to the emergency faced by the passengers on board.
Ryanair said: “A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged inflight.” The airline also said: “The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal.”
Passenger rescue in the cabin
The most severe account came from the description of the 61-year-old Serbian passenger being lifted out of his seat into the plane’s slipstream and hanging headfirst out of the window after an engine failure resulted in parts smashing the acrylic window. The man was saved from being completely sucked out of the Boeing 737 because his wife held him by the legs.
That detail matters for anyone on the flight because the emergency did not end at touchdown. Michalis Giannakos said the passenger was treated in hospital, while the other people on FR1879 returned to the terminal after the landing in Thessaloniki.
Ryanair replacement aircraft to Memmingen
Ryanair said: “In order to minimise any delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen, which departed Thessaloniki at 9.53am local time this morning.” That left passengers with a clear operational path forward after the return to Thessaloniki: stay in the terminal, then continue on the substitute aircraft rather than wait for the damaged jet.
The comparison with the 2024 Alaska Airlines Boeing Max 9 blowout gives the incident a wider aviation context, but the central unanswered point is still the same one that follows any mid-air structural failure: what specifically caused the engine failure and the window to shatter in flight. For the passengers on FR1879, the immediate answer was already decided on Friday morning — a return, medical care for one man, and a replacement aircraft to Memmingen.
