The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has identified bird remains inside the damaged engine of a Ryanair/Malta Air Boeing 737-8AS as the leading clue in its investigation into a serious 10 July incident over Greece. The aircraft, operating flight 1879 from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, suffered a fan-blade failure shortly after takeoff, sending debris into the fuselage and tail and causing rapid depressurisation that seriously injured one passenger.
The preliminary report found feathers and other bird remains in the No. 2 engine, with samples sent to the Smithsonian Institution Feather Identification Lab for analysis. Investigators recovered multiple fragments from the engine after the aircraft, registered 9H-QEU, returned following the event at Thessaloniki International Airport.
The same engine had been linked to four suspected bird strikes in the previous 12 months, although post-flight maintenance checks reportedly found no damage at the time. The cause of the fan-blade fracture remains under investigation, and the NTSB has not yet completed the causal chain.
Greece’s HARSIA delegated the case to the NTSB on 16 July, with the FAA, Boeing and GE Aerospace participating in the inquiry.