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The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday it has not ruled out age or service issues in a probe into an incident in which a passenger was partly sucked out of a Boeing 737 NG broken window after an uncontained engine failure.
The letter contradicted Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary who said on Monday an initial finding from the probe suggested 'foreign object damage' and was not due to the aircraft's age or servicing conditions.
'The NTSB has not made any such determination, and our investigators have not yet ruled out age or servicing issues as contributing to this event,' NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to O'Leary.
She added that the CEO's comments had violated the agency's rules on disclosure by parties to the investigation and urged him to refrain from making further public statements regarding the probe.
The NTSB is investigating the July 10 incident, in which a piece of the engine broke off the aircraft and smashed the window shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki in Greece, according to video and the Federal Aviation Administration.
As a result, passenger Ljubiša Karović, 61, from Serbia, was sucked out of the aircraft while his wife, Svetlana Grković, desperately clung to his feet for five excruciating minutes.
The plane, headed to Germany, lost pressure and made an emergency landing.
'Initial indication would suggest it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki, but we don't have, we can't say that definitively,' O'Leary told analysts.
O'Leary said the aircraft was 18 years old and its engine had been fully serviced and overhauled within the last two years.
He added that a draft report on the incident would be issued in about 28 days, followed by a more detailed report.
The event, which had echoes of two Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 NG flights in 2016 and 2018, prompted a re-evaluation of the response to those incidents, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters last week, adding: 'I don't think the early indications are that (the recent Ryanair problem) mimics what the Southwest incident was.'
Karović has since broken his silence and described the 'nightmare experience' that has put him at 'rock bottom' and suffering with panic attacks.
He told German news outlet Bild: 'I fell asleep... After some time I got woken up by a massive bang like a bomb. Only for one moment I was conscious and cannot remember the rest.
'I had blood all over me, blood was dripping from my face and my hands.
'As soon as I close my eyes, images appear of the nightmare I experienced. Those few minutes, it is simply a nightmare, which I cannot explain with words.
'I am not even contemplating getting on another flight. Every time I hear an airplane, I get stress and a fever. I am not well at all when I hear an airplane.'
The terrifying ordeal left Karović with severe injuries and he has to wear a neck brace for six weeks.
He says he suffered a swollen and numb head, the right side of his body became temporarily paralysed and his right ear and right eye are also partially damaged.
He also has burns on his back and right hand, and said it is unlikely he will make a full recovery.
He added that he loved to travel for business and pleasure, but his life has been completely turned upside down.
He said: 'Now everything is bothering me. The hustle and bustle bother me; I cannot walk on the street, everything bothers me.
'Mentally, I have hit rock bottom. It has an effect on both my work and family. It is a complete upheaval in my life.
'I have no concentration. My attention can't be focused on anything. That means I'm simply not functioning properly.'
Last week, his wife Svetlana Grković described the ordeal in the air.
She told Serbian media outlet Nova: 'I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought: "If we die, we die together." It was horrible.'
Chaos ensued with some passengers panicking and others rushing to help Karović and his wife.
'Some people came to my aid; I remember one man and one woman,' she said. 'That man helped me a lot, Ljubiša and I.'
Grković said she would like to thank the heroic passenger in person after he helped save her husband's life.
A pregnant woman who was also on the flight was taken to hospital. According to local media, she is in good health and has since been discharged.
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