https://simpleflying.com/british-airways-flight-5390-a-cabin-crew-perspective/
Posted on 07/15/2026 2:16:15 AM PDT by Cronos
A 61-year-old man was partially pulled through a cabin window after it dislodged on a Ryanair Boeing 737 shortly after take-off from the Greek city of Thessaloniki.
His wife and nearby passengers managed to pull him back inside as the plane descended.
Svetlana Maksimovic says her husband's face has been "completely disfigured" and that he is struggling to recover in hospital
Svetlana Maksimovic and her husband, Ljubisa Karovic, had just settled into a Ryanair flight last week when they heard a deafening bang.
Seconds later Ms Maksimovic turned to see her 61-year-old husband being sucked through a dislodged cabin window.
Greek authorities have described Saturday's incident as rare. Mr Karovic, who was seated by the window on the flight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Germany, was partially pulled out of the aircraft before his wife and nearby passengers managed to drag him back inside.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
That’s taking “Want to get away” way over the top. Half out of a jet aircraft at altitude with your upper body beating on the plane can’t be fun. I hope he heals up ok.
“aircraft suffered an uncontained engine failure.”
Should be able to be determined upon engine inspection.
No sh!t....I hope he gets out of this with no remaining expenses and a nice settlement.
Svetlana Maksimovic says her husband’s face has been “completely disfigured” ...............
Hollywood has the worlds best plastic surgeons. Get treated him there and have Ryan Air paying. Aside from the lawsuit.
Multi-million mile flyer here (as a passenger.) I also have family and friends who flew pressurized aircraft as pilots. Additionally, years ago I was a general aviation private pilot.
I read these “journalists” reports, all using the word “sucked” or the phrase “sucked out...” of the aircraft. THAT is not what happens. Indulge my being pedantic while I explain.
My specific comment is upon suddenly creating an opening in a pressurized fuselage, air (and items/people) are PUSHED out of an opening of an aircraft by internal air pressure. They are NOT sucked out. Once the air pressure inside and outside equalizes, there is no force acting on items inside the aircraft to blow them out the opening. The small exception is the ‘wind’ in/out the opening, caused by the slipstream.
For example, flying a light aircraft on a hot sunny day, you can quite safely open a window next to you to let the wind blow air in, and you are NOT sucked out. It’s just louder and windy.
Another example - skydiving, or military parachuting - when the door opens, no one is “sucked out”, because the pressures are equalized beforehand.
This poor fellow was pushed out of the window, and others were able to pull him back in after the air pressure reduced enough. It’s that simple.
I don’t know if this gentleman was wearing his seatbelt.
Hoping for the best, that this man heals physically and both heal emotionally. Time will pass. Even the happiest couple has a disagreement once in a while. When their next petty argument happens. the wife will shout out:
“Next time we’re flying and the window breaks again?
This time, I will let the winds suck you out of the plane!
The next time, I’m staying in my seat, reading Tolstoy!”
“Next time we’re flying and the window breaks again?
This time, I will let the winds suck you out of the plane!
The next time, I’m staying in my seat, reading Tolstoy!”
################
Or as Phil Leotardo said to a late payee after roughing her up in an episode of the Sopranos:
“Next time, there’ll be no next time.”
thanks Capt’n obvious...
I worked for an airline where a plane lost a window on takeoff back in the ‘90s. No one was in the window seat on that row so the FO came back, checked everyone out, helped the flight attendant relocate everyone around the window and the plane made an emergency landing.
When the first officer got back to the cockpit, the captain asked, “is anyone in the seat by the window?” the first officer said, ‘not any more’ and the captain thought a passenger had been sucked out! He didn’t find out they didn’t lose a passenger until everyone deplaned! Still funny to this day!!!!
Suck, blow - it’s a matter of perspective.
You are right, of course - just as you’re not sucking your Slurpee up the straw as much as you’re creating a lower-pressure zone into which atmospheric pressure is pushing up into to equalize.
Either way, the results are the same.
He must be a little fella
Agreed.
That can be a real pane in the neck.
https://simpleflying.com/british-airways-flight-5390-a-cabin-crew-perspective/
You’d be surprised how NOT obvious this is to many people.
Understanding physics is important when you are/were a pilot.
ouch!
I get it. It’s why even pilots argue about what is really generated lift - high or low pressure around the wing.
Obviously I am in the high pressure camp, Venturi be damned.
A 61-year-old man was partially pulled through a cabin window
That can be a real pane in the neck.
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Hahaha. I see what you did there! 😊😉
You’d be surprised how NOT obvious this is to many people.
Understanding physics is important when you are/were a pilot.
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Not obvious to me. Were it obvious, the headline would have been “pushed” instead of “sucked”.
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