This is a developing story and will be updated. Former Navy fighter pilot Tammie Jo Shults was the voice of calm and the steady hand in the cockpit…
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Former Navy fighter pilot Tammie Jo Shults was the voice of calm and the steady hand in the cockpit on Tuesday morning as Southwest Flight 1380 made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.
Her husband, Dean Shults, confirmed to The Associated Press that his wife guided the flight to safety.
Passenger Alfred Tumlinson of Corpus Christi praised the pilot for her courage. « She has nerves of steel. That lady, I applaud her, » he told the ABC station in Philadelphia. « The lady, the crew, everything. They were so professional in what they did to get us on the ground. »
Shults was one of the first female fighter pilots for the U. S. Navy, according to her alma mater MidAmerica Nazarene University. The private university in Kansas honored Shults in late March at an alumni event.
The 56-year-old pilot was at the controls on Tuesday when a plane heading from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Dallas suffered a midflight engine failure that sent debris shooting into the fuselage and shattered a window in the cabin. In about six minutes, the plane dropped from 32,500 feet in altitude to 11,400 feet in altitude.
The emergency landing left one dead and seven people with minor injuries.
In an air traffic control recording, Shults kept cool as she alerted the control tower that the plane was on fire and was running on a single engine. She asked the control tower to guide her to the nearest airport.
She later said the fire had gone out, but part of the plane was missing. She asked for medical units to meet the plane when it landed on the runway.
« Ok. And is your airplane physically fire? » asked a person at the control tower.
« No, it’s not on fire, but part of it’s missing, » she said. « They said there’s a hole and someone went out. »
Shults and her husband, Dean, live in Boerne, which is about 30 miles north of San Antonio.
Sandy Green, who has lived in Boerne for about 20 years with her family, said Tammie Jo and Dean Shults have been her neighbors for several years.
When Green’s son told her Tuesday that he’d read on the internet that their neighbor was Flight 1380’s pilot, she wasn’t surprised by her heroism.
« Heck no, she’s a strong Christian lady, » she said. « She’s a very confident person. She was doing her job…. I’m so happy she was able to land safely, for all those people. So proud she was able to do her job. »
