Pilot Tammie Jo Shults’ Performance Proves That When It Comes To High Risk Jobs, Gender Doesn’t Matter

One of the engines of the Southwest Flight 1380 that had departed from New York and bound for Dallas, failed after it took off.  One passenger was nearly sucked into a hole whereas others were brought to safe grounds by the immense efforts of Pilot Tammie Jo Shults. Here’s more.

Twenty minutes after the twin-engine Boeing 737 took off from New York, passengers aboard the Southwest Flight 1380 heard a loud noise that sounded like explosions. The explosion was so severe that the debris broke open a plane window. In an unfortunate twist of events, a woman passenger- Jennifer Riordan was nearly sucked into the hole where the window was present earlier.

The flight passengers were in panic mode while they tried to save the lady who was sucked into the hole. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t save the injured woman. Passengers struggled to stay calm and breathe from the oxygen masks dangling down. There was chaos. Despite the panic atmosphere, one person who remained calm amidst the chaos was Pilot–Tammie Jo Shults.

Calm and composed amidst chaos

Pilot Shults spoke slowly and calmly in the air traffic control studio. She told the air traffic control “We have a part of the aircraft missing," Could you have the medical meet us there on the runway as well? We've got injured passengers." She spoke calmly even when the situation was unpredictable and threatening.

Air traffic control responded: "Injured passengers, OK. And is your airplane physically on fire?"

"No, it's not on fire," she replied. "But part of it is missing. They said there's a hole and that someone went out."

The controller responded: "Um, I'm sorry. You said there was a hole and somebody went out? Southwest 1380 it doesn't matter we will work it out there."

Minutes after, Shults executes a successful landing. She had dropped the plane from 30,000 feet to 13,000 feet in five minutes. The complete descent took 15 minutes and safely landed the plane in Philadelphia. Out of the 149 passengers, one passenger lost her life and few others were injured.  

Who is Tammie Shults?

All the passengers applauded the pilot’s heroism and declared her an ‘American hero’.

The ‘American hero’, served in the US Navy for ten years and flew fighter jets before leaving the service in 1993. She was among the first female pilots in the U.S. military and was the first woman to fly an F/A-18. She had achieved the ranks of lieutenant commander. The New Mexico native graduated in 1983, from the University of Olathe, Kansas where she earned a degree in biology and agribusiness.

"She has nerves of steel. That lady, I applaud her. I'm going to send her a Christmas card — I'm going to tell you that — with a gift certificate for getting me on the ground. She was awesome," said one passenger. After the plane touched down, Shults walked through the aisle and personally spoke to passengers to check if they were fine.

"She's a formidable woman, as sharp as a tack," said Gary Shults, a dentist and Shult’s brother-in-law in San Antonio. "My brother says she's the best pilot he knows. She's a very caring, giving person who takes care of lots of people."

Undeniably, Pilot Tammie Jo Shults did a heroic job in saving the passengers who were aboard. Her performance also proves that gender doesn’t matter when it comes to performing high-risk jobs. According to Shults’ family and colleagues, she performed as a professional, would do and it was not magic to her. After her brave performance, Shults can be rightly declared the ‘American hero’ and we are truly proud of her.