In a voice as plain as one would use to order coffee at a drive-thru, a veteran former U.S. Navy fighter pilot took to the radio to discuss how to line up her badly damaged aircraft with Philadelphia International Airport.

“Southwest 1380, we’re single engine,” Tammie Jo Shults told air traffic controllers before the harrowing emergency landing on Tuesday. “We have part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit.”

A terrifying chain of events had just unfolded on the twin-engine Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 passengers on board.

According to U.S. federal investigators, a blown engine sprayed shrapnel into the aircraft, critically injuring one passenger. At least one window was damaged. Passengers saved a woman from being sucked out. She later died of her injuries.

Shults asked for medical personnel to be ready on the runway as she set Southwest Airlines Flight 1380’s final approach.

“We’re got injured passengers,” she said.

“Injured passengers. Okay,” a male voice responded. “And is your airplane physically on fire?”

“No it’s not on fire, but part of it is missing,” Shults said. “They said there is a hole and someone went out.”

“I’m sorry? You said there was a hole and somebody went out?,” the man asked. “Southwest 1380 it doesn’t matter. We will work it out there. So the airport is just off to your right. Respond it in sight please.”

Seemingly unfazed by the chaos unfolding behind her in the cabin, Shults completed the emergency landing. Photos of the jet on the tarmac showed a missing window and a severely damaged left engine, a piece of which was found 112 kilometres from Philadelphia in Bernville, Pennsylvania.

Southwest declined to name the pilot, but passengers praised Shults by name on social media. Her husband confirmed her name to the Associated Press. Her actions have drawn comparisons to Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who landed a US Airways flight on New York’s Hudson River in 2009.

Passenger Kathy Farnan remembers the crew tending to those on board with oxygen. She also applauded Shults for safely landing the heavily damaged plane.

“The pilot was a veteran of the Navy. She had 32 years in. A woman. She was very good,” Farnan told CNN.

Another passenger, Diana McBride Self, took to Facebook to thank Shults for her “knowledge, guidance and bravery in a traumatic situation.”

“Tammie Jo Schults, the pilot came back to speak to each of us personally. This is a true American Hero,” she wrote on Wednesday. “God bless her and all the crew.”
 

Posted by Diana McBride Self on Tuesday, April 17, 2018