Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

madman said:

and which god? :2wave:

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The pilot is a devout Christian, so that God, the one with the capital "G."

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

nota bene said:

The pilot is a devout Christian, so that God, the one with the capital "G."

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Has she given glory yet? Perhaps she's not a "real" christian

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

madman said:

Has she given glory yet? Perhaps she's not a "real" christian

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Too bad you're choosing inciteful over insightful.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

nota bene said:

Too bad you're choosing inciteful over insightful.

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you said she'll be giving glory to that god, no?

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

madman said:

you said she'll be giving glory to that god, no?

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Yes, I did, and I do. You can read her and her copilot's official media statement here, and they are saying no more until the required investigation is complete: Southwest Airlines Pilot Speaks Out After Deadly Flight | Time

Until that investigation is complete and also until she and her family decide how they want to handle future engagement with the media, which seems painfully inevitable now, she won't be saying anything. This I can tell you, that even ex-spouses of various family members were located and badgered within the first 24 hours.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

upsideguy said:

While I agree with most of this, the real credit goes to Southwest Airlines. They train and train and train their pilots for scenarios such as this. The pilot simply followed her training to quickly get to a lower altitude and head for the nearest airport. The plane was fully airworthy, even on one engine.

Every now and then, the pilot is in a scenario for which was no training (the complete loss of hydraulics on a United flight that crashed in Sioux City, SD in 1989), but this was not one of them. Similarly, the USAirways flight that went into the Hudson 10 years ago.... there is training for loss of power on takeoff AND water landings, but water landings are about minimal loss of life. Sully executed a perfect water landing and his decision making impeccable. That was not trained.

This pilot was experienced and likely very skilled, but the recovery was "routine" because her training was excellent.

United, Delta, American, Southwest all have excellent training programs for their pilots. OTH, I would be a little worried in a similar scenario on a commuter airline (the airlines that fly the small planes and jets under the banner of the larger airline).... some of those pilots don't have much experience at all.

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I'm sorry, this wasn't a simple engine failure. The engine exploded, sending shrapnel into the aircraft, causing explosive decompression, and injuring passengers. Pieces of the aircraft were missing, and they had no idea how serious the damage was to the wing. The pilot was told there was a hole in the side of her aircraft and someone had been sucked out. This was hardly routine.

Significant credit goes to the airline for their excellent training -- but that would have been meaningless without an excellent aircrew.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

dcsports said:

I'm sorry, this wasn't a simple engine failure. The engine exploded, sending shrapnel into the aircraft, causing explosive decompression, and injuring passengers. Pieces of the aircraft were missing, and they had no idea how serious the damage was to the wing. The pilot was told there was a hole in the side of her aircraft and someone had been sucked out. This was hardly routine.

Significant credit goes to the airline for their excellent training -- but that would have been meaningless without an excellent aircrew.

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Just FYI, the pilot was trained by the Navy. "Southwest pilot Tammie Jo Shults guided by faith and Navy training, friends say"
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...Tammie-Jo-Shults-guided-by-faith-12846320.php

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

dcsports said:

I'm sorry, this wasn't a simple engine failure. The engine exploded, sending shrapnel into the aircraft, causing explosive decompression, and injuring passengers. Pieces of the aircraft were missing, and they had no idea how serious the damage was to the wing. The pilot was told there was a hole in the side of her aircraft and someone had been sucked out. This was hardly routine.

Significant credit goes to the airline for their excellent training -- but that would have been meaningless without an excellent aircrew.

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Well, as a pilot (private, not commercial), I can tell you that the recovery and landing were far more "routine" than not. Yes the engine blew up, but in the end, it was pretty much as simple as an engine failure. There was likely some addition imbalance in the controls, but not that much. She knew exactly what to do because she was trained on recovery from rapid decompression of the cabin. She likely has experienced pretty close to this exact scenario in the flight trainer a half dozen to a dozen times. That was not something she got from the Navy, she got it from SWA.

The crux of the incident was in the initial 120-240 seconds during which time she had to assess the situation and get the plane to a lower altitude as soon as practical. After that, the diversion to Philadelphia, the approach and landing were more routine than not.

She obviously was a good pilot. But "heroism" here is great training from a good airline that helped her to assess and act almost on instinct. 99 out of 100 pilots of the big four land this plane safely as she did. I am only trying to draw away from our tendency to think that every situation as demands a single hero or a single villain. That tends to be American thinking, but its rather juvenile. There is usually a multi-facet explanation for heroics and tragedy. (There are cases of "good pilots" showing themselves to be "great pilots", like Sully putting an A320 into the Hudson without a single loss of life... that was great flying...and a little luck or the DC-10 crew that crash landed UA232* without hydraulics in 1989, a situation that was not in the training manual). This one did not have that level heroics.

Again, good pilot.... she knew what to do (because of good training) and put it into motion (because she is a good pilot). She was A hero here, but she was not THE hero here.



* - although, about half the passengers were killed, the other half was not. The pilots had do figure out, on the fly (no pun), how to control and land a jumbo jet when the had no access to the control surfaces of the airplane.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

I was 3000 miles from home in Boston on business when this happened, couldnt wait to get on plane to come home :roll:

What a horrible thing for that woman, and a trauma for all onboard.

I keep wondering what actually killed her, they said blunt force trauma. Did the engine debris that broke the window hit her in the head? How else would she have gotten that type of injury? Or was it something else?

Anyway, I kept imagining a woman being stuck in that little jet window the whole way home...sickening.

Thankful to be home.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

upsideguy said:

She was A hero here, but she was not THE hero here.

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And no one has said otherwise.

The passengers were also heroic. Riordan was in Seat 14C, a young girl was in B, and a prof from Oklahoma was in A. The prof said she heard an explosion and, instantly, a rush of cold wind. It all happened so fast! She grabbed Riordan's belt loops, and the little girl tried to help, but neither was strong enough to pull her out. A firefighter and a retired nurse, who was clearly performing CPR on a mass of hamburger meat, did what they could. Other passengers stuffed their jackets in the hole. Lots of credit to all.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

Lursa said:

I was 3000 miles from home in Boston on business when this happened, couldnt wait to get on plane to come home :roll:

What a horrible thing for that woman, and a trauma for all onboard.

I keep wondering what actually killed her, they said blunt force trauma. Did the engine debris that broke the window hit her in the head? How else would she have gotten that type of injury? Or was it something else?

Anyway, I kept imagining a woman being stuck in that little jet window the whole way home...sickening.

Thankful to be home.

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The lady sitting in the same row says she believes Riordan's wearing a seatbelt was what held her in. people.com/human-interest/jennifer-riordan-hollie-mackey-southwest-flight-1380/

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

nota bene said:

The lady sitting in the same row says she believes Riordan's wearing a seatbelt was what held her in. people.com/human-interest/jennifer-riordan-hollie-mackey-southwest-flight-1380/

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Ah, hadnt heard that.

I still wonder what actually killed her.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

nota bene said:

And no one has said otherwise.

The passengers were also heroic. Riordan was in Seat 14C, a young girl was in B, and a prof from Oklahoma was in A. The prof said she heard an explosion and, instantly, a rush of cold wind. It all happened so fast! She grabbed Riordan's belt loops, and the little girl tried to help, but neither was strong enough to pull her out. A firefighter and a retired nurse, who was clearly performing CPR on a mass of hamburger meat, did what they could. Other passengers stuffed their jackets in the hole. Lots of credit to all.

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Amazing amount of suction. Without that seatbelt on she would have been completely sucked out the window and tossed out at 30,000 feet.

And I am reminded that 100 people a day die in auto accidents in the US but for some reason air deaths always hang with us. And as soon as board that plane to find you have a window seat you will think about that lady. But rarely do you climb in the seat of your auto and wonder if your head is going to go through the windshield .

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

Lursa said:

Ah, hadnt heard that.

I still wonder what actually killed her.

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The retired nurse who performed CPR said she had significant head and facial trauma.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

nota bene said:

The retired nurse who performed CPR said she had significant head and facial trauma.

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Yes and that makes me think that she was hit by the debris that broke the window.

Re: Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"

Lursa said:

Yes and that makes me think that she was hit by the debris that broke the window.

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Could be. But, trying to imagine sitting in that seat, isn't it also likely that her head was instantly smashed against the wall as the window blew out? (((Shudder)))

I keep thinking about how Jennifer Riordan was the mother of two young girls. What if the little girl in the middle seat had asked to switch places so she could have the window and Riordan, thinking of her one girls, had said sure? She really would've been sucked right out and is very, very lucky to be alive today.