Hero pilot: ‘We couldn’t see, we couldn’t breathe’ (SW Flight 1380)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | October 14, 2019 | Kyle Arnold / The Dallas Morning News

[CedarDave]

The initial shock was so violent from the blown engine on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 that pilot Tammie Jo Shults thought there had been a midair collision.

“We couldn’t see, we couldn’t breathe, and a piercing pain stabbed our ears, all while the aircraft snapped into a rapid roll and skidded hard to the left as the nose of the aircraft pitched over, initiating a dive toward the ground,” Shults wrote in her book “Nerves of Steel,” which was released Oct. 8.

On Flight 1380 on April 17, 2018, from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Dallas Love Field, a fan blade on the left engine broke loose, tore apart the engine and sent debris careering toward the fuselage. Debris shattered a window, causing an explosive decompression.

Because of the loss of pressure from the broken window, passenger Jennifer Riordan was nearly sucked out of the plane as passengers tried to pull her back inside. The Albuquerque resident died later from her injuries.

Shults also has a New Mexico connection. She was raised on a ranch in the Tularosa basin near Holloman Air Force Base.

“Nerves of Steel” gives a chilling account of how Shults and first officer Darren Ellisor dealt with their own series of emergencies that could have sent the plane plunging into the fields of New Jersey or Pennsylvania.

The powerless engine and hole in the fuselage made the plane difficult to maneuver and they lost more than 18,000 feet of altitude in 18 minutes.

“I wasn’t sure how much more battering the aircraft could take before something else failed and we had a worse situation to deal with,” Shults wrote. ...

In reality, her account said, things could have gone much worse and all 149 passengers aboard might not have made it.

[CedarDave]

Shults was the captain of the plane that is the only fatal flight in Southwest’s history. The new book breaks about 16 months of her near-silence about the terrifying flight.

Shults was raised on a ranch near Alamogordo and Holloman Air Force Base. One quarter of the book is devoted to telling the story of that flight. Other portions of the book detail her upbeat working-class rural outlook and how her Christian faith guided her through the tough times. That includes through the emergency on Flight 1380: One air traffic control tape heard her muttering “Heavenly Father” while trying to find a way to land a difficult-to-control 737-700.

I suspect that her story could make a good screen play for a movie, though it would probably need to be made by an independent producer because it contains a Christian theme that brings her through the emergency that Hollywood avoids at all cost.

The article itself is a excellent read and I include a link to the Morning News story:

Nerves of Steel: How I followed my dreams, earned my wings and faced my greatest challenge.

[CedarDave]

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[Nailbiter]

flr

[rktman]

Thanks.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Bravo Zulu, Lieutenant Commander.

[Moonman62]

The powerless engine and hole in the fuselage made the plane difficult to maneuver and they lost more than 18,000 feet of altitude in 18 minutes.

...

That seems mild under the circumstances.

[BenLurkin]

She certianly knows how to craft a run-on sentence.

[CedarDave]

Tammie Jo Shults, the pilot who landed Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 during an emergency, was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame.(Brianna Stone, DMN)

[Paal Gulli]

You know why the cockpit is always in the nose of the aircraft? Because the cockpit-forward design insures that the flight deck crew are the first to arrive at the scene of the accident.

There’s nothing “heroic” about saving a wounded aircraft, it’s purely a matter of self-preservation. Their primary motivation is saving their own bacon. If you also save the pax and get a movie deal in the bargain, that’s just gravy.

[sauropod]

Will read

[HamiltonJay]

Sorry, but I am not going to minimize someones achievements just because they also saw benefit from them.... Seems a little cynical world view to say the least.

[Don Corleone]

We used to say, somewhat sarcastically,”That’s why we get the big bucks”.

[CedarDave]

Nerves of Steel Prologue

[NativeSon]

Wait, I thought it was inches below the bellybutton ?

[al_c]

There’s nothing “heroic” about saving a wounded aircraft,

I think the passengers of that flight would disagree with you.

[TexasGator]

Synonym valiant

[fproy2222]

“There’s nothing “heroic” about saving a wounded aircraft, it’s purely a matter of self-preservation.”

That same self-preservation that made her invest hour after hour, year after year, practicing how to get a broken bird home along with the people she accepted responsible for.

A good return on her investment I would say.

[SaveFerris]

I’m an expert in that!

[Blueflag]

Yeah 1000 feet per minute is not an OMG descent, although PARTS of that descent probably were as they regained control of the aircraft, accounted for asymmetric thrust, and started working the checklist.