Posted on 10/14/2019 12:41:07 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Not guilty
Yeah, I am sure she was sitting in the cockpit thinking, “Wow, what a book deal this would make !”
Yep, she did a great job that day, but she (or a ghost writer) is also doing a great job trying to sell books with “...and they lost more than 18,000 feet of altitude in 18 minutes.”...which is normal procedure initiated by the pilot with loss of cabin pressurization. Get down to an altitude where the passengers can breath...emergency oxygen masks only last about 10 minutes.
“1000 feet per minute”
My 145 HP Cessna 172 can climb at 700 feet per min.
Yeah, but how fast can it descend?!? ;-)
Normal rate of decent is 500 - 700 FPM.
“One air traffic control tape heard her muttering “Heavenly Father” while trying to find a way to land a difficult-to-control 737-700.”
A true “Jesus take the wheel” moment. Thank you Lord for helping Tammie and Darren. And no, I don’t know why the Lord allowed the aircraft to fail in the first place.
3000 FPM is normal rate of decent for a transport jet.
Yeah, and I think you could do a lot better then a 500-700 FPM descent in your Cessna if you had to!! (Tongue planted in cheek).
Exactly. They might have lost 10,000 feet in the first 75 seconds. THAT would have been thrilling...
I agree, that may tighten the rector sphincter a tad.
All passengers think she is not guilty.
Would media be singing praises of it was a male pilot?
I think not.
Seen too many time when the Air Force planted some cute girl in the media spotlight. Seen it before, my son sees it all the time. . I tell him they may dance some girls in front of the camera but “they” always need someone can do the mission. Those guys never get public praise.
Did she do good? Yes, but nothing more than some guys have done for decades. The
I don’t think it is special. I’ve flown the A-10 and F-15E and “heroic male pilots are usually given a quiet ceremony at the base and maybe a mention of the incident in the local news.
A female does the same thing, a thing pilots train for, and boy howdy we have Amelia on our hands.
Risk your life and that is heroic when your skills and experience ended up in a cockpit and you used exceptional judgment and skills.
Doing something beyond expectations is heroic.
Doing what are expected and trained to do, another boring day at the office.
I’ve flown alongside females that discussed that and they agreed that because they were women, they would be pursued for a book or movie because of their sex.
And you can only match the low-fly record. (Ouch).
**Doing what are expected and trained to do, another boring day at the office.**
Yes, and its sad that the crew of AA flight 191 (O’Hare, May 25, 1979) couldn’t have at least had an intact, low speed, high lift wing on the left side of their plane, after the engine departed.
No human(s) could have saved the day in that situation. A farmer/pilot friend of mine lost his fiance that day (a stewardess).
Another boring day was an attempt at humor.
“Slip the surly bonds of Earth, reach out my hand and touch the face of gawd, another ho-hum day at the office”
Goes along with (looking at the Earth below while flying): “I wonder what the common folk are doing today”
Well if civilian airliners had ejection seats for the cockpit crew like military aircraft do..
The paying passengers might get a bit cranky
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