Hero who landed Southwest flight was an F/A-18 fighter jet Navy pilot

Wow. Amazing. Great story.
 
Unfortunately for her, she is still probably in for some kind of grilling from an ambulance chasing lawsuit, especially seeing how there was one fatality. Heck, they tried to railroad Captain Sullenberger after he deadsticked his aircraft into the Hudson, and he did nothing wrong either.
 
As the command pilot during an In Flight Emergency She will be questioned by the NTSB and other Federal Agencies. Not some garbage lawyer. Her statements may be presented but I don't think she will be deposed.
 
She was probably calm, because she was used to a 1:1 glide ratio of an F/A-18 and had the 17:1 glide ratio of a 737, and still had an engine running.
Don't get me wrong - she did a great job - but considering her training, it probably was a walk in the park for her. ;)

Bravo Zulu, Tammie Jo Shults !
 
They used to call the 105 "The Thud" because of the glide ratio and 18's were much better . F4 couldn't get to cruising altitude with a full load over the airfield without an Anchor Flight over the field. Love to hear the controller ask "Do you wish to declare an in flight emergency" and the answer from the pilot. BZ Tammie Shults the Air Force loss. No IFE is a walk in the park but sounded like she was great.
 
Last edited:
All these years I thought they called the Thunderchief a "Thud" because of all the flak it could absorb over North Vietnam, and keep flying.
That thing was robust.
 
Anyone know her callsign? Maybe they should change it to "Sully"!
 
I know I read somewhere a long time ago that she was insulted (and very rightly so, I will add) that she and other female pilots were invited to have coffee and cookies with the Captain of the aircraft carrier where they were deployed.

I mean really, coffee and cookies? Nobody else gets to do that. I would have been incensed, but probably would have accepted.
Seriously, if it's coffee and cookies (two of my favorites) with the Skipper, I'll bet those are top notch cookies and the best coffee on the boat.
Sign me up. ;)
 
Those Wild Weasels where some great pilots. Don' t know what her call sign was but it should be"cool hand luke" Or just "Luke". You accept the invitation, stew about it later.
 
“If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!”

-Rudyard Kipling, If—
 
I heard the ATC audio the other day...she was cool as ice. BZ !

Unfortunately for her, she is still probably in for some kind of grilling from an ambulance chasing lawsuit, especially seeing how there was one fatality.

As the command pilot during an In Flight Emergency She will be questioned by the NTSB and other Federal Agencies. Not some garbage lawyer. Her statements may be presented but I don't think she will be deposed.

Pilot will certainly get grilled...both NTSB and garbage lawyers. NTSB's investigation should be routine,but in today's society someone has to sue . I heard on the radio that Southwest Airlines has been proactive, giving $500 cash and $1K vouchers to each passenger. The lawsuit won't focus on the pilot's actions --sounds like she did everything right (especially saving the plane and all the other pax), but will name Boeing, GE (assuming GE engines), and Southwest Air, and focus on design and maintenance issues.
 
As a current B-737 Captain, I have fielded a lot of questions the past week. I tell people that by comparison, I flew about 3500 hours in my fleet aircraft and had 6 engine failures, two of which sustained severe case/core damage and were non repairable. By comparison, I have over 16,000 hours in 6 variants of the B-737 and have never even had a precautionary shutdown much less an inflight failure. I’ve sucked down more birds than I can count and the engine just eats them up and keeps on going....although the smell is pretty nasty. The B-737 is the most reliable piece of equipment I have ever seen...Boeing has sold over 10,000 of them for a reason. This seems to me to be a “black swan” event...an outlier. I flew 4 legs today and didn’t even think twice about it....
 
As a current B-737 Captain, I have fielded a lot of questions the past week. I tell people that by comparison, I flew about 3500 hours in my fleet aircraft and had 6 engine failures, two of which sustained severe case/core damage and were non repairable. By comparison, I have over 16,000 hours in 6 variants of the B-737 and have never even had a precautionary shutdown much less an inflight failure. I’ve sucked down more birds than I can count and the engine just eats them up and keeps on going....although the smell is pretty nasty. The B-737 is the most reliable piece of equipment I have ever seen...Boeing has sold over 10,000 of them for a reason. This seems to me to be a “black swan” event...an outlier. I flew 4 legs today and didn’t even think twice about it....

Not 737, but pretty much the same. I did shut down one engine civilian, but that was a hydraulic problem not an engine problem... and a design problem where high hydraulic temperature required shutting down the engine to isolate the engine driven pump.
Military side... yeah, several. Compressor stalls, one due to damage by the "Iraqi Air Force" (B.1.R.D.s over the Mesopotamian Marsh), one caused by depot (hot and cold sections came apart releasing hot exhaust gas). I think a few more in there.

But this accident was actually multiple emergencies with the engine failure causing rapid decompression.

As to the question of ambulance chasing lawyers, yes, they will interrogate her. But that comes later and she will be well represented. Also, she won't personally face financial culpability.
 
Back
Top