Tammie Jo Shults flew fighter jets for the US Navy
Tammie Jo Shults, the hero pilot who safely landed a Southwest Airlines plane Tuesday after one of its engines failed, is said by a friend to be "doing fine" and concerned about the family of the sole fatality in Tuesday's incident. An experienced pilot with Southwest Airlines, Shults was among the Navy's first women pilots trained to fly fighter aircraft.
A pilot who safely landed a Southwest Airlines passenger plane after a jet engine ripped apart mid-air has been praised as a hero by passengers.
A female passenger died after she was nearly sucked out of a shattered window of the stricken plane.
Tammie Jo Shults captained Flight 1380 to a Philadelphia airport in Tuesday's emergency, said passengers.
Survivors on the New York-to-Dallas flight carrying 149 people lauded the ex-US Navy pilot as an "American hero".
A cause has yet to be determined, but officials said an early review of the incident found evidence of metal fatigue where a fan blade had broken off, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Who is the pilot?
Capt Tammie Jo Shults hero Southwest pilot one of Navy's first female fighter pilots. "She was commissioned in the Navy on June 21, 1985, and completed flight training in Pensacola," said Lt. Christina Sears, a Navy spokesperson.
"She served at the Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (VAQ-34) in Point Mugu, Calif. as an instructor pilot flying the EA-6B Prowler and F/A-18 Hornet," Sears said. "We can confirm that Lieutenant Commander Shults was among the first cohort of women pilots to transition to tactical aircraft," Sears said.
