As the world mourns for Jennifer Riordan, the Southwest passenger who was partially ejected through the blown-out window of Southwest flight 1380 yesterday (April 17, 2018), the world is also lauding Southwest pilot Tammie Jo Shults for her cool, level-headed handling of the situation, saving the lives of the rest of the 149 passengers and crew on board the crippled airplane. You can listen to sound clips of that audio here.
No, it’s not on fire, but part of it is missing. – Tammie Jo Shults
The Damaged Engine on Southwest 1380
Shults was one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, and her training stood her in good stead, as you can tell from this audio of her conversation with the tower.
Audio of Pilot Tammie Jo Shults Communicating with ATC Tower
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Transcript of Audio of Southwest Pilot Tammie Jo Shults Communication with Air Traffic Control Tower
Air Traffic Control (ATC): Southwest 1380, I understand your emergency, let me know when you want to go in.
Southwest 1380 Pilot Tammie Jo Shults (SW1380): Yeah, we have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit.
ATC: Southwest 1380, speed is your discretion, maintain at any altitude above 3000 feet.
SW1380: Like to turn to start turning inbound.
ATC: Southwest 1380 turn, just start turning southbound there, there’s a Southwest 737 on a 4 mile final will be turning southbound. Start looking for the airport, it’s off to your right and slightly behind you there, and altitude is your discretion. Use caution for the downtown area.
SW1380: Ok, could you have the medical meet us there on the runway as well? We’ve got injured passengers.
ATC: Injured passengers, ok. And are you, is your airplane physically on fire?
SW1380: No, it’s not on fire, but part of it’s missing. They said there’s a hole, and someone went out.
Curiously, other versions of the audio, such as the below, suggest that perhaps the complete audio recording of the conversation was cherry-picked by sources. This would actually make sense, as one ‘full’ recording that we came across was a half-hour long
Here is another recording of the communication between Shults and the ATC tower, which you will notice is slightly different (although Shults is no less calm, cool, and collected):
Second Audio of Pilot Tammie Jo Shults Communicating with ATC Tower
Transcript of Second Audio of Southwest Pilot Tammie Jo Shults Communication with Air Traffic Control Tower
Air Traffic Control (ATC): Southwest 1380, I understand your emergency, let me know when you want to go in.
Southwest 1380 Pilot Tammie Jo Shults (SW1380): We have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit.
ATC: Southwest 1380, speed is your discretion, maintain at any altitude above 3000 feet, and you let me know when you want to turn base.
SW1380: Alright, down to 3000. 210 on the speed.
ATC: Absolutely, you just let me know anything you need.
SW1380: Ok, could you have the medical meet us there on the runway as well? We’ve got injured passengers.
ATC: Injured passengers, ok. And are you, is your airplane physically on fire?
SW1380: No, it’s not on fire, but part of it’s missing. They said there’s a hole, and someone went out.
ATC: Um, I’m sorry, you said there was a hole and somebody went out?
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THE PILOT DEFINITELY AVERTED A TOTAL CATASTROPHE.
HER TRAINING WAS CRUCIAL TO THE RESULTS OF SAVING OTHER PASSENGERS LIVES.