Tammie Jo Shults, the pilot who safely landed a stricken Southwest Airlines flight on Tuesday, is getting justifiably praised for the coolheaded way she handled herself during the emergency.
The 56-year-old Shults, one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, calmly told air traffic control that part of her plane was missing and she would need ambulances on the runway.
“So we have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit,” Shults told a controller.
One passenger died of blunt impact trauma to her head, neck and torso after an engine explosion caused a window to break. The aircraft, en route from New York City to Dallas, landed safely in Philadephia, though, and many of the passengers who’d been aboard later sang Shults’ praises on social media.
But while Shults did an outstanding job of landing a depressurized plane, it’s not like she’s the only incredible female pilot.
As the gallery below shows, she is one of many female aviators who’ve made important strides in both the air and on land.
