It should come as no surprise that the heroic pilot who landed a stricken Southwest Airlines 737 after its engine exploded and shattered a window is former Navy fighter pilot.
Tammie Jo Shults, who was reportedly at the controls of Flight 1380 during the April 17 in-flight emergency, was one of the Navy’s first F/A-18 Hornet pilots and left the service in 1993 as a lieutenant commander, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. The plane’s co-pilot is also reportedly a veteran: Darren Ellisor served in the Air Force, according to Newsweek.
