Southwest pilot wasn’t supposed to be flying on day of tragedy

Southwest pilot wasn’t supposed to be flying on day of tragedy
By Alexandra Coulton


The pilot who was forced to land a Southwest flight last month with one failed engine and a smashed window that caused the death of Jennifer Riordan has spoken out about the incident.

See also: Woman dies in Southwest engine explosion 

Tammie-Jo Shults and co-pilot Darren Ellisor appeared on ABC US to discuss the incident, revealing that Shults wasn’t even supposed to be flying that day.

She told ABC she has swapped shifts with her husband so she could go to their son’s school athletic competition in Texas, reports News.com. 

“Dean, being the amazing husband he is, said, ‘You go to the track meet, I’ll switch and take your trip.’ And so that’s why I was on the trip,” she told ABC’s 20/20 program.

“I’m not trading with him anymore.” she joked.

“The aircraft yawed and banked to the left, a little over 40 degrees, and we had a very severe vibration from the number one engine that was shaking everything,” said Ellisor.

“And that all kind of happened all at once.”

“You just realise, obviously, we’re at the front end of the aircraft, so we’re in charge.”

According to News.com, both claimed to have not felt fear, saying they resorted to their air force training.

“Your instincts kick in, you know, stuff that you’ve prepared for, you know, ever since you started flying … and this training just takes over,” Shults said.

“My first thoughts were actually, “Oh, here we go.” Just because it seems like a flashback to some of the Navy flying that we had done.”

She said they were not aware of the fate of Riordan until they were told they would need immediate medical assistance close to landing.

Shults also said she had not wanted to speak publically about the incident out of respect for Riordan’s family, but Riordan’s husband had since praised her efforts in trying to save the woman’s life.

“Going through something like this, it certainly galvanises your personalities together and your friendship. I mean, we’ll be in touch the rest of our lives,” Ellisor said.

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