'She Has Nerves Of Steel'; Pilot Safely Lands Jet With Blown Out Engine

PHILADELPHIA (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Passengers on a Southwest Airlines jet that blew an engine at 32,000 feet are commending one of its pilots, Tammie Jo Shults, for her cool-headed handling of the emergency.

Shults and her co-pilot of the plane, a twin-engine Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard, took it into a rapid descent and made an emergency landing in Philadelphia as passengers using oxygen masks that dropped from the ceiling said their prayers and braced for impact.

Shults is heard on the radio call calmly asking operators at the control tower to "have medical meet us on the runway."

The operator asks, "Is your airplane physically on fire?"

"No it's not on fire but part of it is missing. They say there's a hole and someone went out," answers Shults.

"I'm sorry, you said there's a hole and someone went out?" asks the operator.

Shrapnel from the defunct engine had  in fact smashed a window, setting off a desperate scramble by passengers to save a woman from getting sucked out. But she later died, and seven others were injured.

Passengers dragged the woman, identified as Jennifer Riordan back in as the sudden decompression of the cabin pulled her part way through the opening, but she was gravely injured.

Shults walked through the aisle and talked with passengers to make sure they were OK after the plane touched down.

"She has nerves of steel. That lady, I applaud her," said Alfred Tumlinson, of Corpus Christi, Texas. "I'm going to send her a Christmas card, I'm going to tell you that, with a gift certificate for getting me on the ground. She was awesome."