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 traumato 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 sing Shults’ kudoes on social media.
But while Shults did an outstanding job of landing a depressurized airliner, 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 induced important strides in both the air and on land.
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Navy Lt. Tammie Jo Shults, who is now a Southwest Airline pilot, in front of a Navy F/ -A1 8A in this 1992 photo. She is credited with calmly landing a disabled passenger airliner in Philadelphia on April 17, 2018.
Courtesy Delta Air Lines
Capt. Stephanie Johnson, left, and 1st Officer Dawn Cook end Black History Month and usher in Women’s History Month as they become the first African-American females to make up the flight crew on a “mainline” Delta flight.
Staff Sgt. Joe W. McFadden/ U.S. Air Force
1st Lt. Kayla Bowers, a 74 th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron -A1 0 Thunderbolt II pilot, looks out of the cockpit of her aircraft during the course of its squadron'EUR( tm) s deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve at Graf Ignatievo, Bulgaria, March 18, 2016. Operation Atlantic Resolve is a demonstration of the United States'EUR( tm) continued commitment to the collective security of NATO.
Lt. Col. Robert Couse-Baker/ U.S. Air Force
1st Lt. Meaghan Cosand, C-5B Galaxy pilot with the 312 th Airlift Squadron, starts engines in preparation for takeoff from Kadena Air Base, Japan. She was flying a mobility channel mission, moving high-priority cargo and passengers among air bases in the U.S. Pacific Command.
Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski/ U.S. Air Force
Betty Wall Strohfus, a former pilot in the Women Airforce Service Pilots( WASP ), sings the national anthem during the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the Capitol on March 10, 2010. The WASP program, established during World War II, trained females to fly noncombat missions.
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Phetogo Molawa, a 21 -year-old air force lieutenant stands next to the big Oryx Air Force transport helicopter at the third Women's Conference in Defence in Canturion, South africans. Molawa is South Africa's first black female pilot.
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Emilie Denis, the first female fighter pilot of the French navy in Toulon, France, in front of her Rafale.
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Brigitte Joubert, one of the only girls qualified to pilot rescue helicopters over land and sea in Biarritz, France.
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Aysh Gammo, the first Libyan woman airline pilot, gets “re ready for” a flight in Tripoli, Libya.
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Flight Lt. Joanne Mein, flanked by colleagues of the Royal Australian Air Force's elite aerobatics display team, the Roulettes, rolls her airplane during a formation flight over Gippsland, Australia.
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Lt. Caroline Aigle, France's first girl fighter pilot, in Tours, France.
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Adine Ossebi, 30, the first and merely female pilot for Air Afrique, in the cockpit of a plane at the Abidjan airport in Ivory Coast.
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The Royal Air Force's first girl strike-attack combat pilot, Jo Salter, waves from the cockpit of a Tornado GR1B after landing at Lossiemouth, Scotland.
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Barbara Harmer, the first female Concorde pilot.
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Lt.( J.G .) Mary Louise Jorgensen was the first woman tactical plane pilot to be assigned to Miramar Naval Air Station at San Diego.
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Ann Bostock, 26, the first girl to pilot scheduled servicing of a British airline, sits in the cockpit of a BAC 111 on July 7, 1976.
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Sally D. Murphy, 25, at the controls of the UH-1 ‘Huey' helicopter, is recognized in the U.S. Army as its first woman aviator and also its first military helicopter pilot.
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In a Pentagon ceremony, Lt. Judith Ann Neuffer of Wooster, Ohio, was presented with flight training orders by Navy Secretary John Warner, constructing her the first military pilot in U.S. history on Jan. 10, 1973.
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Valentina Tereshkova, the first female to have flown in space, on June 1, 1963.
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American Jacqueline Cochran, shown here about 1962, learned to fly at age 22, and it became a lifetime passion.
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1st Officer Maureen Dunlop of the ATA( British Air Transport Auxiliary) in the cockpit of a Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber.
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Alice Rhonie, one of the first WAF( Women in the Air force) pilots to arrive at their East Coast air base on Sep. 23, 1942.
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The new WAFs, garmented in flying suits and helmets, at flight training on Sept. 23, 1942.
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Valentina Grizodubova was among the first of thousands of Russian women who volunteered when Moscow was threatened on Oct. 26, 1941.
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Pauline Gower, one of the pool of British women pilots who ferrried new aircraft from the factory to the aerodrome on Jan. 10, 1940. She established the women's branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II.
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Pilots on the Russian front during World War II, circa 1939.
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Elisabeth Lion, French aviator, in May 1938.
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British pilot Beryl Markham, at Abingdon Aerodrome, Berkshire, prior to takeoff for a solo flight across the Atlantic on Sep. 11, 1936.
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Helen Richey, who became the first girl to be employed as a pilot of a U.S. airline, on Nov. 7, 1935.
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American actress and amateur pilot Madge Evans, circa 1935.
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Maryse Hilsz, French aviator, circa 1935.
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Jean Gardner Batten, New Zealand aviator in India, in 1934.
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Miss Le Manoir, French aviator, 1933.
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Hermelinda Urvina Briones, 26, of Ambato, Ecuador, who claimed responsibility for the first woman in South America to become a pilot, prepares for a practice flight at Curtiss Airport, Long Island, on Dec. 3, 1932.
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Florence Lowe “Pancho” Barnes tests a new monoplane in which she hopes to establish a new speed record for women on July 2, 1930.
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Romanian Irina Burnaia caress her “good luck” dog before a flight circa 1930.
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