The four heroes of Southwest Flight 1380
Pilot, cowboy, firefighter, nurse praised for actions
The cowboy, the fireman, the nurse, the pilot: A foursome of strangers aboard Southwest Flight 1380 is being praised for bravery after a catastrophic engine failure shattered an airliner window, sucking a passenger halfway out at 32,000 feet.
Three passengers, who were at first described by witnesses only by their garb or occupation, rushed through the frightening chaos to help the woman drawn out of one of the plane’s side oval windows as the pilot made an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
“I got to witness caring, selfless heroes putting others first. They exhibited what true love and bravery is,” passenger Sheri Sears told the National Post.
Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old banking executive from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been identified as the woman who died after being pulled back into the plane, despite the efforts to save her.
The four credited with swift action in the face of tragedy also have been named: The cowboy is Tim McGinty, a rancher and real estate agent from Hillsboro, Texas; the fireman is Andrew Needum, a firefighter/paramedic from Celina, Texas; the nurse is Peggy Phillips, a retired registered nurse from Dallas; and the pilot at the controls of the Boeing 737-700 with 144 passengers and five crew was Tammie Jo Shults, of San Antonio, who was one of the U.S. navy’s first female fighter pilots.
Passengers had just settled in for the New York to Dallas flight when a loud noise, like explosions, was heard and almost immediately oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.
“It was so loud and then screeching and screaming,” said Sears, an insurance agent who was travelling home after a New York vacation given as a sales award by her firm. She was seated with colleague Kristy McGinty, and Kristy’s husband Tim, recognized by passengers because of his large, brown cowboy hat. The three sat across the aisle and one row up from where the window smashed.
After debris from a collapsing engine hit the plane’s fuselage, a single window burst and as the air pressure suddenly shifted, the passenger sitting in the window seat slipped out the window about to her waist.
“Tim went to help and began trying to get Jennifer back in the plane,” Sears said.
Needum, who identified himself as a firefighter, jumped up to help.
“We were 32,300 feet in the air and the pressure and the wind — they were trying to grab her and hold her and pull her back in.”
It was clear Riordan needed medical attention. Kristy McGinty stood up and called out for a doctor or nurse to help, Sears said.
Phillips answered the call. She and Needum worked to try to resuscitate her.
“They said we need someone who knows CPR and I was out of my seat. I went back and we started on the lady. We made every effort we could to save this woman’s life,” Phillips told CNN.
“If you can possibly imagine going through the window of an airplane at about 600 miles an hour, and hitting either the fuselage or the wing with your body, with your face, then I think I can probably tell you that there was significant trauma.”
Sears said Phillips and Needum kept working to save Riordan despite the danger. Insulation from the damaged fuselage blew about the cabin from whooshing air. Some passengers tried to block the exposed space with clothing and bags.
“I was thinking this was the end of my life,” said Sears.
A flight attendant was shouting over the plane’s speaker “Head down, brace yourself. Head down, brace yourself,” but the pair kept working on their patient.
“Peggy and Andrew just worked and worked and worked, selflessly all the while. Here we are descending down and they’re just giving and giving.”
Phillips estimated she performed CPR for about 20 minutes until they landed.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, the radio transmissions reveal Shults’s steadiness amid the chaos. She negotiated a rapid descent and made arrangements for an emergency landing and medical attention in a calm, level voice.
“Yeah, we have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit,” Shults is heard saying on recordings of the radio transmissions.
“Could you have the medical meet us there on the runway as well? We’ve got injured passengers.”
“Is your airplane physically on fire?” an air controller asks.
“No fire, no fire, but part of it is missing. They said there’s a hole and that someone went out.”
As the plane touched down and came to a halt at Philadelphia International Airport, passengers cheered in delight.
Paramedics came in and took Riordan off the plane first. She was pronounced dead at a Philadelphia hospital. Paramedics then asked passengers if they needed medical assistance. Seven other passengers were injured, including McGinty, during his rescue effort.
Shults walked through the plane, speaking to passengers and asking how they were.
“She’s an amazing pilot,” said Sears. “Calm, cool, collected, a hero. I cannot say enough about her.”
It took about 45 minutes for the passengers to finally get off the damaged plane, Sears said, but there were few complaints.
“We just made it through this horrific scene that looks like it came right out of a movie and we just lived it and we’re still here.”
Kristy McGinty praised her husband and the other passengers on Facebook: “They are all heroes who put others before themselves today. My husband lives his life for others every day, and today was such a strong reminder that life is so precious and that there are good people all around us. God bless them.”
After a long wait being interviewed by the FBI, Sears said, passengers reluctantly boarded a new plane brought in by Southwest to complete their journey to Dallas.
It was tough for Sears to get aboard.
“I would have rather walked, rode a bike or a horse — anything besides get on a plane — but I did it.”
In a statement, Riordan’s family celebrated the life of the married mother of two.
“Jennifer’s vibrancy, passion and love infused our community and reached across our country. Her impact on everything and everyone she touched can never be fully measured.
“But foremost, she is the bedrock of our family.
“In her memory — please remember to always be kind, loving, caring and sharing.”
Southwest announced it is accelerating engine inspections to the CFM56 engine family, involving ultrasonic inspections of fan blades, “out of an abundance of caution,” the airline said in a statement.