40 Facts About Tammie Jo Shults

1. Tammie Jo Shults captained Flight 1380 to a Philadelphia airport in Tuesday's emergency, said passengers.

2. Tammie Jo Shults would become one of the first female fighter pilots in the history of the United States military and of the only women to fly F-18s.

3. Tammie Jo Shults is an American ​ aircraft pilot ​ known to be one of the first female US Navy ​ pilots and among the first women to fly F-18s.

4. Tammie Jo Shults lives outside San Antonio and is married to a pilot.

5. Tammie Jo Shults was commended by passengers for her cool-headed handling of the emergency.

6. Tammie Jo Shults eventually transitioned into a role as an instructor pilot.

7. Tammie Jo Shults once had an instructor who said he found it "degrading" for a woman to be in the cockpit, according to a story in the San Antonio Express-News.

8. Tammie Jo Shults had long had a love for flying, and she chose the Navy only after the Air Force denied her a chance to become a pilot, Foster said.

9. Tammie Jo Shults was a 1983 graduate of MidAmerica Nazarene in Olathe, where she earned degrees in biology and agribusiness, said Carol Best, a university spokeswoman.

10. Tammie Jo Shults was a pioneer in the 1980s, paving the way for women fighter pilots to serve in the military.

11. Tammie Jo Shults took the plane into a rapid descent and made an emergency landing in Philadelphia as passengers said their prayers and braced for impact.

12. Tammie Jo Shults was at the helm of a twin-engine Boeing 737 on Tuesday with 149 people aboard when one of the aircraft's engines blew.

13. Tammie Jo Shults is being hailed a hero for safely landing the plane with 143 passengers and five crew on board at Philadelphia International Airport at 11am—at a descent of 3,000ft per minute.

14. Tammie Jo Shults told All Hands magazine in 1993: "In AOCS [Aviation Officer Candidate School], if you're a woman [or different in any way], you're a high profile; you're under more scrutiny.

15. Tammie Jo Shults was at the helm when the jet on its way to Dallas apparently blew an engine, with the shrapnel breaking a window.

16. Tammie Jo Shults utilized for the Air Strain instantly after she graduated.

17. Tammie Jo Shults was piloting the dual motor Boeing 737 when, at 32,000 ft, shrapnel from the motor smashed a window.

18. Tammie Jo Shults is the pilot who bravely flew Southwest Flight 1380 to safety instantly after a part of its nonetheless left motor ripped off, dangerous a window and nearly sucking a feminine out of the plane.

19. Tammie Jo Shults was the pilot who correctly landed Southwest Airways Flight 1380 after an motor, pictured right, failed mid-air.

20. Tammie Jo Shults said she and Ellisor "had a little pilot charade going on" because of all the commotion.

21. Tammie Jo Shults quickly and calmly brought the plane— with 143 passengers and five crew on board—into land at Philadelphia International at 11am at a descent of 3,000ft per minute.

22. Tammie Jo Shults has taught Sunday School at her church, performed volunteer work for at-risk children, and opened a cottage on her family's property to victims of Hurricane Rita.

23. Tammie Jo Shults was commissioned in 1985 and became an instructor pilot in Texas.

24. Tammie Jo Shults was a 1983 graduate of the university in Olathe, Kan.

25. Tammie Jo Shults was at the controls of the Dallas-bound Flight 1380 when it made an emergency landing in Philadelphia, said her husband, Dean Shults.

26. Tammie Jo Shults initially had limited options in the Navy due to combat exclusion laws that prevented women from flying combat aircraft.

27. Tammie Jo Shults is an American commercial airline captain and retired naval aviator.

28. Tammie Jo Shults was among the first female pilots "to transition to tactical aircraft" such as fighter jets, the Navy says.

29. Tammie Jo Shults joined the Navy in 1985 and completed flight training in Pensacola, Fla.

30. Tammie Jo Shults kept a cool head as she navigated her stricken Southwest airliner to a safe emergency landing on Tuesday.

31. Tammie Jo Shults met her husband, Dean, when they both were in the Navy.

32. Tammie Jo Shults is one of a small percentage of female pilots in the commercial airline industry.

33. Tammie Jo Shults said, "When our squadron tours ended, Dean and I decided to get out of the Navy.

34. Tammie Jo Shults recalled, in Military Fly Moms, "He allowed me to stay but assured me there were no professional women pilots.

35. Tammie Jo Shults is the pilot who bravely flew Southwest Flight 1380 to safety after part of its left engine ripped off, damaging a window and nearly sucking a woman out of the plane.

36. Tammie Jo Shults once said that sitting in the captain's chair as a pilot gave her the opportunity "to witness for Christ on almost every flight.

37. Tammie Jo Shults is the hero pilot who safely landed Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 after an engine broke apart mid-flight.

38. Tammie Jo Shults was piloting the twin engine Boeing 737 when, at 32,000 feet, shrapnel from the engine smashed a window.

39. Tammie Jo Shults is the pilot who bravely flew Southwest Flight 1380 to safety after part of its left engine ripped off, damaging a window and nearly sucking a woman out of the plane.

40. Tammie Jo Shults is a devout Christian, teaching Sunday school and helping the needy such as internally displaced persons from Hurricane Rita.