President Trump will meet with the crew of Southwest 1380
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Donald Trump to meet with crew of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
Written by
Claire Z. Cardona, Breaking News ProducerConnect with Claire Z. Cardona
President Donald Trump will meet Tuesday with the crew of the Southwest Airlines flight that made an emergency landing this month after a deadly mid-flight engine failure.
They will meet at the White House, but no further details were released about the planned interaction between the president and the Flight 1380 crew.
In a photo provided by the U.S. Navy, Lt. Tammie Jo Shults with her F/A-18A jet in 1992. Shults, one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots, was in command of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 when its engine exploded on April 17, 2018; for the next 40 minutes, she maneuvered the plane safely to an emergency landing in Philadelphia.(THOMAS P. MILNE/NYT)
Passenger Jennifer Riordan, 43, was partially sucked out of a window and killed on the April 17 flight when a fan blade broke and caused the engine to fail.
The Dallas-bound plane was safely piloted to an emergency stop in Philadelphia by Captain Tammie Jo Shults, who has been commended for her composure during the crisis and compassion after the landing.
Once on the ground, Shults, a Texan and former Navy fighter pilot, walked up and down the aisle hugging passengers.
Also on board were first officer Darren Ellisor and three other crew members whose names have not been released. The flight was carrying 144 passengers from New York's La Guardia Airport.
While the cockpit crew worked to land the plane, witnesses said the flight attendants tried to help save the injured woman, assisted passengers with oxygen masks and explained where the plane was headed.
In a written statement, the crew said they "were simply doing our jobs."