Tammie Jo Shults

Tammie Jo Shults demonstrates what it means to be a true role model and trailblazer for women.  She remains significant in both military and civilian aviation.  A graduate of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas, Shults grew up on farms.  Located near Holloman Air Force Base, the family farm in New Mexico allowed her to watch military aircraft “dog-fight” overhead.  Undoubtedly, this became the inspiration to become a military pilot. Despite being told “girls don’t fly for a living,” she took on the challenge with determination. 

Her Accomplishments

Shults persevered and entered Navy flight school in 1985. She ranked top of her class as she progressed through primary training.  Next came advanced jet training, learning formation flying, and carrier landing. More strenuous training included out-of-control flight and aerial combat maneuvering. 

Captain Shults became a carrier qualified Navy pilot, earning her wings of gold in 1987 at Beeville, Texas. She then served as a flight instructor in the T-2 Buckeye before going on to fly as an electronic aggressor pilot in the A-7 Corsair and then the F/A-18 Hornet. She became one of the first women to go through A-7 weapons training, as well as being one of the first to fly the F/A-18 Hornet. Tammie Jo Shults left the Navy after 16 years in 2001. As a highly qualified fighter pilot, Serve Air in California hired her to fight forest fires.

Moving on to Southwest Airlines, she once again experienced the continuing discrimination as a woman. Clearly, these obstacles were not new to her.  She held her own, eventually progressing to flight captain. She retired from Southwest Airlines in 2020.

Shults’ Southwest Airlines career seems particularly noteworthy.  Piloting Flight 1380, with a crew of four and 147 passengers, she experienced a catastrophic engine explosion.  This resulted in an out-of-control aircraft, rapid depressurization as well as other system and structural damage and failure.  The cockpit filled with smoke and debris.  Despite the dire emergency, Schults safely landed the Boeing 737-700. She prevented a major air disaster through her ability as a pilot, her quick thinking and calm leadership. 

Shults now inspires young aviators across the country as an author, through her charity work and as a member of the Women in Aviation Advisory Board. The San Diego Air & Space Museum inducted Shults into their Hall of Fame in 2020.