it was shaking everything, and it all happened all at once. we know that something extraordinary had happened pretty quickly. that s tammie jo shults and darren ellisor that you saw. they said teamwork and thinking quickly helped them land the plane after it suffered engine failure. joining us live, national correspondent paolo sandoval. paolo, i think a lot of people have been waiting to hear from the pilots. why did they decide to speak now? reporter: it shows the professionalism of the crew. out of respect for the family of the passenger who didn t survive, they decided to wait until this week to share the story of what happened in the cockpit that day. are you descending now? yes, single engine descending. have a fire. reporter: when engine failed on a southwest airlines flight last month, pilot tammie jo shults didn t panic.
are you descending right now? single engine descending. reporter: when engines failed on a southwest airlines flight last month, the pilot didn t panic. instead j she relied on her extensive navy experience. my first thoughts were actually oh, here we go. just because it seems like a flashback to some of the flnavy flying we d done. reporter: she discussed the incident for the first time since the april 17th emergency that left one passenger dead. she said on abc s 20/20, she wasn t even supposed to be in the cockpit that day. she traded with her pilot husband so she could attend her son s track meet. my husband said you go to the track meet. i ll switch and take your trip. that s why i was on the trip. reporter: shortly after the plane took off, the fan blade on the left engine broke.
the exploding engine broke a window, a passenger was sucked partly through that window and died from her injuries. but the plane made a safe landing thanks to the calm actions of the pilots. polo sandoval has the story for us. gate, are you getting this right now? yes, a single engine descending, a fire reporter: when the engine failed on the southwest airlines flight last month, pilot tammy joe shultz didn t panic. she relied on her extensive navy experience. my first thoughts were actually here we go, just because it seemed like a flashback to some of the navy flying that we had done. reporter: shultz, who navigated southwest flight 1380 to safety, discussed the incident for the first time since the april 17th emergency that left one passenger dead. shultz said on abc s 20/20 that she wasn t even supposed to be in the cockpit that day. she had traded with her pilot
middle east. it s very easy this could happen but again, i don t like his visits to saudi arabia, bombers. the pakistans are not helpful and don t want to admit they are sending terrorists to this country. on the other hand, she knew how to use a gun and didn t panic at the last minute and any time you hand somebody an assault rifle and counsel on them in following through, they have to be determined and convinced and have to know something about weapons and where did she get that training? she was the driver also in the get away suv. he was the passer. he was trying to kill the police officers. just ahead, the active investigation into the rampage continues. tonight we ll go back live to
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