'That's how she's wired': Pilot lauded for handling crisis

The Southwest Airlines pilot being lauded as a hero in a harrowing emergency landing after a passenger was partially blown out of the jet's damaged fuselage is also being hailed for her pioneering role in a career where she has been one of the few women at the controls.

Tammie Jo Shults, one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, was the captain and piloting the Dallas-bound Flight 1380 when it made an emergency landing Tuesday in Philadelphia, according to her husband, Dean Shults.

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, Lt. Tammie Jo Shults, one of the first women to fly Navy tactical aircraft, poses in front of an F/A-18A with Tactical Electronics Warfare Squadron (VAQ) 34 in 1992. (Thomas P. Milne/U.S. Navy via AP)

One of the engines on the Boeing 737 exploded while the plane was traveling 500 mph (800 kph) at 30,000 feet (9144 m) with 149 people on board. Shrapnel hit the plane and passengers said they had to rescue a woman who was being blown out of a damaged window. The woman later died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck and torso.

Shults calmly relayed details about the crisis to air traffic controllers, and passengers commended her handling of the situation.

In a statement late Wednesday, Shults and First Officer Darren Ellisor said they felt like they were simply doing their jobs.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators examine damage to the engine of the Southwest Airlines plane that made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.  (NTSB via AP)

"On behalf of the entire Crew, we appreciate the outpouring of support from the public and our coworkers as we all reflect on one family's profound loss," the two pilots said in the statement, adding that their "hearts are heavy."

Friends at Shults' church in Boerne, Texas, about 30 miles northwest of San Antonio, said Wednesday they were not surprised after listening to the recording and reading media reports about her actions.

"Everybody is talking about Tammie Jo and how cool and calm she was in a crisis, and that's just Tammie Jo," Rachel Russo said. "That's how she's wired."

A Southwest Airlines plane sits on the runway at the Philadelphia International Airport after it made an emergency landing in Philadelphia, on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.  (AP Photo/Corey Perrine)

Shults was commissioned into the Navy in 1985 and reached the rank of lieutenant commander, said Commander Ron Flanders, the spokesman for Naval Air Forces in San Diego.

Women aviators were excluded from combat missions until the month after Shults got off active duty in March 1993, but Flanders said Shults flew during Operation Desert Storm trainings as an aggressor enemy pilot.

"While we at that time had an exclusion, she was in fact helping male pilots hone their skills," Flanders said.

A Southwest Airlines plane sits on the runway at the Philadelphia International Airport after it made an emergency landing in Philadelphia, on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.  (AP Photo/Corey Perrine)

Veteran Navy combat aviator Linda Maloney said that she and Shults were among a small group of women who worked to see the combat exclusion rule repealed.

"Obviously it was frustrating," said Maloney, who became among the first women to join a combat military flying squadron and was deployed to the Arabian Gulf. "We go through the same training that the guys do, and our hope was the Navy would allow us to fly in combat at some point."

Shults was featured in Maloney's book "Military Fly Moms" along with the stories and photos of 69 other women U.S. military veterans.

The engine on a Southwest Airlines plane is inspected as it sits on the runway at the Philadelphia International Airport after it made an emergency landing in Philadelphia, Tuesday, April 17, 2018. (Amanda Bourman via AP)

Russo and Staci Thompson, who has known Shults for about 20 years and was nanny to her two children when they were small, said she "loved" her military career but has alluded to frustrations and challenges that came with it.

They also said she embraced those experiences to make her stronger and guide her into a role as a mentor to young female pilots or girls thinking about a military career.

"She learned a lot about overcoming things as a woman in a male-dominated field," Russo said.

Shults is from New Mexico, according to a personnel file from the Navy, and was a 1983 graduate of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, where she earned degrees in biology and agribusiness.

Shults' brother-in-law, Gary Shults, said her husband also is a Southwest pilot and told him she made the emergency landing.

"She's a formidable woman, as sharp as a tack," said Gary Shults, a dentist in San Antonio. "My brother says she's the best pilot he knows."

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Prices in Argentina have surged so dramatically in recent months that the government has multiplied the size of its biggest bank note in circulation by five — to 10,000 pesos, worth about $10.

The central bank announcement Tuesday promised to lighten the load for many Argentines who must carry around giant bags — occasionally, suitcases — stuffed with cash for simple transactions. Argentina's annual inflation rate reached 287% in March, among the highest in the world.

The new denomination note — five times the value of the previous biggest bill — is expected to hit the streets next month in a bid to “facilitate transactions between users," the central bank said. The 10,000 peso note is worth $11 at the country’s official exchange rate and $9 at the black market exchange rate.

Across Argentina, hard currency — specifically, the country’s ubiquitous 1,000-peso notes — remains the most popular way to pay for things. When first printed in 2017, the 1,000-peso note was worth $58 on the black market. Now, it's worth a dollar.

Given the instability unleashed by Argentina's worst financial crisis in two decades, vendors prefer old-fashioned cash payments for big purchases and offer steep discounts to incentivize paper bills over electronic transfers.

Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, who took office last December, campaigned on a promise to tame inflation and stabilize the local currency by reversing the policies of past left-leaning governments that printed money to finance public spending.

But in the meantime, his harsh austerity drive has pushed prices up to levels in the U.S. and Europe, adding to the economic woes of ordinary Argentines. A massive nationwide strike, the latest in a series of protests, is planned for Thursday.

Even as annual inflation remains high, Milei cites a gradual slowdown in Argentina's monthly inflation rate since last December to insist his plan is working. Confident consumer prices can continue creeping downward, policymakers lowered the central bank's key interest rate three times last month.

The new 10,000 peso notes feature small artistic portraits of Manuel Belgrano, a founding father of Argentina, and María Remedios del Valle, a Black Argentine woman and army captain who gained fame fighting the country's War of Independence.

Argentina's central bank said it would introduce an even bigger bill — a 20,000-peso note — later this year.

FILE - A vendor arranges vegetables at a market on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Prices in Argentina have surged so dramatically in recent months that the government has multiplied the size of its biggest bank note in circulation by five — to 10,000 pesos, worth only about $10. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)