Thanks @HImom . I sure hope she did. I did read another article that said blunt force trauma to her head and chest. It must have been such a strong suction, she hit her head on the side of the window or plane, too.
I am haunted by this incident. The comment in the story that death was probably instantaneous made me feel a teeny bit better.
I hope her death was instantaneous also. At least time of useful consciousness at that altitude is only approximately a minute. Even if she wasn’t killed instantly, she was probably knocked unconscious or didn’t remain conscious for long.
As far as recording things, I think it’s terrible. I really don’t care if someone feels like it helps them. What right do they have to record people’s last moments (or people thinking it’s their last moments), and then release that? Maybe karma will come around to bite them, and someone will be around to record their last moments. If it was violent, terrifying and not peaceful, they might not want their family and the world to see.
Her spinal cord and vertebrae in the neck were probably snapped instantly when smashed against the fuselage… the plane traveled at 550 mph, so the force that was applied was more than sufficient to do this. I too hope she died instantly and did not suffer. Mr. B is flying on business soon, and even though I know this is an isolated incident with miniscule probability, I am irrationally uneasy.
In regards to pilots being calm, generally people are typically calm throughout emergencies. Pilots are very good at compartmentalizing and concentrating on what’s going on at the minute. I always figure, what’s the point in panicking? It’s not going to help you, it’s only going to make things worse. And we do practice emergencies like rapid depressurization and engine failure, having simulators every nine months…though not the multiple emergencies this crew dealt with simultaneously.
Funny, I was just flying in the northeast last night and was listening to the radio calls, thinking that everyone (including me) speaks fairly briskly on the radios. Particularly in places like southern California, Chicago, New York, busy airports. It is very rare that someone talks slowly. Every now and then you hear a good old boy from the south talking in that slow Tennessee drawl, which makes you chuckle. I heard a United captain in the middle of the night awhile ago sighing and saying, “Center, could you talk a little slower? I’m old and I’m tired”. The next several people on the radio, you could hear the smile in their voices, because you know they were all thinking, “Me too!” When you have an emergency, generally people speak fairly rapidly, because they are trying to get the necessary information out and get back to business.
I just told my co-pilot, “You know, if we had a major emergency, I would hate to have my entire 34 years of flying career critiqued and condensed to ten seconds of radio time based upon how fast or slow I talked. Purely because I’m a woman”. Pretty sure the captain was speaking very slowly because she was multi-tasking and doing many things at once, not having a cup of coffee and a donut 
Though I would love to take her and the first officer to dinner any day, to get the whole story.
Speaking slowly could also be a way of emphasizing importance. Sometimes the best way to communicate effectively is to slow down and enunciate. Because you want to make sure the message is heard and understood, correctly, the first time. Not to go back and forth repeating stuff.
Obviously no way for us to know this pilot’s typical way of speaking… but I do think that her slow delivery could have been very purposeful, given the context.
Also, for a lot of women – definitely me – when excited our voices go up a register that is not at all helpful when we want others to take us seriously. So I think it’s a matter of self-discipline and self-training to learn to breathe and self-regulate, something probably learned very early by this pilot given the resistance she encountered as a young woman when she wanted to be a Navy flier. So as a mature and experienced pilot,at this point it is probably second nature to her to keep her voice low and her pace deliberate – not just for the radio communications, but also for the pilot to passenger communications.
Routine communications – possibly not so much. When everyone’s life depends on her… yes, that’s the time when staying calm and sounding calm is the most important.
^^I have to disagree with some parts of your post, and agree with others, calmom.
Yes it is a problem when women’s voices rise to a higher level and we aren’t taken seriously or are considered in a panic. Whereas a man with a lower voice speaking rapidly would not have the same reaction. But no, I don’t think she was speaking that slowly because the matter was of importance, I think she was doing or thinking about other things. The information about missing a part of the airplane and someone going out the window was not necessary for ATC to know, in fact the controller even stopped asking questions about it, because at this time it wasn’t relevant information. All they really needed to know was that they were going to stop on the runway and that there were injuries. The rest can be transmitted when they are on the ground.
Typically you want to spit out the required information and no more, get back to your duties. You want ATC to stop asking questions, just give you what you need and shuddup. Staying calm is important, as is of course, sounding good on the radios, but most people would not purposefully slow down that much.
Okay, this is rather hilariously timely. I was descending to our landing airport today, about 25,000 feet, and we had an event that was rather serious. Our first reaction was the usual, “What the ?” Followed by a few curse words. The first officer started doing the checklist, I was stabilizing the airplane and getting ready to declare an emergency, and what flashed through my mind was, “I guess I’d better speak slowly and calmly or everyone will think I’m a hysterical woman”. 
Fortunately (and very oddly) the issue resolved itself right before I made the call, and we went back to ops normal. But it is rather irritating that I had to think about how I was going to say something, just in case we ended up on the news. :-L
Well I for one didn’t think there was anything wrong with the way she spoke. It never even occurred to me to critique her cadence. I’m sure the large majority of people who listened to her felt the same.
I was on a plane on the same day when the captain (male) calmly said ‘I am turning off the seatbelt sign’. Then 5 minutes later he said very rushed and almost panicked ‘put your seat belts back on’ and 2 seconds late ‘flight attendants take your jump seats’. He repeated the directive to the flight attendants again in haste. They quickly pushed the beverage cart back to the back of the plane. I thought, oh boy, this is going to be bad and then …practically nothing.
@busyparent, perhaps someone right in front of them, or air traffic control had just reported moderate to severe turbulence, which could have seriously injured someone, and then it didn’t happen. Sometimes you don’t expect turbulence and it happens, other times you do expect it, and you are happily surprised that it doesn’t materialize. Nobody want to spill their coffee…
@busdriver11 – I am happy to know that your situation was resolved safely – I’m sure in part due to your competence in handling the situation and your capable leadership of your flight crew. (“in part” because I have no clue what “very oddly / the issue resolved itself” might mean – but hopefully the techs on the ground will be able to do a thorough inspection and figure out how to fix whatever it is that went wrong).
And I think that airline pilots are human beings so of course there is going to be variation in how each reacts to emergencies and how that is or is not reflected in their tone of voice. Really hard to say what is going on in the mind of someone we don’t know, based on a one-time recording. But I do think that the Southwest pilot’s calm demeanor probably was helpful in a situation where there was a very obvious and frightening crisis going on in the cabin, with the blown out window – and where 20 minutes elapsed between the engine blowout and landing. The passengers would have been terrified no matter what…but they must have felt some level of reassurance knowing that their plane was being piloted by a person who did not sound like she was freaking out.
Yes, @busdriver11, I’m REALLY glad you weren’t in the news today!
Calmom, being calm in any situation is helpful. And you speak in a different manner to passengers than you do to air traffic control. I have no Idea if they had time to say anything to the pax, or if they even could be heard. It’s nice to be able to reassure people, but honestly, in a serious emergency, I would prefer the crew concentrate on getting the airplane down qiuickly and safely, and spend minimal time placating the passengers. I’d imagine that’s what they did.
As far as my airplane, they’ve done all sorts of tests and haven’t figured out the problem yet, but that airplane isn’t moving until they do.
Thanks, @intparent, I’m really publicity adverse. It’s never a good thing, in my book. Anonymity and privacy is the goal.
But wouldn’t calming the passengers be helpful in some situations? In the Jet Blue 292 incident, while the plane with the malfunctioning nose wheel was flying around burning off fuel to lighten the load before landing, they were reportedly rearranging passengers and carryon baggage to move weight to the back of the plane.
It seems like the cabin crew can handle that communication.
Certainly calming down passengers is important. But it’s obviously a different situation if you’re just killing time burning down gas before landing, than if you don’t land quickly enough you’ll be a smoking hole in the ground.
1 Rule of aviation. Fly the airplane first. Because if you don't do that, nothing else matters. There are situations where there is very little time to be calming down and explaining.
@busdriver11 , I don’t know any pilots. Your first hand accounts into the thoughts of one, and your experiences in the cockpit have been so interesting. Thank you for sharing these stories and answering our questions. I’m a bit in awe of commercial pilots. We have a column in our Sunday paper written by pilots, a Q&A format I love to read, but reading your first hand accounts are much more intriguing!
As a passenger, I would much rather the flight crew focus on getting safely from point A to point B than doing any calming or reassuring. Others can calm and reassure to the best of their ability but we NEED pilot and co-pilot to fly the plane, especially if problems arise.
I agree, @busdriver11–your comments and insights are fascinating and invaluable. Thanks so much for sharing them.
H has known some pilots—he says they’re some if the brightest folks he’s met. I don’t know any pilots but @busdriver11. Thanks!