Reading a book

[Dave-W]

that might be of interest to this folder's contributors:

I am a fan of the TV show Air Disasters. Over the Thanksgiving weekend I was talking to my BIL and he mentioned he had just finished reading this book. Wht the author did as Captain of a Boeing 737 when an engine exploded after taking off was very similar to the story on Air Disasters of Quantas flight 32 in Nov 2010 on an Airbus A380. But the A380 has 4 engines and 5 pilots in the cockpit, while Ms Shults only had 2 engines and one first officer. This happened in April of 2018 so the final reports are probably just now being released.

The story starts out when she is growing up as a child in New Mexico and the roadblocks she ran into as a woman trying to get trained and qualified as a pilot, and how her faith pushed her thru all of that.

 

[Dave-W]

Southwest Airlines Emergency Landing: Pilot on Flight 1380

 

[Dave-W]

One of the really egregious things was her treatment by a Navy recruiter. After taking and passing the ASVAB test for military entrance, she was told:

The enlisted recruiter said "Great job! You'll just need to come back when the officer recruiter can process your paperwork." He was all smiles.
Wow. I was so happy. I told my friends "I'm in!"
I returned to have my paperwork processed by the appropriate naval recruiter. "We don't need girls," he told me. "I'm not processing your paperwork."
My brow furrowed. "But the other recruiter said I scored high enough," I said.
"You scored high enough for a guy," the man said, "but not high enough for a girl."
​

Pg 40.

 

[bekkilyn]

Seems she at least got into the Navy at some point despite that jerk of a recruiter.

 

[Paidiske]

"You scored high enough for a guy," the man said, "but not high enough for a girl."

It's like that line that whatever we do, we need to do twice as well as a man, to be thought half as good.

It's depressing how often it is true.

 

[Dave-W]

It's like that line that whatever we do, we need to do twice as well as a man, to be thought half as good.

It's depressing how often it is true.

When she re-visited the recruiter office 2 years later, a different group was manning the office. When she told the officer recruitment guy what his predecessor said, he replied "The Navy has never had different requirements for men and women." The previous guy was lying thru his teeth. They immediately processed her paperwork and she was in.

ETA: I am sure the people on the doomed flight were more than glad she was twice as good. She got all but one safely back to the ground.

 

[bekkilyn]

My mother who is currently in her 80's joined the Navy right after high school. That's where she met my dad.

 

[Dave-W]

OK - i am up to the point where she has married and left the Navy.

I strongly encourage you all to read this book. It speaks well of her faith and her resolve to do what she believed God called her to do despite the "old boys club" and their objections. It shows just how corrupt that mode of thinking really is.

 

[Dave-W]

I finished the book. I highly recommend it. It is a very clear picture of what women faced in the military in the 1980s and how the author faced those struggles. I got REEEEEAAAAAALLLLLYYYY mad at several of her “superiors” but God always came thru on her behalf.

Since I started reading the book the NTSB released a set of 7 reconditions (late November) and their final report on the incident (mid December). Interesting reads.

My take-away from the story was that God used all of the difficulties and hardships to prep her for what happened that fateful day in April 2018. She was able to land and save everyone but one passenger in her flight.