Page 14 - mmopaMJ21

MEMBERS
Ultimate Malibu Makeover
MMOPA Members Dean & Tammie Jo Shults Transform Their 1987 Malibu
by Dianne White
MMOPA members and Malibu owners Dean and Tammie Jo Shults joined our community in 2019, shortly before they purchased their new-to-them Malibu. As you may know, (retired) Southwest Airlines captain Tammie Jo and her co-pilot Darren Ellisor were celebrated for successfully landing their Boeing 737 after a catastrophic, uncontained engine failure at altitude caused an explosive decompression that greatly compromised the air- craft’s flying characteristics. She was hailed for her calm, decisive leadership
and skill in handling an emergency that’s outside the normal engine-out training scenarios.
I met Tammie Jo the summer of 2019 at Oshkosh as she was embark- ing on a book tour for her best-selling memoir “Nerves of Steel,” which is less about being a hero to 148 Southwest passengers, but all the challenges, victories, setbacks, and people who doubted her or championed her that forged the steel within her. At the time, she mentioned she and Dean were looking for a PA46 to replace their 1976 Cardinal RG, and I
encouraged them to join MMOPA to not only glean information about the airframe, but to take advantage of the vast resources we offer.
Since then, Tammie Jo has retired from Southwest Airlines and they
are now looking forward to the next chapter of their lives. Both have been through initial and recurrent training with Casey Aviation and have flown their Malibu extensively. Late last year, they made the decision to undertake
a major refurbishment project, that encompassed a completely new flight- deck, and new paint and interior.
14 MMOPA MAGAZINE MAY / JUNE 2021