Kamau Oginga Siwatu, Ph.D. (Texas Tech website)
When Texas Tech professor Kamau Siwatu boarded Southwest Flight 1380 from New York to Dallas on Apr. 17, the fatal moments that would soon follow changed his perspective on life as well as maintenance procedures for the airline.
Siwatu, professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education, had traveled to New York with several others from his college to attend the American Educational Research Association Conference.
Leaving La Guardia airport at 10:15 a.m., Siwatu said he started the boarding process and noticed about eight students and faculty in the terminal – some with their families – as they were preparing to return to Lubbock. He took his seat and the plane took off. Once in flight, he placed his noise-cancelling headphones over his ears and began watching a movie when he heard a muffled sound and the plane began to tilt toward the left.
“The oxygen masks came down,” he said, “and people are putting on their masks. You can hear people screaming.”
Photo: NTSB webstie
At 11 a.m., Southwest airlines released the following statement:
“We are aware that Southwest flight #1380 from New York La Guardia (LGA) to Dallas Love Field (DAL) has diverted to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). We are in the process of transporting customers and crew into the terminal. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-700, has 143 customers and five crew members onboard. We are in the process of gathering more information. Safety is always our top priority at Southwest Airlines, and we are working diligently to support our customers and crews at this time.”
Siwatu said people on board described the sound as a “loud bang,” before the cabin grew loud with an unfamiliar noise. Loved ones began to pray and embrace as the plane began to descend. Sitting in a window seat on the right side of the plane, he said he opened his blind out of curiosity and only saw clear skies. Flight attendants began walking up and down the aisle as they checked on passengers.
Soon after, Siwatu said the flight attendant informed the passengers of the emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport due to a blown engine.
“At that point,” he said, “I didn’t really understand the magnitude of what was going on. And it took me awhile to process that something’s terribly wrong, we’re making an emergency landing, this loud noise, this vibration. That’s when I began to have the slightest thought of, ‘Wow. What if this plane crashes? What if we don’t make it to the nearest airport?’.”
Spiritually conflicted with what could be his final moments, he said he began to think of his family.
“We were still in the clouds,” he said, “there was no city in sight. We were still in the clouds, and so it was in that moment that I began to realize that this is probably my time. I’m not gonna see my family again. This is my time.”
The picture Siwatu took before the mechanical issues that left one woman dead. (Provided photo)
With little time to spare, Siwatu said he pulled out his phone and began a series of “goodbye” messages to his wife, Raegan Siwatu, who is also a professor at Texas Tech. The first few messages sent to inform her of his situation,were then followed by a more in-depth, heartfelt message to his wife; an immediate gesture to his family of how he wanted to be remembered.
Not having mobile service, he said he hoped the messages would transmit as the plane neared the ground’s surface. Back in Lubbock, Raegan had received the first two text messages alerting her of her husband’s situation. Concerned for his safety, she immediately began tracking flight information on the Southwest Airlines website since she had no other way of communicating with her husband.
The Window
“Knowing that I was helpless,” he said, “I thought that there wasn’t anything I could do to change it, and so I was somewhat comforted in knowing that if the plane did crash I wouldn’t even know. I wouldn’t suffer in some sense.”
Still unaware of the events unfolding four rows behind him on the left side of the plane, Siwatu said he could see people moving frantically.
As his anxiety began to build, Siwatu said he heard some commotion coming from the back rows and observed a woman trying to climb over the seats. As the woman fled, he said he saw two men, “a cowboy and a firefighter,” converge to one spot on the left side of the plane.
With the men tugging and pulling with all their might, Siwatu believed an emergency door had been opened. He said he was trying to make sense of the situation when the cabin began to smell of smoke and small pieces of fabric material began to float about.
“When the window broke,” he said, “that’s when we thought this is a dire situation. We may not make it out of this. I remember the flight attendants got on the loud speaker and said, ‘Look we’re almost there. Hold on, hang on. We’re almost there.’ And so we began to kind of see the city. And that kind of gave a lot of people hope that we were close to the ground.”
Once the two men succeeded in their efforts, Siwatu said a flight attendant called for a nurse. Answering the call, a woman in front of him jumped up and ran to their aid as it appeared a woman had been partially ejected from the aircraft when the window broke.
NTSB and FAA investigators examine the aircraft following the fatal incident. (NTSB website)
The NTSB website released several preliminary statements on the incident as part of their investigation. According to an NTSB statement, those on board were interviewed and it was determined that the plane’s occupants heard a “loud sound and experienced vibration.”
Once the oxygen masks were released, NTSB representatives state flight attendants began checking on passengers. As they moved mid-cabin, they found a passenger in row 14 partially “out of the window.” Unsuccessful in their efforts to bring her in, two men assisted and were able to pull her back in.
With several passengers working to save the woman’s life, Siwatu said others began stuffing bags and jackets in the frame, however the firefighter blocked the opening with his back. With the city now in view, the only thing left to do was brace for impact.
Looking at each other for guidance, he said passengers crouched down as the plane sped toward the ground for landing. Once it came to a stop, few passengers clapped, while others were somber.
“For those of us who were sitting in that block of rows next to the window,” he said, “we know that something is wrong. That someone is injured or that someone has died.”
At 3 p.m., Southwest Airlines released a second statement reporting engine issues resulted in damage to the fuselage.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that there is one fatality resulting from this accident,” the report states. “The entire Southwest Airlines Family is devastated and extends its deepest, heartfelt sympathy to the Customers, employees, family members and loved ones affected by this tragic event.”
The victim, identified as 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan of Albuquerque, was killed and eight others were injured when a blown engine sent shrapnel through a window on the left side of the plane.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Riordan was a married mother of two and the vice president of community relations for Wells Fargo. She was coming home from a business trip.
The NTSB report states no debris from the window, airplane structure or engine were found inside the cabin; however, damage on the plane’s exterior was shown to be adjacent to row 14, where Riordan was seated.
The incident prompted Southwest Airlines to enact the accelerated engine fan blade inspection program, which affected 40 flights out of a scheduled 4,000, according to a Southwest Airlines news release.
And while Southwest Flight 1380 involved engine failure, on May 2 Southwest flight 957 from Chicago Midway International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport made an unscheduled stop in Cleveland after a crack was observed on the exterior panel of a window. According to a Southwest Airlines news release, the aircraft was taken out of service for inspection, and the 81 passengers continued to their destination on a new aircraft.
For Flight 1380, Siwatu said the airline also gave each passenger a $1,000 travel voucher and an additional $5,000, which he will use toward drafting his will.
Although aircraft maintenance and safety inspections were a concern for Siwatu, he said the flight crew did the best they could given the situation at hand.
“I think the flight crew did an outstanding job,” he said. “I can definitely tell that they were following protocol. You could see panic in them but they did their jobs, they made sure everyone was safe.”
Homecoming
NTSB and FAA investigators examine the aircraft following the fatal incident. (NTSB website)
Reflecting on that day, Siwatu said immediately after landing a woman approached all of the passengers. With calm, loving demeanor, he believed she was a customer service representative with Southwest Airlines, because of her overall composure. Learning she was the pilot, he said he gave her an emotional hug out of gratitude.
Southwest Captain Tammie Jo Shults and Southwest Airlines First Officer Darren Ellisor released a statement which read, “we all feel we were simply doing our jobs.”
After the landing, the passengers were interviewed by investigators, and Siwatu said everyone was given the option to board another flight, take an alternate mode of transportation, or stay in a hotel. Determined to make it home, Siwatu boarded a 6 p.m. flight to Dallas Love Field where he then flew to Lubbock. As he boarded the plane to Dallas, he noticed a small glass with a rose sitting on an area next to the cockpit. He said he thought the rose was in honor of the one passenger who did not make that connecting flight.
“That second flight,” he said, “I was just running on motivation to see my wife. I could’ve stayed in a hotel, and I thought about it, and I was like, ‘I’m just an hour away. I can do this.'”
Shortly after midnight, Siwatu pulled into his driveway, walked into his house, and made his way to his wife, collapsing in her arms in an tearful reunion. Recovering from the traumatic event, he said he laid in bed the next day as his 7-year-old daughter gently rubbed his back.
His family’s actions served as a gentle yet poignant reminder of things he may have taken for granted.
Whether it’s kissing his wife a little longer or laying in bed with his 5-year-old son, Siwatu said it is important to take advantage of and cherish every moment and opportunity. Proactive living as he focuses on making the most out of life.
“(T)ake time to let others know that you appreciate them,” he said, “that you love them. My son asks me probably almost every night, to lay with him before he goes to bed and sometimes we get so busy in our day-to-day lives that we fail to capitalize on those opportunities that are really easy to do.”
View the full NTSB report HERE.
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