A retired nurse aboard Southwest Airlines’ nightmare flight tried frantically to save the life of the woman who was partially sucked out a window at 32,000 feet.
Peggy Phillips, one of the 144 passengers aboard Flight 1380 from LaGuardia to Dallas on Tuesday, told ABC affiliate WFAA that shortly after takeoff, she heard a loud noise and felt “like the plane was coming apart.”
The Boeing 737’s engine had exploded and Phillips said she managed to remain calm when she heard a window shatter about four rows behind her.
“It was a lot of chaos back there — a lot of really upset people and a lot of noise, and a big rush of air, a big whoosh of air,” Phillips said.
Passengers and flight attendants managed to pull Jennifer Riordan, 43, a Wells Fargo banking executive from New Mexico, back inside the aircraft after she was partially sucked out.
Jennifer RiordanAP“The top half of her torso was out the window,” Max Kraidelman, a 20-year-old college student, told the New York Times. “There was a lot of blood because she was hit by some of the shrapnel coming off the engine after it exploded.”
Riordan was unconscious and seriously injured, and one flight attendant began to cry when she saw her, said Matt Tranchin, 34, another passenger.
After a flight attendant asked if anyone knew CPR, Phillips said, “I was, like, out of my seatbelt.”
“We laid her down and we started CPR,” Phillips recalled. “We continued that for about 20 minutes. We landed while we were still doing CPR and you know, it’s … I have to just take my hats off to everyone” who tried to help save her.
“They were doing CPR on her and using the defibrillator while we were landing,” Kraidelman said. “They were working on her while everyone else had their oxygen mask on.”




