Couple reunited after wife sent her husband goodbye messages from Southwest flight

A passenger on the Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Dallas that suffered engine failure Tuesday morning has been reunited with her husband after she sent him goodbye messages from the plane. 

Gianna Baur thought she would never see her husband, Chad Baur, again as the pilot of her flight announced they would be diverting the aircraft for an emergency landing. 

She immediately began texting him using in-flight texting and even took a photo of herself with an oxygen mask on.

Chad and Gianna

Gianna Baur (pictured reuniting with her husband) who was on the Southwest Airlines flight that suffered engine failure Tuesday morning has been reunited with her husband, Chad Baur, after she sent him goodbye messages from the plane

She immediately began texting him using in-flight texting and even took a photo of herself with an oxygen mask on (pictured)

She immediately began texting him using in-flight texting and even took a photo of herself with an oxygen mask on (pictured)

‘That’s when I started to really panic,’ Chad told NBC. ‘She said a flight attendant was praying over the loudspeaker, someone else was on the emergency phone screaming for medical help when they landed,’ Chad said.

The next five minutes were some of the most terrifying for both Gianna and Chad. 

‘They announce we have to land… I’m so scared… flight attendants are checking everyone’s oxygen… it’s so bumpy… it’s an emergency landing,’ Gianna text her husband.  

‘I love you so much,’ she wrote. 

Chad said he was at their apartment when the messages came through. He immediately called both of their parents while he kept texting his wife.   

‘We just try to say all the things we would want to say to each other if that was the last thing we got to say,’ Baur told NBC. 

Chad said he was 'saying goodbye to my wife, who might have minutes left, and her trying to say goodbye to me who may have decades left'

The couple pictured together

Chad said he was ‘saying goodbye to my wife, who might have minutes left, and her trying to say goodbye to me who may have decades left’

While pilot Tammie Jo Shults prepared the plan for the emergency landing in Philadelphia, Chad said he didn't receive any messages. Seventeen minutes later, Chad finally received a photo of the blown engine (pictured)

While pilot Tammie Jo Shults prepared the plan for the emergency landing in Philadelphia, Chad said he didn’t receive any messages. Seventeen minutes later, Chad finally received a photo of the blown engine (pictured)

‘Me saying goodbye to my wife, who might have minutes left, and her trying to say goodbye to me who may have decades left.’ 

While pilot Tammie Jo Shults prepared the plan for the emergency landing in Philadelphia, Chad said he didn’t receive any messages. 

Seventeen minutes later, Chad finally received a photo of the blown engine.  

‘I don’t think I cried or even had an emotion until after she said she landed. That’s when I kind of just lost it,’ he told NBC.

Chad and his wife, who have been married for just three years, were finally reunited with one another following the horrific scare, that could see the couple filing a claim against the airline. 

According to Robert Clifford, founder of Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices, not only will the family of Jennifer Riordan, who was killed on the flight, be able to file a claim, but others on the flight can as well.  

Gianna is pictured with her sister

Gianna is pictured with her sister Brooke on a different flight to Texas after the incident

Chad and his wife (left), who have been married for just three years, were finally reunited with one another following the horrific scare, that could see the couple filing a claim against the airline. Gianna is pictured with her sister Brooke on a different flight to Texas after the incident

According to Robert Clifford, founder of Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices, not only will the family of Jennifer Riordan, who was killed on the flight, be able to file a claim, but others on the flight can as well because 'many of them will experience PTSD'

According to Robert Clifford, founder of Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices, not only will the family of Jennifer Riordan, who was killed on the flight, be able to file a claim, but others on the flight can as well because ‘many of them will experience PTSD’

‘All of the passengers here, and the crew, will likely have claims,’ Clifford told the Boston Globe. 

‘Even if these people were not physically injured,’ he said, ‘many, many of them will experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder’.

On Tuesday morning, the Southwest Airlines flight suffered catastrophic engine failure, causing the death of Riordan who was sucked out of the window after it was smashed by shrapnel from the exploding engine.

Jennifer Riordan, 43, died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso. She is pictured with her husband Michael

Jennifer Riordan, 43, died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso. She is pictured with her husband Michael

The Wells Fargo executive was wearing her seatbelt when the window smashed but the power of the suction from the 32,000ft atmosphere was too strong and she died as the result of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso, it was revealed on Wednesday. 

Riordan’s immediate family have been too distraught to speak at length. 

Hero pilot Shults calmly relayed details about the crisis to air traffic controllers, and passengers commended her handling of the situation.

She and the other pilot on board, First Officer Darren Ellisor, said in a statement Wednesday that they were simply doing their jobs.

‘On behalf of the entire Crew, we appreciate the outpouring of support from the public and our coworkers as we all reflect on one family’s profound loss,’ the two pilots said, adding that their ‘hearts are heavy.’

Shults was commissioned into the Navy in 1985 and reached the rank of lieutenant commander, said Commander Ron Flanders, spokesman for Naval Air Forces in San Diego.

She was among the few to learn to fly the F/A-18 Hornet, a single-seat jet and the Navy’s premier strike fighter aircraft, a privilege reserved for elite pilots, according to retired Navy helicopter pilot Andi Sue Phillips.

This was the Row 14 seat which Riordan was sitting in when she was sucked towards the window at 32,000 feet

This was the Row 14 seat which Riordan was sitting in when she was sucked towards the window at 32,000 feet

This harrowing image taken before the plane made its emergency landing shows the state of the exploded engine 

This harrowing image taken before the plane made its emergency landing shows the state of the exploded engine 

‘When you pull those g’s, you can actually feel your organs slamming on the inside of your ribs,’ Phillips said. ‘It’s exhausting to put your body through those maneuvers.’

Phillips said that that there was a lot of resistance for women to fly jets and for Shults ‘to fly a fighter aircraft when nobody even wanted her there is pretty amazing’.

Investigators are still looking into what caused the engine failure. 

They have so far been able to determine that a fan blade separated as a result of metal fatigue at the hub and that it may have contributed to the malfunction.

The Boeing 737-700 was tested three days before the flight. 

Hero: Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, 56, is seen getting off the plane after all of the passengers had disembarked. She has been praised for her 'nerves of steel' during the catastrophe 

Hero: Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, 56, is seen getting off the plane after all of the passengers had disembarked. She has been praised for her ‘nerves of steel’ during the catastrophe 

Shults is pictured in 1988. At the time, she was a US Navy instructor pilot and is shown above explaining a maneuver to aviators at the Naval Air Station Chase Field in Beeville, Texas

Shults is pictured in 1988. At the time, she was a US Navy instructor pilot and is shown above explaining a maneuver to aviators at the Naval Air Station Chase Field in Beeville, Texas

Shults is shown flying in squadron VT-26 near Naval Air Station Chase Field in 1988

Shults is shown flying in squadron VT-26 near Naval Air Station Chase Field in 1988



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