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American Morning
Channel One Reporter Flies Humanitarian Mission into Afghanistan
Aired November 29, 2001 - 08:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: You may not know about Channel One News, but chances are, your kids do. It is broadcast to millions of teenage viewers in schools across all the country. And normally, Janet Choi, an anchor and reporter for Channel One News, is hanging loose on the set. But she recently got a rare opportunity, flying a humanitarian mission into a combat zone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CROSSTALK)
JANET CHOI, CHANNEL ONE NEWS: I don't know how we're going to Afghanistan. I don't know we are going in Afghanistan.
I was on a 14-hour mission from Germany to Afghanistan. But for security missions, I couldn't know our exact route. Inside, the C-17s cargo hold was enormous, and most of it was taken up by food boxes.
Apart from the three pilots, there were four other crew members.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the door opens, we're going to get a sudden burst of cold, cold air. It's going to be extremely cold back here. It's going to be dark. The dust will fly around in the back of aircraft. It can be disorienting, and then we'll start releasing the boxes, and once the boxes go, it will be like a freight train. It will out of the back of this plane within nine seconds.
How many flights have you been on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my 7th drop tonight.
CHOI: Do you get nervous still?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You're going to get nervous every time you go fly.
CHOI: What do you get nervous about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got a wife and a five-month-old son, and I'm nervous I will never see them again. That's something you live with when you take the job.
CHOI: It's an unusual mission, instead of dropping bombs, dropping food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a great mission, though. It gives you a sense of pride that you are helping people out, helping them eat when they have no way to sustain themselves.
CHOI: I went back into the cockpit to witness the first of the three aerial refueling that RC-17 have on our mission. This huge plane that we're approaching is a KC-135 refueling tanker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look, you can see the person in the hole.
CHOI: Oh, my gosh.
That man controls the nozzle that pump fuel into the plane.
You can actually see the person.
Then it was time to begin to prepare for the drop.
OK, so this is basically the last word until after the drop-off. I won't be able to say anything during the drop-off, because, a, it would be so loud you wouldn't be able to hear me anyway, and also I'll have my helmet and my oxygen mask on. So all the boxes are going to go out, and then they're going to give me the last package to throw. I'm going to go stand on the edge and throw the last package out. I'll dedicate it to Channel One.
Then they turned out the lights to make us less visible to the people on the ground who might shoot at us. We put on our oxygen masks, sat down to wait the hour and a half until the drop, which seemed like a lifetime. Finally, the crew wrote the word "in" to show that we had crossed over into Afghanistan. It hit me like a truck. I was in a war zone.
Then the back of the plane opened; 50-degree below zero wind blew in. At the two minute sign, I walked toward the open door, heart racing, and then they put plane into a climb and released the catch holding the boxes.
I walked to the edge, with Afghanistan tens of thousands of feet below me. Our mission was complete. They closed the door and repressurized the aircraft. We were going home.
Any part of you that sighs a little bit of relief?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you sigh relief once you get back out of Afghanistan, because you know that you're going to make it home.
CHOI: I can't say I'm not thrilled to be back. And now we're making our landing.
So here we are, 14 hours later, and the ground is my friend.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Janet Choi is up early in Los Angeles this morning. Janet, overnight we learned that one of those food drops turned deadly, when one bundle hit an Afghan house, killing a woman and injuring child. How well aware were you of the risk of this kind of drop? Did those folks in the C-130 tell you about the challenges?
CHOI: They give you a fair amount of warning. You're required to take this certification at Andrews Air Force Base. And so you have 10-hour classroom session where they worn you about oxygen deprivation and hypoxia all the things that might may go through, as far as atmospheric pressure and oxygen deprivation go.
But the statistics are kind of tough, I think, for a lot of people to accept, that some 1 1/2 million food packets have been dropped, but relief organizations have said that those are only getting to about 1 percent of the people, and I guess the concern is that the troops are literally risking their lives to carry out these missions.
Did they talk about that at all to you?
CHOI: We did ask them about. The Air Force admits from the very start that this doesn't cover nearly the number of refugees that actually require this, but I think in general, they just -- I think in general they just needed to make a point here, that this is a very different type of war. that this, you know, on one hand we're dropping bombs on one groups of Afghans, the Taliban, and on the other hand, you know, we need to win the hearts and minds of the other group, these starving desperate group of refugees.
ZAHN: I know you are getting a little feedback out of New York, I apologize. I'll let you put that back in. and then the minute you answer question to take it back out, so you're not getting feedback here.
CHOI: Sorry.
ZAHN: Tell us a little bit about what happened to you physically. You weren't tethered in when you dropped your pack. You talk a little bit about that blast of 50 below zero air that wafted in. Describe it. Take the air piece out, so you don't get that feedback. Carry on.
CHOI: Well, you know, we weren't really sure what to expect. But you get 50-degree below-zero wind, and the door opens. You prebreathe oxygen for about an hour, so you're prepared, and you seep the oxygen mask on. So the only thing tying me in was this oxygen line.
It was last-minute decision to throw the package out at the last -- and so everybody else was tethered in, and you were just so filled with anxiety and adrenaline that it never occurred to us that we weren't tied in. There isn't really that much wind, so, you know, the danger wasn't quite so extreme, but you know, looking back, I probably should have been tied in. ZAHN: All right, Janet, we'll let you put the earpiece back in so you can hear us. Thanks for joining us this morning. We really appreciate your getting up so early for us. And we apologize that you have a little of that audio feedback. It's very difficult to talk and hear your own voice coming back on delay. Thanks for you patience, Janet, and good luck to you.
CHOI: Thank you.
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