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CNN Live Today
USAF: 1,800 Sorties Over Iraq Sunday
Aired March 31, 2003 - 10:30 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Gary Tuchman, embedded again with the U.S. Air Force.
Gary, good evening. What's happening now?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening to you, and good morning and afternoon to our other viewers.
You know, With the new rules allowing us to embed with the military, we have been afforded unusual opportunities to actually talk to pilots on camera minutes after they have finished their combat missions.
Now, in the week and a half we have been here, every pilot has told us they have not seen one Iraqi aircraft in the air. They have also told us however they have seen Iraqi artillery, and some say the artillery has been fired at them, but nobody has been hit.
Now with the pace quickening up, pilots are flying more and more. A short time ago, we talked with a combat pilot of an A-10 attack plane, who told us he has flown five missions in the last two days, including two bombing runs where he bombed Iraqi tanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. "WARDO", A-1O PILOT: You get a little apprehensive, because you want to accomplish the mission without getting the wrong people hurt. You want to make sure that you stay safe. There a lot of airplanes up there flying around, so there is a lot of de-confliction that you have to go through, a lot of radio calls.
But all of the guys here are completely focused on the mission, and to get it done just as quickly and painlessly as possible, and everybody is just working 24-7 to get that done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: The sun has just set here in this border area near Iraq, this very busy air base. We can tell you it will be another very busy night of bombing in the theater here.
Over the past week and a half, there have been roughly 17,000 sorties into Iraq, the most recent 24-hour period, 1,800 sorties. If you do the math, that works out to about 75 every hour and an average of 1.25 every minute. So basically, that means that there is more than one plane flying into Iraq every single minute of the day between yesterday and this morning. Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: That is an awful lot of power. Gary, thanks. Gary Tuchman in the location there embedded with the U.S. Air Force, somewhere along the Iraqi border, cannot be more specific than that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 31, 2003 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Gary Tuchman, embedded again with the U.S. Air Force.
Gary, good evening. What's happening now?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening to you, and good morning and afternoon to our other viewers.
You know, With the new rules allowing us to embed with the military, we have been afforded unusual opportunities to actually talk to pilots on camera minutes after they have finished their combat missions.
Now, in the week and a half we have been here, every pilot has told us they have not seen one Iraqi aircraft in the air. They have also told us however they have seen Iraqi artillery, and some say the artillery has been fired at them, but nobody has been hit.
Now with the pace quickening up, pilots are flying more and more. A short time ago, we talked with a combat pilot of an A-10 attack plane, who told us he has flown five missions in the last two days, including two bombing runs where he bombed Iraqi tanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. "WARDO", A-1O PILOT: You get a little apprehensive, because you want to accomplish the mission without getting the wrong people hurt. You want to make sure that you stay safe. There a lot of airplanes up there flying around, so there is a lot of de-confliction that you have to go through, a lot of radio calls.
But all of the guys here are completely focused on the mission, and to get it done just as quickly and painlessly as possible, and everybody is just working 24-7 to get that done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: The sun has just set here in this border area near Iraq, this very busy air base. We can tell you it will be another very busy night of bombing in the theater here.
Over the past week and a half, there have been roughly 17,000 sorties into Iraq, the most recent 24-hour period, 1,800 sorties. If you do the math, that works out to about 75 every hour and an average of 1.25 every minute. So basically, that means that there is more than one plane flying into Iraq every single minute of the day between yesterday and this morning. Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: That is an awful lot of power. Gary, thanks. Gary Tuchman in the location there embedded with the U.S. Air Force, somewhere along the Iraqi border, cannot be more specific than that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
