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American Morning
Fallout From Frantic Scramble in Washington; High-Speed Chase With a Deadly End
Aired May 12, 2005 - 07:00 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: Good morning. The fallout this morning from that frantic scramble in Washington. There are questions again today about airspace security and whether or not this is the right way to respond.
Also, a suspected car thief barrelling through Southern California at 100 miles an hour. That high-speed chase with a deadly end.
And a car bomb exploding near a busy Baghdad market again today. At least 12 are dead, wounding many more. A live report from Iraq on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.
There's a big wakeup call in Washington D.C. this morning with officials asking just what did we learn from the private plane that basically sent Washington into a frenzy yesterday.
HEMMER: Caused a whole lot of panic, too. Reports this morning. Suzanne Malveaux is back at the scene there at the White House. That was One of the number of places evacuated yesterday.
Alina Cho this morning telling us more about the pilot who made the mistake, and what happens to him. Both live reports just moments away. Wow, What a day it was.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty, good morning to you.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It was flight instructor in that airplane.
O'BRIEN: A little concern, yes.
CAFFERTY: A guy who teaches flying to other people. That's encouraging. Did we get the name of that flight school? Because if I ever want to get a pilot's license, I ain't going there.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to vote on the nomination of John Bolton to be the next U.N. ambassador. I think it's great. And they just won't know how to react to this guy if he gets confirmed, and it looks like maybe he will. We'll take a look whether he's the right guy for the job. O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.
Well, the questions this morning are, just how well did security react to an unauthorized plane flying towards Washington. Are changes needed? That's our CNN Security Watch this morning. The system was tested on Wednesday, when a small plane crossed into the restricted airspace around Washington D.C. Within minutes, fighter jets were scrambled and a Blackhawk helicopter dispatched. Threat-level alerts were raised at the White House and the Capitol. Thousands of workers were evacuated. Some officials were taken to secure locations. Twenty minutes after it was discovered, the plane was being escorted to an airport in Frederick, Maryland. The pilot questioned, then released.
Susan Malveaux was at the White House when the alert began. She's there now as well this morning.
Hey, Suzanne, good morning to you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about what happened. What kind of concerns were raised by yesterday's scare?
MALVEAUX: Soledad, I spoke with White House officials, as well as Secret Service officials. They say that everything went according to plan, but even the press secretary here said they're going to do a thorough examination of what worked and what needs to be improved.
Now one important follow-up question of course today is the president's role in all of this. He was away, about 16 miles away from the White House, when all of this unfolded on a bike ride. We learned late in the day that he was not notified about the security scare until after the bike ride, after essentially it was all over.
Now Scott McClellan, the press secretary here at the White House, said that is because the president was never in any danger. There were steps that were taken to either evacuate and make sure that people were safe here at the White House, and that it never came to the point of actually having to execute an order of shooting down that plane, and also there was no presidential authority that was required to do that.
But that is one question that's going to come up. A lot of people think that it is quite unbelievable that the president wasn't notified until after the fact -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: With all of those things, is it being considered a successful response, or not?
MALVEAUX: Well, there's emergency notification system that's here at the White House. It's an internal system. It was set up right after the September 11th attacks. Essentially, they are boxes that are supposed to emit some tones, transmit tones and messages. One example, emergency, evacuate, evacuate. Some colleagues who were in their basement offices, others who were in the dining area, ate their lunch, never heard these warnings; they never went off. That is one thing that is going to come up as well. They're going to look at that internal system. Why was it that they didn't hear those kinds of tones, those kinds of messages that were supposed to be transmitted in a case such as yesterday.
Overall, they say, of course, it was a success. They got people out in a quickly, orderly fashion. But again, Soledad, there were some aspects of the system that just were not up to snuff.
O'BRIEN: And just some of the questions, the many questions, being asked today. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us. Suzanne, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Now get this, the pilots, Jim Scheaffer and Troy Martin have not been charged with a thing, despite 35,000 people being evacuated. They flew out of Smoketown, Pennsylvania Wednesday morning, got lost en route to Raleigh, North Carolina. They were on a straight line to D.C. before they were forced to land in the state of Maryland.
Alina Cho is live in Smoketown where the whole incident took off yesterday.
Good morning there, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. That's exactly right. To give you an idea where we are this morning, we are in the middle of Amish country. This is a very small airport, just one runway and no control tower. There could be as little as five takeoffs and landings in any given day. Pilots here generally come and go as they please, and it appears that's exactly what happened yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): A beautiful clear day, a mid-morning takeoff. The two men, friends say, were headed to an air show in North Carolina.
PHIL BOYER, AIRCRAFT OWNER, PILOTS ASSN.: They obviously then didn't plot their course on the map properly. A straight line between those two points takes you right by the Capitol.
CHO: The men took off in their Cessna 150 from this single- runway airport in Smoketown, Pennsylvania.
Mel Glick is the airport's owner.
MEL GLICK, OWNER, SMOKETOWN AIRPORT: Out in the country here, you can fly anywhere you want to any time you want to pretty much, as long as the weather is good enough, and you don't have to report in to anyone.
CHO: The men were identified as pilot Jim Scheaffer, a retired trucker, and student pilot Troy Martin, a 35-year-old father.
Mel Martin says this was his son's first cross-country flight.
MEL MARTIN, FATHER OF PILOT: When I heard it come across the news, I never even thought that it was him. And then even they said, two pilots from Smoketown, and so I was going to call his wife and say, hey, there's going to be excitement in Smoketown because somebody from Smoketown, you know, got into the no-fly area, never thinking it was my son. And then I called my wife to tell her, and she says, "It was Troy!"
CHO: The FBI and Secret Service detained and questioned the two men, and then released them, calling the incident a mistake. Glick, who says he knows the men, says he was questioned, too.
GLICK: Local police, state police, FBI, Secret Service and news people, lots of news people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And you can imagine this is very big news here. Smoketown is just population 119. Now as for the pilots, again, they will not face any criminal charges, but they could face civil action. And, Bill, Jim Scheaffer, the pilot, could have his pilot's license either suspended or revoked.
HEMMER: He's going to have a lot of questions when he gets back to town, don't you think?
Alina Cho, live in Smoketown, Pennsylvania this morning.
At the half hour, we'll talk with an Air Force colonel about the rules and the conditions for shooting down a threatening plane. That was a consideration yesterday.
And stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. More on this as we go through the morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's take you to Los Angeles now, a disturbing sight on live television. A suspected car thief was shot to death after a dangerous high-speed chase. A warning now, some viewers might find this videotape a little bit graphic.
Here's Peter Viles report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like he's hitting the brakes again and going into a parking lot here. OK, he's into a parking lot. He's getting out. He's starting to run. OK, shots are being fired. Shots are being fired.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began as your typical televised L.A. car chase. The car was stolen; the driver was reckless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, look at how close it was to that vehicle there. Oh my goodness, look at the high speeds. He's increasing his rate of speed.
VILES: With live television following his every move, the driver runs out of freeway, crashes and is surrounded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, we need to come out of the shot a little bit in case shots would be fired here.
VILES: But it wasn't over. The driver simply took off and lived long enough to write a new chapter of violence in a spring that has already seen this shootout in Compton on tape, and a dozen freeway shootings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just almost rear-ended that pickup truck there as he hit the brakes. And more of the tire is disintegrating there and coming apart.
VILES: The driver, now losing control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you can see a lot of passengers -- a lot of pedestrians getting in the way. OK, he's backing up.
VILES: And then he makes one last turn, the last of his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, looks like he's hitting the brakes again.
VILES: In a fast-food parking lot, he makes a run for it. You'll see his gun and you'll the first shot blow out his window. Los Angeles TV viewers saw what happened next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired, it appears. Pull out! Pull out Mike! Pull out.
VILES: The driver pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Peter Viles, CNN, Los Angeles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: This is not the first time that L.A. television stations have broadcast deaths as they were occurring. In 1998, cameras were rolling when a man shot himself on a freeway overpass. And two years ago, five stations aired the shooting of a robbery suspect in front of a Santa Monica high school.
HEMMER: A lot of talk on that story this morning in California again today.
Nine minutes past the hour now. Rough weather in the American West yesterday. Watch this, in northwestern Utah, heavy rain turned homes into instant lakefront property. State crews were called in to pump water away from flooded homes and yards there. That was in Utah. The storm was welcome at the Snowbird Ski Resort. Here it is in May and skiers taking advantage of the late season powder. The resort got more than a foot of snow yesterday.
And in neighboring Colorado, further to the east, listen here. That same system unleashing severe thunderstorms and hail on the east central plains. A tornado watch was also in effect for many counties in that area. We're watching the system yesterday. We were warned about it and it came.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, more details on that airspace scare over Washington D.C. How close did fighter jets come to shooting down that small Cessna. A look at that's ahead.
Also from Baghdad, the suicide bomber striking a crowded market in the center of that city. A live report from the Iraqi capital and another deadly wave of violence today.
And a confession, and motive from that brutal murder of those two little girls in Zion, Illinois. Details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: About 15 minutes past the hour now. More on this vote today in D.C. Democrats saying they do not have the numbers to block the nomination of John Bolton to become the next U.N. ambassador to the U.N. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee now set to vote on Bolton's nomination later this morning. And for weeks Democrats have been raising questions about his temperament, saying he's too hotheaded or too unbending. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, though, telling Larry King just last night that she is confident in Bolton's qualifications.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: There are a lot of people who work for John Bolton inspired by him and who are intensely loyal to him. Ad John is hard charging, there's no doubt about that. But he has been very successful in managing people. He's very successful in his diplomacy. I expect when John leads the mission at the U.N., that he's going to do it in a way that is respectful of the people that work for him, and that he'll get the best out of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: If John Bolton passes that committee, it goes a full Senate for a vote, and we'll have more on this with Jack in a few moments here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In northwest Iraq, two marines killed overnight in the major offensive known as Operation Matador, which is now in its fifth day. And the deadly violence goes on in other parts of the country as well.
Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad.
Ryan, let's start with some violence in Baghdad today, some explosions. Give me a sense who's responsible for this, do we know?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no one's claimed responsibility, but we are seeing a continuation of violence. Both bombing attacks involving car bombs, both of them again detonated by suicide bombers. We start in the east of Baghdad. That's where the first attack came, a suicide bomber driving his car into the middle of a busy intersection, blowing himself up, not clear who the target was there. There was a movie theater there. There was a mosque at that intersection, and there was a busy marketplace.
The Iraqi police say it was a lethal attack, killing at least 12 Iraqis, wounding 56 more. And then on the other side of Baghdad, in western Baghdad, another suicide bomber, again using a car, this time, according to the Iraqi police, trying to target a U.S. military patrol that was moving going through that area. Not clear if there were any U.S. casualties. But again, Iraqi police saying that Iraqis suffered from that attack, saying that at least five Iraqi bystanders were wounded in that attack -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ryan, day five now of Operation Matador. How's it going?
CHILCOTE: Well, it hasn't been a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. The U.S. military saying that already at least five Marines have been killed in the Anbar province. That's in the west of Iraq. We are now in day five of that operation. They are saying that it is proceeding quite well. However, they say they have killed some 100 insurgents among the many foreign fighters.
The whole idea of the operation is try and stem the flow of foreign fighters and weapons that are coming in to some of Iraqi's larger cities like Baghdad to try and prevent what we're seeing today in the Iraqi capital. But there have been setbacks.
An embedded reporter from "The Washington Post" wrote a very interesting article today, talking about some of the sacrifices those Marine units are making there on the ground, describing one platoon, that according to "The Washington Post," has lost 60 percent of its men in this operation to both casualties, both dead and wounded. So very heavy fighting there in Operation Matador, but the U.S. military says it is an ongoing operation. They are going to press ahead -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Some very tough descriptions in that article of the fighting. Ryan Chilcote for us in Baghdad this morning.
Ryan, thanks.
The Army and the FAA are investigating a fatal helicopter crash. One person died when the training flight went down near Angel Fire, New Mexico on Wednesday. The two other people onboard are injured. They're expected to recover. The Army's Pave (ph) Hawk, a modified version of the Blackhawk, was based at Kirkland Air Force base in Albuquerque.
HEMMER: Well, 19 minutes now past the hours.
Talking about this story all week about this court deciding that United could dump its pension plans. Here's come the other side of the story now. Some workers there are not taking it lying down, fighting back, in fact.
Andy's "Minding Your Business," get to that story in a moment here, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Still talking about this pilot yesterday. More on that in a moment here.
In the meantime, there is rage in Chicago. Employees taking off in the wake of this airline pension story. We talked about it yesterday with United Airlines. People are not happy. To be expected, too. Andy's watching that, "Minding Your Business." What are they saying?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Well, a day after United Airlines was allowed by a judge to scrap its retirement plans, union representatives were out in full force, demonstrating in Chicago outside of the trial. And they are plenty angry. You can see here some of the signs. We can see here, Machinist president Randy Canalli (ph) and Sara Nelson De La Cruz (ph). She's the spokesperson, to the right. And interesting, her t-shirt says "Chao." And that stands for "Create Havoc Around Our System." And she's suggesting that there might be wild cat strikes coming up.
Obviously, the unions are very, very, angry, particularly since inside the courtroom, United is now seeking to cut benefits in pay and fire current workers, in addition to scrapping its retirement plan. Yesterday, the company also announced $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter. It has lost money every single year this decade, including $5.8 billion since it went into bankruptcy in 2002.
Another airline story, Delta Airlines. We talked about them, as well, yesterday, suggesting they might have to file bankruptcy. The stock dipped to a 32-year low. 32 -- that's 1973. And so this company is also in serious trouble. And we keep talking about this and nothing happens. Eventually, one of these big carriers, I think, is going to have to shut down.
HEMMER: When was the last time this sector had good news?
SERWER: Well, in the late '90s, they made a ton of money. They made billions of dollars in the late '90s, and then, very quickly, the economy turned south and then you had 9/11. And since then, it's been terrible.
HEMMER: Again today. Thanks, Andy.
O'BRIEN: You have to wonder, though. If you have strikes or if you create chaos, I mean, that, at the end, often comes back to hurt the employees, too. I mean, it really is...
SERWER: Well, it's a can't win situation for all parties, pretty much, at this point.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk a little bit about the "Question of the Day." Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Good morning. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote today on John Bolton's nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The vote was delayed for three weeks after questions arose about Bolton's, quote, "interpersonal skills" during his time at the State Department. As the undersecretary for arms control, even former Secretary of State Colin Powell weighed in with reservations about Bolton, describing him as "an intelligent but problematic government official who treated State Department subordinates harshly."
Treated government employee harshly? For shame! Having sharp elbows is a prerequisite for surviving in the Washington political world. But the hand-wringers worry that Bolton's aggressive style may ruffle the delicate diplomatic sensibilities of the august oil-for- food bunch over there on the East River.
Here's the question: Is John Bolton the right person to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.?
HEMMER: Well, we'll find out today, huh.
SERWER: I like that. The august oil-for-food bunch.
CAFFERTY: Isn't that what they are?
O'BRIEN: That's one description.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Not to get off topic here, but why isn't this pilot in front of a judge today?
SERWER: I don't know, but he should be.
CAFFERTY: I mean, he's lucky he's anywhere today. He's lucky he wasn't blown out of the sky.
SERWER: Is he going to continue to be able to be a flight instructor?
O'BRIEN: There are some issues...
SERWER: Is he going to keep his job?
O'BRIEN: There's all sorts of things.
SERWER: He should lose his job. I mean...
HEMMER: Well, Alina's suggesting that there could be some civil penalties on board. I don't know what those are.
CAFFERTY: Wonder if the small plane the size of a Cessna-150 was full of anthrax and got over that part of the country and dumped it out the window. Or radioactive something or others. I mean, at least this guy, the flight instructor, ought to lose his license for being stupid.
HEMMER: I'm told that every pilot in a plane knows what's restricted airspace around Washington and what's not.
CAFFERTY: But can't you look out the window and recognize the Capitol? I mean, or Washington monument? It's not like these are -- look like condominiums in Queens.
SERWER: People on Wall Street get banned for life. You know, I mean, that happens all the time.
HEMMER: Well, here, they weren't using instruments. They were flying by sight. On a day like yesterday, you could, too, because sunny, clear skies.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Capitol, no go. White House, no go.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: Questions continue.
CAFFERTY: I wonder what the price tag was to the taxpayers for that little disaster.
HEMMER: 35,000 people evacuated.
CAFFERTY: Yes, but, I mean, how much did that cost, to whisk everybody off to their secure bunkers and empty the buildings and do all the stuff they had to do?
HEMMER: Inquiring minds want to know. Thank you, Jack. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Soledad. And thanks to...
CAFFERTY: By the way, I think they should confirm Bolton immediately and send him over there to the U.N. It would be good for those guys.
HEMMER: We'll see. Thank you, Jack.
3,000 years after he died, a new look for Egypt's most celebrated mummy. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 12, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. The fallout this morning from that frantic scramble in Washington. There are questions again today about airspace security and whether or not this is the right way to respond.
Also, a suspected car thief barrelling through Southern California at 100 miles an hour. That high-speed chase with a deadly end.
And a car bomb exploding near a busy Baghdad market again today. At least 12 are dead, wounding many more. A live report from Iraq on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.
There's a big wakeup call in Washington D.C. this morning with officials asking just what did we learn from the private plane that basically sent Washington into a frenzy yesterday.
HEMMER: Caused a whole lot of panic, too. Reports this morning. Suzanne Malveaux is back at the scene there at the White House. That was One of the number of places evacuated yesterday.
Alina Cho this morning telling us more about the pilot who made the mistake, and what happens to him. Both live reports just moments away. Wow, What a day it was.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty, good morning to you.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It was flight instructor in that airplane.
O'BRIEN: A little concern, yes.
CAFFERTY: A guy who teaches flying to other people. That's encouraging. Did we get the name of that flight school? Because if I ever want to get a pilot's license, I ain't going there.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to vote on the nomination of John Bolton to be the next U.N. ambassador. I think it's great. And they just won't know how to react to this guy if he gets confirmed, and it looks like maybe he will. We'll take a look whether he's the right guy for the job. O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.
Well, the questions this morning are, just how well did security react to an unauthorized plane flying towards Washington. Are changes needed? That's our CNN Security Watch this morning. The system was tested on Wednesday, when a small plane crossed into the restricted airspace around Washington D.C. Within minutes, fighter jets were scrambled and a Blackhawk helicopter dispatched. Threat-level alerts were raised at the White House and the Capitol. Thousands of workers were evacuated. Some officials were taken to secure locations. Twenty minutes after it was discovered, the plane was being escorted to an airport in Frederick, Maryland. The pilot questioned, then released.
Susan Malveaux was at the White House when the alert began. She's there now as well this morning.
Hey, Suzanne, good morning to you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about what happened. What kind of concerns were raised by yesterday's scare?
MALVEAUX: Soledad, I spoke with White House officials, as well as Secret Service officials. They say that everything went according to plan, but even the press secretary here said they're going to do a thorough examination of what worked and what needs to be improved.
Now one important follow-up question of course today is the president's role in all of this. He was away, about 16 miles away from the White House, when all of this unfolded on a bike ride. We learned late in the day that he was not notified about the security scare until after the bike ride, after essentially it was all over.
Now Scott McClellan, the press secretary here at the White House, said that is because the president was never in any danger. There were steps that were taken to either evacuate and make sure that people were safe here at the White House, and that it never came to the point of actually having to execute an order of shooting down that plane, and also there was no presidential authority that was required to do that.
But that is one question that's going to come up. A lot of people think that it is quite unbelievable that the president wasn't notified until after the fact -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: With all of those things, is it being considered a successful response, or not?
MALVEAUX: Well, there's emergency notification system that's here at the White House. It's an internal system. It was set up right after the September 11th attacks. Essentially, they are boxes that are supposed to emit some tones, transmit tones and messages. One example, emergency, evacuate, evacuate. Some colleagues who were in their basement offices, others who were in the dining area, ate their lunch, never heard these warnings; they never went off. That is one thing that is going to come up as well. They're going to look at that internal system. Why was it that they didn't hear those kinds of tones, those kinds of messages that were supposed to be transmitted in a case such as yesterday.
Overall, they say, of course, it was a success. They got people out in a quickly, orderly fashion. But again, Soledad, there were some aspects of the system that just were not up to snuff.
O'BRIEN: And just some of the questions, the many questions, being asked today. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us. Suzanne, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Now get this, the pilots, Jim Scheaffer and Troy Martin have not been charged with a thing, despite 35,000 people being evacuated. They flew out of Smoketown, Pennsylvania Wednesday morning, got lost en route to Raleigh, North Carolina. They were on a straight line to D.C. before they were forced to land in the state of Maryland.
Alina Cho is live in Smoketown where the whole incident took off yesterday.
Good morning there, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. That's exactly right. To give you an idea where we are this morning, we are in the middle of Amish country. This is a very small airport, just one runway and no control tower. There could be as little as five takeoffs and landings in any given day. Pilots here generally come and go as they please, and it appears that's exactly what happened yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): A beautiful clear day, a mid-morning takeoff. The two men, friends say, were headed to an air show in North Carolina.
PHIL BOYER, AIRCRAFT OWNER, PILOTS ASSN.: They obviously then didn't plot their course on the map properly. A straight line between those two points takes you right by the Capitol.
CHO: The men took off in their Cessna 150 from this single- runway airport in Smoketown, Pennsylvania.
Mel Glick is the airport's owner.
MEL GLICK, OWNER, SMOKETOWN AIRPORT: Out in the country here, you can fly anywhere you want to any time you want to pretty much, as long as the weather is good enough, and you don't have to report in to anyone.
CHO: The men were identified as pilot Jim Scheaffer, a retired trucker, and student pilot Troy Martin, a 35-year-old father.
Mel Martin says this was his son's first cross-country flight.
MEL MARTIN, FATHER OF PILOT: When I heard it come across the news, I never even thought that it was him. And then even they said, two pilots from Smoketown, and so I was going to call his wife and say, hey, there's going to be excitement in Smoketown because somebody from Smoketown, you know, got into the no-fly area, never thinking it was my son. And then I called my wife to tell her, and she says, "It was Troy!"
CHO: The FBI and Secret Service detained and questioned the two men, and then released them, calling the incident a mistake. Glick, who says he knows the men, says he was questioned, too.
GLICK: Local police, state police, FBI, Secret Service and news people, lots of news people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And you can imagine this is very big news here. Smoketown is just population 119. Now as for the pilots, again, they will not face any criminal charges, but they could face civil action. And, Bill, Jim Scheaffer, the pilot, could have his pilot's license either suspended or revoked.
HEMMER: He's going to have a lot of questions when he gets back to town, don't you think?
Alina Cho, live in Smoketown, Pennsylvania this morning.
At the half hour, we'll talk with an Air Force colonel about the rules and the conditions for shooting down a threatening plane. That was a consideration yesterday.
And stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. More on this as we go through the morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's take you to Los Angeles now, a disturbing sight on live television. A suspected car thief was shot to death after a dangerous high-speed chase. A warning now, some viewers might find this videotape a little bit graphic.
Here's Peter Viles report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like he's hitting the brakes again and going into a parking lot here. OK, he's into a parking lot. He's getting out. He's starting to run. OK, shots are being fired. Shots are being fired.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began as your typical televised L.A. car chase. The car was stolen; the driver was reckless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, look at how close it was to that vehicle there. Oh my goodness, look at the high speeds. He's increasing his rate of speed.
VILES: With live television following his every move, the driver runs out of freeway, crashes and is surrounded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, we need to come out of the shot a little bit in case shots would be fired here.
VILES: But it wasn't over. The driver simply took off and lived long enough to write a new chapter of violence in a spring that has already seen this shootout in Compton on tape, and a dozen freeway shootings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just almost rear-ended that pickup truck there as he hit the brakes. And more of the tire is disintegrating there and coming apart.
VILES: The driver, now losing control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you can see a lot of passengers -- a lot of pedestrians getting in the way. OK, he's backing up.
VILES: And then he makes one last turn, the last of his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, looks like he's hitting the brakes again.
VILES: In a fast-food parking lot, he makes a run for it. You'll see his gun and you'll the first shot blow out his window. Los Angeles TV viewers saw what happened next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired, it appears. Pull out! Pull out Mike! Pull out.
VILES: The driver pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Peter Viles, CNN, Los Angeles.
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O'BRIEN: This is not the first time that L.A. television stations have broadcast deaths as they were occurring. In 1998, cameras were rolling when a man shot himself on a freeway overpass. And two years ago, five stations aired the shooting of a robbery suspect in front of a Santa Monica high school.
HEMMER: A lot of talk on that story this morning in California again today.
Nine minutes past the hour now. Rough weather in the American West yesterday. Watch this, in northwestern Utah, heavy rain turned homes into instant lakefront property. State crews were called in to pump water away from flooded homes and yards there. That was in Utah. The storm was welcome at the Snowbird Ski Resort. Here it is in May and skiers taking advantage of the late season powder. The resort got more than a foot of snow yesterday.
And in neighboring Colorado, further to the east, listen here. That same system unleashing severe thunderstorms and hail on the east central plains. A tornado watch was also in effect for many counties in that area. We're watching the system yesterday. We were warned about it and it came.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, more details on that airspace scare over Washington D.C. How close did fighter jets come to shooting down that small Cessna. A look at that's ahead.
Also from Baghdad, the suicide bomber striking a crowded market in the center of that city. A live report from the Iraqi capital and another deadly wave of violence today.
And a confession, and motive from that brutal murder of those two little girls in Zion, Illinois. Details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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HEMMER: About 15 minutes past the hour now. More on this vote today in D.C. Democrats saying they do not have the numbers to block the nomination of John Bolton to become the next U.N. ambassador to the U.N. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee now set to vote on Bolton's nomination later this morning. And for weeks Democrats have been raising questions about his temperament, saying he's too hotheaded or too unbending. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, though, telling Larry King just last night that she is confident in Bolton's qualifications.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: There are a lot of people who work for John Bolton inspired by him and who are intensely loyal to him. Ad John is hard charging, there's no doubt about that. But he has been very successful in managing people. He's very successful in his diplomacy. I expect when John leads the mission at the U.N., that he's going to do it in a way that is respectful of the people that work for him, and that he'll get the best out of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: If John Bolton passes that committee, it goes a full Senate for a vote, and we'll have more on this with Jack in a few moments here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In northwest Iraq, two marines killed overnight in the major offensive known as Operation Matador, which is now in its fifth day. And the deadly violence goes on in other parts of the country as well.
Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad.
Ryan, let's start with some violence in Baghdad today, some explosions. Give me a sense who's responsible for this, do we know?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no one's claimed responsibility, but we are seeing a continuation of violence. Both bombing attacks involving car bombs, both of them again detonated by suicide bombers. We start in the east of Baghdad. That's where the first attack came, a suicide bomber driving his car into the middle of a busy intersection, blowing himself up, not clear who the target was there. There was a movie theater there. There was a mosque at that intersection, and there was a busy marketplace.
The Iraqi police say it was a lethal attack, killing at least 12 Iraqis, wounding 56 more. And then on the other side of Baghdad, in western Baghdad, another suicide bomber, again using a car, this time, according to the Iraqi police, trying to target a U.S. military patrol that was moving going through that area. Not clear if there were any U.S. casualties. But again, Iraqi police saying that Iraqis suffered from that attack, saying that at least five Iraqi bystanders were wounded in that attack -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ryan, day five now of Operation Matador. How's it going?
CHILCOTE: Well, it hasn't been a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. The U.S. military saying that already at least five Marines have been killed in the Anbar province. That's in the west of Iraq. We are now in day five of that operation. They are saying that it is proceeding quite well. However, they say they have killed some 100 insurgents among the many foreign fighters.
The whole idea of the operation is try and stem the flow of foreign fighters and weapons that are coming in to some of Iraqi's larger cities like Baghdad to try and prevent what we're seeing today in the Iraqi capital. But there have been setbacks.
An embedded reporter from "The Washington Post" wrote a very interesting article today, talking about some of the sacrifices those Marine units are making there on the ground, describing one platoon, that according to "The Washington Post," has lost 60 percent of its men in this operation to both casualties, both dead and wounded. So very heavy fighting there in Operation Matador, but the U.S. military says it is an ongoing operation. They are going to press ahead -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Some very tough descriptions in that article of the fighting. Ryan Chilcote for us in Baghdad this morning.
Ryan, thanks.
The Army and the FAA are investigating a fatal helicopter crash. One person died when the training flight went down near Angel Fire, New Mexico on Wednesday. The two other people onboard are injured. They're expected to recover. The Army's Pave (ph) Hawk, a modified version of the Blackhawk, was based at Kirkland Air Force base in Albuquerque.
HEMMER: Well, 19 minutes now past the hours.
Talking about this story all week about this court deciding that United could dump its pension plans. Here's come the other side of the story now. Some workers there are not taking it lying down, fighting back, in fact.
Andy's "Minding Your Business," get to that story in a moment here, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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HEMMER: Still talking about this pilot yesterday. More on that in a moment here.
In the meantime, there is rage in Chicago. Employees taking off in the wake of this airline pension story. We talked about it yesterday with United Airlines. People are not happy. To be expected, too. Andy's watching that, "Minding Your Business." What are they saying?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Well, a day after United Airlines was allowed by a judge to scrap its retirement plans, union representatives were out in full force, demonstrating in Chicago outside of the trial. And they are plenty angry. You can see here some of the signs. We can see here, Machinist president Randy Canalli (ph) and Sara Nelson De La Cruz (ph). She's the spokesperson, to the right. And interesting, her t-shirt says "Chao." And that stands for "Create Havoc Around Our System." And she's suggesting that there might be wild cat strikes coming up.
Obviously, the unions are very, very, angry, particularly since inside the courtroom, United is now seeking to cut benefits in pay and fire current workers, in addition to scrapping its retirement plan. Yesterday, the company also announced $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter. It has lost money every single year this decade, including $5.8 billion since it went into bankruptcy in 2002.
Another airline story, Delta Airlines. We talked about them, as well, yesterday, suggesting they might have to file bankruptcy. The stock dipped to a 32-year low. 32 -- that's 1973. And so this company is also in serious trouble. And we keep talking about this and nothing happens. Eventually, one of these big carriers, I think, is going to have to shut down.
HEMMER: When was the last time this sector had good news?
SERWER: Well, in the late '90s, they made a ton of money. They made billions of dollars in the late '90s, and then, very quickly, the economy turned south and then you had 9/11. And since then, it's been terrible.
HEMMER: Again today. Thanks, Andy.
O'BRIEN: You have to wonder, though. If you have strikes or if you create chaos, I mean, that, at the end, often comes back to hurt the employees, too. I mean, it really is...
SERWER: Well, it's a can't win situation for all parties, pretty much, at this point.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk a little bit about the "Question of the Day." Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Good morning. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote today on John Bolton's nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The vote was delayed for three weeks after questions arose about Bolton's, quote, "interpersonal skills" during his time at the State Department. As the undersecretary for arms control, even former Secretary of State Colin Powell weighed in with reservations about Bolton, describing him as "an intelligent but problematic government official who treated State Department subordinates harshly."
Treated government employee harshly? For shame! Having sharp elbows is a prerequisite for surviving in the Washington political world. But the hand-wringers worry that Bolton's aggressive style may ruffle the delicate diplomatic sensibilities of the august oil-for- food bunch over there on the East River.
Here's the question: Is John Bolton the right person to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.?
HEMMER: Well, we'll find out today, huh.
SERWER: I like that. The august oil-for-food bunch.
CAFFERTY: Isn't that what they are?
O'BRIEN: That's one description.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Not to get off topic here, but why isn't this pilot in front of a judge today?
SERWER: I don't know, but he should be.
CAFFERTY: I mean, he's lucky he's anywhere today. He's lucky he wasn't blown out of the sky.
SERWER: Is he going to continue to be able to be a flight instructor?
O'BRIEN: There are some issues...
SERWER: Is he going to keep his job?
O'BRIEN: There's all sorts of things.
SERWER: He should lose his job. I mean...
HEMMER: Well, Alina's suggesting that there could be some civil penalties on board. I don't know what those are.
CAFFERTY: Wonder if the small plane the size of a Cessna-150 was full of anthrax and got over that part of the country and dumped it out the window. Or radioactive something or others. I mean, at least this guy, the flight instructor, ought to lose his license for being stupid.
HEMMER: I'm told that every pilot in a plane knows what's restricted airspace around Washington and what's not.
CAFFERTY: But can't you look out the window and recognize the Capitol? I mean, or Washington monument? It's not like these are -- look like condominiums in Queens.
SERWER: People on Wall Street get banned for life. You know, I mean, that happens all the time.
HEMMER: Well, here, they weren't using instruments. They were flying by sight. On a day like yesterday, you could, too, because sunny, clear skies.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Capitol, no go. White House, no go.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: Questions continue.
CAFFERTY: I wonder what the price tag was to the taxpayers for that little disaster.
HEMMER: 35,000 people evacuated.
CAFFERTY: Yes, but, I mean, how much did that cost, to whisk everybody off to their secure bunkers and empty the buildings and do all the stuff they had to do?
HEMMER: Inquiring minds want to know. Thank you, Jack. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Soledad. And thanks to...
CAFFERTY: By the way, I think they should confirm Bolton immediately and send him over there to the U.N. It would be good for those guys.
HEMMER: We'll see. Thank you, Jack.
3,000 years after he died, a new look for Egypt's most celebrated mummy. Back in a moment.
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