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American Morning

Investigation Into Southwest Airlines Accident Under Way; Snowy Day in the East; "Extra Effort"

Aired December 09, 2005 - 8:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.
A developing story this morning out of Chicago. What caused this plane to skid off a runway and into traffic? The investigation is under way. We'll take you live to the scene.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad this morning.

A snowy day in the East. Winter weather promises to snarl traffic both in the air and on the ground. We've got your forecast ahead.

O'BRIEN: And DNA evidence sets a man free after nearly 25 years in prison. He'll be here live to tell us his incredible story ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: Oh happy Friday to you. I know it's snowing outside, and I know it snowed in the Midwest yesterday, but it's Friday.

O'BRIEN: There are thousands of children cheering as we speak.

We begin, however, with the bad consequences of bad weather. The head of Southwest Airlines has just finished a news conference about that crash at Chicago's Midway Airport.

Investigators are on the ground now, the federal team, NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board, and of course weather will be on the top of the list among the factors they'll be looking at. It was snowing heavily when the 737 skidded off the runway last night.

The plane broke through some barriers right on to city streets. As you can see, Midway Airport is hemmed in by neighborhoods there.

No margin for error there. And a short runway, to boot. Two cars were crushed, and a 6-year-old boy was killed as a result.

Sean Callebs live at the airport this morning, where dawn has broken and the investigation is under way.

Sean, good morning.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

The investigation is under way, FAA, NTSB here. You talked about the CEO of Southwest Airlines. A short time ago he said what pretty much everybody here has been saying, it is too early to say exactly what caused this accident.

He did say, however, that the pilot has the final authority whether or not to make a landing. And that is important because, as you mentioned, a very short runway for an aircraft of this size, only 6,500 feet. Under the best of conditions, that aircraft needs at least 4,900 feet to land. So that's something authorities are going to be looking at.

Also, the CEO of Southwest said at the time the plane landed they have -- don't know exactly the conditions of the runway. And that is important, because it snowed about eight inches here in this area last night.

Airport officials were overburdened trying to keep the snow off of that -- off of that runway throughout the evening. And eyewitnesses also describe here in this residential area what it was like when that aircraft just came landing down, crashing through the fence, and then out on to the middle of the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL ZEPATA, WITNESS: When I came over here and I seen the lights on top of the plane and I looked, I was right here on this corner, and the nose had came out of the barrier of the airport around, and right away the airplane from the front had went down because the wheel had broken off. And from there, I turned around and I ran, like, a half a block down because I thought it was going to come after me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: There was also somewhat of a tailwind, about seven knots, at the time that that aircraft coming in from Baltimore landed.

Now, let's set the scene a little bit here as well. We know that O'Hare had to cancel more than 400 flights yesterday. The situation pretty much the same here at Midway. A lot of flights were canceled, a lot were delayed. We know this aircraft was delayed at least 30 minutes before it was able to land.

So they're probably also going to look to see if there was a certain degree of, all right, let's get this plane on the ground as quickly as we can -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sean Callebs. It sounds like a freight train there. We're going to let you go, and we'll get back to you in a little bit -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That storm that caused so much trouble in the Midwest now dumping a whole lot of snow here in the East.

CNN's Chris Huntington joins us live from a truck stop in New Jersey near Secaucus.

And you know I always like to give you an update on what the temperature is, Chris. So right now it's about 26 degrees, and the wind-chill factor is better, at 22 degree. But keep in mind that in St. Louis this morning it's six degrees. So you really can't complain.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cannot complain, Carol. It is, in some respects, a lovely day out here. But of course if you have to get somewhere quickly today, it is not.

Things are moving slowly. We're right alongside the New Jersey Turnpike, of course one of the major, major arteries up and down this section of the East Coast, where essentially an equal distance between the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan and the Holland Tunnel, two of the major commuter routes into the city. Guaranteed that there are backups there.

The official speed limit set up and down the full length of the New Jersey Turnpike today now 35 miles per hour. Usual cruising speed even in the slow lane on this road is 70. So things are definitely moving slowly.

Plows, salt spreaders out, as you would expect. The folks around here are ready to handle this.

The biggest problems in the area right here around the greater New York metropolitan area, the airports. Major, major delays, as you would expect in weather like this. Newark Airport, more than an hour and a half.

The shuttles, northeast shuttles, both US Air and Delta out of LaGuardia, major delays, some cancellations there as well.

Overall, though, the situation, it's a Friday. So a lot of folks perhaps take the cue from the school closings and treating this as the beginning of a three-day weekend.

It could be worse. The snow is expected to finish later this afternoon. Accumulations right here in Secaucus, maybe three to six inches. You go further inland and a little bit north, 10 inches to a foot.

All in all, not the worst thing that could happen. It is, after all, December in the Northeast. Snowfall of this magnitude this early in the season is a little bit rare.

One of the considerations, of course, for all the cities and towns around here is their snow removal budget, which if they have to start, you know, using up manpower and supplies this early in the season, that becomes another issue.

As far as budget concerns here at CNN, I think I have a solution, though, that just might save a little money here. We've got our intern, Bob. Intrepid intern, Bob, is just sort of willing to hang out here. And we can rig him up to do live shots all day long.

So I'm just going to turn it over to Bob and you'll be talking to Bob from now on.

See you, guys.

COSTELLO: It's sort of like the story of Frosty the Snowman. You expect him to come to life at any moment.

O'BRIEN: What is it, a little magic dust? What do they sprinkle on Frosty's head?

COSTELLO: Yes, we need some of that magic dust, don't we?

O'BRIEN: If we had the magic dust.

COSTELLO: Darn!

O'BRIEN: We could...

COSTELLO: Yes. Thanks very much, Chris Huntington, and Frosty.

Bonnie Schneider is at the weather center. She's taking a closer look at the storm.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: If you have a loved one overseas deployed in Iraq, this is something you'll want to hear about. Here's Kelly Wallace with that -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: You're exactly right, Miles. Some good news for some families of the U.S. troops in Iraq, because thousands of the troops could soon be coming home for the holidays.

That is the word from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who says he expects violence in Iraq to taper off after next week's elections. That could free up 20,000 troops after December 15. Secretary Rumsfeld also hinted that some of the remaining 137,000 forces could begin pulling out next year, but only, he stressed, if conditions permit.

The White House is apparently backing the air marshals after Wednesday's shooting at Miami's International Airport. The undercover marshals shot to death a passenger who was heard by some to say he had a bomb. That also according to a spokesman with the Federal Air Marshal Service.

Now, White House spokesman Scott McClellan have said the two air marshals appear to have acted properly. An investigation is now under way.

The man killed was 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar. His wife says Alpizar had bipolar disorder and he had not taken his medication.

To the bird flu now and some dire warnings about the economic risks. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says a pandemic could deliver a $675 billion hit to the U.S. economy, triggering a recession. Senator Frist says it all would start with mass hysteria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Normal life stops. The churches close, the schools are shut, communications and transportation grinds to a halt. The public succumbs to hysteria and panic, police protection fails, order decays, productivity falls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And Senator Frist's comments coming as there are reports of a second bird flu fatality in recent months. This one, a 5-year-old boy in Thailand.

And today, you know, it is certainly snowing in New York's Central Park, but it was quite a different scene Thursday night. Thousands poured out to the site known as Strawberry Fields to honor John Lennon. Thursday, as we had been mentioning all day yesterday, was the 25th anniversary of his death.

Hundreds of fans lit candles at 10:50 p.m., the exact moment he was shot, and sang songs to pay tribute to the former Beatle. Among them, a rare public appearance from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono. She was escorted to the site by police and bodyguards and put down a bouquet of flowers and then left.

You know, I passed by there last night on my way home from work. It was packed.

O'BRIEN: Wow.

WALLACE: Packed along Central Park, in front of The Dakota, and also, of course, at Strawberry Fields.

COSTELLO: How nice that Yoko Ono made an appearance, though. I mean, the fans had to love that.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: And what a tough thing for her.

O'BRIEN: You know, the problem is, there was such a press to be near her, it was difficult to make it a dignified thing. But it was good that she was there. You know?

COSTELLO: Yes. Nice touch.

O'BRIEN: Wouldn't that have been nice to be there at that moment?

Let's go back to Iraq now.

It's now less than one week before those parliamentary elections that we've been telling you an awful lot about. CNN correspondents covering Iraq are looking back at the 1,000 days leading up to the election. It's been a thousand days now.

Nic Robertson tells us about a man helping build Iraq's economic future. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see? All these -- all these areas are new. You see, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All new houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all new.

ROBERTSON: Gasam al-Alvin (ph) is a Kurdish businessman who I met a couple of years ago. He moved to the north, up into the Kurdish-controlled area, which is where he's from, and went back to his hometown, went to the mayor there, found some green field (ph) sites, had some ideas for factories, and started building those factories.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is about 8,000 meters, you know. So we're working hard.

ROBERTSON: He was going back to his hometown and employing people in his hometown. And this particular town had been -- had been very seriously and badly abused by Saddam Hussein's forces. It was one of those towns that is always seen at the sort of the heart of the Kurdish resistance, and that's why Saddam's forces always went in there harder (ph).

Gasam (ph), being a Kurd, and going back to his roots, really showed that the north, that the north of the country, the Kurdish- controlled part of the country, was an area where business could be done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my opinion, Kurdistan will be like the Silicon Valley for all industries of Iraq. Kurdistan is the gateway to Iraq.

ROBERTSON: Gasam (ph) was really optimistic about what could be done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than two weeks, yes, we will start.

ROBERTSON: He's still optimistic. It's a little more guarded than it was before. When he travels around the country now, he will fly to Baghdad rather than drive, just because of the dangers.

He hopes to lead by example, that by investing in the country you can boost and help the economy in your area. And many people will agree that part of the problems here would go away if people had enough money in their pockets. They perhaps wouldn't turn to the violence and the numbers that they are so far.

For Gasam (ph) it's not just personal gain, though. It's personal pride, it's professional pride. There are many, many things at play here for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: And I neglected to tell you this, just a small part of a fascinating special. The full special, CNN PRESENTS: 1,000 Days in Iraq, airs Sunday at 8:0 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't miss that one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, you know you're in for sky-high heating bills this winter, but is the government doing anything to help you? We're going to talk to the U.S. secretary of energy, and we will ask him that question.

O'BRIEN: Also, new criticism of FEMA's efforts in the aftermath of Katrina, but also in the run-up to Katrina. This time it comes from inside, and it's an interesting series of e-mails we'll share with you.

COSTELLO: Also up next, a man in prison for crimes he did not commit tastes freedom for the first time in 24 years, you know, since Ronald Reagan was president. Unbelievable.

We're going to ask him about the evidence that finally set him free and what he plans to do next.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Take a look at that traffic. It's going to be a nasty today, because it's nasty outside. And, you know what I've been thinking all morning? People are going to the airport this morning, and the weather is very similar in the Northeast as to what it was in Chicago yesterday, when that plane skidded off the runway and possibly landed when it shouldn't have. I mean, that would be going through my mind if I were flying this morning.

O'BRIEN: Well, there are so many things to consider here.

First of all, if we can show you some pictures from last night which were fed in as this occurred, this happened I guess a little after 10:00 Eastern Time, 9:00 local. These -- it's hard to tell there, but there you go. See, heavy snowfall there, visibility was not so good, about a quarter mile of visibility.

The runway visual range, which is a key indication of how far the pilots can see horizontally down the runway, it was only about 4,000 feet, 4,500 feet. That's right on the edge of what you can do acceptably.

OK. So that's -- you know, they're coming in with, you know, kind of bad weather situation into an airport with a 6,500-foot runway. Let's show you the Google map here.

I want to just -- before we zoom in, Ted, let people just see here -- oh, stop for one second, if you could. Look at the perimeter of this airport.

COSTELLO: Wow.

O'BRIEN: There is just -- it's just surrounded, hemmed in on all sides by neighborhoods and buildings.

Now, this is the runway we're going to go down to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

O'BRIEN: 310 degree, which means you're heading into the northwest. And as you go down, let's move down the runway a little bit, Ted, right to about there. Stop.

The instrument system, the instrument landing system, which they would have been using because they couldn't see out the window, right, to land, takes you right to this spot right there. Now, you notice (INAUDIBLE) about a thousand feet down the runway before you get to that touchdown zone.

You have a 6,500 foot runway. There's about a thousand feet that are sort of not used in the case of these instrument landing systems, and so you had about -- from there to there, you had about 4,900 feet.

On a great day with everything good and the winds just right, this plane needs 4,500 feet. But it was a snow-slicked runway.

So let's move down the runway again and we'll show you the other problem at the other end of the runway here.

This, because it's so hemmed in, has very little overrun. This is the overrun area here. Not much to speak of at all.

And then before you know it, about 280 feet later, you are, you know, on a highway. And that is, of course, where the plane met the traffic and that's where the fatality occurred.

COSTELLO: Well, let me -- let me ask you a question then. If all of that is true, and that maybe the pilot shouldn't have landed because the runway was slick and the visibility was low, who makes that decision? Is it the pilot? Is it the air traffic controllers?

O'BRIEN: Always the pilot. The pilot in command is the pilot in command.

It's like a ship at sea almost, you know? You have absolute authority in these things.

Air traffic control issues advisories, pilots make the decision, always. Take a look at this other graphic. I just want to show you this.

This is preliminary stuff, and I'll give it to you with a grain of salt. This is from the preliminary radar track that we found on the Web this morning. There are also flight trackers out there that provide us this kind of data.

And this is the airplane. These are -- this is the altitude, 3,400 feet, down to 1,700 feet, which is an important altitude because that's where you would home in on that radio beacon which would take you down to the runway.

Look at the speeds that we've gotten. And it is -- this is not verified yet. So this is early stuff, so take this with a grain of salt. But this is the kind of thing the NTSB is doing right now -- 250 miles an hour at 3,400 feet.

Actually, these are -- figures are knots, so it would be a little faster, 165 knots, 204. Why was he -- he shouldn't have been speeding up there necessarily.

OK. Now, that's a good speed for an approach right there, 146 knots, 1,700 feet. He's in good shape there.

This last one is the most troubling one to me -- 180 knots at 1,700 feet on the final approach. That's too fast. Now, if that is a good piece of data, if in fact the plane was going that fast, the NTSB has an important piece of this puzzle.

COSTELLO: Well, and they'll figure it out, because they are amazing.

O'BRIEN: Well, and the crew's -- the crew's there to tell you. And there's cockpit voice recorders, there's flight data recorders, and a crew that can tell you what happened.

COSTELLO: All kinds of stuff.

Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the art of survival. Victims of domestic violence finding creative ways to get past the pain. "Extra Effort" next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In this week's "Extra Effort," a Massachusetts woman going the extra mile to help survivors of domestic abuse. As CNN's Dan Lothian tells us, she offers a creative escape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Inside this small studio, art is not only imitating life, but also helping to change it. Women who have suffered from domestic violence are using paint, clay or paper to erase the pain of the past.

DEBORAH MOULES, SURVIVOR ART FOR EMPOWERMENT: It was a leap of faith on my part. You know? Just this is something that I knew would work. I was very passionate about it.

LOTHIAN: Deborah Moules opened her heart and a studio north of Boston to give these women and others who have experienced trauma a safe place to heal. She calls it Survivor Art for Empowerment.

MOULES: They allow themselves the time to do something that makes them feel good about themselves. LOTHIAN: For obvious reasons, all of the women wanted to conceal their identities. But some were only too willing to share their stories.

Melissa says her abusive relationship robbed her of her creativity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes I'd miss my creativity more than my safety, which is weird.

LOTHIAN: She hopes this program will help her get it back and more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Surging forward and trying to gain my self- confidence, my strength, and believing in myself.

LOTHIAN: Another woman, Nancy, created this picture during her darkest moments. She calls it Despair.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really didn't think I could do anything. And these pictures would emerge that were really quite amazing to me. And it was feelings and experiences that were inside me.

LOTHIAN: Despair surfaced again in clay, along with two other figures. Nancy looking down at her despair, then finding the strength to walk away from it. After it was fired, the last figure was damaged. While a broken head was fixed, this big crack it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought, I'm not going to glue -- I'm not going to hide that. And I actually painted it red. To me, that -- that is my life. You know? I'm moving and I'm living and I'm a bit patched and glued.

LOTHIAN: Most of the women have no experience in art.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm trying to not get air bubbles in it, like I have here.

LOTHIAN: But Moules helps guide the way in more ways than one.

(on camera): These sessions offer more than just art. As these women work on their projects, they talk about their personal lives, the highs and the lows. Sometimes there are tears.

MOULES: It's really the people, the other women in the group that support one another and help one another.

LOTHIAN (voice over): She and some part-time therapists also offer emotional support, a once-a-week escape where women who have endured so much can take it out on art or simply create something to make them smile.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Ipswich, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The safe studio also helps children who are victims of domestic violence.

O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, more on those sky-high heating bills we've been telling you all about and which you might be seeing already. Money will be very tight for a lot of folks this winter. So how can the government help out?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Wow. Good work on the control room on that one.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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