Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Accident at LaGuardia; Snow Strands Drivers

Aired March 05, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Ana Cabrera. More now on our breaking news.

Severe winter weather wreaking havoc all across the eastern half of the country. We're talking snow, ice, rain all causing two major travel nightmares right now. On the left side of your screen, a Delta jet skidding off the runway at LaGuardia Airport and now parts of the airport closed until tonight. There on the right side of your screen, you're seeing hundreds of drivers stranded on highways. This is in Kentucky. I'll speak live with someone who has been trapped for more than 14 hours.

But first, to that Delta Airlines jet, an MD-88, that skidded off the runway. And harrowing end to a flight from Atlanta. Shaken passengers, they were forced to evacuate using the emergency exits. And look how close this plane is to the water. Listen to one of those passengers who was relieved to have escaped unscathed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just survived this. Thank you, New York for being -- having such (EXPLETIVE DELETED) weather! We almost all got freaking killed landing on the damn tarmac.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: New York is being clobbered by snow and freezing fog. Our Miguel Marquez is at LaGuardia now. Also with us, CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, joining us from South Carolina.

I want to start with you, Miguel. What have you learned about injuries?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, at least some good news. The fire department is saying that 24 people were injured and the Port Authority just saying that two were transported, the fire department saying that three were transported to the hospital. But from what we know, that all of these injuries are relatively minor, neck and back injuries from that plane as it landed here at LaGuardia.

It is amazing to see those pictures of that plane and that nobody was injured in any serious way. Literally, the front nose gear of that plane, ripped off. The nose cone rip off. The cockpit of the plane hanging out over that berm, over Flushing Bay. Any further, any more force and it could have gone -- been much, much worse.

Everybody was able to escape out the right side of that plane. As fire engines and emergency crews attacked the left side of that plane because of a fuel leak. As much as a thousand gallons of fuel may have leaked out of there. The Port Authority saying that they were experiencing a leak of about a gallon a minute. They were able to finally contain it. And now they are trying to figure out how to move that plane out so they can get it off the runway and get runway 13 open again.

A little bit of good news as well for travelers here. The entire airport was shut down until 7:00 p.m. tonight. But now it appears that the outbound runway is now open from right now on says Port Authority. And literally just after they announced it, I checked the American signs here and already flights started to pop up after 2:00 p.m. for the outbound. Inbound still cancelled across the board. Hundreds of people in line here at the American terminal. At the Delta terminal I'm sure it is just as bad. But all of that confusion, all of that heartache today and, fortunately, at least nobody serious injured.

Ana.

CABRERA: It could have been much worse, that's for sure.

Mary, I want you to listen to some audio from the tower as it's warning other flights to avoid this runway and you can also hear some momentary confusion. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delta 1086 tower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower 4-1-3, tower, call 100 - runway 1-3 is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower. Red team to go on to 1-3.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, you copy. Call 100. Runway 13 is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call (INAUDIBLE). Call 100 runway 13 is closed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), 1-3 is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Team red (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. We have an aircraft off the runway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delta 10-1999 go around. Fly, maintain 2,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1999 going around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The airport is closed. The airport is closed. We've got a 3-4.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 100, say again. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, we have an aircraft off 3-1 on the north

(INAUDIBLE). Please advise. Crash rescue. LaGuardia Airport is closed at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I mean that was all within about one minute. You can hear, at the very end, where they say we have an airplane off a runway and the airport is now closed at this moment. The control tower, Mary, I'm sure, has to be able to react with really split-second efficiency in an emergency situation like this, right?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Oh, absolutely. And, remember, there are different controllers handling different parts of the flight. And so the important thing that I heard is that they were waving off other inbound aircraft. You heard in amongst a lot of the confusion about what was on the runway and whether the airport was open or closed is that they had - they instructed the other planes in the sky to go around. That's, obviously, the first and foremost, the most important thing is not to bring anybody down when you've got a 34, in other words, an aircraft on the runway that you can't get off. So it sounds confusing, but I did hear the most important information was to keep the lives safe of others in other aircraft.

CABRERA: I want to show that picture again where you can see just how close that airplane came to the water there. And we understand, during this time, there was freezing fog. There was snow falling. And you can see snow on the ground in these pictures. Mary, do you think there's any question about whether this was a weather-related incident?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think it clearly was a weather-related incident. But, you know, there's a lot that goes into a weather-related incident. And the FAA has been studying this for years. Sadly, they spend a lot of time studying. But there are a couple of things that airports have to do.

One is airports have to relay to the air traffic control tower. So this is the airport's job to tell the tower the friction condition of the runway. The airport has to go out and measure whether the airport runways have friction, meaning when those tires touch down that they will have some contact with the runway. In other words, friction, in normal operation, that's what you want. And there are machines and there are gizmos, if you will, there are tools that they can use to do that and they provide that information.

As to whether the runways are slippery, that is breaking action. And the airport gets that from the reports of previous pilots. So, in other words, if a 757 had landed just before that and the pilot had said, I didn't get -- I got very little braking action, then the tower is advised that the pilot or the tower got this information from the pilot and then the tower passes that on and they'll say, o know, Delta Flight whatever, pervious report of a pilot nil braking action and core braking action. And so that's the two sources of information a pilot have and both come from the airport and air traffic control.

CABRERA: This was an MD-88. Does that, the type of aircraft, matter when it comes to the weather conditions?

SCHIAVO: Sure. It sure can. And it also matters with the flying skills. Now, we don't know what all was going on. For example, American Airlines, I think it was Flight 1421, June 1, 1999, in Little Rock, Arkansas, they came in a level six thunderstorm. There was standing water on the runway and they, too, got no braking action. But in that case they didn't set the spoilers, the things that help slow the aircraft down. And there are also pilot decisions to be made whether or not you use the thrust reversers on an icy runway, when you apply the brakes, how fast -- you know, you -- obviously you try to come in as slowly as possible. But there's lots of advisories out there from the government and other pilot organizations about whether or not to use the thrust reversers. So piloting skills also come into play.

CABRERA: I have more questions for you, Mary, but I want to check back in with Miguel Marquez real fast to see what's happening at the airport right now.

You mentioned, Miguel, at the very top of the hour, outbound flights were supposed to be able to get going again. Is that, indeed, the case?

MARQUEZ: They are starting to creep out of this airport. On the boards behind me here at the American terminal, they are starting to get onto the boards. And after now, after 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, they're starting to schedule them to get out of LaGuardia. All inbound flights still closed.

And on the runways I can tell you that we've spoken to two pilots. Lorenzo Ferrigno, our producer here, has spoken to two pilots who were flying smaller planes, regional jets. One that came in two hours before this incident happened. That pilot reported very slick runways at that time. Another that landed about 15 minutes before this plane crashed. He reported that it was slick, but not terrible, was able to get traction and said that unless it is plowed immediately before or if you catch it at just the right time, it can change the conditions of that runway significantly. So throughout the day here, as the temperature has dropped rapidly and as that snow has come down very hard, those plows have worked very hard to try to get that runway clear.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Miguel and Mary, stay with me. Don't go away.

I want to talk about the bigger picture, though, for a moment, because we know this storm is impacting nearly 90 million Americans with winter storm warnings and advisories in 22 states right now, from Texas to Massachusetts. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray is joining me now.

Jennifer, just how bad is it going to get?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is a big one, Ana. We have seen the effects that it has left in portions of Kentucky, as well as New York City with that slick runway. So we are looking at it continue to push to the east, but it is still going to be nasty across the mid-Atlantic and the northeast as we go into rush hour a little bit later this afternoon. It's still snowing in D.C., Baltimore, Philly, New York. Boston is just on that line. They need about two inches to break that record of the snowiest season ever. I don't think they're going to get it with this one. Of course, time to get out, though. It will still be snowing in the northeast as we go through 5:00.

And then by 7:00 to 8:00 tonight, it should be winding down in New York City, as well as D.C. and very, very cold temperatures behind it. We could set records tomorrow morning in places like Memphis and on into places in Kentucky. We're going to see possible four to six inches of snow anywhere from eastern West Virginia all the way through portions of Virginia.

We're also looking at the snowfall totals that have already fallen in Kentucky. Twenty-three inches. They broke records. We saw more snow than they have ever seen in a two-day period around that area. Also, Missouri saw about 15 inches in Kennet (ph). We also have reports of up to 14 inches in portions of Ohio.

So this is a nasty mess, Ana. It should be wrapping up a little later this evening. But like I said, very cold temperatures behind it and then a nice little warm-up as we get into next week, which will be welcomed for sure.

CABRERA: All right, Jennifer Gray, thank you. Mary and Miguel, thank you both as well.

But I want to - I want to stay with the weather story right now because we have much more on this breaking news. Coming up, hundreds of drives, in fact, are stranded on Kentucky interstates since last night. And I'll speak with one of them still sitting there right now.

Plus, folks in D.C. protesting a ban on sledding as the snow keeps coming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Snow and ice are also causing a nightmare situation in Kentucky. Absolutely gridlock on a major interstates. In fact, take a look at this stretch of I-65. Some of these drivers have been stranded in their cars or their big rigs for 12 hours or more. So since late last night. This line stretching for miles and it is not moving an inch. The National Guard has now been dispatched to rescue these stranded drivers.

Our Martin Savidge is monitoring the developments from Atlanta and joining me now.

Martin, how long before Kentucky gets out of the jam?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, a lot of people are wondering that. And, Ana, we should point out that many people listen to us on satellite radio or they watch us on social media, so they could be following us even if they're stuck in the jam.

The good news for some is that they're seeing some relief. But for many who are stuck in these snow jams, for lack of a better word, it could be a long time. Let me tell you what has happened. The hardest hit area is central Kentucky. That part got about maybe up to two feet of snow. Much of it fell in about the span of 15 hours. That's a lot over a short period of time.

It's a very hilly terrain. Those highways, primarily I-24 and I-65, they carry a lot of commercial traffic. The trucks slow down, they eventually stopped when they tried to go uphill. They caused the backup. Once the backup begins, the plows can't get through. The snow piles up and you see how it happens.

Some people are tweeting that they've had only a bottle of soft drink to share with the entire family for 18 hours. Others are in a little better circumstances because they got off the highway before the traffic jam began. But there are hundreds, if not thousands of people that are stuck. The National Guard's been activated. The governor has a state of emergency that's been declared.

They're rescuing some, taking them to warming centers. But here's the concern. If you don't get off the highway tonight and you're running low of fuel, temperatures last night were in the 20s. Tonight, single digits. That is life-threatening cold.

Again, if you're listening, there is movement. Plows are getting through. They're literally having to tow trucks one by one over the steep inclines. But if you're stuck in the middle, it may not seem like help is on the way, but they are out there, Ana.

CABRERA: I mean you talked about people being out there for 18 hours plus. What's taking so long to get these people help?

SAVIDGE: It's - you know, once the traffic gets stuck, the plows can't navigate through that traffic to try to open the roadways. And then on top of that, the trucks that would also pull them out can't get through either. One other thing. They would have yesterday - they knew the storm was coming. Usually you pre-salt, put brine down. It was raining so hard yesterday, none of those tactics could have been used. After sunset, it just started snowing like crazy.

Ana.

CABRERA: Slow going for everybody, including those rescuers. Martin, thanks for the update.

I want to go now to John Chu (ph). He is one of those unlucky drivers who was stuck in his car. He is on I-24. He's just started moving we learned. That's great news. He's joining me by phone. Jonathan, glad to hear that you are maybe getting some progress here. I understand you've been stuck there, though, since 11:30 last night?

JOHN CHU, STRANDED TRAVELER (via telephone): Yes, that's right, 11:30 last night. We are finally on the go and finally headed towards our destination. CABRERA: Did you have emergency supplies with you? I mean were you

prepared for this possibility?

CHU: Thankfully, I'm part of a music group and we're - we're on a tour right now. So we're on a tour bus. And had a little bit of better situation than some other folks that we were hearing about this morning. So, last night, all we could see were the big rigs that were around us and then later on we found that there were some cars further back, otherwise we would have probably extended some help to those people.

CABRERA: Did you just get stuck behind cars that were stuck in front of you or were you just having traction problems and that's the reason you've been stuck?

CHU: The tour bus was doing really well for quite a while. And - and the -- once we got to our - where we finally ended up stopping, the trucks in front of us were stopped and we were told through CB radio and our bus driver was saying that - that they had reported ahead that a truck had jackknifed up ahead and there was no tow trucks available until 6:00 a.m. So a lot of us just -- kind of just bunkered down and turned off the - turned off the engine and just (INAUDIBLE) while we could and get, again, we were on a bus and so we had some heat going and whatnot and just - just kind of spent the night just looking out the windows, staring at the snow, taking some pictures. That's - at least that's what I did.

CABRERA: Really? I imagine you were looking for those rescue vehicles. Are you seeing some now?

CHU: Yes, we've finally started seeing rescue vehicles early this morning. We saw search and rescue vehicles bring some supplies out to cars. And then just -- we started seeing plows early this morning going the opposite direction because our -- the way that we were headed, they were still - there was still the accident that was trying to be cleared. So a plow couldn't actually make it over and we had been told a plow had actually got stuck trying to get over to the other side. So we - we did finally see some emergency vehicles come through and some snow plows come through and saw relief at least in one direction and then finally started (INAUDIBLE) about an hour and a half ago in the direction that we were headed.

CABRERA: Ah, glad to hear it. Jonathan Chu (ph), a tip of the hat to you for maintaining that positive attitude. That does not sound like fun, that's for sure. Thank you for joining us.

More on our breaking news coming up. A plane skidding off a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport, causing a standstill of air traffic. And we just learned more about a minor fuel spill. We'll have details on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Back to our breaking news. Snow, ice, and freezing rain creating all kinds of problems along the East Coast. In the nation's capital, a winter storm warning is in effect now through tonight and I want to bring in Joe Johns, who is joining us from D.C.

Joe, tell us about the transportation nightmare brewing there.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think you can say it is a transportation nightmare, Ana. The first problem really is what you can see here, visibility. Right behind me, direct line of sight about three blocks is the United States Capitol. It's behind that statue. And you can hardly see the Capitol dome. That's the biggest problem.

In the transportation terms, you have issues of planes, trains, buses and automobiles. The planes are still running, at least the last time we heard at National Airport, though a lot of planes were not getting out. Buses between New York and Washington, D.C., pretty much have been shut down. So, there are some serious problems here. The Amtrak trains is another question. A lot of those trains moving between New York and Washington, shut down as well.

Out on the roads, a huge problem, especially out in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. A lot of accidents. People trying to over drive. The fact of the matter it, it rained all night here before this snow started just at daylight and that sort of laid down a big layer of slush, if you will. That's what people are trying to drive on. They try to drive the speed limit. There are going to be accidents, Ana.

CABRERA: And not everybody hates the snow. Some people actually enjoy it. Those sleders, skiers, snowboarders, but there's a sledding ban on Capitol Hill. Are they actually enforcing that?

JOHNS: Yes, that's a pretty funny story. There is a ban on sledding at the United States Capitol. It's been in place for the safety of the residents of Washington, D.C., as well as the security of the complex. The D.C. delegates to Congress asked the United States Capitol to lift that ban and they wouldn't do it. So when the snow started, the whole issue kind of went viral. After all, this is Washington, D.C. There's a great sledding hill over there. Capitol Hill. You started seeing things on Twitter, on FaceBook and other places. And, today, a bunch of kids just showed up and sort of challenged the ban. Listen.

Too bad. We don't have that sound. But a lot of the kids I talked to out there at the Capitol essentially told me they thought the ban on sledding at the United States Capitol is absolutely ridiculous. They didn't see why they had to follow it. And so they came out here with their parents and they're having a great time.

Ana.

CABRERA: Ban shman, I think is the word they used. Joe Johns, thank you so much for joining us. Do get warm and stay safe.

JOHNS: See you, Ana. OK.

CABRERA: More on our breaking news now. A serious situation at LaGuardia Airport. A Delta Airlines jet skidding off the runway there in New York. Shaken passengers forced to evacuate using those emergency exits. You can look at this picture and see just how close this jet got to landing in the water. In all, 24 people were hurt. Just minor injuries. Thankfully, a few neck and back injuries we're told. Only two people taken to the hospital, though. And just moments ago, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey defended its decision to let that Delta flight and others land in bad weather. Ultimately, officials say, it's up to the pilot. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT FOYE, EXEC. DIR., PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY: Well, look, the decision to allow planes to land, the decision which runway is used and which approaching (ph) is used is up to the FAA. Obviously, the Port Authority consults closely. We had the right -- our staff on -- here at LaGuardia today, given the conditions, they responded literally within a minute and the runway - that runway had been plowed literally minutes before and other pilots had reported good braking action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So that last point, as we bring in CNN's aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, I want to challenge that last point because we just are getting some new information about the runway conditions, Mary. And, in fact, we're learning that there was a pilot who landed around 9:00 this morning and, again, he mentioned the braking action, the Port Authority spokesman there. He said that the last pilot to land reported as good, his braking action. But according to this new information, the pilot just before had reported it back as poor. Now, that was around 9:00 this morning where the runway conditions are reported as poor.