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New Day

Actor Harrison Ford Crash Land Small Plane; Delta Airplane Crash Lands at LaGuardia Airport; Early Video of Terrorist Jihadi John Released; Remembering Selma's "Bloody Sunday"

Aired March 06, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actor Harrison Ford battered and bruised but very much alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He must be a very good pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did not feel the wheels take traction. I grabbed the seat in front of me and bowed my head and prayed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see gas coming out of the wing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amateur footage reveals a now famous face. Jihadi John, the executioner who was always hidden behind swaths of black clothing in ISIS videos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 50th anniversary of the historic march in Selma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I decided to go because I just thought it was the right thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. It's Friday, March 6th, just after 8:00 in the east. Alisyn Camerota is going to be joining us from the George W. Bush presidential center in Dallas. We'll get to her in just a moment second.

But first we have to tell you about the panicked passengers that went skidding off LaGuardia Airport runway coming to rest just a few steps from the icy waters.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Harrison Ford also cheating death Indiana Jones style. The legendary 72-year-old actor bruised and battered after crashing his vintage plane into a Venice, California, golf course. We have reporters on the ground on both coasts covering two very close calls, a lot of people thanking somebody for their life today. We'll start with CNN's Paul Vercammen in Venice, California. Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, you look at that plane behind me. It looks like something out of one of ford's "Indiana Jones" movies. But this was no movie stunt. Harrison Ford no doubt saving his life with the landing on a golf course.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, dude.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

VERCAMMEN: This cell phone video capturing moment just before a two- seat plane piloted by actor Harrison Ford crash lands on a golf course in California. Ford had just taken off from Santa Monica airport when the World War II vintage plane experienced a problem, the actor instantly calling for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine failure. Immediate return.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ryan 178, clear to land.

VERCAMMEN: The Hollywood legend and experienced pilot clipping a tree top as the single engine plane attempted to land back at the airport but fell short, crash landing on a course just steps away from a residential neighborhood.

JENS LUCKING, WITNESS: He was having problems, and then he turned around, I think so he was right by the house. The engine cut out and then he turned around.

VERCAMMEN: Ford was pulled from the plane by doctors who happened to be playing golf on the course. First responders say Ford was conscious and is lucky to be alive. Ford's son tweeting, "Dad is OK, battered but OK. He's every bit the man you would think he is. He's an incredibly strong man."

And his publicist says his injuries are not life threatening and he's expected to make a full recovery. This isn't the first time that Ford has had a close call. In 1999 Ford had to make a hard emergency landing while flying this helicopter with a flight instructor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERCAMMEN: And the FAA expected to be on scene later today. As for the golf here, one club member joked with me. He said if your ball should happen to rest up with this plane, that would be a manmade obstruction. Of course you would get relief, Chris.

CUOMO: Luckily, Paul, they're able to joke about it because he was OK and they'll be able to fix the turf. It could have been much worse, though. So let's talk now with a pilot who has flown with Harrison Ford, knows him well, Thomas Haines, editor in chief and senior vice president of Media Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Thomas thank you very much for joining us. You had checked in with Mr. Ford not long before this flight. Was he OK? Was he fit to fly?

THOMAS HAINES, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MEDIA AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION: Sure. He happened to call me yesterday about some other things we're working on together, and he was fine. And then I was as surprised as anybody else a few hours later to hear he had this off airport landing.

CUOMO: And we're just learning about him as a pilot in the mainstream media here. Is he a good pilot? Give us your assessment.

HAINES: Oh, Harrison's an excellent pilot. He is very conscientious, very safety conscientious, very thorough in his pre-flights. I remember flying with him in his helicopter one day and just did the most thorough and meticulous pre-flight in a helicopter I've ever seen anybody do. And does recurrent training at a level that most pilots don't do and certainly beyond what's expected of pilots. So he's very safety conscious.

CUOMO: Good to hear. So when you see the cell phone video and you hear the details of what happened here, what do you make of it?

HAINES: Well, clearly he was in a bad situation. Not a lot of options for him when he takes off from that runway. Pilots are trained, of course, to look for options, places to go off the end of runways or any time you're flying looking for fields that you might be able to make, and he clearly had that golf course in mind off the end of the runway there at Santa Monica. And when you have no place to go, he put it down safely and nobody on the ground hurt, and he is going to be OK it sounds like. He's a tough guy.

CUOMO: Is there anything inherently dangerous about flying such an old aircraft no matter how well-maintained?

HAINES: No, not inherently dangerous with those older airplanes. I mean, remember, this is an airplane that was designed only about 30 years after the Wright brothers first flew a powered aircraft, so the aerodynamics of it are certainly not like we have in modern trainers, but nothing inherently dangerous. The airplane has to be under annual inspections by an FAA-approved mechanic just like any other airplane. So Harrison is -- keeps his airplanes very well maintained. So, you know, one of those things that just happens.

CUOMO: Just happens because is the margin for error different than this if you were flying a more modern aircraft, or is the risk all about the same? He only has one engine. Maybe he had an engine problem. Is that just part of what this hobby is about?

HAINES: Well, as I said, this airplane was well-maintained, and because it's an older airplane doesn't mean that it's any less safe. He's had it for a number of years. I know other pilots have had the same model of airplane for many years and fly it safely. So there is certainly no real additional risk just because it's an older airplane.

CUOMO: You know why I'm asking, because to the uninitiated, it's like you're flying this old plain that looks like it should be hanging from my kid's ceiling. And what do you think is going to happen? It only has one engine. But you're saying it was always fit to fly, it's well-maintained. That's the main variable.

So the last question winds up being when you saw what he did, we keep hearing that he -- that the pilot apparently saw the golfers and maneuvered away from them. To make those types of decisions under that type of duress he had to know he was going down. Take us through how advanced that is in terms of the sophistication and thought by the pilot?

HAINES: Well, as pilots take off immediately after takeoff there's always a time when you're trying to get to as much altitude as quickly as possible flying at what's called VX, best angle of climb speed frequently to climb away from the ground because at that point altitude is your friend. And when something goes bad, you have an engine problem right after takeoff like that, a number of decisions have to be made very quickly. Do you have enough altitude to turn back? Pilots think of that, often plan for that, how high do I need to be before I can make that turn and safely get back to the runway. And if I can't, then what are my options? I'm probably going to be landing nearly straight ahead, or turning to avoid obstacles. And clearly Harrison felt like he could make a turn at least partway back and knew that he had the golf course there which was generally open. A little more open than the residential section around the airport there. So he made that decision, a lot going on, things happening very quickly. And clearly he had studied the situation in advance and knew what his options were.

CUOMO: How fast do you think he could have been going as he went into his final descent?

HAINES: An airplane like that, probably his glide speed probably wouldn't have been more than about 60, 65 knots, which may be 70 miles an hours. And he would have been slowing then as he got close to the ground and probably was touching down at no more than about 45 or 50 miles an hour.

CUOMO: Still, pretty good speed to have to make those types of decisions he and still wind up being safe. How hard is it to get back into a plain after something like this, do you think?

HAINES: Well, Harrison has been flying for a long time. He's a very passionate pilot. Just absolutely loves getting in the airplane, which gets him away from the crowds. He's a very accepted part of the pilot community, so he'll be back in the cockpit pretty quickly, I'm sure. Obviously it can rattle some people but he's one I know will be back in the cockpit.

CUOMO: Thomas Haines, we had Harrison Ford on the show at NEW DAY and he seemed to be a very cool cat and he was cool under pressure here. Thanks for talking to us about him, and we wish your friend well. Michaela?

PEREIRA: We most certainly do. Meanwhile NTSB very busy with another situation, near disaster at New York's LaGuardia Airport. A Delta flight skidding off a snowy runway coming to a stop a few feet from the icy waters of Flushing Bay. CNN's Miguel Marquez live at LaGuardia where so many people are giving thanks that they have another day to tell about. How are things at the airport today?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Getting back to normal. We just took a look at the accident scene. And they're still working on runway 13. There is about 600 feet of fencing that has been ripped away by that plane as they try to get that runway back up and running. There are a handful of cancellations and delays here at LaGuardia. But this is an airport struggling to get back up into the air.

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MARQUEZ: This morning the priority to lift the battered fuselage of Delta flight 1086 from LaGuardia's runway. Delta Airlines, the NTSB, and Port Authority now working to investigate the cause of the skid.

PAT FOYE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT AUTHORITY: Obviously the pilot and the co-pilots' good efforts were reflected in the fact that there were only minor injuries.

MARQUEZ: At approximately 11:00 a.m. local time amid freezing fog and falling snow the Delta flight landed on LaGuardia's runway 13. Upon touching down the MD-88 lost control, skidding just over halfway down the 7,000 foot runway, then a sharp and violent turn to the left, the plane's nose slamming the embankment so hard it ripped off. Its left wing damaged, leaking fuel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's leaking fuel on the left side of the aircraft heavily.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said leaking fuel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wing is ruptured.

MARQUEZ: And 132 passengers and the crew forced from the plane from the wing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm jumping out the window. They're like, hurry up, hurry up. I see gas coming out of the wing.

MARQUEZ: According to Delta the 28-year-old plane had a maintenance service check on Tuesday and runway 13 apparently plowed just minutes prior. Another pilot who landed minutes before reported good braking conditions, but conditions were not ideal.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That Delta plane landed with a tail wind which is about the most dangerous thing you can do on an icy runway.

MARQUEZ: Officials say the plane briefly circled the runway before being cleared to land, but whether or not it should have been permitted to land at all is a question the NTSB is now trying to answer.

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MARQUEZ: Now we spoke to several pilots who landed on runway 13 in the hours and minutes before 1086 landed there. Two hours before they said conditions were poor for landing. About 20 minutes before they said they were not great but they were OK. And then obviously they're saying -- the officials saying just minutes before pilots were saying it was OK. Conditions on that runway changing by the minute. Chris, back to you.

CUOMO: Miguel, history shows us the speculation is warranted because in 1992 we had a plane skid off the runway there during takeoff and it went into that Flushing Bay and killed two dozen people. That's why we need answers to that. Thank you for the reporting.

We also have a CNN exclusive to tell you about. Jihadi John in a tape made when he was a teenager. Does it help us better understand how he went from a civilian to a savage? CNN's Atika Shubert has more from London. Atika, what have we learned?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris. This is incredibly rare footage. And it's really the first time we see Mohammad Emwazi, the man who would eventually become Jihadi John, as a teenager. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Teenagers mess around with a basketball at a west London secondary school. One wearing a backpack shows off some fancy footwork. But closer inspection of this amateur footage reveals a now famous face. Mohammad Emwazi, confirmed by U.S. officials to be Jihadi John, the executioner who is always hidden behind swaths of black clothing in ISIS videos. Here too the Kuwait born accused killer appears shy, an attribute his former head teacher who identified him in this video also recalls.

JO SHUTER, FORMER HEADMASTER, QUINTIN KYNASTON ACADEMY: He was reserved. He didn't have a huge circle of friends, but he had a good circle of friends. He was bullied a little bit because he was quiet and he was reserved. But generally he was fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.

SHUBERT: It was his distinctive British voice that led to Emwazi being identified. Since then a fuller picture is emerging. He's described as being a polite young man from a middle class family. Photographs as a student at London's Westminster University and most recently in Kuwait, a purported recording from 2009 released by British Muslim advocacy group KGK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the wrong thing. What happened was wrong.

SHUBERT: But for the people who knew him, it is difficult to fathom that the football loving teenager they knew as Mohammad Emwazi has emerged as the man behind the mask.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: What investigators are looking at is how this teenager who initially didn't even want to be filmed somehow ended up volunteering to become the mass murderer you see in those horrific ISIS videos, Michaela.

PEREIRA: What a shocking change in that young man. Thanks for that look, Atika.

A Palestinian man is in custody after allegedly driving into several people in Jerusalem and then trying to stab them. Police in Israel are calling this a terror attack. Four of the victims are Israeli border police, another a cyclist. The suspect was shot by a security guard as he tried to escape. Hamas, which is controlling neighboring Gaza, has called the action, quote, "heroic."

CUOMO: The military commander of the al-Nusra Front reportedly killed in an airstrike by Syrian government forces. Syria's news agency says he was targeted in a special operation, as many as a dozen other senior al-Nusra leader may also have been killed. This comes just after the terror group claimed responsibility for an attack in Syria.

PEREIRA: All right. A little trending video on social media. Have you seen it on your Facebook feed?

Organizers of the Ad Council called Love Has No Label set up a giant x-ray screen near California's Santa Monica pier. First, you see skeleton kissing, dancing, kind of playing around. But then, then the skeletal duo has come out from behind the screen. Wait for it.

When you see them emerge you see a lesbian couple, a biracial couples, two sisters, one of whom has a disability. That video has more than 15 million views. Powerful. And beautiful.

CUOMO: I love that song. That's a Macklemore song they're playing there. Hey, it's a good way of making an obvious point.

PEREIRA: Sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

CUOMO: Love is what it is.

PEREIRA: Yup.

CUOMO: This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the bloody march in Selma. Now next, we have a never before seen look at the march and that bridge right there. The icon.

PEREIRA: It's going to be very powerful. Stick around for that.

Also ahead, we're going to take you to Dallas. Alisyn is speaking exclusively to former First Lady Laura Bush about her thoughts on various things, extremism in the Middle East and the 2016 presidential race.

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PEREIRA: President Obama will travel to Selma, Alabama, this weekend for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the violent clash between activists and state troopers that ultimately ushered in the 1965 Voting Rights Act. So much of the nation, though, is still struggling with race relations. In fact, according to a CNN/ORC poll, nearly four in ten Americans

believe race relations in America have gotten worse under President Obama. Only 15 percent think conditions have improved.

I want to turn to our correspondent, CNN's Ryan Young, who is live in Selma this morning in advance of that historic day tomorrow -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Of course, a lot of people here are talking about moving forward, the idea of all people coming to this bridge to signify a moment in history.

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YOUNG (voice-over): It's a bridge now just as important for what it brings together than what it kept apart. From above, you can see the Edmund Pettus Bridge stretch across the Alabama River. Named after a Confederate general, U.S. senator and high ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan, time has not changed very much over the last 50 years.

JOANNE BLAND, CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I had no idea there was a possibility of violence. Selma gave so much to America and the world.

YOUNG: This bridge is a powerful piece of metal for so many people across the country. When you stand here you can't see what's on the other side of the ridge and the protesters had no idea what they were walking toward, but their walk changed the future of this country. The images that were beamed across the country, the video that helped everyone understand the struggle for the civil rights movement, a movement that really got its wings because of what happened here.

BLAND: I heard what I thought were gunshots and screams and people just screaming and screaming.

YOUNG: Joanne Bland was just a child when she marched on Bloody Sunday.

BLAND: And before we turned to run, it was too late. They came in. The policemen came in from both sides. The front and the back and there was nowhere to go.

Tried to walk across, I couldn't.

YOUNG: It's a painful memory that she shares with people, a memory she's found a way to embrace despite the horror and sounds of that fateful Sunday.

BLAND: I saw this horse and this lady, and I don't know what happened. I could still hear the sound her head made when it hit the pavement and my sister, Linda, and my sister Sadie, both say it was my head hitting the pavement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We march. YOUNG: Now, the people who marched are being celebrated in movies

like "Selma" for their courage. The actor and rapper Common highlights this bridge during his recent Academy Award acceptance speech for the song "Glory."

(COMMON RAPPING)

YOUNG: During his speech he points back here to Selma where he remarks, "50 years ago, this bridge, once a landmark of a divided nation, but now it's a symbol for change. The nature of this bridge transcends race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and social status.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: And, of course, you can see some of the shots we use were aerials. This is the first time CNN has used a drone during our shooting of our story under the new FAA regulations. I can tell you, with so many people thinking about this weekend, they're hoping it will kick off a new start here in Selma -- Chris.

PEREIRA: Yes, that footage was extraordinary and it really helped tell the story. I'll take it here, Ryan.

I'm curious, the drone footage allowed us to see a little glimpse of Selma today. What is your sense of that community and how is it faring?

YOUNG: You know, we all remarked on this. The fact that it's a beautiful area, and so many people in this community are hoping with everyone coming here, that more commerce will come to the area, and they're hoping for a downtown revitalization that everyone can be happy about in terms of moving forward as a community.

PEREIRA: Certainly a big day set there tomorrow. I know it's not about you. You're a story teller. But I can imagine as an African- American young man, that it is significant that you had your feet there on that very bridge where so much of history has been held.

Thanks for that look, Ryan. We really appreciate it. Very powerful.

YOUNG: Definitely.

PEREIRA: All right. From here now we're going to head to Dallas where you get to speak with a very special lady -- Ali.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I sure do, Michaela. We are live in Dallas with former First Lady Laura Bush. This is an exclusive interview, and she will share her ideas on how to bring peace and democracy to the Arab world.

So stick around for that. Be right back.

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CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Despite all the reports of the brutality of ISIS, somehow they're able to recruit more and more young people. Just this week, the FBI and DHS sent a warning to local law enforcement to be on the lookout for the dangerous trend of American teenagers trying to join the twisted cause of ISIS.

So, what is the answer to stopping extremism?

Let's bring in former First Lady Laura Bush. She is the chair of the Bush Institute's Women's Initiative -- Women's Initiative Fellowship. That's a program that helps empower women in the Middle East and Africa to try to effect change back at home and plant the seeds of freedom.

Mrs. Bush, great to have you on NEW DAY.

LAURA BUSH, FMR. FIRST LADY: Thanks so much. Great to be here. Thanks a lot.

CAMEROTA: We have moved from the --

BUSH: Welcome to the Bush Museum.

CAMEROTA: It's so impressive. I've just spent time in the Oval Office, which is just incredible to see how true to form it is and all of the relics that you've re-created there. Now we're here at the Freedom Wall.