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Arias May Spend Life in Prison; LaGuardia Airport Closed After Accident; Sixteen People Injured from LaGuardia Accident; Plane Skids Off Runway; Air Traffic Control Audio Released from LaGuardia Accident; Drivers Stranded in Kentucky

Aired March 05, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 9:00 p.m. in Tikrit, Iraq. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We're watching two major weather stories right here in the United States. In New York, a plane carrying 130 people slid off a runway at New York's LaGuardia airport. We'll take you live there in just a moment.

And in Kentucky, as many as 200 motorists, they are still stuck on a major highway. Heavy snows there have kept them stuck in their cars for more than 12 hours.

But we begin in New York City with that accident, bringing LaGuardia airport to a major standstill. The nose of this Delta plane crashing right through a fence just feet away from a huge body of water before it came to a stop. Six people were hurt. Some have been taken to local hospitals. A hundred twenty-five passengers were on this Delta flight. Jared Faellaci was one of them. He's joining us on the phone from New York. Jared, first of all, are you OK?

JARED FAELLACI: I am. I am. Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: So, tell us what happened.

FAELLACI: So, I was sitting in first class. I fly all the time. And we were circling New York City because of the weather conditions. The pilots had announced that the snow and the ice that we were delayed in landing. And then we were given clearance to land. And as soon as we landed, we felt the wheels hit the runway, and we did not feel the wheels take traction and we started to skid. And we skid to the left side of the runway and we continued to skid. And, obviously, cause for a moment of prayer and a moment of reflection and as people were scared, obviously, at that point.

The pilot did a phenomenal job. And got to take my hat off for the Delta (INAUDIBLE) for navigating those very, obviously, tumultuous few moments. We ended up -- as you can see from the photos that I had sent to Joe (ph), we literally were a couple feet away from heading into the -- to the water.

And I had a friend that was actually part of the Hudson River crash several years ago. And as we were getting closer and closer to the water, I just kept going back to that moment in time. And I'm just extremely grateful, obviously, to be alive and grateful for everyone from Delta and the all of us -- all of the emergency folks. And, obviously, It's a testimony that god's not done writing the -- my story. And he writes the best stories. And appreciate, obviously, all the people for taking good care of us.

But, yes, they got us off the plane. And we had to go down the side and, obviously, kind of slide off the slide of the side of the plane. We were standing in snow for a few minutes while they were getting all the buses and the emergency workers there. There were a few of the ladies that were pregnant. We had them and the kids get on the first few buses and then, obviously, the men followed suit. They made sure all of our luggage stayed on the plane. So, it was just, basically, our phones and our wallet that we could take with us.

BLITZER: Jared, did you have any warning from the pilot, as you were coming in for the landing from Atlanta out to land at LaGuardia airport, that there could be a problem?

FAELLACI: No, I mean, the only thing he gave us, Wolf, was the tip that, you know, we had -- we were delayed for a few minutes, so we were circling the city which is not unusual given the amount of air traffic. And if you fly a lot, you just kind of -- no big deal. And -- but as soon as the wheels touched down, especially for myself and the gentleman sitting next to me, we were both in first class, we knew something was wrong. And because you didn't feel the wheels take and we started to skid and we knew it was going to be a problem. And then it was, where are we going to end up stopping the skid? And then, obviously we settled and settled a few feet from the water. And just, again, a huge sense of gratitude for the safety that god provided all of us on the plane.

BLITZER: How long were you skidding? Because that's a pretty fearful few seconds or whatever it was.

FAELLACI: Yes. No, it was probably -- if I had to guess, Wolf, probably close to 20 seconds from the point of the initial skid within two seconds of the wheels touching down on the runway to the stop of the actual airplane stopping where it stopped with its nose hanging out outside of the fence area.

BLITZER: Did -- were people on the plane, were they totally silent or was there -- were there some people who were obviously concerned? Were they -- was it -- what was the mood in the -- in the aircraft, based on what you could tell? You were obviously up front.

FAELLACI: Yes. No, it was mixed. There were people that were calm. There were people that were praying. There were people that, obviously, were frantic. There were people that were crying. There were people that -- so, there was a mixed array of emotions. And it's -- it, obviously, you know, causes one to pause and reflect and causes one to, you know, remember what life is all about and who's most important and obviously the relationships with god and family and friends are most important. So, makes you grateful for all of that. BLITZER: When you were all aligning up to get off the aircraft

sliding down or whatever, getting on the wings, was it -- was it orderly or was there a sense of panic? Were people, like, screaming and trying to get up front?

FAELLACI: There's always, as you -- there's always, with human nature, there's always a tendency and there's always propensity for, you know, the panic and shoving your way to the front. But, for the most part, I would say it was very orderly. It was very calm. And there were folks -- you know, there were gentlemen on the plane that were allowing, obviously, the ladies and the kids to go before them which is great. And, obviously, being a gentleman is the right thing to do. But for the most part, I would say it was orderly. There was probably a few exceptions in the first few folks that got off the plane but that's OK. The majority, again, I think did the right thing and were orderly and calm in getting out of the plane.

BLITZER: When the plane -- this Delta -- this aircraft finally did stop, did you hear immediately from either the pilots or the flight attendants? What were they saying?

FAELLACI: Yes. They did an awesome job. They actually had us be calm. And they asked -- they asked us to stay in our seats. And they gave us directions and guidance about what we were going to do and about the evacuation process that was going to happen.

And then, they actually -- it was kind of funny because I had to go to the bathroom. I hadn't gone. And so, I tried to go to the bathroom but the pilot kind of smiled at me with a sense of humor and said, the door's locked. You're not going to be able to go and apologized. And I just smiled and said, I guess I can hold it.

So, -- but other than that, they gave us guidance and direction. And we were told to leave all of our belongings on the plane which we did. There were a few folks who grabbed their bags and suitcases which they were about supposed to. And other than that, we, obviously, exited the plane and then slid off the slide -- the side of the plane on the wing itself.

BLITZER: Have you been able to get your luggage, your bag since then?

FAELLACI: No, they're stuck on the plane and they've got us here in a holding pattern, obviously in the sky club here inside of LaGuardia.

BLITZER: Give us a final thought before I let you go, Jared.

FAELLACI: I'm just grateful. I've texted and communicated with my family and friends. And just grateful. And, obviously, I thank god for protection and his hand of care in this moment. But I'm definitely shaken up. I cried some -- shed some tears and, obviously, just reflective and grateful. So.

BLITZER: And, fortunately, you're OK. We do know that six passengers were injured. Some slightly. But some have been taken to local hospitals. Hopefully, they'll be just fine as well. And as my dad used to say, could have been a whole lot worse. Fortunately, it stopped just when it was supposed to because on the other side of that little hill was a significant body of water. If it would have continued, you guys would have been in great, great danger. And we're grateful that you're all OK, basically. Jared Faellaci, thanks very much for joining us.

Traffic at LaGuardia airport, by the way, has now been brought to a complete standstill because of this accident.

Let's go to LaGuardia. CNN's Miguel Marquez has been there all day. Miguel, what are they saying over there? I know that all the runways now are shut down, right?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everything is shut down here and will remain shut down until at least 7:00 p.m. tonight. Once that plane skidded off the runway, air traffic control also diverted planes that were on their way into LaGuardia to other locations. I can tell you, the fire department is now saying that 16 individuals have suffered minor neck or back injuries. One person, it sounds like, has actually been transported. Everybody else is off and safe from that flight.

We understand it's 131 passengers and crew all together on that MD-88 that was on its way from Atlanta airport to here in New York. That runway, when you -- hearing the person that just spoke. Seeing what others are saying about what happened on that plane. It is clear that when it came in over the Flushing Bay and landed there, it got no traction. It began to skid immediately. There was a question as to whether or not the plane actually skidded all the way around. It doesn't sound like it from all the passengers we've heard from.

A 64 year old spoke to "The New York Post," saying that it skidded and then the wing broke off and the nose went up over that berm. When you look at the pictures of people pouring off of that plane -- they're coming off the right side of the plane. On the left side, you can see that the fire engines are putting either chemical or water onto that plane in order to mitigate the damage from the left side of the wing. The pilot telling air traffic control that his left side was leaking. As much as a thousand gallons of fuel may have leaked from that plane.

And, amazingly enough, this is not the first time this has happened to an MD-80 in March on that berm at LaGuardia airport. In 1994, it appears there was a similar incident. And when you look at pictures that we're now seeing from the opposite side of the airport as well, you can see just how close it came. That berm there, clearly there, to protect from this very incident or set of circumstances -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, I want you to hold on for a moment, Miguel, because we're just getting in the first air traffic control audio involving this plane accident. I want our viewers here in the United States and around the world to listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delta 1096, tower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, 413, tower, call 100 (ph), runway 13 is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, red team to go onto 1-3.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call Delta personnel (ph), call 100, you said runway 13 is closed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Affirmative, 13 is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Team red south?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, you have an aircraft off the runway.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1999 going around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The airport is closed. The airport is closed. We've got a 34.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 100. Say again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, we have an aircraft off 31 on the north vehicle service road. Please advise. Crash rescue. LaGuardia airport is closed at this time.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

BLITZER: Wow. Very, very powerful words. If you're flying and trying to land at LaGuardia airport and you hear airport -- LaGuardia airport is closed at this time, please advise crash rescue. And that's what we just saw and we've been covering. We're going to have much more ahead on these stories. A Delta plane, this huge aircraft sliding off the runway at New York's LaGuardia airport. We're going to analyze this air traffic control audio with our aviation experts. How could this happen? What happened? What are the lessons learned? Much more on this coming up.

Plus, hundreds of drivers, they are stranded right now on a Kentucky highway. Some are trapped in the car. Some have been trapped for more than 12 hours. Many of them no longer have gasoline. It's cold. Rescue teams are on the way. Stay with us. We're going there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

If you're just joining us, we want to get you up to date on the breaking news out of New York City. Look at this picture we're just getting in. This is the aircraft. The Delta aircraft that skidded upon landing. A flight from Atlanta. Look how close it got to the water. It stopped just atop this berm, this little hill at the end of this runway. But it could have been a whole lot worse. You see how close it got to the water that surrounds basically La Guardia Airport. One hundred and thirty-one people on that -- onboard this plane and fortunately everyone seems to be OK. Some minor injuries. One person we're told taken to hospital but, fortunately, everybody is OK.

Miguel Marquez is our man at La Guardia Airport right now.

Miguel, from that picture we just got, you see how close it actually -- that nose of that Delta aircraft actually got to the water surrounding La Guardia Airport. If it would have skidded a little bit more, it would have gone into that water.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is amazing to see how close it was. That plane, from all accounts, skidded as soon as it hit the runway. I just spoke to another pilot, an American pilot, who landed about 15, 20 minutes before that Delta pilot landed. He said it was slick, but it could have changed -- conditions could have changed even more to the extreme side by the time that Delta flight came in for a landing. Clearly, from the passenger that you spoke to, from passengers that we have heard from here, when that plane hit the runway, it got no traction and then skidded literally a hard left, hit that embankment, went up over that embankment, the wing broke off. As much as a thousand gallons of fuel now have leaked on to the runway there that they have contained but they must clean up before they can allow operations to get back to normal.

If we can swing all the way around, I just want to show you, everything is stopped here at La Guardia. Everything. But the line -- this is the priority line here and there's about 40 or 50 people in this line. But the regular line for American Airlines, where we are right now, it is literally in the hundreds of people trying to figure out how they're going to get home. People on the phone. The pilot that I spoke to said that he was -- sat on the runway for about an hour because he came in, landed, the incident happened. He went back out onto the runway to take off again. They waited and waited. They brought all planes back that were sitting on the tarmac, back to the terminals here. And now he's on his way to JFK to get another flight out that they can get back on schedule with whatever plane he's going to fly tomorrow.

This is going to create a massive headache across the aviation system. But the good news, though, from what we understand, 16 injuries, neck and back, light injuries. Only one person transported and authorities now trying to deal with the fuel leak out there. Also trying to deal with getting the hoses and the hydrants out there because the conditions are so bad here at La Guardia today. And then a third team dealing with the injured themselves and those passengers and just trying to help them get themselves sorted out.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, just to recap, this was Delta Flight 1086. It left Atlanta at 9:00 a.m., touched down at 11:05 at La Guardia. And then as it touched down, you saw that it started to skid, obviously very icy there. The weather pretty horrible in New York, elsewhere around the country as well.

Fortunately, that plane stopped right as it was - it could have gone over that embankment and into the water. Fortunately it stopped. That fence and that little berm, or that little hill, stopped the plane from going over into the water.

Let's get some more on the weather. Our meteorologist Jennifer Gray is standing by.

Jennifer, what was it like? I mean, didn't they know at La Guardia that the runways were icy? Maybe they should have closed that airport earlier.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, that's a big question, Wolf. But weather conditions change quickly, as they always do. Early this morning around up until about 8:00 it was all rain. Temperatures were above freezing. And then for the next two hours, temperatures dropped very, very quickly. It turned into snow. But you have to keep in mind, you have that layer of rain underneath all of that snow. That can freeze in an instant and that's most likely what happened here. And so you have that -- that layer of ice on the bottom. You have the snow on top of that. And so it makes it very, very difficult to get any traction when conditions are like that. You can plow snow all day, no problem. But when that rain turns to ice, it is impossible. And so that's what happened here most likely.

Of course, temperatures now in New York, 23 degrees. It is still snowing and will be snowing there up until about 6:00 or 7:00 this evening. So conditions will continue to be nasty there. Good idea that they have closed the airport. Of course, as we've seen, just on the other side of that berm, that body of water, Flushing Bay, the East River, frozen. And so you can imagine if things would have been worse, what we would be dealing with, with temperatures, the water temperatures at freezing or below. So it is just a mess up there right now. It will continue to be.

And temperatures will drop to about 10 degrees tonight, Wolf. And so we will continue to see whatever's on the ground frozen. This not only goes for the airport, but all the roads around New York City will be a mess as we go through the next 12 to 24 hours.

BLITZER: All right, stand by, Jennifer, because I want to get back to you.

I just want to alert our viewers also. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is in charge of these major airports in Newark, as well as in New York, JFK and La Guardia, they're about to hold a news conference and give us more details. We're going to have live coverage of that. That's coming up in just a few moments.

Also coming up, another major weather-related story we're following right now here in the United States. Some people on a U.S. interstate, they are going nowhere fast. This is extremely dangerous. That picture you're looking at is not frozen, but the people in those cars may feel that way. A lot of them have been stuck for hours and hours. They're running out of gas. No heat. Rescue teams are on the way. We'll go there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: We're following breaking news, weather-related breaking news, on two fronts here in the United States. We're standing by for a news conference by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. That's coming up in connection with this near disaster that occurred at La Guardia Airport just a little while ago. A Delta flight, an MD-88 aircraft, as it touched down, it began to skid in the ice and the snow. And fortunately it got stuck just before it could have gone across that little berm or that little hill, stopped at that fence. On the other side, a body of water. One hundred and thirty-one people on board that aircraft. Almost all of them are OK. There are some who were slightly injured, some more seriously, but at least one person taken to a local hospital. We're standing by for a news conference from the Port Authority, which runs this airport. Will have live coverage in a few moments. That's coming up.

Another weather-related disaster unfolding here in the United States as well. Nearly 90 million people in 22 U.S. states, from Texas to Massachusetts, they're now under winter storm warnings and advisories. And perhaps no one is feeling it more than hundreds of travelers stranded on a major interstate, Interstate 65, between Elizabethtown and Louisville, Kentucky. Some drivers, get this, they've been stranded for more than 15 hours after 21 inches of snow fell over a 15-hour span. Among those stranded, by the way, the wife of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He tweeted that she and some Rainbow Push coalition staffers, they've been stuck in their cars since 2:30 a.m., 2:30 this morning.

On the phone with us right now is the Administrative Battalion Chief Mark Malone of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, fire department.

Chie Malone, tell us what's going on. I understand you guys are rescuing people as fast as you can. This is an extremely dangerous situation.

MARK MALONE, ADMINISTRATIVE BATTALION CHIEF, ELIZABETHTOWN, KENTUCKY, FIRE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): It is. This is a snowfall that we're not normally used to. We have about 20 inches of snow on the ground. We have gotten between 50 and 60 people recovered from their cars and we have them at our local community center where they are being given food and water and making arrangements to get their cars towed.

BLITZER: These cars that we're seeing now, they're just stuck there. They can't even move. Traffic has come to a complete halt, is that right?

MALONE: That is correct. We have - the road department -- the state road department is currently getting a lane open in each direction on I-65. And then there are two parkways that connect here in Elizabethtown. And they are also getting lane -- one lane open in each direction on both of those parkways. So traffic is starting to move, but it's going to take a very long time to clear.

BLITZER: How cold it is right now? Because what worries me, and I'm sure worries you and everyone else, these people have been stuck in their cars for hours and hours, 12 hours some of them, clearly they're going to run out of gas. They're not going to be able to keep their engines running. There's going to be no heat.

MALONE: That's correct. It's currently about 25 degrees here in Elizabethtown and we're expecting close to zero tonight. So hopefully we can get all of these cars off the interstate and to their destination before it gets dark.

BLITZER: I know, Chief Malone, you guys are not used to this kind of weather in Kentucky, where you are. Do you have enough equipment? Do you need National Guard personnel? What do you need?

MALONE: The National Guard has been called out and they are assisting to the north of Elizabethtown. And we have a lot of state resources being brought into the area. It just takes time to get them deployed and get the roads cleared.

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers live pictures on the right of all of these vehicles, trucks and cars, vans, everyone stuck over there. You can see the skid marks from some of these vehicles.