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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Miracle of Flight 358; Danger of Lightning to Airplanes; Danger of Wind Shear to Airplanes; Two and Four Weeks After London Bombings; Surviving Plane Crash Tips; Workplace Privacy
Aired August 03, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Kitty.
Good evening, everybody.
Of course you know about the crash of Air France Flight 358. But we're certain you haven't heard the amazing stories from inside the plane. It's 7:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 4:00 p.m. in the West. 360 starts now.
ANNOUNCER: You know what happened. A fully-loaded Airbus. A terrible crash. A fireball. But what you haven't heard, how everything then went exactly right.
The usual suspects, weather, lightning and wind shear. But what does that mean to a plane? After all, one expert says most passenger jets are struck by lightning at least once a year.
Darkness and panic. In a moment of crisis, what should you do or not do? A survival guide we hope you'll never need.
And, where you work, be afraid. What you write, what you say, what you do at work, your boss may know more than you think.
Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COLLINS: Good evening, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Anderson is off tonight.
Here are the questions that we are going to be looking at involving the Air France plane crash in Toronto. We heard the speculation about weather, possibly lightning, possibly wind shear. But what really happens to aircraft in those type of conditions? How did all 309 people aboard the plane make it out alive?
And later, we change gears. Big brother at the workplace. Is it right for your boss to read your e-mail?
And getting to the first story, we do begin with the crash of Flight 358 in Toronto. One word keeps coming up to describe what happened -- miracle. A miracle that everyone on that jet survived. CNN's Dan Lothian now on what it was like inside the burning plane.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Terror on Air France Flight 358, engulfed in flames and broken into pieces. Alix Willemez is a passenger.
ALIX WILLEMEZ, PASSENGER ON FLIGHT 358: Helicopter. It was like mmm and that's all.
LOTHIAN: Todd Koga sees the horror from his window on a nearby plane.
TODD KOGA, WITNESS: I couldn't believe what I was looking at, actually.
LOTHIAN: And Guy Ledez would suddenly become a good Samaritan.
GUY LEDEZ, RESCUER: People were passing me babies. I just passed them on to whoever was behind me. Just take it. Take it.
LOTHIAN: The flight with 297 passengers and 12 crew approaches a runway in a severe thunderstorm.
Alix Willemez, leading 30 teens in a one-month student exchange program to Canada, said the turbulence is suddenly terrifying.
WILLEMEZ: It was starting to be like, you know, a roller coaster. Everything was running under my feet. We all lost our shoes.
LOTHIAN: With the cabin lights suddenly out, the pilot struggles to settle the plane on the ground. It appears that the worst is over. The passengers applaud. But the relief is only momentarily.
Were people screaming?
WILLEMEZ: Oh, yes.
LOTHIAN: About the same time, Guy Ledez is driving along this airport perimeter road delivering a rental car to a customer, when he looks up and sees the plane. Something is very wrong.
LEDEZ: It just kept going and going. And I didn't know it was landing. I thought it was actually taking off.
LOTHIAN: The Airbus 340 goes off the end of the runway and into a ravine. Suddenly, there is smoke and fire. Passengers start snapping these pictures. The exit doors are opened. Some, but not all, of the emergency chutes deploy. Then there are urgent orders from the flight crew to evacuate.
Were they telling you, get off the plane? What were they . . .
WILLEMEZ: Yes. They were only saying, get out, run away, run away, it could explode.
LOTHIAN: Todd Koga and his family on a nearby plane on the ground, just returning from a wedding in New York. He grabs his video camera and starts rolling. KOGA: I envision the cockpit filled with smoke quickly, people panicking, trying to escape.
LOTHIAN: There is terror in the cabin, but Willemez, the chaperone, remains calm and helps her students and others off the plane.
WILLEMEZ: Everybody together (INAUDIBLE).
LOTHIAN: Outside the crash, Ledez snaps a couple pictures too with his cell phone and then apparently, without fear for his own safety, approaches the plane and begins to rescue passengers.
LEDEZ: Were just lifting people as fast as we do could it.
LOTHIAN: Amazingly, only minor injuries.
MIKE FIGLIOLA, FIRE CHIEF: I mean the credit does go to the crew. I mean they saved all those lives, there's no doubt about it.
LOTHIAN: Willemez still can't believe she survived.
You don't have any clothes or anything?
WILLEMEZ: Nothing (ph).
LOTHIAN: This is all you have right here?
WILLEMEZ: Yes.
LOTHIAN: Everything else was lost?
WILLEMEZ: Yes.
LOTHIAN: Everything lost, but certainly nothing that really counts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: Heidi, this truly is an amazing story. Now she does plan to go back into the air again. She says she's not afraid of flying but does like the fact that she will be at least in Canada for the next 30 days. Now some of her students will be staying put, but about half of them or so may return home. They're just too traumatized. And she says they'll have to hop on a plane again accompanied by counselors.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, understandable. Dan Lothian, thanks.
As the plane was landing, the airport was operating under a so called red alert condition, indicating a risk of lightning. It's a risk pilots are well aware of. Every year, on average, a commercial airliner is struck at least twice by a lightning bolt without anyone getting hurt.
CNN's Rick Sanchez tells us what happens when lightning strikes from out of the blue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This United Airlines 727 had just taken off from Chicago in September four years ago when it was struck by lightning. The plane had to be diverted to Toledo, where passengers managed to de-plane. The fact that it may have scared and inconvenienced them actually is a rarity.
Usually, lightning strikes on jetliners are not even noticed at the time. Here is a staggering statistic. It's estimated that every single commercial airliner in the United States is struck by lightning at least once a year.
UNKNOWN MALE: The large, metal body and wings of the aircraft enhance the environmental field to the point that they do get struck more often than something much smaller would get struck.
SANCHEZ: What's more, experts say when airliners are traveling through a charged cloud, they will create or trigger their own lightning. A current will envelop the entire plane. The good news for passengers, it will not penetrate the airliner's outer skin.
UNKNOWN MALE: Well, the reason that you're normally pretty safe on an aircraft is they've been designed and tested to withstand lightning.
SANCHEZ: The plane's outer skin is designed to take the charge, so to speak. However, one crack or one flaw in the metal or the exterior of the plane could spell disaster.
And that's exactly what happened to this Chinese-made jetliner five years ago in 2000. Lightning struck the plane in mid-flight, causing its fuel tanks to burst into tanks. Everyone onboard the Wuhan airliner was killed because of shoddy engineering and poor construction that experts say has since been remedied.
UNKNOWN MALE: The fuel tanks are very, very critical on an aircraft. You can not have any holes getting burned.
SANCHEZ: That sort of thing is not likely to happen with U.S. carriers because of improved assembly techniques. But something else could. Experts say a lightning strike at the critical moment during an attempted landing could distract a pilot just enough to cause the plane to overshoot or miss the runway.
UNKNOWN MALE: The light itself is so bright that the pilot could be temporarily blinded.
SANCHEZ: It is just one of the scenarios transportation officials will consider as they try to figure out what caused this Air France Airbus to crash on a stormy afternoon at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: There are a bevy of pilots here in the Atlanta area. We've been talking to a lot of them on this day. I just got off the phone with one of the pilots and I asked him what it's like when you actually feel that lightning strike. He says, usually it's a flash, you feel some bumpiness on the plane, sometimes you don't even know until you get back on the ground that you actually were affected by lightning.
A couple of things that they say that's also important. They say the key when you're going into that red alert condition that Heidi was talking about just a little while ago, is to make sure you're watching your instruments, make sure that things like air speed are under control and other things like power as well. And the bottom line, they say, is give yourself enough runway. Use the front third, not the back third. Here's a saying that pilots use. They say, you can't use the runway behind you.
I'm Rick Sanchez. Heidi, over to you.
COLLINS: Touchdown zone, they call it.
SANCHEZ: That's right.
COLLINS: All right, Rick Sanchez, thanks.
Early one there was much speculation about another suspected cause in the crash of Flight 358, wind shear. We often hear about these violent and unpredictable bursts of air current in connection with airline incidents. But what exactly are they and how do they affect aircraft?
Here's CNN's Kathleen Koch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Wind shear has claimed more than 500 lives since the 1960s. But it was the crash 20 years ago Tuesday of Delta Flight 191 in Dallas, Texas, that convinced the aviation industry something must be done.
BOB FRANCIS, FMR. CHAIRMAN, NTSB: I don't think wind shear was really understood that well, and I think that people just were prone to say the pilot made a mistake.
KOCH: Wind shear is a sudden change in wind speed or direction within a short distance. It often occurs during thunderstorms but not always. A strong, sudden head wind, for example, slows a plane's speed and gives it extra lift. But when it suddenly diminishes, followed by a strong tail wind, the jet loses lift and sinks.
BLAIN STANLEY, FACTS TRAINING INTL.: There's going to be a loss of power and a loss of altitude and pretty much simultaneously because in essence the wind is physically pushing the airplane down to the ground.
KOCH: So scientists have developed systems to detect wind shear -- two ground-based systems, one using anemometers that measure wind speed and direction, and another using radar.
LARRY CORNMAN, NATIONAL CNTR. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH: That information goes directly to displays in the air traffic control tower. So the controllers have an alphanumeric display -- so basically a text message that will come up indicating the runway, the wind shear type and the intensity of the wind shear. So that information's given directly to the controllers and they relay that then to the pilots.
KOCH: Most large passenger aircraft also have airborne systems, typically including a small radar device in the nose cone. It emits radar waves ahead of the aircraft and can detect wind shear. Even seasoned pilots go out of their way to navigate around the dangerous shifting winds.
JOHN WILEY, FORMER US AIRWAYS PILOT: So the rule is, avoid, avoid, avoid. You don't want to put yourself in a situation where you have to use your skills and you have to use maximum performance of the aircraft to escape one of these.
KOCH: Systems to detect wind shear are in place at 110 U.S. airports, larger airports in areas most likely to experience thunderstorms. And many experts consider the wind shear problem largely solved.
Still, warnings don't always come in time. And there's concern pilots under pressure to avoid delays and wasting fuel may be increasingly reluctant to fly around potentially dangerous weather systems.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: 360 next, it is one of the deadliest days for Americans in Iraq. Fourteen Marines killed in a roadside bombing. This comes after six Marines were ambushed in the same city on Monday. We'll have the very latest on the attacks.
Also tonight, terror in London. It's been four weeks since the deadly bombing. Is the city any safer? We'll take a closer look.
Plus this.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gary Tuchman on what looks like an airplane. Actually, this is a simulator with real flight attendants undergoing training of what's going to be a very realistic but very frightening, simulated landing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back to 360, everybody.
Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joining us now with some of the day's top stories.
Hi, Erica. ERICA HILL, CNNHN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi.
Is it another deadly day for U.S. Marines in Iraq. Fourteen Marines and an interpreter were killed in a roadside bombing near the western city of Haditha. The attack happened two days after six Marine snipers died in a firefight near the same city. Another Marine was also killed in a hit. Now 1,820 troops have been killed now in Iraq since the war began in March of 2003.
In outer space, a repair to the Shuttle Discovery goes off without a hitch. In a six hour spacewalk, astronaut Steve Robinson managed to pull out pieces of filler dangling underneath the shuttle. NASA was a little worried that filler might catch on fire when the shuttle returns to Earth. It turns out the crew might have another repair to make, this time to a thermal blanket beneath the cockpit window. It may have been damaged by debris.
Near Bermuda? Say hello to Tropical Storm Harvey. Forecasters say it could reach hurricane strength with winds of at least 74 miles an hour by as soon as tomorrow morning. But forecasters don't believe the storm will pose a threat to the U.S. mainland.
And in Seoul, South Korea, cloning Fido. This is SNUP, the first clone dog. The Afghan hound was created by the same team that created the world's first cloned human embryos. Scientists say SNUP could lead to new stem cell treatments for dogs and for us humans since dogs actually get about 65 of the same illnesses we get. Other questions there though, of course, several ethical ones.
Heidi.
COLLINS: At least they didn't name him Dolly.
HILL: Right.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks a lot, Erica. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
HILL: OK.
COLLINS: Next on 360, terror in London, two and four weeks ago -- excuse me -- four weeks ago. Is the city any safer? The latest in a live report now.
Plus, big brother, your boss. Spying on your e-mail. How you can protect yourself.
And this.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gary Tuchman. What do you do if you're on a plane that makes a crash landing and you have to make an emergency evacuation? Well, you listen to the flight attendants. These are flight attendants undergoing actual training on a simulator. The ride will be very frightening. We'll have it a little later for you in the program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Four weeks ago today, London emergency services responded to a series of lethal bombings. Fifty-two people died in those attacks on the London transport system, terrorizing the British capital. Fear and anguish returned to London exactly two weeks later when four bombs failed to explode.
CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joining us now from a city that is still on heightened alert.
Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much, Heidi.
And London, as you say, very much on heightened alert. The people of this city very much bracing themselves for Thursday morning. It's already very early in the minutes of Thursday morning here, local time, here in London. But people, police as well, preparing for any eventuality tomorrow morning as they make their way to work. People very much, as I say, bracing themselves for the possibility of a third attack.
Police preparing as well. Last week, last Thursday, Scotland Yard had about 6,000 of its officers out on the streets of London, on the Underground system as well, in public transports generally, including a number of undercover officers. They're not giving away the details of their strategy this Thursday but we're all assuming and they're indicating that the same level of police presence will be on the streets, on the public mass transit systems as well on this Thursday because it is an incredibly significant day because, as you mentioned, four weeks ago the carnage of July the 7th, two weeks later, two weeks ago, the latest attempts to strike at London's mass transport system.
Tomorrow, an important day because it may well determine whether what we've been witnessing here in the British capital is merely a series of two isolated incidents or whether it is the start of a sustained campaign on every other Thursday, perhaps, against the people of the city.
So the big concern is that there could be more strikes that could bring this British capital to a halt.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew, where does the investigation stand at this point?
CHANCE: Well, it's been a very fast-moving investigation, as you know. Only today, the first individual has been charged with terrorism offenses. The first individual in Britain, that is. Some 14 people are still being held. One of them now being charged with apparently having knowledge of the whereabouts of one of the main suspects in the July 21 bombs. He's been named as Ismael Abdurahman, a 23-year-old man from southeast London. He's charged under Section 38 of the British anti- terrorism laws, which means that he isn't one of the main suspects, as I say, but he is this individual that may have known the whereabouts of one of the suspects.
Meanwhile, there's been pretty significant developments as well from the African nation of Zambia. A man, a British national, Haroon Rashid Aswat, it's been decided, will be extradited to Britain. He's wanted in this country on suspicion of having knowledge of the July 7 attacks. He hasn't been charged with anything at the moment but police in this country desperately want to speak to him and they'll have that opportunity now.
Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Matthew Chance, thanks so much for the very latest out of London tonight.
Next on 360, how to survive a plane crash. Tips from CNN's Gary Tuchman.
Gary.
TUCHMAN: Heidi, the turbulence is intense. The smoke is about to start pouring in the cabin. In a few minutes, we're going to have to jump out of the windows. We're on a flight simulator with real flight attendants undergoing training for the kind of event that happened yesterday in Toronto. We'll have the story.
ANNOUNCER: Darkness and panic. In a moment of crisis, what should you do or not do? A survival guide we hope you'll never need.
And, where you work, be afraid. What you write, what you say, what you do at work, your boss may know more than you think.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Incredibly, it just took a few minutes for all 309 people to escape the burning jet in Toronto yesterday. You have heard a lot about the accident. But tonight, we want to hear from the survivors, their stories, in their own words of what happened inside the plane at the moment of impact.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OLIVIER DUBOS, PASSENGER ON FLIGHT 358: The whole thing started to burn, like shake everywhere in a very, very high speed. And we started to see flames on fire on the outside. And that we really were holding to our seats and we thought we would just die at that point.
EDDIE HO, PASSENGER ON FLIGHT 358: I remember climbing over the seat, pushing each other. People were trying to get their belongings and people were yelling at each other saying, no, just leave your things here, we have to leave the plane as soon as possible.
JOHN ABEDRABBO, PASSENGER ON FLIGHT 358: Well, I saw a whole bunch of people filing away from the aircraft going into the woods. People trying to just get away from it because we saw the fire the engine on fire and we thought, if this thing blows up, we'll all like we'll all roast.
DUBOS: I just can't believe that we all managed to get out of there, that there are any survivors. I'm still in shock. I don't really understand the whole thing, what happened, but really happy to be alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: They did everything right. And tonight, we want to make sure you do everything right in the event of a plane crash with safety tips that could very well save your life.
Kevin Tomich from our affiliate KOCO in Oklahoma City reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAC MCLEAN, FAA CABIN SAFETY RESEARCH: Having a plan and executing that plan is the most important aspect.
KEVIN TOMICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Mac McLean, the FAA's investigator for cabin safety, shared his five-step survival plan.
Step one, when you board, count the rows between your seat and the exit.
MCLEAN: Well, because if you know how many there are and you can't see if the cabin fills up with smoke, then you can feel your way along the seat backs and know by counting how close you are back to that exit row.
TOMICH: Step two, read the card. Even if the instructions are ingrained in your mind, McLean says a refresher course can't hurt.
MCLEAN: If you know what to do and know how to go about saving yourself, well then you will be able to do a lot better.
TOMICH: Step three, brace for landing.
MCLEAN: We've just been told that we're going to have a crash landing. Don't sit back. The proper position is to cross your hands on the seat in front of you, put your head against your hands and stay in that position as long as it takes to get to the ground.
TOMICH: FAA tests show using the brace position reduces the distance your head travels in a crash and decreases the damage suffered.
Step four, stop, stay low and go. Once the plane stops, move towards your exit. Stay low. Remember, the attendants have clear air and visibility at ground level. But, hurry, it won't say that way for long. Twenty seconds into this FAA simulated fuel fire, the seats decompose. Thirty seconds later, poisonous fumes turn the hull into a gas chamber. One-and-a-half minutes in, flash-over consumes anyone still onboard. So move quickly, but not like this, McLean says.
MCLEAN: The best that people can do is just be as orderly as the situation will allow, and yet move as fast as they possibly can.
TOMICH: The fifth step, get away.
MCLEAN: It's going to become a very lethal environment. So get away as fast and as far as you can.
TOMICH: As for your belongings stored overhead . . .
MCLEAN: That's not part of the plan. You will get them later if they are still to be gotten. And if not, just thank your lucky stars that you're off that airplane and you're one of the survivors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: That was Kevin Tomich from our affiliate KOCO in Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, CNN's Gary Tuchman has more now -- more tips on how to survive a plane crash. He's joining us from inside a corporate jet flight simulator at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey -- Gary?
TUCHMAN: Heidi, what's it like to be in a jet crash and have to evacuate? Well, we are in a simulator. This is a corporate jet simulator, but you have the same exit strategy as if you were on a commuter plane. With us right now, actual flight attendants, undergoing actual training to learn how to survive an episode like yesterday. This is a company called FACTS Training. The instructor, Tracy Gross. This is going to be very realistic. Tracy, start to tell us the bad news right now.
TRACY GROSS, FACTS TRAINING, INSTRUCTOR: Hi, ladies and gentlemen. The captain has just informed me that we have engine fire and the fire is on this side the aircraft. Therefore, we're going to use this exit right over here. If I'm not able to open this, will you be able to open it for me?
TUCHMAN: Yes, I will.
GROSS: This is how you're going to do it: Remove the cover, pull down on the T-handle, take both handles on each side of the exit and evacuate, leg, body, leg.
TUCHMAN: We're definitely going to crash. There's a fire.
GROSS: Yes. There is a fire in the cabin. There is smoke in here. There's nothing I can do about it. So, please bring your shirt above your nose and mouth and breathe through it.
In the meantime, I need to you move over there. Quick, now. Get your seat belts on, everybody. This is your brace position. I want you to lean completely over. Grab your arms on the back side of your leg. OK. Very good.
You, put your feet flat on the floor; heads are back. You two, go all the way down. Grab your ankles on the back side of your leg. OK. Very good. You all can relax. I call for that command 10 seconds before landing.
TUCHMAN: OK. This can be the abridged version. So, let's go 30 seconds before the crash now.
GROSS: OK.
All right. There's the 30 seconds. If you have any sharp items on you, I need to you remove those. Your eyeglasses, take those off put them in your chair. Any sharp items, pass them to me immediately. We are getting closer to landing. Everybody put your seat belts on. Make sure they are tight. We are going to meet 100 yards away from the aircraft. Stay in a group.
ANNOUNCER: Ten seconds. 10 seconds to landing.
TUCHMAN: Ten seconds, everybody. 10 seconds. Get ready.
GROSS: Brace, brace, hold tight. Brace. Brace. Hold tight. Brace, brace. Hold tight. Brace, brace. Hold tight. Brace, brace.
TUCHMAN: Hold on.
GROSS: Hold tight. Brace. Brace, hold tight. Brace, brace. Hold tight. Brace, brace. Hold tight. Hold. Hold tight. Hold tight. Brace. Brace. Hold tight. All right. Stay in your seats. Gary, get the window open now.
TUCHMAN: OK. Yes!
GROSS: You got it?
TUCHMAN: Yes.
GROSS: Evacuate. Leg. Body. Leg. Release your seat belts. Come this way. Leave everything. Go to the lights.
TUCHMAN: My job is to help other people out, but I'm going to come down to finish this up. I mean to be chivalrist usually, but to finish off the most important tip they gave us when we took this training early today, know exactly how many rows you're away from the exit row when you sit down in the plane, because as you can see, there is no way to see. Flying is extremely safe, but it is good to know where that exit row, how many rows away it is from you when you sit in your seat on a plane.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Gary, it's obvious that you can feel that panic, just watching you. Tell me a little bit about what you felt, even though it was a simulation. I mean it happens just like that?
TUCHMAN: I'm very disheveled by the way, Heidi, I hope you'll excuse that, but that's the way it is when you get off these flights. And that's one thing you keep in mind: Don't worry about your ties and don't worry about your shoes and your purses. Get off the plane as quickly as you can. And you're right, we knew it was a simulator. The fact was, it is very eerie and very scary. When it gets that smoky, it's hard to breathe. You can't see anything and you can see why it's so important to know where it is to get out without using your eyes.
COLLINS: Gary Tuchman. Thanks so much, Gary. We don't mind your disheveled tie.
Next, on 360 now, passengers on the Air France flight escaped with their lives. But could you do the same or would the stress paralyze you?
Also tonight, your office e-mail, likely monitored. What you should be asking your company and how you protect yourself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Flight 358 was landing in Toronto. The passengers applauded the pilot for ending a transatlantic flight. Then, all of a sudden, the plane veers, it crashes, it is on fire and the stress of survival is in everybody.
How did the crew and the passengers handle the stress and what should you do to keep calm? Joining us from Atlanta for answers on this is Kathleen Hall, the founder of the Stress Institute.
Kathleen, disasters like the Air France crash are the ultimate test of our ability to cope in an emergency situation. Can you tell us what happens to our bodies when we're in these situations?
KATHLEEN HALL, THE STRESS INSTITUTE: Yes, Heidi. In an emergency situation like that, whether it's a plane crash, car crash, whatever happens, we have a thing that happens. It happens from our reptilian brain and it's really called the fight or fright response.
And what happens physically to our bodies, is our blood pressure increases, our heart rate increases. Also, our adrenaline flow increases tremendously. Our blood flow leaves our extremities and moves to our vital organs. Also, our blood even clots and gets thicker in case we would be injured.
So, it's an amazing, incredible response. Mentally, it lets us focus. Nothing peripherally is on our mind. We get very centered, very focused right at that moment.
COLLINS: So, -- but does that happen for everybody? I mean, how do we help ourselves to remain calm and cool mentally?
HALL: I call it -- do you remember when you were small and we learned about train crossings or we learned about stop signs? And we said, stop, look and listen. That's what I tell people -- stop, look and listen.
Meaning, the minute something is wrong, stop. I mean, go inside of yourself, take a very deep, cleansing breath. Memorize a three to five-word affirmation or phrase.
We talk about Olympic people being stress-hardy. We talk about people being prepared for the Olympics or marathons. Anyone in public transportation nowadays, with what's going on in the world, needs to know the stop, look and listen. I want to throw that in.
So, stop. Take a deep breath. Memorize three to five words like, I'm a survivor. I am strong. If you're Christian, if you're Hindu -- whatever spirituality or faith you are, say the three to five words. Memorize that.
Second, look. Look to your left and your right. See if somebody else needs help. We have great science that shows us people that are compassionate and feel like there's a sense of community, actually, their chemistry changes in their brains almost immediately.
Third is listen. Listen to that pilot. Listen to the flight attendant. Listen to the police officer. They will give you instructions. The more keen you listen, you will not only be saving your own life, you will save a lot of lives around you.
COLLINS: Kathleen, I wonder. We just saw this excellent demonstration of the training that flight attendants get in an emergency situation like this. Is there something physically that happens to them that is different because they're professional, that is different from what would happen to you or me as a passenger?
HALL: Absolutely. People -- we have a brand-new research out, too, right now, Heidi, that shows us that actually fighter pilots going into battle and riot police that are being trained in training exercises actually experience less stress than a commuter. A commuter has more stress than that. And it's because they feel in control. These people are highly trained, as you just saw. People like myself, even physicians and a lot of different nurses are trained.
So, in a bus, on a train, when something happens, many of us are trained, please learn to listen, and they can help guide other people.
COLLINS: Right. Fascinating. All right. Kathleen Hall, thanks for that.
Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with some of the day's other top stories. Hi, Erica.
HILL: Hi, Heidi.
We start off again, actually, in Iraq. An American freelance journalist there killed. Steven Vincent's body was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the southern city of Basra. He and his female interpreter were abducted yesterday by unknown gunmen. The interpreter was found with a gunshot wound in her chest. She's being treated at a hospital. Vincent was in Basra writing a book about the history of the city.
In Idaho, investigators have now linked a suspect in multiple slayings and kidnappings to the death of a California boy. Joseph Duncan is already charged with kidnapping two Idaho children and killing one of them and the relatives this May. FBI agents now say Duncan is also the prime suspect in the killing of an 11-year-old boy in Beaumont, California, in 1987.
In New York, Martha Stewart's five-month term of home confinement, well, she's got a couple extra weeks. It's been extended by three weeks, actually. No explanation was given for the extension. Stewart was ordered to serve five months of house arrest after her five-month prison term for lying to government investigators about a 2001 stock sale. Now, the original house arrest was set to end on August 10.
Meantime in Niger, the United Nations World Food Program has more than tripled its appeal to help alleviate starvation. The agency says the cost of life-saving operations has increased from $16 million to more than $57 million. It says money is needed to save the 2.5 million people there from extreme hunger and malnutrition. And we've been learning much more about that, of course, all this week from Anderson, Heidi.
COLLINS: That's for sure. Erica, thanks a lot. We'll see you again in 30 minutes
This Friday, don't miss a special edition of 360 on the hunger crisis in Niger. Anderson spent several days there reporting on the children and adults "Starving in Plain Sight". Don't miss his in-depth reports coming your way Friday night at 7:00 Eastern.
And with the cameras rolling on the disaster there, Nobel Prize- winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu had a warning for the world in an editorial in today's "Washington Post." He wrote, "now the anguish of Niger's children has spurred the outside world to act. But it's too late for many. Must we wait for these heart-rending images of children to dying before we mobilize?" He added, "neighboring Mauritania and Mali, South Sudan, Southern Africa, are all Nigers waiting to happen."
Up next on 360, a risky blogger tells all. Her tough lesson on how dishing out dirt on her co-workers cost her big time.
Plus, careful with your work e-mail. What you need to know before hitting the send button.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Be careful with your e-mail at work. Your boss may be watching every key stroke. Some find out the hard way as CNN's Daniel Sieberg reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA, FIRED FOR PERSONAL E-MAIL: I had written an e-mail to a coworker complaining about my boss, complaining about his behavior. And within a week of that e-mail, I was fired.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This woman asks that we only identify her as Laura.
LAURA: I had said that the boss was a jerk. He had been acting a bit arrogant and pompous with me all week. SIEBERG: She's afraid what this e-mail would do to employment prospects if people find out what she did. An official with her former company says Laura was let go for a number of personnel reasons, but that the derogatory comments were a factor. This official says the company informs all employees that their e-mail is monitored.
(on camera): Did you know that your e-mail was being monitored?
LAURA: No. I had no idea.
SIEBERG: How did you feel when you found out?
LAURA: I felt a bit violated, frankly, because I felt that we were allowed -- through the company's own policy -- we were allowed so much personal e-mail per day.
SIEBERG (voice-over): Laura isn't alone in her confusion. Only half the corporations recently surveyed by the Epolicy Institute say they train employees on their e-mail policies. The same survey finds that more than half of companies monitor employee e-mails, and that one in four has fired employees for violations.
NANCY FLYNN, EPOLICY INSTITUTE: Most employees tend to think my e-mail is my business. My employer has no right to read my e-mail messages, particularly if it's a message to a friend or family member. But in reality, here in the U.S., the federal government gives employers the right to monitor all employee e-mail, instant messaging and Internet activity.
SIEBERG (on camera): Thousands of e-mails fly in and out of the company. And while it's impossible for the boss to literally look over your shoulder, businesses are turning to technology, computers that can read every word of every e-mail and raise red flags.
PAUL JUDGE, CTO, CIPHER TRUST: We've taken the approach of having machines and algorithms that can go out and understand what's the vocabulary of normal, legitimate business e-mail? And then what are the anomalies to that? What's the vocabulary that's used in jokes, or used in chain letters.
SIEBERG (voice-over): Cipher Trust helps companies sort through the flood of e-mail, running every message through a series of filters looking for key words. Your company might be trying to find out if you've applied at a competitor, so they look for words like resume or Monster.com. Or they could be protecting corporate secrets from walking out the door.
JUDGE: The need to monitor e-mails isn't because companies are interested in really looking at the private lives of their employees. But there's really a set of responsibilities that the company has to safeguard their employees, to safeguard the resources and infrastructure of the company.
SIEBERG: But some of the key words companies look for are so offensive, we can't show them to you. The company can then decide to whether to respond or let it go. JUDGE: I've seen many that set up a rule that says notify human resources or notify the legal department. Or an organization may set up a rule that says just block that message, do not let it go out of the network.
SIEBERG: And while it might not get out, it could well come back. Most employees don't realize e-mail is forever.
FLYNN: What everybody needs to be aware of is that e-mail and instant messaging create written records. It's not the same as standing around the water cooler gossiping about somebody. You gossip about somebody via e-mail, there's a written record of it. And it can come back and haunt you and your employer.
LAURA: They still fear for their jobs a bit.
SIEBERG: For Laura, the experience left her angry and frustrated. But at least for now, she doesn't have to worry about her e-mails and what the boss thinks. She's currently self-employed.
Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: So, is anything private in your workplace? Do you, the employee, have any rights? Mark Rasch, a workplace privacy expert, has the answers. We spoke a little bit earlier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: So, Mark, what if you want to send a private e-mail at work? I mean, a lot of people think if you use your private account, you're safe from company eyes. Is that necessarily true?
MARK RASCH, WORKPLACE PRIVACY EXPERT: Even if you're using your Hotmail or AOL account or your personal account from work, you employer has the ability -- and frequently does -- read your e-mail.
COLLINS: Is there any way to know if your e-mail is actually being read by your bosses?
RASCH: Typically, bosses don't have to tell you if they're reading your personal e-mail at all. And so, the only way you find out is when you get into trouble because of something that they've read, that you've written.
COLLINS: So, what happens? They call you in. They say, here's this e-mail that we found. Or do they ever even really divulge to you that, that's how they found out you had behaved in the way they were not approving of?
RASCH: We start with the presumption that in most cases, it's employment at will. And they can just say, it's Tuesday. You're fired. But generally, they'll come in and say, you know, you've been saying bad things about us, or you've been disloyal, or something like that and, we know about this, because we read your e-mail. COLLINS: It's not Tuesday today, is it? Anyway, tell us what we need to be asking our companies, though, about these privacy policies. And legally, do they even have to tell us?
RASCH: Typically, a company isn't required to have a privacy policy. But many larger companies, particularly larger employers, do. And what you need to do is say, first of all, is there a privacy policy that covers e-mail, Internet usage, listening in on my telephone calls, doing things like searching my briefcase while I'm gone, searching my desk, things like that.
Do we have a policy on that at all? If so, can I see it? Can I have a copy of it? Do I have any input into this policy?
So, you basically want to know what your employer's rights are and what your rights are before you take the job.
COLLINS: All right. Let's talk phones for a minute. Is it legal for the companies to listen in on calls and get our phone records?
RASCH: In the most cases, it's legal for the employer to listen in on your telephone calls. Now, a few states like, for example, Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Illinois, a few other states like that, have laws that say that you have to get consent of all parties to the communication, generally, to be able to listen in. But you should pretty much assume that if you're using a phone provided by the employer or even a cell phone paid for by the employer, they can listen to your calls.
COLLINS: Just how and where are we being watched at work?
RASCH: In the hallways, in office places, in the cubicles. Things like that, that's probably OK. In fact, they can even put it in the changing rooms and bathrooms if they tell you about it and get your consent.
COLLINS: What about our desks. Are our desks private?
RASCH: You shouldn't assume that anything -- that your desk itself is private. Although, you may have some expectation of privacy, say, in your purse, your briefcase or a locked container within your desk, but that's not necessarily even clear that you have privacy there either.
COLLINS: Do we need to be careful about things that we throw away in the trash while we're at work, even?
RASCH: Anything you throw away in the trash, anything you put in the garbage can be looked at, can be read, not only by your employer, but then your employer puts it in a trash bin, which goes out to a dumpster and anybody can read it at that point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Let's find out what's coming up at the top of the hour now on PAULA ZAHN NOW. Hi, Paula. PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: That's pretty dis-spiriting, isn't it?
COLLINS: Yes, I was just editing my e-mail to you.
ZAHN: Yes. I was thinking about a whole new use for shredders.
At the top of the hour, we will share with you some of the survival stories you have not yet heard. Today, passengers from yesterday's Air France jetliner crash tell us how they got out alive. And we're going to show you what you might want to learn to do if you are ever to confront a situation like that.
Also, in our series "Safe at Home," did you know that police can secretly search your home while you're away? Not obligated to tell you about it or question you for taking certain pictures. Can these measures really keep us safe from terrorist attacks or are they simply an invasion of our privacy? We'll debate those issues, very important ones in this post-9/11 environment.
All ahead at 8:00 Eastern.
COLLINS: All right, Paula. Thanks. We'll be watching.
ZAHN: Thank you.
COLLINS: Next, on 360. Internet users, beware. This woman has a lesson for all of us -- one that may keep you from losing your job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Dishing out dirt on the boss and complaining about your co-workers. Well, these days, more and more people are doing that online as bloggers.
In fact, the popularity of blogs, or online journals, has exploded. Here's a 360 "Download:" According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, about eight million Americans have blogs and another 32 million are blog readers.
So many eyes and so many chances for your identity to be revealed. Nadine Haobsh found that out the hard way. She lost her job because of her blog. I talked with her a little bit earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Obviously, your blog, JolieInNyc, has created quite a stir. Tell us exactly what the stir is all about?
NADINE HAOBSH, FIRED FOR BLOGGING: Well, basically, I started the blog and I was writing about celebrity gossip. I was only occasionally writing about beauty. But I forwarded it on to some friends and then they forwarded it on to friends and it ended up getting picked up by Gauker (ph), which is a very popular blog. And after, Gauker (ph) picked it up, it sort of spread like wildfire through the industry.
And so, I guess I was inadvertently outing secrets of the industry, even though they're not really secrets -- or they're horribly kept secrets, if they are. Things like the beauty products that you get and free highlights and massages and press trips.
COLLINS: Do you think it's different, because it's a blog versus your company e-mail?
HAOBSH: Well, I think, you know, blogging is still so new, there are no defined boundaries and rules. And you know, there is a distinction, I guess, between, you know, things that you're e-mailing to people and you're being up front about and doing a blog where it could be anonymous, which was the case with me.
COLLINS: Why were you anonymous?
HAOBSH: It's -- you know, honestly I don't know. That's one of my regrets. I wish that I had been up front. Number one, told my bosses. And then, number two, put my name out there, so that from the beginning, they could've said, you know, we don't think this is a good idea, because there wasn't an established blog policy at my company.
COLLINS: After experiencing something like this, though, that I'm sure you probably never saw coming...
HAOBSH: Right.
COLLINS: What sort of advice to you have for people out there who are maybe secretly blogging right now?
HAOBSH: Right. Definitely, I think that if you're blogging about your industry or you're blogging about your job, it's dangerous, even if you're not naming names.
It's still a very, very gray area. There aren't defined rules and a lot of companies don't have established blog policies, but, you know, are still within their rights, if you're writing something, to fire you.
And so, I think it's a really dangerous area to be writing about the industry that you work in. I would say, you know, write about your day-to-day life, write about going to dinner with your friends, but don't write about your job and don't write about your industry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: That was Nadine Haobsh. She had worked at "Ladies Home Journal" when all of this happened. Thanks so much for watching, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
And a reminder, don't miss a special edition of 360 on Friday, "Starving in Plain Sight." Anderson Cooper reports on the hunger crisis in Niger.
CNN's primetime coverage continues now with Paula Zahn. Hi, Paula.
END
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