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United Jet Hits Truck, Streetlight While Landing at Newark International; Spirit Airlines Workers Search for New Jobs After Shutdown; Flight Data Shows 2022 Chinese Plane Crash May Have Been Intentional; Ceasefire in Question as U.S. & Iran Trade Shots; 23 People Injured in Mass Shooting at Lake Party; Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition With Pneumonia; Princess Eugenie Pregnant With Third Child; New Oscar Rules, Only Humans Can Win Acting & Writing Awards. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 04, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:33]

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Whoa, yeah, bit of a miracle. That truck driver survived the landing gear of a United Airlines jet crashing into his bakery truck after the plane hit a streetlight.

It was crossing the New Jersey Turnpike as it was coming in for landing at Newark International Airport yesterday. The truck driver suffered some cuts to his arm but he's going to be OK. In fact, he was able to safely pull the truck over after the incident.

No one on board the flight was injured. But listen to what was happening inside the air traffic control tower after the crash. The workers seemed oblivious to what happened.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get the reports for what the issue was?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got different conflictions on the turnpike

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, they felt something over the threshold and -- there's a hole in the side of the airplane. So I'm going to get you on the runway here in a moment. They said it was right at the threshold. So it'll just be a minute.

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SANCHEZ: CNN Aviation Correspondent, Pete Muntean is here to walk us through this. Pete, they felt something and then there was a hole in the plane and this all happened as they were trying to land on the shortest runway at Newark. Why? PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It rarely used this Runway 29 there at Newark. It's mostly because yesterday, the winds were so strong out of the west of the runway faces to the west.

Here is the issue though. This is about 12 lanes of I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike here. You can see that lines up with the center line here of Runway 29, only about 400 ft separate the barrier wall here and the beginning of the runway.

And so it's a very, very close approach to begin with. There have been videos posted online for years and passengers commenting, boy, that's a pretty darn close. If a pilot is flying down what's called the glide path here.

So if you're going to look like this, look at this on a profile, it would look like this to the runway. There's a part of the approach called the localizer and part of it called the glide path, that brings airplanes down on a gradual approach down to the runway. They'd be tracking straight down it like this.

The issue is and there are warnings published by the FAA saying, don't get low on the glide path if you're coming into land here. Never before, at least in recent memory and maybe ever, has there been a U. S. commercial airliner colliding with a vehicle on a highway. But you can see the setup here is sort of the recipe for disaster.

There are so many vehicles here close by, the light poles extend up a little bit. You can see a bit in the shadow here of the satellite view. And then if a pilot is worried about the shortness of the runway, it's the shortest runway there at Newark. They're really trying to stick the landing right on the piano keys there at the beginning over at Runway 29.

Then, it sort of sets up being a little low and a little flat coming into the approach. And you can see why this becomes a problem. So it seems as if, according to the images here from the driver's vehicle, you can see a teeny tiny bit there in the corner. We have it spot lit here. That's the trailing edge of the wing of this United 767.

And then you can see the landing gear assembly. That's the big trolley of the main landing gear of a 767. There are new images emerging now of what appears to be the tires hitting the back, the trailer portion of the tractor trailer here and causing it clearly to topple over on its side.

[13:35:00]

You can see here from the video, the drivers singing along, having a good time, clearly unaware about -- of what's about to happen here. Then he looks out to the right side and it seems that the truck is toppled onto its side completely. So this happened with a lot of force. The early data that we've been able to see, open source data, not official stuff, but open source says that this collision occurred about 160 miles an hour, the plane at 125 feet.

Now that's early data. The big issue here is that we don't have what's off of the flight data recorder from this airplane just yet. That is what investigators will look at that will provide some really key details. And then of course, they'll want to know what's on the voice recorder.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

MUNTEAN: What was the interplay between the pilots as they were coming in to land here? We know two pilots in the flight deck of that Boeing 767. Did they realize that they were a little bit low on the approach? Did they try and make a correction, usually adding power, throttling up will cause the airplane to rise on that glide slope and may be missing what was clearly about to take place here.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

MUNTEAN: So a lot of big questions, investigators have their work cut out for them in what will be a very, very interesting investigation, probably never before something like this happened.

SANCHEZ: Quickly, Pete, did it surprise you that the air traffic controllers didn't know that this had happened? Is this something that they are supposed to be on top of?

MUNTEAN: In the other parts of the recordings that I've heard, you can actually hear the pilots clear the runway and go all the way to the gate. It wasn't until they got to the gate that they realized that there was any sort of damage or issue to the plane. Although in that interplay there of that clip we played between the air traffic control tower and a car sent out to inspect the runway, they said they felt something as they were going over the runway threshold here, the very beginning of the runway, that's what's called the threshold, and they felt they felt something and they saw damage.

So clearly, there was something amiss.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

MUNTEAN: It wasn't until later though that two and two were put together, and it seems like, at least from the early images, you can see the scar from where the light pole hit that plane as well.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, fortunate that there wasn't more of a human toll in the situation.

MUNTEAN: Very true.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thank you so much. Erica?

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Spirit Airlines is officially out of runway after years of financial strugglers, leaving millions of passengers scrambling to find alternative flights and thousands of employees wondering just what comes next. Joining me now is Sara Nelson. She's the International President for the Association of Flight Attendants. It's good to have you and nice to have you in the studio for once, which is rare for us. When we play out what happened over the weekend, we've talked a lot about the passengers. When it comes to the employees, there have been multiple accounts some from flight attendants who said they were blindsided. They didn't know this was coming. People were stranded.

As of today, has everyone been able to get home? Is there a plan?

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: We are still getting a few people home, so almost everyone is home now. But this is one of the things that we talked about on our 12 p.m. call which we're having every single day with the flight attendants. If there's still someone out in the system, we need to get that information so that we can get them home.

And we are working with the skeleton crew of Spirit Airlines management that are still left to be able to do that. But there's also a lot of other things to attend to. There are people who are very concerned that suddenly, they're going without medical insurance They don't know when their last paycheck is going to come.

We have asked the federal government to weigh in with the bankruptcy court to make sure that we're getting those last paychecks and benefits paid out as soon as possible and to Prioritize that in the bankruptcy court.

HILL: You also, in asking them to prioritize things, you asked them to take immediate action, right? And you also ask them to prioritize the hiring of displaced Spirit flight attendants. What is the reality of the job market right now for flight attendants?

NELSON: Here's the problem. Spirit went out of business because of the spike in fuel costs because of the war and that is causing a problem across the industry. So capacity is being cut. That's why Spirit wasn't bought. Spirit had a plan to exit bankruptcy, but for those spikes in fuel prices, they would have succeeded.

So there, it's difficult, but there are some airlines hiring, although on a lesser rate, basically on attrition, and we're working with the airlines. I have to say that United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska, Alaska Hawaiian, JetBlue and Southwest have really stepped up with that. And we're working to get everyone placed.

But in the meantime, people's lives are suddenly ripped apart here and they have lost their family. I mean, this is this is Spirit -- flying as a flight attendant is a unique job anyway, and you see -- actually on the previous report about that near miss in Newark or clip in Newark, that people are on the frontlines every single day, working as aviation's first responders, and they were doing that right up to the last flight landing in Dallas late on Friday night.

And so they were doing that job and to suddenly have this ripped away from them and to also have their family ripped away from them, Spirit it's such a unique carrier where they were doing something really incredible together and they felt that and they feel that now and that sense of loss is really hard.

[13:40:00]

HILL: It's a lot. I did also want to ask you quickly about another story involving a different United flight.

NELSON: Yeah.

HILL: A passenger over the weekend, who attacked a crew member, tried to access the cockpit before they were ultimately removed by police at Newark. According to FAA data, right, there have been, I think, 500 unruly passenger reports this year, 110 of those in April. It's important to note, we're down markedly from the height in 2021.

But what are you experiencing on a daily basis? What is it like for the flight crew?

NELSON: It's very difficult. All of our planes are full and we have less staff than we've ever had. So if we can get to people right away, we can usually de-escalate situations. We can handle these security threats. Flight attendants are experts in doing that. If you can imagine, thousands of flights are taking off every day and most of them without incident, most of them without making the news.

But this is a harder job than it ever has been before. And you know, we're hearing from a lot of people actually who have a lot of concern about Spirit flight attendants who are on the frontlines managing some of those disruptions on their flights that everyone would talk about. And anyone who wants to help can go to our website at AFACWA.org and contribute to our DisasterReliefFund/DRF.

HILL: All right, Sara, good to have you here with us in studio.

NELSON: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: And I know you are on this, as you will be, your calls, your daily calls working on behalf of all the flight attendants.

NELSON: Around the clock. Thanks, Erica.

HILL: We also have some chilling new information to share with you today about what may have caused one of China's deadliest air disasters in decades. Black box data released by the NTSB shows fuel switches were intentionally shut off before China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashed. You may remember this. It was in 2022. So the plane plunged 29,000 feet into southern China's remote mountains. The crash killed all 132 people on board.

CNN has reached out to the Civil Aviation Administration of China as well as China Eastern Airlines for comment. The CAAC had previously denied the crash was intentional.

Ahead here, President Trump suggesting allies should come help in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. military ships there come under fire from Iran. We'll discuss.

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SANCHEZ: More now on the breaking developments threatening the U.S. ceasefire with Iran. The two militaries exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump announced the U.S. Navy will begin guiding ships through that vital waterway. The U.S. military says it blew up several Iranian small boats after Iran launched multiple cruise missiles, drones, and small boats at Navy ships.

The UAE also reports being fired on by Iran with one projectile hitting an oil terminal where it says that at least three people were injured. This new flare-up is happening as President Trump insists that very positive discussions are happening with Iran as the two countries exchange peace plans through mediators in Pakistan.

Let's discuss with CNN Global Affairs and Political Analyst, Barak Ravid. He's also Global Affairs Correspondent for Axios.

Barak, thanks so much for being with us. What is your understanding of where the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran stands right now?

BARAK RAVID, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS & POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think we're -- at this point, we're closer than ever for the ceasefire to end and for the war to resume. We saw since this morning, numerous exchanges of fire between Iran and the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz. We saw the U.S. conducting airstrikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guards fast boats, and we saw the Iranians firing missiles and drones at the UAE.

And I think it is clear that the path right now is towards an escalation that could undermine the ceasefire and lead to the resumption of the war.

SANCHEZ: So earlier today, Iranian state media reported that they had struck two U.S. ships. The U.S. pushed back on that, saying that that was not the case. Iran then pushed back on that denial. What is your understanding of what happened there?

RAVID: So CENTCOM Commander, Admiral Brad Cooper, in a press briefing just an hour ago, confirmed that the Iranians fired missiles at several U.S. destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz and towards other commercial ships. He also confirmed that the Iranians sent IRGC fast boats to try and harass those ships.

But he said that all of those threats were intercepted and none of them hit any U.S. Navy ships or U.S. flagged ships. And at the moment, it seems that at least in Hormuz, the U.S. military was very prepared for any Iranian attack and all of those attacks were prevented.

I think this is one of the reasons that the Iranians chose to escalate by firing rockets and drones at the UAE, because they were just much more capable of doing so and the U.S. had less capability to try and prevent them from doing it. I think the question now will be whether this is a sort of limited escalation incident or we're on a path that will just continue more and more. I think a lot of it depends on where President Trump wants to take this.

[13:50:00]

I mean, the Iranians already escalated, attacked again one of the Gulf countries. I think there are many around Trump that think that this is an opportunity to resume the war and to degrade the Iranians even more. But there are others around the president who tell him that, you know, even if he responds now and resumes the war, it might not get him to any point that is really better than the current situation.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it's an interesting decision that the president will have to make. I do wonder, as we think about Project Freedom, what essentially got Iran to escalate, the idea that the U.S. would offer safe transport for certain vessels in the area, what's the criteria for the U.S. offering that safe transport?

RAVID: I think that the main reason we arrived at this new operation is if you want to find the source of where it all started, it all started last Thursday when President Trump convened his national security team and basically told them that he does not want to continue to be stuck in this frozen conflict of, on the one hand, no real diplomatic progress, negotiations, even if they're ongoing, they're not leading anywhere, and on the other hand, no war, because there's a ceasefire.

So everything is stuck. And one of the things that they propose is what we see right now happening. And I think the result, what Trump's advisers told him, is that there could be two results. One result is the U.S. will do this. It will reopen -- effectively reopen the Strait, and Iran will lose its main pressure card. On the other hand, it could also lead Iran to escalate, and then the U.S. will have to resume the war.

And I think Trump is still trying to figure out which of the options is better and whether he could contain this flare-up and continue on opening the Strait without going, again, into an all-out war. \

SANCHEZ: We'll see what the president decides. Barak Ravid, thank you so much for sharing your reporting. Erica?

HILL: Let's get you caught up now on some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Police are searching for two gunmen who attacked a lake party. This happened north of Oklahoma City on Sunday night. At least 23 people were injured. The shooting happened at a campground at Arcadia Lake. Officials say the suspects were wearing ski masks, but they're not sure why they attacked this party. While they have not been captured, police do not believe that there is an ongoing threat to the public.

Former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani is hospitalized with pneumonia. His spokesperson says he is in critical but stable condition during an episode of "Giuliani's Show" that aired Friday on X, the 81-year-old told viewers he was "a little under the weather" and was seen coughing a few times throughout that program.

And congratulations are in order. Buckingham Palace announcing that Princess Eugenia is pregnant with her third child. She and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, have two young sons. She is 12th in line to the British throne. The second daughter, of course, of King Charles' disgraced younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

And the Oscar goes to a real-life person acting out a script written by real-life people. The new rules just announced as Hollywood takes on A.I. That's ahead.

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[13:58:06]

HILL: So forget rolling out the red carpet, next year's Oscars are cracking down on A.I. Among the new rules, only acting roles performed by humans are eligible to take home a golden statue. As for A.I.- assisted screenplays, well, those will also not be eligible for any hardware. CNN's Clare Duffy is following these developments for us. So it's a crackdown. It's not a total ban. It seems like the Academy is trying to get out ahead of this.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: I think that's right, Erica. We have seen so many in and around Hollywood experimenting with how to use A.I. in films and all kinds of other media. And so I think the Academy is trying to make clear what it considers to be the line between human creativity and A.I.-generated content.

As you said, the Academy is saying that Generative A.I. neither helps nor harms the chances of achieving a nomination. But there are those two exceptions. I'll read you those rules. In the acting category, only roles credited in the film's legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible.

And in the writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible. So this would seem to put A.I. actors like Tilly Norwood, who we've talked a lot about, out of luck here. But we haven't really seen A.I. actors playing full roles in movies yet.

So this does seem to be largely symbolic, at least at this point.

HILL: And how will this be enforced?

DUFFY: That's the good question, right? Because there are so many, I think, gray lines here that the Academy is going to have to navigate. For example, this upcoming film that is featuring an A.I. replica of Val Kilmer.

Val Kilmer did agree to participate in that movie when he was still alive. But that role is being performed by artificial intelligence. That may be the sort of tricky line that the Academy has to walk here.

I've also spoken with screenwriters who use A.I. as a sort of writing partner. How are they going to determine that? Now, the Academy does say that it will request additional information from filmmakers if it feels like it needs that in order to make a call about whether humans were really at the heart of creating these films.

HILL: Clare, really appreciate it. Thank you. --