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Plane and Tourist Helicopter Collide; Obama Actively Pushing for Health Care Reform; Protesters Disrupt Town Hall Meetings; Professor Insists U.S. Must Engage North Korea
Aired August 08, 2009 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tragedy in midair.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a loud crash. A small plane collides with a tourist helicopter.
It looked like half of the wing was missing. And it was corkscrewing into the river. And we saw the helicopter drop like a rock into the Hudson.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEMON: People along New York's Hudson River watch in horror.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JASMINE PAN, CRASH WITNESS: It's like in the movie. And they start, it was turning, and then the head went down first. About three, four second later, I thought it was the wing of the helicopter, probably the rotor blade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Within minutes. Divers combed the murky waters. But, sadly, Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivers the bad news. There appear to be no survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: This has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What went wrong? We investigate right now on CNN.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
We're following breaking news. A pleasant sightseeing trip of New York -- in New York ends in tragedy. You are looking live now at New York's Hudson River, where divers and investigators are desperately looking for bodies and wreckage from a midair collision that happened just about noon Eastern Time today. Right now, nine people appear to be dead -- and all of this, that's according to the mayor -- and may include a child on board the plane, an Italian tourist onboard a helicopter. And you can see, it is very clear in New York as dusk settles there.
Thousands of people out and about in both New York City and New Jersey, witnessing all this as it happened, and they were simply stunned of what they saw taking place in the sky and then falling into the river. A small plane and a tourist helicopter in a death spiral into the dark, deep waters of the Hudson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAN: The only thing I saw was a black helicopter went down. We were all watching. It's like in the movie. And then, it start, it was turning. And then the head went down first. And then about, three, four second later, I thought it was a wing of the helicopter. But there was no wing for helicopter, probably the rotor blades.
So, if this is the head. I think it went down like this. So it was quick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you do next after you saw this?
PAN: Oh, I call -- we call, three of the girls, we all call 911. And I think it was probably busy. So, it said leave a message. So that was a little bit funny.
No, but very soon, in about a minute. I just see like all other helicopters. And then people coming for the rescue. So it was very quick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see a plane? Did you see a plane?
PAN: No, I did not see a plane. I didn't know there was a crash. I just thought it was probably a malfunction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see them starting to pull people out of the water?
PAN: I see a lot of people come and try to rescue. And then lots of boats, start to drive towards the helicopter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see people in the water? Were there people swimming? Were there people (INAUDIBLE).
PAN: I did not see that. I did not see that. I did not see any struggle or anything. But I see a lot of people are trying to come and help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And where were you -- you were golfing? Where were you golfing?
PAN: Chelsea Piers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chelsea Piers. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were in Chelsea Piers. Where were you exactly when you saw it?
PAN: I was on Level D or C. I think Level D.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where?
PAN: So, we were golfing in Chelsea Piers Golf Club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, tell me a little more about the rescue effort? What did you see? I mean, boats heading to the scene? Tell me what you saw.
PAN: Oh, I saw a lot -- a lot of helicopters to...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boats?
PAN: ... and boats driving towards the scene, trying to help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How high in the air was the helicopter when it was going straight down?
PAN: I don't think I saw the whole thing. When I saw it, it took about -- I saw about six seconds of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And it was straight nose down?
PAN: I think it was nose down, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it turning?
PAN: Oh, I think it was turning, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your reaction when you saw it. You, obviously, have never seen anything like this.
PAN: Yes. I was very shocked. I think I was screaming for a few seconds. And then two of us, we start calling 911. So, it's probably a lot of people saw it. That's why the line was busy. But then we saw the rescue boats, rescue helicopters just went after like a minute. It was that quick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But no one swimming. No one...
PAN: I do not see it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any flames? Did you see any flames?
PAN: I didn't see any flames. I saw some smokes like afterwards. I didn't see any flames.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I want to show you what it looks like from Google Earth. As you come into New York harbor, you see the Statue of Liberty, in Ellis Island in the lower left. And moving up the Hudson River, the crash site was in the stretch of river, between Pier 40 and lower Manhattan and Hoboken, New Jersey.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is on the story since it broke. She begins our coverage from the banks of the Hudson and lower Manhattan tonight.
And, Susan, I'm also hearing that the NTSB will hold a press conference very shortly, maybe before the top of the hour.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. And we also have some other breaking news to tell you about. I have it confirmed from two different agencies, including the New York Police Department as well as the medical examiner's office, that three victims have now been recovered. Earlier, we had heard it was only two. But now, we understand that three bodies have been recovered and are now at the medical examiner's office. Autopsies are expected to begin tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, at this hour, Don, it appears as though the recovery operation is still going on. We see a U.S. Coast Guard vessel out there, evidently in the area protecting the scene. And we see that other traffic is going up and down the Hudson, as it has been most of the afternoon. In many occasions, under escort to make sure that no one strays over into the area where the wreckage is believed to be in 30 feet of water.
It's been a very, very difficult operation being carried out by divers who are -- can barely see about two feet in front of them. The water is very, very murky indeed. This is something that the authorities have been talking about for the longest time. And they said that the operation will go on today as long as it is safe for the divers to operate beneath the water.
Now, we are still waiting to find out whether they will break off at sun down and resume operations in the morning or continue to work throughout the night.
As you have said, the National Transportation Safety Board will begin its investigation. They brought in a special team from Washington, D.C. to assist those who are here in the ground in this area, to try to figure out what happened. How is it that on a bright, sunny day, that the small plane would have just taken off from small Teterboro Airport in New Jersey somehow may have gotten into the path of this helicopter -- as the sightseeing chopper was just taking off with the five Italian tourists on board.
It is a tragic, horrific accident, and one that investigators will try to get to the bottom of just as soon as they can -- Don?
LEMON: Absolutely, Susan. And, again, we may learn more at the top of the hour when the NTSB has planned to hold a press conference, 8:00 p.m. Eastern -- 8:00 p.m. Eastern, live from the National Transportation Safety Board. We'll carry it for you right here on CNN.
And thanks again to Susan Candiotti who has been following the story for us. As mentioned, part of the issue is lack of air traffic control around parts of the Hudson. Today's collision happened in a busy corridor often filled with sightseeing aircraft. It's something Mayor Michael Bloomberg talked about just a short time ago.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLOOMBERG: I think it's really any place you see a lot of traffic together that's not positively controlled. You have to be careful. So, I -- and it's not for me to prejudge whether anybody did anything right or wrong. The only definitive answers to your questions will come from the National Transportation Safety Board. That's why air transportation is so safe because they don't jump to conclusions. They carefully work to establish with a lot of investigation what exactly went on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, there.
John Wiley is a former Airbus pilot with 19,000 hours of experience. He also flies jets now and he is a contributing editor to "Aviation Weekly" magazine.
Thank you so much, sir, for joining us. You understand -- you said the mayor's response is very modulated, very controlled and perhaps that is because he is a pilot himself, too.
JOHN WILEY, FORMER AIRBUS PILOT: It's really important, because what we talked about in the last hour: accidents are the exception to the rule and 99.9 percent of the time, all of the stuff works. That one-tenth of 1 percent gets our attention as it should. But we have to make sure that our response is accurate and measured.
Bloomberg's comment that he wants to keep the corridor open, that's important. Remember, last year or two years ago, Cory Lidle in an aircraft, wound up crashing by going up on the East River.
LEMON: East River, yes.
WILEY: They shut the East River corridor down. We hope they are not going to shut down the Hudson.
LEMON: We imagine they are going to be looking at this very intently because of the accidents that have happened there recently. You know, you have had the commercial airplane that went down there back in January. But that, you know, that is monitored by air traffic control. But this is such a busy corridor here and I have been hearing people getting e-mails from people saying, there needs to be at least some sort of more control in this area when it comes to traffic because there are so many planes that go through there.
WILEY: Again, though, we have to look at this accident being the anomaly and not being the regular occurrence. This is New York. This is a highly scripted departure and arrival for these guys.
There is a floor for the business jets and airliners that are going into the various airports that are in and around the New York area. The airliners are not descending below that floor. They're talking to air traffic control. The guys that are using the VFR corridor are talking among themselves, stating who they are, where they are, what altitude they're traveling at.
So, there's a lot of stuff that's going on beneath the surface.
LEMON: OK. Now, I just want to take our viewers through this real, Mr. Wiley, because we've got, you know, Teterboro, and we believe that the plane was going south here coming from Teterboro Airport and then going down the river hugging on the New Jersey side. And from what we are hearing, and again, you know, as the mayor said, we don't know exactly what was happening. We believe that the helicopter came out some where from Manhattan. And when they got here, to the pier, this is where, you know, the accident happened.
WILEY: Yes. So, when we look at PA-32, it's a low-wing aircraft. The problem that you have got is if you are in a turn, you have blanked out the area that's under the nose and it's to your left. You don't have good visibility there if you are in a turn. The other thing is because...
LEMON: It's blind spot, yes.
WILEY: It's a blind spot. If we look at the helicopter and the canopy that's on the helicopter, there are possible blind spots there. Again, we go back to the unique nature of an evolution of an accident. And these guys, you can't avoid what you don't see.
LEMON: Take us forward if you will. And I know you've been doing this for a long time. What do you think we might learn from the National Transportation Board at 8:00? We're hearing from Susan Candiotti that the third body has been recovered from the Hudson River. Do you know what they might say at this point? It's pretty early on.
WILEY: They are going to basically go to your old English high school interrogatives: who, what, when, where, why. And the last one, the why this happened, is going to be difficult to solve. And that's why it's going to take some time. They are going to have to look at this.
And again, when we go back to 1549, Sullenberger coming out of -- coming out of LaGuardia, all it takes is just a couple of minor changes in the variables and the accident didn't occur. If this PA-32 had taken off maybe exactly 30 seconds earlier, 30 seconds later. This would not have happened.
LEMON: OK. All right, John Wiley, thank you for helping us through this. John Wiley is going to stick around. National Transportation and Safety Board press conference, we'll carry it live for you at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. We are wondering what we are going to learn from that. Let's talk about that company, the tour company. It's called Liberty. It operates that sightseeing helicopter. No comment from them so far.
Now, two years ago, though, one of their helicopters dropped 500 feet with seven passengers on board. The pilot was credited with landing safely in the Hudson River and evacuated all of her passengers. And in 1997, a rotor on a Liberty helicopter clipped a Manhattan building, forcing an emergency landing there. No one was hurt in that incident.
Our coverage of this breaking news story continues. And, again, we are awaiting an NTSB briefing that should happen before the top of the hour. And we'll speak with a flight instructor who regularly takes students up and down the Hudson River.
Also, history on the high court. Today, Judge Sonia Sotomayor officially became Justice Sotomayor.
We're taking your comments on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. This is such a busy corridor for air travel. The National Transportation and Safety Board is trying to get on top of this, to make sure that there isn't a problem in this area that they need to address right away. So, we are awaiting a news conference for them. At first, we were told it was going to be 8:00. They're telling us it could happen before then. So, stick around here on CNN. We'll bring tight you live.
And from now on, it is Justice Sotomayor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS, SUPREME COURT: I, Sonia Sotomayor, do solemnly swear...
JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT: I, Sonia Sotomayor, do solemnly swear...
ROBERTS: ... that I will administer justice without respect to persons...
SOTOMAYOR: ... that I will administer justice without respect to persons...
ROBERTS: ... and do equal right to the poor and to the rich.
SOTOMAYOR: ... and do equal right to the poor and to the rich.
ROBERTS: And that I will...
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: With her mother holding a Bible, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in this morning as America's 111th Supreme Court justice. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the judicial oath during a public ceremony in the high court's conference room. It was the first time the court has allowed TV coverage of a swearing-in ceremony.
And in New York Spanish Harlem, there was an enthusiastic viewing party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice in U.S. history and she's only the third woman to serve on the nation's high court.
Coming in October, CNN will present "Latino in America," a look at how Hispanics are reshaping politics, business, schools and culture. "Latino in America," only on CNN, starts this October.
Capitol Hill may have cleared out for August recess, but the president isn't taking a break from his health care pitch. He is saying health care reform -- it is the right medicine for the ailing economy.
And CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House with the very latest for us -- Elaine?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, there had been some really heated confrontations at this town hall meetings recently over health care. And today, in his weekly address, the president tried hitting back against what the White House says is misinformation. Without naming names in his weekly radio and Internet address, the president went after those who he said are trying to exploit differences for political gain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia or cut Medicaid or bring about a government takeover of health care. That's simply not true. This isn't about putting government in charge of your health insurance. It's about putting you in charge of your health insurance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: The president also argued again that reforming health care is going to be key in getting the economy back on solid footing. He sounded cautiously optimistic in noting the latest unemployment figures better than expected at 9.4 percent.
Republicans though maintain that the Democrats' health care plan will be too costly and they say that unemployment figure, 9.4 percent, is still too high. They point out that translates to 247,000 Americans who lost their jobs last month alone -- Don?
(MUSIC)
LEMON: (AUDIO GAP) meetings that look and sound more like a pro- wrestling match than a meeting of lawmaker and constituents.
Our Gary Tuchman has -- he seen all of them and he puts it all into context for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is it democracy? Demagoguery? Or both?
Congressional town hall meetings during August recess used to be rather sleepy affairs -- not anymore. There are images of President Obama with a mustache like Hitler's, or looking like the Joker. And also, elected representatives hung in effigy.
Democratic senators, like Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter...
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Medicare and Social Security...
(CROWD BOOING)
TUCHMAN: ... and Missouri's Claire McCaskill are hearing it from extremely unhappy Americans who don't like the idea of health care reform.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The same plan they're asking us to do?
(INAUDIBLE)
TUCHMAN: People have been arrested. Others have suffered minor injuries with the pushing and shoving.
Democrats, like Florida's Kathy Castor, have barely been able to get in a word edgewise. At her meeting reform opponents were seething because hundreds of them were stuck outside the town hall because they couldn't fit in the room. Protesters held signs on the other side of the window. The congresswoman had to be hustled out.
In Texas, Congressman Lloyd Doggett tried to talk...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You voted against them -- that's not right.
TUCHMAN: He too was drowned out. One protester used his artistry to depict the congressman in a rather unsavory way.
REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: The crowd certainly was angry. I suppose some might have had a negative reaction to the poster that said "Lloyd Doggett, traitor to Texas, devil to all people." TUCHMAN: So, how did it come to this? Depends on who you ask. The Democratic National Committee says these confrontations are orchestrated by the Republican Party and the Democrats have released this Web video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: They've lost the confidence of the American people. Now, desperate Republicans and their well-funded allies are organizing angry mobs, just like they did during the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: The word "mob" is greatly insulting to the folks on the other side of the argument. Many of the participants in this demonstration say they are simply exercising their rights.
Ana Puig is a Pennsylvanian who attended a town hall hosted by Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
ANA PUIG, THOMAS JEFFERSON CLUB: I feel like my constitutional rights are being taken any way from me right before my eyes. I don't like the direction that we are going. They're taking away our freedom of speech. And the silent majority is finally fed up with it.
TUCHMAN: But now, liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org has sent out an e-mail to supporters, saying they have a plan, quote, "to fight back against these radical right-wingers." The group is raising hundreds of thousand in donations.
(CROWD CHANTING)
TUCHMAN: It's not only the weather that's hot in August, now, the political temperature is boiling, too.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. We have some breaking details on the breaking news that we have been telling you about here on CNN. We just got it in.
And this -- we are being told by NYPD deputy commissioner that the divers are now out of the water in the Hudson River. They're going to resume tomorrow. The NYPD boats though will remain on the water. He said they -- the NYPD helicopter will still be vigilant for any surfaced bodies.
The total recovered so far -- they said -- two adults and one child. The adults, they believe, are from the helicopter. The child is believed to be from the plane although the plane has not yet been located. That is the new information.
There is also other new information coming out. Our Susan Candiotti is on the scene. She is following this developing story. We're going to get her up in just moments here.
And we're also awaiting a press conference, a briefing from the National Transportation and Safety Board. They say it could happen at any moment now.
And in other news, let's talk North Korea. Sentence to hard labor, then set free -- what was behind the sudden change of heart by North Korea to free two American journalists? The man who says that he may have contributed to the release of these journalists joins us live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. We have some new details in that midair crash over the Hudson River. And we are awaiting a press conference to happen at any moment now. Our Susan Candiotti is following that story. We will get to her live. But as soon as that press conference happens, that briefing, we'll bring that to you right here on CNN.
Let's talk about North Korea.
American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee spent more than four months detained in North Korea. They have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for entering the communist country illegally. And it didn't look like that they'd be coming home anytime soon. And yet, suddenly, this week, they were back on American soil with former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore by their sides.
And it was a bold and daring bit of diplomacy by the Obama administration. And it paid off. The women were granted amnesty and they were let go.
Laura's sister, Lisa, spoke with CNN about reuniting with her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA LING, SISTER OF FREED JOURNALIST (via telephone): My sister is so, so happy to be home. She is still quite weak and exhausted and incredibly emotional. She's been in relative isolation for months and months and, you know, she doesn't even like to be alone.
You know, yesterday, she was so exhausted and she wanted to take a quick nap. And she kept asking me, "Are you going to be here when I come back? Are you going to be here when I come back?"
And, you know, today, we took her to the doctor's office. And, you know, I wasn't planning on going to go to the doctor with her. My mom was going to take her and she's said, "Will you please come with me." You know, she just -- she hasn't wanted to be alone.
And I hear from Euna's husband, Michael, that Hannah, their 4- year-old daughter has not wanted her mother to leave her sight. I mean, she just keeps following her around from room to room because she doesn't want her mom to, you know, leave anywhere. Leave her.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: You can only imagine.
White House officials say they are happy with the outcome but they are downplaying it as any kind of breakthrough in diplomatic relations.
Dr. Han Park teaches political science and international relations at University of Georgia. He's also one of the foremost scholars on North Korea now living in the U.S. Dr. Park has been a frequent visitor to North Korea since 1981. And he joins us now to explain what happened this past week and what it could mean for the future here.
Thank you so much for joining us. I want to get to something that you said to me. We'll get to the future. But you said that you may have contributed to this in some way, you think because not necessarily just you but you went over, you visited North Korea recently, twice.
DR. HAN PARK, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROF., UNIV. OF GEORGIA: Now, I don't want to really amplify what I may have done. What I did was actually, July 4th, I went there and stayed there for four days.
LEMON: But it's important for people to know that.
PARK: And I found out that to the amazement of myself and everyone in the United States, they were still held in Pyongyang and treated well weeks after the verdict was given. That suggests very strongly to me, North Korean government is more interested in releasing them than sending them to hard labor camp. But we have to provide some venues for them. They just cannot release.
So, what I did was I broke the news. I reported to the family as well as State Department officials and the public that they're still held in Pyongyang. But they're not going to be kept there forever. So, they may be sitting on a ticking time bomb. So while they're still there in Pyongyang, we must do something.
LEMON: To try to get them back home.
PARK: Exactly.
LEMON: Why former President Clinton? Why him?
PARK: He would have been the only one, because amnesty is only to be granted by the head of state. And no one else would have given the permission to see Kim Jong-il, because that country is very seriously protocol-oriented country. So, former president and also who was supposed to be in the minds of North Koreans visiting there for summit meeting at the waning moment of his presidency in the year 2000.
LEMON: Yes. He didn't.
PARK: So that, in other words, probably President Clinton may have had a standing invitation from Kim Jong-il. So, that was, that really -- he was the only one could have done it.
LEMON: The White House is downplaying this as some sort of new diplomatic, you know, opening with North Korea or what-have-you. Is that an accurate assessment from the White House? Is this something new? Or are they downplaying this?
PARK: Yes, they are downplaying it, of course. But in North Korea itself, since, President Clinton's visit, and domestic media, they are really seeing this as the beginning of bilateral negotiation. You know, I don't know why we are downplaying it. It's important to engage and speak with North Koreans.
LEMON: You think we should be talking to them.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: People are saying we shouldn't be negotiating, we shouldn't be talking with them?
PARK: We should be talking bilaterally, multilaterally.
LEMON: Why?
PARK: Because without dialogue -- we are talking about a nuclear state that has exhibited certain attitudes and patterns that could be very dangerous.
LEMON: The criticism is that we don't know what we gave up. Meaning the U.S., America, doesn't know what it gave up by going in and getting these journalists out and by President Clinton sitting down and talking to Kim Jong-il.
PARK: No, bringing these women out is a huge gain. In fact, if they had been sent to a labor camp, probably they would never have gotten out, forever perhaps. The North Koreans may not have wanted American reporters come out after having experienced the life in the labor camp. So, this is a very important victory, humanitarian.
LEMON: When people say, we don't know what we might have given up, what might have we given up. What do they mean by that?
PARK: I think maybe the legitimacy of the state, respect, self- esteem. You know, there are many systems in the world including North Korea that we are not comfortable with.
LEMON: Right.
PARK: If we decide not to talk with them, we are going to see very volatile international involvement. So we have got to speak with them.
LEMON: Thank you very much, Han Park. It is a pleasure speaking with you and meeting you. We appreciate you joining us here on a Saturday. Thank you. In the meantime, we have some breaking news to tell you about. Tonight, nine people apparently killed after a small plan collided with a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River and we're expecting an NTSB briefing at any minute now but for now, we can bring you some new details on this. Some of which I reported just moments ago.
Susan Candiotti has other new details. She has been following the story since it broke. Susan, what do you have now?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's additional information about the victims in this horrific accident. According to the police, three victims have now been recovered. And now we hear among them are two adults and one child. The two adult victims were believed to have been found in the wreckage of the helicopter. The child was one of the two passengers aboard that small plane along with the pilot. However, we must note that so far the plane's debris and wreckage has not yet been found police say.
And at this hour, as we show you the scene of where the divers have been working, we can tell you that, in fact, they have called off the search for the night. You have a U.S. Coast Guard ship out there. You also have New York Police Department ships, boats as well as helicopters that occasionally are flying overhead. They will be here all night long. To protect the integrity of the crash scene. And you also, we are also learning that autopsies will begin on the victims tomorrow morning.
Remember, nine people in all died between the sight seeing helicopter as well as the small plane. And the recovery operation has been very difficult because the water is so murky. Divers we are told can only see about two feet in front of them. As they work in 30 feet of water. Don.
LEMON: That is, could be deeper in some areas. I mean, the Hudson is a bear. The Hudson River we all know that. Thank you so much. Susan Candiotti. Susan is going to be standing by as well as our other expert here John Wiley, who is a former Airbus pilot to help us with this NTSB press conference. Expect it to happen soon. We are going to speak also with a flight instructor who regularly takes students up and down the Hudson River.
Plus this - a matriarch of the Kennedy clan in critical condition at this Cape Cod hospital. We'll have the latest on Eunice Kennedy Shriver's health for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. New information coming in on that crash over the Hudson River today. Susan Candiotti updated us moments ago saying three bodies had been pulled now from the river, two adults and one child. The National Transportation Safety Board expected to hold a press conference at any moment. Very interesting to learn what is going to happen there. Very busy corridor in New York City there. So it will be interesting to figure out what they're going to do with it.
Right now, at New York's Hudson River, divers and investigators are done for the night. They have been looking for bodies and wreckage from that terrible midair collision between a small plane and a sight seeing helicopter. It happened around noon Eastern time. Nine people apparently killed in all. And so far, the bodies of two adults and one child as we reported have been recovered there.
And joining me now by phone is Bob Miller from over the airwaves.com. And Bob you say traffic in that area is very dense and requires very careful piloting skills. You have got to be on your game?
VOICE OF BOB MILLER, AIRWAVES.COM: Well that is right, Don. It is extremely congested airspace down there. But I should say that this is also controlled airspace. Pilots operating along the Hudson River can be in contact with La Guardia Tower or Newark Tower and receive traffic advisories all up and down the Hudson River. There is a way they can do it with just without any radio contact or radio contact air to air with other pilots. And that is a difficulty. Some of the pilots operating will be talking with either Newark tower or La Guardia tower. Other pilots will be talking between themselves and other aircraft. And some pilots may not be talking to anybody at all.
LEMON: So listen, as I understand it. You take student pilots up and down this corridor all the time. What is that like? Take us through that?
MILLER: Yes, when I say student pilot, I mean advanced instrument pilots. These are trained pilots already that are learning to operate in highly congested airspace. And we routinely fly into the New York City airports. La Guardia, Kennedy, Newark, and Teterboro. And part of that training we do go up and down the Hudson River. And what we are teaching our pilots is to watch the see and to avoid. That's the only way that you can really safely maneuver. And doing that it is not a difficult exercise.
There are other aircrafts up there. We also have technology on board, most modern aircraft, newer aircraft that actually identify other aircraft on a radar-type screen on our airplane. So again I want to emphasize it is a safe. Very safe maneuver to go up and down that. But again because it is so congested we have to watch carefully.
LEMON: Let me ask you this. Because you are saying - you know, here, it is controlled. Others are saying that there could be more control, that it might, might help out here. Will that be taken into consideration? And if you will move us forward to this National Transportation Safety Board press conference that could come up at any moment now? What do we expect to hear from that. Will they possibly talk about this issue that you are talking about?
MILLER: Well, they certainly will. And we are very, very hopeful that this one incident does not cause a shut down of the New York, excuse me, the Hudson River VFR corridor. The amount of traffic that's going up and down that every day. And I have to emphasize this is an extremely isolated, I can't remember, perhaps your producers can find out, when the last time there was an incident like this along that particular airspace.
Now, what they may attempt to do down the road is assign specific altitude restrictions. For example, limiting helicopters below a certain altitude. And airplanes above a certain altitude. They do that in other highly restricted or highly congested airspace. But we are hopeful we will find a cause for this. But that there will be no change in the operating procedures along the river.
LEMON: Mayor Bloomberg, to your point, Mayor Bloomberg said he can't remember anything like this in recent history with this many deaths regarding the airways in this area of New York City and New Jersey.
MILLER: Yes, this is an extremely isolated incident and has to be looked at from that perspective.
LEMON: Bob Miller, overtheairwaves.com. Thank you very much, Bob.
MILLER: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: And again, we're standing by for a briefing from the National Transportation and Safety Board on today's deadly collision of a small plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River. So stick around. We'll bring it to you live right here on CNN.
Plus this, a Kennedy matriarch hospitalized in critical condition. We'll check on here tonight.
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LEMON: As investigators continue to pull bodies from the Hudson River, we are standing by for National Transportation Safety Board briefing at any moment. What will we learn from this? Maybe the reason this early because there are pictures we are told from this about what happened here. So we're waiting that briefing, just moments away right here on CNN. We'll bring it to you live.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver is in critical condition tonight. She is at a Cape Cod, Massachusetts Hospital. Her children are at her side, including Maria Shriver, first lady of California. The 88-year-old Shriver is the sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy. Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics in 1968, inspired by her sister, Rosemary.
To Iran now. Iraq, I should say, a bombing today in Baghdad, killing six people. It happened outside a bakery in a Sunni Muslim neighborhood. Officials say the bomber arrived on a motorcycle loaded with explosives and set off the bombs as police patrol passed by. Three police officers were among the dead. 30 others were also hurt in that bombing.
Amnesty International says there has been an alarming spike in Iranian executions. The cause is unclear. But it seems to have coincided with the disputed re-election of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Amnesty International says there have been no less than 115 executions in Iran in the past 50 days. Now it says 24 of them occurred in one single day. We haven't been able to reach the Iranian government to comment on that.
Facing a cash crunch? Well, you'll meet a woman who turned her talent for cooking into a cash cow. It is an interesting story.
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LEMON: All right. Awaiting the National Transportation Safety Board briefing on that midair collision over the Hudson River at New York City today. It should happen at any moment. We're going to bring it to you live here on CNN. We are wondering what we are going to learn from this having a briefing so near the time of the crash. Standing by with me here is a man who is an expert on aviation and he will take us through that briefing, John Wiley is standing by. So John, hang on. And guide us through this as soon as that briefing happens. We'll bring it to you live here on CNN.
When it comes to creative ways to save a home from foreclosure, a New Jersey woman takes the cake. CNN's senior correspondent Allan Chernoff has tonight's "Money and Main Street."
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ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actress Angela Logan played many roles to earn a living. She has worked as a teacher, model, hairdresser and is studying to be a nurse. But when she recently fell into foreclosure on her Teaneck, New Jersey home, she turned to baking.
ANGELA LOGAN: It was a flash of desperation. And I thought wow, we can sell the cakes. They're so good.
CHERNOFF: A major reason Angela fell into a cash squeeze is that two years she hired a contractor to renovate the house. He took his money but only did a portion of the work. To save her home, Angela set a goal of selling 100 mortgage apple cakes in 10 days at $40 each. She ask everyone she knew to buy a cake.
LOGAN: The hardest part was to say, can you buy my cake, this my problem?
CHERNOFF: A local Hilton Hotel offered its kitchen so Angela could bake faster. Angela says she's baked about 200 cakes, double her goal. And by qualifying for the federal make home affordable program, her monthly mortgage payment is dropping by nearly 20 percent. Other Americans in a financial bind, she says, can also find creative answers to their cash crunch.
LOGAN: Find your talent. Find something that you can do that will help you. I can paint fences. You know, who needs one?
CHERNOFF: Almost any talent can generate extra cash. Teaching a skill like playing an instrument. Home repairs for those who are handy. Even dog walking or pet sitting for animal lovers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, incredible.
CHERNOFF: Internet retailer Bake me a Wish got a whiff of the mortgage apple cake and now is greasing pans to mass produce it and share the proceeds with Angela, a whole line of Angela Logan cakes is planned.
Escaping foreclosure could propel Angela Logan to a new career as the queen of cakes.
But back in her kitchen she still studies nursing, knowing from experience never to depend upon just one role. Allan Chernoff, CNN, Teaneck, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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LEMON: August 1969 was a groovy month for music. And we're coming up on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the festival that promised peace, love, and all kinds of other stuff. Well, one legally blind 15-year-old guitarist will open the anniversary celebration Jimi Hendrix style. CNN all-platform journalist John Kyles (ph) introduces us to Conrad Oberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDRAD OBERG, 15-YEAR-OLD MUSICIAN: I think Jim was just the best performance there at Woodstock. And then the national anthem was one of the highlights, definitely. It's to the point now where I almost don't really like hearing it straight. You know, I hate hearing it like that. You know, I'd much rather hear - in between it, it's a lot more fun.
What can I say? You know, it's probably the best version of the national anthem there's ever been. You kind of added different sound effects to people say that was representative of the sounds of war, you know?
I just think of it him as just going nuts. I just kind of think I'm paying homage to Jimi in a way, you know? I love playing his music and I consider him a friend, you know? I'm stepping in for a buddy of mine, in my opinion. Definitely one of the high points of my life, definitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. We're following breaking news on CNN. If you're tuning in, nine people apparently died today in a collision of a tourist helicopter and a small plane over the Hudson River. Here's what we know right now for you. And I want to tell you, before we go to that. We're looking at - see the bottom of your screen there, the picture at the bottom of your screen that's a press conference they're preparing to get ready for a briefing, I should say. It's a better way of putting it from the National Transportation and Safety Board. It's happening in Hoboken, New Jersey. There you see Manhattan sky line behind you and the Hudson River behind that I should say as a backdrop.
The Hudson River in Manhattan is a backdrop as we wait on a briefing from the National Transportation Safety Board. We will bring it to you live right here on CNN. It could happen at any moment. Now the very latest on what we know about those nine people who died. Three bodies have been recovered two adults and a child. The adults were believed to be aboard the helicopter, and the child was believed to be a passenger on the plane. Parts of the helicopter have apparently been located in about 30 feet of water. The plane has not been located. Recovery efforts have been halted for the night because the sun is going down.
Again, only two feet of visibility in the Hudson River and some areas as deep as 30 feet, maybe even deeper than that. And we expect to learn more in just a few minutes as I said as the NTSB holds a briefing.
I want to bring John Lucich into the conversation now. He is a former criminal investigator and he is also a commercial pilot. The reason why we have him on is because he's a commercial pilot and he flies this corridor all the time. He is very familiar with it. Take us through what we night hear at this briefing, sir.
JOHN LUCICH, COMMERCIAL PILOT: Well, I think they're going to be starting to talk about the corridor itself. You have a very congested area around the New York City area and there's a class B airspace which protects the major airports around there. Now, in order to give planes an area for them go down and do the sightseeing and see the sight of not only New York City but the Statue of Liberty and everything else down there, they actually carved off a very small space, and it's very complicated because it's a tight space.
Let's not forget a few years when Cory from the New York Yankees on the East River corridor actually was so tight in the space when he tried to make a u-turn, flew right into a building and killed himself. Well, they actually made that a permanent TFR, a temporary flight restriction, while the East River remains the VFR corridor and not class B airspace, the permanent TFR, in and of itself gives it permanent class B airspace.
LEMON: All right.
LUCICH: As expected, you cannot go through there without air traffic control. Remember, the river in some parts like the Lincoln Tunnel itself is only 1.5 miles long. So we have a river that's a mile and a half long. You got to stay below 1,100 feet but you got to comply with federal rules and regulations which say you have to stay above 1,000 feet of the highest obstacle within 2000 feet. So it's very congested. Bad things happen at this time.
LEMON: John Lucich who is a criminal investigator as well as a commercial pilot who flies that area all the time, we appreciate your expertise as we lead up to this National Transportation Safety Board press conference. We're going to bring it to you live here on CNN.
I'm Don Lemon in Atlanta. We're going to bring that to you live but I want to send you now to CNN presents "Witness to War." It begins right now. Don't go away. We'll bring it to you live.
