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Plane Crashes Into Building in Austin, Texas

Aired February 18, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back to the KXAN.

That is the live picture, 9430 Research Boulevard, APD, everyone confirming it crashed into the echelon building. That could be the point of impact. The retaining wall --

Peeling out of their cars and we could see smoke coming out of the back end of the building. It was very traumatic.

NOELLE NEWTON, KXAN REPORTER: I know, Eric (ph). What is your feeling? You know, these people went to work just like you did this morning. Is that crossing your mind at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, absolutely. I'm sort of praying that the entire bottom floor at least had the day off or had a vacation day of some sort, because it's pretty bad in there. And then, thank God the other floors were evacuated. I hope nobody else was in there.

NEWTON: And then, Ty (ph), you said that even though you didn't see the plane crash, you felt it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was in the middle of teaching a stock trading class to our students at the online training academy, and as soon as we heard the building rock, and then the projectors and the slides were moving -- because I've been teaching there for a while now, so it's the first time I felt that. I knew that the building just couldn't shake like that.

It thought it was an earthquake or something. And I knew Austin doesn't have that.

So, what I did was, when our central administrator, Elizabeth, came in and told us that we had to evacuate the building, I just ran and grabbed my laptop. And we came outside grabbed the camera and started filming it. Because when I heard that a plane was flying into the building, after 9/11, you know, you don't have time to play around. When somebody says that, you get moving and think about surviving this.

I'm glad that everybody made it out of our building, out of building three, OK. You guys are not going to see anything come out of the back side right here, because there's no back doors in the building. The door's on the other side. But as soon as we came outside, there was a fire truck out here already. Actually, they were actually out here before the FBI even came out here. So I was really shocked, because the FBI is in our building.

Anyway, they came over there and they started getting people out. And the people inside building three came out. There's four floors in each one of these buildings, and the whole second floor is completely burnt out.

NEWTON: Thank you so much, Ty (ph).

Now, these two folks are just one of hundreds that we've seen lined up here along the side. I don't know if we can bring the camera over here just to show you all the people.

And, of course, everyone is so concerned just watching this thing. We've seen people lined up all along the highway, too, from other businesses.

We're hearing that businesses just across the street -- see, just across the street is a shopping center, and people in some of the restaurants, people were saying they even felt the buildings shake. So, this was a really hard impact, and we're just hoping right now that everyone pulls through.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much, Noelle Newton, live from the scene there.

Just recapping, those were --

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Let's do this -- we want to talk to Cynthia Reed. She is on the phone with us.

And Cynthia, my understanding is you are actually in a building next door to the building where this whole scene, this crash took place. Is that correct?

CYNTHIA REED, WORKS IN BUILDING NEXT DOOR: Yes, sir.

HARRIS: Cynthia, tell me what you heard, tell me what you saw, please.

REED: Much like he says, the building shook almost like an earthquake. We -- our boss, very calmly, made us leave.

We got to the parking lot. It was full of smoke. People were running towards the IRS building that got hit.

People were on the second floor. They couldn't get out. They were hanging out the windows screaming for help.

I have to say, Ben Swanger Glass happened to be at the complex. They drove through at mach three with perfect ease, got their ladders off in a split second. And they were up there getting them tied (ph) down. People that worked in the complex, they were getting people out as best they could.

HARRIS: Wait a minute, Cynthia. What's the name of the company you just mentioned? And what kind of work?

REED: Ben Swanger Glass happened to be on the property.

HARRIS: Happened to be on the property?

REED: Happened to be on the property. And they have the ladders that were long enough, and the guys just went in action. It was fantastic.

HARRIS: Guys, let's see if we can get someone from that company on the beeper line with us.

And Cynthia, so you were in the building next door, but you felt your building shake?

REED: Yes. We thought it was an earthquake. We're on the Balcones fault line. It made sense.

HARRIS: Yes. And you were able to get out no problem?

REED: Absolutely no problem. Everyone in building four evacuated out the stairs, calmly and quickly. And when we got outside is when we saw what was going on and ran to the building to try to help.

HARRIS: OK. So, I'm going to ask you about helping in just a moment. But will you describe -- are we talking about an office park here?

REED: Yes. It's a four-building office complex.

HARRIS: It's a four-building office complex. And my understanding is -- and maybe you can clear this up, because we've got some initial reporting that always changes in these stories, that there may have been as many as three, maybe four, buildings impacted by this.

Any truth to that?

REED: One building was hit.

HARRIS: Right.

REED: From what I could see when we were in the parking lot getting the ladders up to try to get them down, a whole portion of the first floor facing the highway was gone.

HARRIS: Gone.

REED: Gone. There was gobs of smoke. A lot of the building, people were yelling up to them to cover their faces with wet towels if they could.

They couldn't get to the hallways to see if anyone was there. They were just yelling for help.

HARRIS: So, you get out of the building, and you and your colleagues, you try to help. Tell us about that.

REED: Everybody tried to help. Everybody that worked there did the best they could to help, and as well as stay clear so that they didn't create more chaos.

HARRIS: How would you describe the response? I loved that the window company was there, just happened to be there, and snapped into action. But how long from the moment that you heard what sounded and felt like an earthquake to you before fire and rescue is on the scene?

REED: Minutes.

HARRIS: That's a quick response.

REED: Minutes. They were right there. They were on top of it.

They were -- they get people calm. They did a great job. They got in there as quickly as they could. They gathered information succinctly and, you know, got us civilians out of the way and took care of it.

HARRIS: So, where are you now?

REED: I'm at the Keller Williams main office.

HARRIS: Did you see the plane? Did you hear the plane before the crash?

REED: We just felt the building shake, and it was loud. We thought it was either an earthquake or an explosion.

HARRIS: Yes. OK.

REED: I have not seen the plane, and they wouldn't allow us to that side of the building, of course. They evacuated quickly, succinctly, had everything roped off, had the highways around us to get us out --

HARRIS: Yes.

REED: -- because there was several hundred cars. They did a great job.

HARRIS: Yes, it sounds like it.

Cynthia, any of your colleagues close by, your co-workers close by, who went through this with you?

REED: My boss might be around here somewhere.

HARRIS: All right. If you can, round him up. Round him up and put him on the phone.

REED: Are you going to go find Joe?

All right, they're going to go look for Joe.

HARRIS: And then just pass the phone on.

And Jen Cook (ph), in our control room, when you get him, we'll talk to him.

Let's go back now to the coverage of this from our affiliate in Austin, KXAN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a truck with a bunch of ladders on it, and the kind that would clean glass. And so somebody, they just got the ladders off of there and went running to the building even before, you know, the fire department got there. And they were trying to get people out of the burning building.

And then not before long, the entire parking lot was filled with smoke, and people praying and crying. I mean, it was -- it's been quite a day today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you familiar with who works or what offices are in that building?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I normally go over there on a daily basis to drop off packages, and I know for -- you know, I know the IRS building is in there. I'm not sure exactly what other companies.

But, like I said, I walk there almost every day or every other day to drop off mail. And I don't -- I don't really know anybody personally other than the security guard I say hi to, but I know for a fact the IRS is there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we just heard from another eyewitness that described a 50-foot fireball when this plane went into the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you happen to see anything like that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw the remains of it. I saw just the fire. It was just blazing, and then just smoke, you know, smoking profusely out of --

HARRIS: Quickly now, let's get to this news conference. Let's get the latest information.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

HARRY EVANS, ASST. CHIEF, AUSTIN FIRE DEPT.: -- this morning a small plane, a private plane, crashed into a building at 9430 Research Boulevard. The building was very quickly on fire. Fire crews responded to the scene.

There was one individual transported -- actually two individuals transported. One is unaccounted for.

If you notice in the area of Research and Great Hills Trail, the power is out in that particular area. The reason for that is we dropped the power grid so crews could operate safely inside the structure.

The initial fire attack occurred and was defensive for a short amount of time until crews could gain control of the main body of the fire. They were able to then go offensive, which means crews are inside now, in an offensive firefight, attempting to put the fire out.

That's the fire briefing at this point in time. Do you have any questions regarding the fire?

QUESTION: When you said -- you said how many were transported, two?

EVANS: We reported two individuals transported, and EMS will talk about that further.

EVANS: OK. Was it from the plane or from the bulling?

EVANS: Don't know what their injuries are in regard to. My guess is it's secondary to the fire.

QUESTION: Were there any explosions or was this just a crash and a fire?

EVANS: Right now the report is crash and fire.

QUESTION: Have they gotten the fire out now?

EVANS: No, sir. The fire continues to burn and they are fighting it. But we are offensive and inside the structure.

QUESTION: Was everyone evacuated?

EVANS: To our knowledge everyone was evacuated. We have one individual that is unaccounted for at this time.

QUESTION: And was that from the plane or from the building?

EVANS: Unknown.

QUESTION: We hear reports that there is still debris flying off the building. Is that correct?

EVANS: That's not unusual in a firefight. Those firefighters are up inside that structure, and to ventilate the structure and get the smoke out, they are taking windows out of the structure. Because the floors are filled with smoke, they're going to knock windows out. So you're going to continue to see debris fall, you're going to see those guys working inside and outside.

QUESTION: Have you been able to identify the plane, where it came from and where it was headed? EVANS: All of that would be under investigation right now.

QUESTION: What units are working together here?

EVANS: We have a variety of fire agencies here. We have EMS here, we have law enforcement here.

There's approximately 100 people on scene. We'll give you a better count as soon as we're able to further define who is here.

QUESTION: And what's in that building? What's in that office?

EVANS: There are a variety of offices in there. I don't know the exact titles of all the folks that are officed there.

QUESTION: You said two transported. What about deaths?

EVANS: None reported at this point.

QUESTION: As for the --

EVANS: At this point. None reported at this point.

We haven't made -- understand, this is very, very, very early. And we're inside the structure.

There's many things that we could find at this point, so that stuff is still very preliminary, to say that there were no deaths. We have none reported at this point. We expect to further update you with better, cleaner data as we get deeper into this incident.

QUESTION: Describe to us what you see what you see when you go in there. What are your men seeing in there?

EVANS: The firefighters, what they're seeing is heavy fire destruction on the second -- in and around the second floor. And then, of course, that's all very typical for that kind of incident. So, they've got lots of smoke, lots of heat, lots of fire.

QUESTION: So, the impact point is on the second floor?

EVANS: It appears to be. But again, very preliminary. Very preliminary.

QUESTION: Do we know if the plane had lost control yet or if this was intentional, anything like that?

EVANS: Have no idea at this point in time what the cause might be.

QUESTION: We talked to a gentleman who said that there -- that he been tracking that plane for quite some time, seeing it from quite a ways away, seeing it heading towards the building and then hitting the building.

Have you heard any reports of that? What have you heard? EVANS: I have not heard any reports on that. And that would be a law enforcement issue and they would have to speak to it.

QUESTION: Can you reiterate what you said about the state of affairs at the moment?

EVANS: The state of affairs at the moment, we are in an offensive firefight inside the building at 9430 Research Boulevard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything from law enforcement?

CORPORAL SCOTT PERRY, AUSTIN POLICE DEPT.: Scott Perry, corporal with the Austin Policy Department.

The only thing as far as law enforcement right now, like Chief Evans said, it's very early in the investigation. We're going to let the firefighters put the fire out.

We have numerous streets in the area closed, so it's definitely going to affect traffic. Jollyville, the frontage roads of 183 and Research Boulevard are closed. We ask everyone to stay away from the area until things start to subside or start to relax.

There is no electricity, again, in the immediate area, so there are going to be a lot of red lights that are out right now. Pay attention, stop at those intersections so there aren't any accidents.

QUESTION: Is the power outage affecting residents?

PERRY: Yes.

QUESTION: It is affecting residents?

PERRY: Right.

QUESTION: How long do we think the streets --

HARRIS: OK, let's do this -- let's leave this. Maybe we can put it in the gizmo or something. But let's leave the news conference for now.

Let's get to one of our iReporters who is on the phone with me right now. His name is Mike Ernest.

And Mike, my understanding is you were getting an oil change at the time that this happened?

MIKE ERNEST, IREPORTER: Correct. Yes, I was getting my oil changed. It was right across the highway from the building that was hit, and I noticed a plane was flying unusually low. I didn't -- I didn't think that there was an airport nearby, so I just thought that was kind of weird, and saw the plane hit the lower to midsection of the building. Couldn't believe it.

HARRIS: Wow. What did you see? I mean, I see your photo here. Well, could you believe what we're seeing? ERNEST: No. I mean, I see this on TV, and I've seen this kind of thing on TV, but never right in front of me in person.

I mean, everybody that saw it -- I was outside, and everybody that saw it, from where I was at, ran outside and started calling people and taking pictures. I mean, nobody really could believe what they saw.

HARRIS: Now, I'm going to ask you a tricky one here. Was it clear to you, through sounds of the aircraft, through actually sound and sight, was it clear to you that the aircraft was having problems?

ERNEST: No. Not that I could see. I mean, to me it just looked like -- I mean, it looked -- I didn't know if it was accidental. I really don't know. I mean, I'm not really educated with aircraft, with -- you know, in regards to aircraft.

HARRIS: But you didn't hear a sputtering engine --

ERNEST: No.

HARRIS: -- or anything like that?

ERNEST: No. The only thing that seemed abnormal was how low it was flying.

HARRIS: Wow.

ERNEST: But, yes -- no, I didn't notice anything with the sound of the aircraft or the way it looked other than how low it was flying.

HARRIS: And describe for us those immediate moments after the crash.

ERNEST: Everybody ran outside. I mean, there were flames, obviously, and black smoke. And the people -- the fire department and everybody got there, I mean, within minutes. It was a really, really fast -- you know, when people got there pretty fast after it happened.

HARRIS: OK, Mike. Appreciate it. And you were far enough away that you're clearly safe.

And boy, are you going to be able to get out of the area? It sounds like the traffic is going to be a nightmare for some time to come.

ERNEST: Yes, it looks like it. I'm hoping I'm going to be able to get out of here at some point.

HARRIS: Well, just stay hunkered down for now. You don't want to be part of the problem.

All right, Mike. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's do this -- let's get you caught up on what we know right now. This is breaking news from -- wait a minute, is this new video? I have not seen this picture before. This from KVUE.

Boy, can anybody put a timestamp on that for me? I'm not sure. Are we looking at pictures from a short time ago? Are we looking at live pictures now?

But obviously this is pretty dramatic stuff. If you can get me that information, I would appreciate it.

Breaking news now from Austin, Texas. Just a fiery scene right now after a small plane slammed into an office building.

OK. Thanks, Joe.

This is tape from a while ago.

Two people, we understand, were taken to an area hospital. One person is still unaccounted for.

Jeanne Meserve is ready?

All right, I'll get to her in just a second.

The crash taking place at 9430 Research Boulevard. That is in northwest Austin, Texas.

As you can see here, intense fire. Look at the flames here, and smoke as well.

Let's get to our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, for us.

And Jeanne, I know you're working the phones on this one. What new do you have for us?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We're told by the FAA that the preliminary information is that this plane departed Georgetown Airport, north of Austin, at about 9:40 a.m. We don't know what time zone that is, but one would guess that it was not Eastern.

The preliminary information is that the plane was a Cirrus. The pilot evidently did not file a flight plan for this flight. However, because it was a clear day, that was not a requirement.

The FAA spokesman did not have any information about tail number, about the number of people who might have been on board. But, once again, preliminary information, this is a plane that had departed the Georgetown Airport north of Austin this morning -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Jeanne. Appreciate it.

And I know we're trying to map that.

Is that the Georgetown airport that we're seeing right now? OK. There you go. That's better. And you can see its relationship to the crash site, north of the crash site there in Austin, Texas.

Again, we've got one person who is unaccounted for at this time. We have two people who were transported to an area hospital. We have no idea on the extent of their injuries at this point.

We are hearing some really dramatic stories, Josh Levs, from witnesses, iReporters, who snapped into action very quickly, getting us dramatic pictures and video of the crash site. And I know you're helping us tell the story as well.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

Look, I mean, yes, we talked with Cynthia Reed minutes ago. I had called every number I could find, and it's amazing what people have seen there. And obviously a lot of concern right now for anyone who was in that building.

Tony, while you were speaking with Jeanne just now, we got a little bit more information out of the FAA, but this time from Ft. Worth, rather than D.C.

FAA is telling us that the plane did depart our Georgetown, Texas, as you heard. Forty-five minutes in, turned toward the south and started descending.

We're also being told by the FAA down in Texas that this was a Cirrus flight. And they believe SR-22.

I want to emphasize to all of our viewers right now, you're getting process here in addition to information. This is a breaking news situation. CNN is reaching out on every single front we have, trying to reach all the numbers that we can to get you all the latest information about what's happened there in Austin.

Let me talk to you.

One of the first concerns a lot of people have is how many people might be injure today. We spoke with the representative for the Seton Family of Hospitals, which runs University Medical Center at Brackenridge. That is the only level one trauma center for adults in Austin.

Two people, we're told, have been transported there. She does not have information directly yet on their injuries.

We've also been reaching out to the police. You heard a news conference not long ago. We're going to keep following what they have.

What the Austin police were telling us is, at this point, they don't have a full sense of casualties as a result of this crash. And one of the things they still need to figure out -- which is what we're hearing also, Tony, from the people who were there, who were right nearby -- is that it's not necessarily clear how many people were inside the building at the time, the total extent with which the flight actually penetrated that building, and also how many actually managed to get out.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: I also looked up -- you were told by our guest minutes ago there's a glass company there inside. And anyone who's just joining us, if you know the area, it's 9430. There was some complicated reporting early on, because I've been looking at the Google maps of that area, what it looks like. You have a whole bunch of buildings that are right there together.

There are government offices in some of those buildings, not necessarily the one you're seeing right here, which is why at first --

HARRIS: Well, Josh, we're talking about a mix, it sounds to me, of government office buildings and maybe some retail.

LEVS: Right.

HARRIS: And maybe some other businesses as well.

LEVS: And that's normal.

HARRIS: Absolutely normal. But what I'm trying to get a handle on, it -- we've heard from a couple people so far today that this may have been an Internal Revenue Service's office building. And maybe that's something we can sort of nail down.

We were trying to get that information from Helena Wright (ph) with the Austin police. And then she wouldn't budge on that.

I understand it was really early for her and there wasn't much that she could divulge. But we're just trying to get a handle on, you know, the building and clearly how many floors.

LEVS: Right.

HARRIS: And because right now it sounds like there's still a pretty intense firefight going on --

LEVS: Absolutely.

HARRIS: -- inside the building.

LEVS: Yes. I mean, you mentioned earlier about the fire being largely contained --

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: -- of course from the reports we were getting. Let's emphasize to everyone, contained means it's not expected to spread far beyond the building. It doesn't mean it's been put out. There's a difference between contained and extinguished. So, clearly, we're talking a look at that. And obviously all the authorities on the scene looking through to see if there's any more information about who may or may not be inside there.

And I will mention to you, we are taking a close look at the long list of every office that's inside that building. But again, I want to say it's preliminary, because you were talking minutes ago to a woman who's in an office next door.

HARRIS: Right.

LEVS: I had reached her by phone because her office was listed as being in that building. It had actually moved. So, even if an office is listed as being in that building, it might no longer be there.

Tony, we're all over this, on all fronts, to get you all the latest information.

HARRIS: That's awesome. All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.

LEVS: You got it.

HARRIS: Back to the affiliate coverage from KXAN.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SHANNON POWELL, REPORTER, KXAN: -- IRS agents and buildings. So this is an active scene.

They will be allowing us access a little bit closer to the building, perhaps a quick walk past the building, just to see some of the damage. And, of course, we'll have all of that on KXAN.com, as well as coming back to you all as soon as we can get these pictures to you.

But this is one of those scenes that you don't see often, and when you hear it, you almost can't believe it. The people that we've spoken to are still in a state of shock, to be honest with you, and just being here puts you in that same mode of you can't believe it when you see it -- Chris.

CHRIS WILLIS, KXAN ANCHOR: All right.

Shannon, can you tell us quickly who was conducting that news conference? Was it state officials, local officials, EMS, fire?

POWELL: Local fire department. We had Assistant Chief Harry Evans. He spoke. And from the Austin Police Department, Scott Perry. He spoke with us. He said right now they can't determine exactly what happened on their end, as far as their investigation, until the fire department has done their job.

And also, an official with EMS, he spoke. He said they are here as a support mechanism right now. And again, they have taken two people to the hospital, and one person's unaccounted for. They're not telling us about any other injuries.

So, that's who's conducting it so far, but there's sure to be more people out here. We've seen FBI agents out speaking with people. I don't want to say the word "terrorism," but, you know, they kind of do their job and make sure there's nothing more to this than a small plane that perhaps lost its way and crashed into this building.

KATE WEIDAW, KXAN REPORTER: And Shannon, when they mentioned the two people with injuries, did they happen to say what part of the building they were in?

POWELL: They did not say. They believe this plane went in on the second floor of the building, so they're not telling us if this person -- these people were actually on that floor, on another floor below.

This is part of the investigation. I think they're just still keeping it really close to their breast, but I'm sure they'll be releasing more information as the day goes on.

WEIDAW: And you said that they're letting knew part of the building, yet the firefighters are still inside putting out the fire. Can you describe for us where they're letting you guys in?

POWELL: They said they were going to let us walk past, and then they literally, just moments ago, asked us to step back for a little while. And I think they're going in to assess what is going on, because we can still smoke and flames from where we're standing.

So, hopefully, in just a few moments, we can get a little bit closer to the building, give you better pictures so you can get a better idea of what's happening here. Because we can see the windows and parts of the building literally falling off from where I stand.

WILLIS: Great information. Unbelievable scene, too.

All right. We'll let you get back at it, and thank you for getting all the bases covered for us as far as EMS and fire and APD and everybody else.

Shannon Powell live on the scene.

Shannon, thanks again.

And we can tell you this, as she was mentioning going in, right as she said they're going to go in and take a quick tour of this, I thought no way.

WEIDAW: No way.

WILLIS: That's not going to happen. This is an FBI investigation, I would imagine, because the IRS is in there. This is now a federal investigation. You can bet the feds are on the scene right now with the soles of their shoes on the concrete, going through.

Also, the first thing that came to mind is, in working 10 years that I have with APD and EMS and everybody else, if there is one person unaccounted for, this is still a rescue mission and not necessarily recovery mission. APD and EMS doesn't assume anything.

And so this could be a case of a guy who called in sick. This could be the case of a woman who just didn't come to work today.

You know, one unaccounted for does not necessarily mean anything. So, until they find out, and because it doesn't necessarily mean anything, they're going to get answers for it.

And so, one unaccounted for. When we get that information, we're going to quickly pass that along to you. But this could be someone that someone stepped out for lunch. This could be --

HARRIS: All right. Let's do this -- let's leave the coverage here from KXAN for a moment.

We've got another iReporter, I believe pictures and the iReporter is on the phone with our Josh Levs.

What do you have for us, Josh?

LEVS: Tony, you know, when you're driving to work in the morning, you don't expect to pass the same place you do every day, see a huge building, only this time the building is covered in giant black smoke because of a crash. But that's what happened to our iReporter, David Morales, on the way to work this morning.

David, you with us?

DAVID MORALES, IREPORTER: Yes, I am.

LEVS: All right, David.

We're seeing your photos. Now, as we look at these, tell me exactly what you saw.

MORALES: As I was coming to work, there's a bridge that was kind of -- but as I came under the overpass, we see the smoke coming out really thick. And they had one of the lanes blocked off so you couldn't drive up to where the feeder road where the building is.

And the cars were moving at a fairly nice speed. The cops in the area were waving people on to not pile up too much. But a lot of the EMS and the fire trucks were all concentrated around the building. And you couldn't see a point of impact because there was so much smoke coming out of the building.

LEVS: Yes. You know, that's what we've been hearing from so many people, even at different angles, that the impact, they actually couldn't see it because there was so much black smoke.

So, talk to me about the smoke. You are driving along the road, cars are still going. You see there's a lot of emergency vehicles there.

Are we talking about a giant cloud of smoke that appeared in front of you?

MORALES: It was kind of thick in the area where it was a little hazy, but you could see the definition of the smoke coming out. It wasn't black or anything. It was kind of a grayish-white, so it wasn't like burning, burning, but it was just really thick.

LEVS: All right. Now, traffic is -- just in general, there's a lot of traffic in that area. This is a road you travel all the time. Right?

MORALES: Yes, twice a day.

LEVS: Are you familiar with that office park pretty well? You know what goes on there?

MORALES: Interestingly enough, I see it every day, but I didn't know what buildings were actually in there until I heard from others.

LEVS: That's not a concern at all.

Let's talk about the skies above. At the time that you were there, were there any aircraft at all flying around?

MORALES: No. It was a pretty clear day. Very bright and blue, and I didn't see any other aircraft.

LEVS: OK. When you drive in that area, on the way to work, do you generally go to work around the same time, I would assume, right, each day?

MORALES: Yes.

LEVS: Most people do. OK. When you're driving to work, are there often aircraft in the skies, are there low-flying aircraft, are there small planes? Do you see that on a regular basis when you're going through that area?

MORALES: No, I don't. I know the general flight paths would go to the actual Austin airport, which is very south. And so in this area there's never any type of planes that could be that close.

LEVS: Never anything?

MORALES: Right.

LEVS: OK.

You're in town. You are a person who lives in Austin. Most people who are watching you right now are all over the country, could be elsewhere in the world. Talk to me about your feeling right now as a person who lives in that city.

Does this impact that you're -- I don't want to put words in your mouth here. Just talk to me about your feeling right now, about this, no matter how about it happened, a person who lives there.

MORALES: Well, first, I'm concerned about the people who are there, everybody's OK. I haven't heard anything about anybody being hurt, so, so far, it seems like at least people weren't hurt really badly. The main concern is like that concern. Second, the fact that a plane could be that low or close to the ground in such a busy area like that where there's no apparent airports or anything is kind of -- it makes you wonder. That's not to say like anything like this has ever happened before. So it's not like a fear, but it's definitely a concern of what -- what was it doing that low and how.

LEVS: Of course it does. Absolutely. Listen, before I let you go here, you are at your office now?

MORALES: Yes.

LEVS: All right. What are people doing? And, in general, all over the city, are people going about their business trying to get work done? Are things operating or have people pretty much stopped to watch us right now and watch local news and see what's going on?

MORALES: Well, we have a lot of TVs in our office, so -- that are actually on the news channels. So most of the office has been watching it. Maybe a little bit of both. People have been working and others have been pretty tied to the TVs. So and I'm also on Facebook a lot, too, so I've had a lot of conversations with friends and stuff and everybody's like posting about this.

LEVS: OK. And, you know, Austin's a big city, but still it's possible, have you heard anything that concerns you, a friend of a friend, who works in the building, that kind of thing? Is that where a lot of people are right now, watching out for their friends, anyone they know who might have been in that building?

MORALES: Yes, I've heard some friends are concerned about people asking if other people knew, but I haven't personally talked to anybody who knows somebody who's worked there.

LEVS: Well, listen, I really appreciate you joining us here, David Morales, a CNN iReporter, who saw the smoke coming from this building. If you're just joining us, this is taking place in Austin, Texas.

And we're getting you information about this throughout the day.

David Morales, CNN iReporter, thank you very much.

And, Tony Harris, bringing you back in here.

HARRIS: Look at this -- look at this picture here, which was described earlier as perhaps being part of the wreckage of the aircraft in question here. From our affiliate KXAN. Good stuff, Josh. Appreciate it.

LEVS: Thank you.

HARRIS: Let's give you a quick update on the breaking news now from Austin, Texas. And to do that, let's get to our affiliate's coverage, KXAN.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DAVID SCOTT, KXAN REPORTER: -- fully engulfed here on Dapplegray, 1827 Dapplegray, specifically. We've got some video of what it looked like earlier, because it's actually around the corner. They've got it barricaded off still, so we can't show you that live. But let's roll the videotape we have of what the fire was like. The firemen got here about 9:15. The house was fully engulfed. Eventually the roof collapsed.

HARRIS: OK. And let's reset on the breaking news from Austin. We're talking about a really horrific scene right now. A fiery scene after a small plane slammed into an office building. I'm not sure -- what are we watching here? I'm not sure what that is. Two people, we understand, were taken to an area hospital. One person is still unaccounted for. The crash taking place at 9430 Research Boulevard. That looks more like the scene here. That's northwest Austin, Texas.

Heavy smoke. And maybe we can move in some of these pictures here. It was really dramatic stuff. Heavy smoke was seen just pouring out of the building. Firefighters, we understand, are inside at least at last check -- were inside the building fighting the fire from the inside. The complex reportedly is next door to the FBI's offices there in Austin and is alongside a major highway in the northern part of the state's capital city.

The Department of Homeland Security says right now it doesn't believe the crash is linked to any criminal or terrorist activity. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane departed Georgetown Airport, north of Austin, about 10:40 Eastern this morning. No word on what caused the plane to go down. Take a look at these scenes.

Let's see. Do we have a portion of the news conference from maybe 20 minutes ago? Let's run that for you. The latest information as we received it from fire officials, oh, about 20 minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now report is crash and fire.

QUESTION: What is the status? They've got the fire out now or are they still fighting it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. The fire continues to burn. They're still fighting it. But we are offensive and inside the structure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Let me jump out of this and get you back to the coverage from KXAN. We're getting some information about the pilot.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SCOTT: At this time, but we can tie in the fact that he had a small plane at Georgetown Airport and that's where the plane that flew into the building flew out of.

WILLIS: Right.

SCOTT: That's all I can confirm from here for you.

WILLIS: Yes. The reason I was asking, David, we're getting also word in from many news organizations that are talking about that this plane did depart Georgetown Airport about 9:40 this morning. Preliminary information is a Cirrus SR-22, which we have a picture of that if you want to show that. Shawn's (ph) brought that up for us.

So, well done is my point, David. That appears to be your information is what we're getting from other sources and other locations as well. They say the pilot evidently did not file a flight plan. That's not required because it's a VFR day, which is the visual flight rules day. Meaning it's clear weather, you don't have to file a flight plan because you can see and everybody else can see what you're doing and where you're going with the clear weather.

The FAA spokesperson did not have any information on the tail number or the number of people on board that aircraft. But, again, the FAA saying that that plane departed the Georgetown Airport about 9:40 this morning.

Thank you, David.

SCOTT: You're welcome.

WEIDAW: All right, just to catch you up again, this is definitely new information just from -- coming in concerning a house fire that happened earlier this morning. Everyone inside that house fire is doing fine today, but as a result, this may be connected.

We want to go live to Matt Flener, who is out at the scene with another eyewitness -- Matt.

MATT FLENER, KXAN REPORTER: Hi, Kate.

Yes, that's right, we have another eyewitness who was actually standing in that Home Depot parking lot that we were talking about a little bit earlier. And from what we know, that's about a mile away.

Is that right, you were standing in the -- is that the Home Depot parking lot where you were?

MEGAN RILEY, EYEWITNESS: It wasn't actually. I was over in the World Market parking lot. So it was about the same angle, but not quite that much (ph).

FLENER: OK. And your name, ma'am? RILEY: Megan Riley.

FLENER: Megan Riley. How do you spell that last time?

RILEY: R-i-l-e-y.

FLENER: R-i-l-e-y, is that right?

RILEY: Yes.

FLENER: OK. Great.

Well, Megan, tell me what you saw this morning?

RILEY: Um, yes. Well, a little bit before 10:00, as I was saying, I was over there near the MOPAC and 183. And the plane came flying over from it looked like pretty much straight from the East. It was kind of curving a little bit. Nothing -- it looked like there wasn't anything wrong with it. It sounded like it was running fine. The engines weren't smoking or anything. But it was really low. Almost to the power lines. And it was clipping really, really sharply to the left.

And, honestly, we kind of thought it was somebody just messing around, flying too low, trying to scare their co-pilot or whatnot, until we heard the explosion. And we looked out over here and the siding of this building had fallen down.

HARRIS: OK. Let's do this. Let's leave this coverage for just a moment because I want to bring in our Marylynn Ryan, Southeast bureau chief, Atlanta bureau chief as well.

Marylynn, we thought we were going to get some information from KXAN on the pilot, but I understand you have it.

MARYLYNN RYAN, CNN SOUTHEAST BUREAU CHIEF: Yes. Yes. Tony, I just confirmed with a federal official that it appears that the pilot of this plane set his house on fire and then stole this plane and crashed it into the building intentionally.

HARRIS: Say it again.

RYAN: A federal official told CNN that this pilot of this plane apparently set his house on fire and then stole this aircraft from the airport and crashed it into this building.

HARRIS: So are you telling me that the pilot involved in this -- we're seeing pictures of a house fire -- that this person set his house on fire?

RYAN: That's what it appears, Tony, at this point.

HARRIS: Let's break it down. Set his house on fire and then did what, according to this official, Marylynn?

RYAN: And then apparently he went to the airport in Georgetown and stole the plane and flew it into this building, according to a federal official.

HARRIS: I can't believe it. I cannot believe it. All right.

Do we have -- do we have an ID? Do we have an ID on the pilot?

RYAN: I know all the CNN teams are working on nailing that down right now.

HARRIS: OK.

RYAN: We'll get that as soon as we have that, I believe.

HARRIS: OK. And, Marylynn, appreciate it.

RYAN: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: That -- that is amazing.

Let me read to you the statement from Matt Chandler. He is the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. "At this time we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity." Maybe we should talk to Matt again. "We are in the process of coordinating with state officials and other federal partners to gather more information. At this time we will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA."

But our reporting, our Marylynn Ryan, is reporting that there is a connection. For a moment there I didn't understand why we were seeing the house fire, but now we have a better understanding. Apparently the homeowner, according to our information, set his house on fire, went to the Georgetown Airport and deliberately crashed the aircraft into that office building there in northwest Austin.

Can you imagine? What a dramatic turn of events in this story. And what's the toll on this at this point? Well, we know that two people have been transported to an area hospital. We have no word on their injuries. Their condition at this point. One person is unaccounted for. Would stand to reason it's the pilot, but we don't know that, obviously, for sure.

We know that firefighters are inside the building. At last word they were fighting the fire inside the building. They were defensive for a long time in this effort. Once they were able to establish a perimeter, they were able to get offensive and get inside the building and attack the fire from inside the building.

We have seen pictures of the wreckage of the aircraft. We have heard countless eyewitness accounts of what they saw. Josh Levs had a conversation with an iReporter who sent us some pretty dramatic photos a short time ago. Josh is back with us.

LEVS: Yes.

HARRIS: And, wow.

LEVS: I know. I know. I mean obviously it's preliminary information and we'll withhold, you know, (INAUDIBLE) until we've learn a lot more.

HARRIS: Sure. Sure.

LEVS: But, yes, I mean, you can't help but stop --

HARRIS: Well, we will talk to Matt Chandler again, who is with the Department of Homeland Security, and get some further guidance. But that's the information

LEVS: Unbelievable.

HARRIS: From Marylynn Ryan, who heads up the southeast bureau.

LEVS: Yes.

HARRIS: Who heads up the Atlanta bureau, that this was apparently, from an official in the government, a deliberate act.

LEVS: Oh, my goodness.

Tony, while we're looking at this, let me just tell you something else that we've gotten. One of the things a lot of Americans want to know, when you see anything like this, how quickly do we, on a national level, respond in case this had been a security concern? We have this from NORAD and NORTHCOM, NORAD, North American Airspace Defense Command.

This is what they're telling us. That they launched two Air Force F-16s out of Ellington Field in Houston after this crash out of what they're calling prudent precaution. These planes were launched at 9:45 a.m. Mountain Time, they're saying, which is 11:45 a.m. Eastern Time.

They're telling us that both aircraft are still in the air, in Austin, patrolling. And they say what you already said, I'm going to say it again, they say no evidence of terrorism. And that's according to a NORTHCOM spokesman at this point. So, obviously, we're looking, now, for more information. But I'll catch you up on some of the other things we have.

At the University Medical Center in Brackenridge, a spokeswoman there tells us that two people were taken there and are being treated. No immediate information, Tony, on their conditions.

And we have continuously been reaching out to the police.

HARRIS: Josh, Josh, can I jump in for a second?

LEVS: Go ahead.

HARRIS: I want you to get back to that reset in just a moment. But we're getting some information from our affiliate there in Austin, KXAN, on the name of this person who did this, Joseph Andrew Stack. Don't have an age. Nothing else on him at this point. But Joseph Andrew Stack is the name of the pilot. That is information that we're getting. So we will attribute it to the source here, that's KXAN. Again, the name is Joseph Andrew Stack. But -- and we're continuing to work this as well.

Go ahead, Josh.

LEVS: Well, no, and so you're saying that we have that name, we're reporting now. We were just hearing minutes ago from our own Marylynn Ryan about a federal official telling her

HARRIS: That information -- the information on the name is coming from our affiliate there in Austin, KXAN.

LEVS: That's from our affiliate. Meanwhile, separately we heard from our reporting about a federal official saying that there was a man who apparently -- preliminary information suggests that set his home on fire and then took a plane and ultimately crashed it into this building in Austin, Texas.

I'll tell you, being here in the newsroom, Tony, we are reaching out on every possible front. We're reaching out to police, looking for the latest information on casualties. And we don't have a firm figure, a final figure for you. I did mention two people taken to a hospital there and being treated.

And we're also looking into what specific offices are inside that building.

HARRIS: Sure.

LEVS: Let's remind everyone, this is on Research Boulevard in Austin, Texas. It's a group of several buildings. Each of these buildings has private offices, as well as government offices. I was looking through the specific lists of what's in these offices and you do find some government offices listed there. Some private ones. We don't know about anything specific about this building as linked to what happened, but we do know that there's a large number of offices there, a four-story building.

And we were told last hour, I believe now, by a woman who was in an office next door that it felt like an earthquake when the plane came in and crashed. Everyone started looking out, saw this giant black smoke.

And we're told the fire is contained. I believe that's the still our information, it's contained.

HARRIS: If you would -- if you would, Josh, just because we're getting this new information from KXAN, I just want to get back to their coverage. Are they still up? Are they still on the air? Let's -- Joe, appreciate it.

Let's get back to KXAN. I just want to see if that station developed any more information on this Joseph Andrew Stack, the man who is believed to have been the man who perpetrated this horrible, horrible act.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) WILLIS: That's the connection and that's the reporting that's being done now. It has not been confirmed yet because it is certainly early and our David Scott was the first to tell us about this possible connection between a fire and -- in north Austin and -- where did I write this down? It is Dapplegray in north Austin is the address of where this fire was.

WEIDAW: And, Chris, I'm just getting handed to me, CNN is now reporting the plane was stolen.

WILLIS: OK. See, that's why it goes unconfirmed and that's why it's unsubstantiated because thing change instantaneously. So whether or not there is a connection to this house fire and this incident you're looking at, certainly is going to continue to be investigated. Let's go to our Debra (ph) now, who's following the latest traffic -- Debra.

DEBRA WYNN, KXAN REPORTER: And actually, Chris, the southbound traffic picture looks like it's actually improving. Now, remember, this happened a little bit closer to just after the peak of the rush this morning, so everybody is probably where they were heading to. The problem from here on out is going to be, now that we approach that lunchtime hour, look for big delays.

And, Chris, you and I have been talking back and forth, and Kate as well, all of the different restaurants in that area. Everybody going to be heading into that epicenter to grab lunch. And you're going to plan for some major backups. Probably a better idea on a situation like this today to avoid the area.

So, 183 southbound, just to recap, your frontage road, is closed. Likely will be for the rest of the day. And as Chris mentioned, with an ongoing investigation, it may well be for several morning commutes to come.

So, what you want to do is stay on 183 south --

HARRIS: Yes, let's do this. Let's jump out of that coverage for just a moment. They're starting to report what we're reporting. And what we're reporting is that, boy, as this unfolded, pretty dramatic. We were seeing pictures that I couldn't understand why we were actually seeing the pictures of a house fire in north Austin at a time when our attention was clearly focused on the fire at this office building in northwest Austin. And because of the work of our reporters, our bureau chief here in Atlanta, Marylynn Ryan, we were able to develop this information.

You know what, let me stop there and let me get to our Jeanne Meserve, because, Jeanne, I know you're on the phone and working your Homeland Security sources. What do you have on the information that is starting to develop here?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I tell you, that the Department of Homeland Security has started to change its statement on this ever so slightly. Apparently in light of this information that's coming in about the house fire and so forth. They're saying that at this time they have no reason to believe there is a nexus to terrorist activity. Earlier the statement said there was no reason to believe there was a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity. So that matter of whether or not there's criminal activity, apparently something being looked at very carefully here. They aren't telling us even on background why they made that change, but it would appear to be because of this information that's coming in about the associated -- possibly associated house fire.

HARRIS: Yes.

MESERVE: Let me tell you, though, that there clearly was a lot of concern about what was going on here. Mike Mount (ph) is reporting from the Pentagon, he's one of our producers there, that NORAD did launch two Air Force F-16s out of Ellington Field in Houston after this crash, out of an abundance of caution. Let me underline that, out of an abundance of caution. And DHS still saying no indications of a nexus to terrorism -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right, Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

And I know you're going to be working to get us any information that you can on this Joseph Andrew Stack, the man who is -- is being identified right now as the person responsible for all of this. Being identified as such by our affiliate there in Austin, KXAN.

Let's reset this. It is the breaking news we've been following for the last, oh, almost 90 minutes now. A federal official telling CNN it appears that the fire that's burning right now in an office building is a criminal act. The official says it appears a man who set his house on fire stole a plane and flew it into the building here.

Our affiliate, KXAN, identifies him as Joseph Andrew Stack. Two people injured in the office building blaze are being treated at an area hospital. And at least one person is still unaccounted for. The complex reportedly is next door to the FBI's offices in Austin. And as you've been seeing throughout our coverage here, it is along a major highway in the northern part of the state's capital city. KXAN has been providing us with excellent affiliate coverage of this horrible incident.

Let's just check in again and see where they are in their reporting on this story.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

WEIDAW: -- going on out there. CNN was reporting that the Pentagon said that two F-16s actually scrambled to Austin after this crash, not knowing what was going on. But now we're starting to learn more about how these two things are connected.

Lauren, thank you very much for calling in. We want to get back to our David Scott, who is live in north Austin, where there was a house fire earlier today where this all may be connected.

David, give us the latest on what is going on?

SCOTT: We are just north of Farmer (ph) and Metric (ph), to set the scene for you. It's a very nice road. Nicely tree lined, middle- class homes. A very quiet, peaceful neighborhood. And about 9:00 this morning, 9:15 to be precise, the Austin Fire Department got a call that a house was fully engulfed. When they got here, they saw that that was true. They got manpower on it as quickly as possible. They evacuated the adjoining homes and managed to keep the fire from spreading to those.

Around that time, a neighbor, we're told, went into the home and rescued the mother, Cheryl Stack (ph), and her 12-year-old daughter. They are now in the safekeeping of some neighbor friends down the street and across the way. And, obviously, not talking to the press at this point in the day, and we wouldn't think of disturbing them.

Now, the question is, what happened to the husband, Joseph Stack? They have not been able to go into the house. The roof collapsed and the house is a total loss. So it is not stable enough to go in and do what they call a primary search at this point, which is what they ordinarily would do as soon as possible.

But we're told, and it's been confirmed from multiple sources, that Joseph Stack (INAUDIBLE) Georgetown and his whereabouts right now are unknown. There's a lot of speculation, maybe a domestic dispute led to a fire being set, that maybe he fled for his plane. But that is all speculation. It's just the way the pieces seem to fit at this point.

The scene is clearing up. It's right around the corner from where I'm standing right now. And when we're done with these live shots, we'll move into a little closer position for you later on.

WILLIS: And David -- yes, and David Scott reporting with that possible link between that fire. We can tell you too, our Nancy Wilson (ph), doing some work with the FAA in the newsroom right now has confirmed what David is reporting, that Joseph A. Stack is the registered owner of an aircraft, a Piper P828-236 (ph), which is a fixed-wing, single-engine plane. Very consistent with what we've been told hit the Echelon (ph) building this morning.

So a registered owner has been confirmed. Matches what David Scott is reporting from north Austin. And a house on fire this morning. And the owner of that house, the man unaccounted for right now.

WEIDAW: And we're continuing to get eyewitness reports into the station letting us know what happened. Megan Riley, she was a witness, saw the plane come across. She said she saw the plane flying in from the East. Sounded like it was running just fine. Had no engine problems. Wasn't smoking. Flying very low to the power lines. She said, we kind of thought it was somebody joking around.

HARRIS: All right, the pieces of the story really starting to come together now. Joseph Andrew Stack is the man at the center of all of this. He allegedly, according to the reporting that's coming together from our affiliate in Austin, KXAN, set his house on fire. Looks like he was a husband and father. Mother and daughter rescued from the home.

He is the registered owner of an aircraft. So we will pull back on this notion that perhaps this Joseph Andrew Stack stole an aircraft and crashed into this building. He is the registered owner of an aircraft that seems to be consistent with the kind of aircraft that we are now learning was flown deliberately into this building.

Still buttoning up all of the details on this. We know that two people were transported to an area hospital. One person unaccounted for. There is still a firefight going on inside of the building. The exterior area around the building contained at this point.

Let's bring in our Josh Levs.

Josh, something -- something curious that you're following for us.

LEVS: Well, Tony, we have new, breaking news now on another story involving an airplane in America. CNN is now confirming that a flight has been diverted today. This was a flight out of Denver that was heading into San Francisco. It was diverted to Salt Lake City. We have some sound here about what happened. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA GANN, SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORTS: They'll be held in that terminal until they can be rescreened and the officials feel like there is enough information gathered that the flight can go on or the next step will take place. But for right now, they'll be held in the international terminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: OK, actually, that sound isn't what I thought it was, so let me tell you the basics here.

This flight was diverted after a threatening letter, Tony, was found on board. That's why passengers are being held right now. A threatening letter found on board this flight, United Airlines flight.

Looking at our affiliate reporting from KSL, it says 193 passengers and six crew members on board this flight. If you're someone who's concerned about it and wants to check, the reporting says it's flight 741. It's a Boeing 757. And, again, it was out of Denver, headed into San Francisco. And it was diverted to Salt Lake International this morning after a threatening note was found on board. And KSL is describing that actually as a bomb threat. That was found written on board that plane.

That's why you heard sound just now about these passengers being held in one place. Obviously investigators need to figure out where that note came from, who might have written what, and they're clearly not going to let anyone go anywhere until they get the basics on that.

HARRIS: Yes, makes sense.

LEVS: So amid all the other breaking news, Tony, now we have this.

HARRIS: Yes. Let's do this, Josh. Let's give everybody, if you're just joining us, a reset on the breaking news we've been following for just about two hours now. It is the breaking news out of Austin, Texas.

A plane crash late this morning and a federal official telling CNN it appears to have been a deliberate act. The fire that's burning right now in an office building called a criminal act. The official says it appears a man who set his house on fire stole the plane -- well, he didn't actually steal the plane. The latest information is that this Joseph Andrew Stack, registered owner of an aircraft.

Two people injured in the office building blaze are being treated at hospitals and at least one person still unaccounted for. The complex reportedly is next door to the FBI's offices in Austin and it is along a major highway in the northern part of the state's capital. Two F-16 fighter jets were launched as a precaution after the crash.

Is Barbara on the line with us now? No, let's do this. Let's get back to the coverage from our affiliate there in Austin, KXAN. Let's get an update on the story from that affiliate's coverage.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were calling and saying, I could feel this. It was shaking my insides. And just a tremendous explosion is the way this is being described to us.

WEIDAW: And at this point we do not know how many people were on board the plane. If we can show a picture again of what we believe this plane looks like. It's a Cirrus SR-22. Shawn (ph) was telling us earlier that about six people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like four (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, a smaller one.

WEIDAW: Four, four can be on board this plane. But at this point, we believe that it went out of the Georgetown Airport, which is about 40 minutes north of the Austin area, for those of us -- for those of you who are watching us nationally right now. Not too far outside the city of Austin.

And Matt Flener has been live on the scene since the beginning and he has some new information for us.

Matt, can you hear us? OK, we're going to go to Matt in a second.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we're looking at this, a good (ph) perspective of Matt's camera and Matt's shot, the one Mark is running out there. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got new pictures. If they can go away from this, I'll bring them up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go away from this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, if they can hop off this for a second.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, if you hop off this and a good perspective is you can see the point of impact, and we'll show you this here in just -- in a second. As the smoke starts to clear and, you know, the witnesses were describing the duct work flying out and the windows flying off at the point of impact and then insulation shooting out and then, of course, obviously, the billows and billows of smoke that was flying as well.

You know, now that that's starting to clear a bit, you can get a good idea of what hit that building and where it was. You can see that, as we take this shot, it looks like to be remnants of a plane. And you can see where the impact was. And we had people on the scene, you know, literally just minutes after this happened talking about the retaining wall that runs in front of that. And the retaining wall appears to be the spot just inches above it where this plane hit.

WEIDAW: And at this point, once again, just two reported injuries at this point. And we have learned that one person has been treated for burns, stabilized and then taken down to San Antonio to the Brooke Army Medical Center. A second person has been admitted to the hospital. One person still unaccounted for inside that building.

Once again, you know, this plane hit the building shortly before 10:00 this morning. Certainly at a time when everyone has already come to work. We do not know how filled this building was, of course. A lot of vacancies in the buildings up there. But at this point, two people injured, one unaccounted for.

And we do understand that the FBI is on the scene this morning. The Pentagon reported that shortly after the plane hit, two F-16s rushed to the scene here in Austin to try to figure out what is going on.

Matt Flener has been live out at the scene since this all started and has some new information for us -- Matt.

FLENER: Yes, hi, Kate.

I really just want to show you an amazing perspective of what this building looks like right now. First, we'll zoom into the building right now. I want to show you the crash impact scene once again. You can see part of this plane hanging out from the back of the building.

Now, Mark, if you'll take a look right over to -- it's almost an identical building over to the right. That's what it looked like before. This is what that building really was. It's almost a mirror image of what that building was. Just a sheer black wall of windows that this plane crashed into. And we can go back to this building. I want to describe for you the scene again. We pulled up on the scene right around 10:00 this morning and we just saw fire completely engulfing the north side of this Echelon building. We understand there were nearly 200 people that do work inside this building. And really it was just an amazing sight. I've never seen anything like it, other than 9/11. A plane crashing right into the side of a building.

The retaining wall is completely gone right where that plane came in. And --

HARRIS: Like I say, we have seen a couple of really dramatic pieces of video. We sawed the i-Report of someone who was driving in to work. Popped the camera on the cell phone, right, and took some amazing pictures all of the smoke billowing, just pouring out of the building.

And then this shot here that you just saw a moment ago. I guess it's pretty well framed up now, of what looks like the wreckage of that aircraft that was deliberately -- can you believe it -- crashed into that building?

I know you've got some new information. I'm going to turn it over to you, my friend.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's moving over very quickly. Good job. Thank you, Tony.