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Wrong Airport Landing; Feds Investigate Christie; First Water Zone Lifted

Aired January 13, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be with all of you on this Monday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Stay with me because any moment this Southwest Airlines jet that landed at the wrong airport is set to take off. You heard me right, the wrong airport. Not far away, but it's a much different runway. Let me explain how this happened.

So passengers on this flight, it was headed from Chicago's Midway Airport to Branson Airport in southwest Missouri. They experience this bumpy landing. And then suddenly they realize, they had landed in Missouri, but at the wrong place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well it had like a really rough landing. We were all like moving pretty close to the seats as we were landing because the runway, I guess, is too short for the plane and so then they just came on and said that we had landed at the wrong runway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then we got a call saying, the plane has landed at an airport nearby. With that, we were thinking, OK, there is only one other airport and it was the (INAUDIBLE) airport and we're thinking, surely not a jet plane could land there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Surely, he says. Well, the intended airport and the one the plane landed at, they're about seven miles apart. The county airport doesn't usually handle big jets because its runway, as you're about to see with this map, is about half the length of the Branson Airport's. The plane managed to stop just about 500 feet from the end of the runway, which, by the way, the edge of that is a cliff and then the highway. Passengers finally got to the right airport by bus.

CNN's Richard Quest joins me live from New York and Chad Myers with me here in Studio 7.

So, Chad, to you first, because you have this pretty cool animation that shows I guess what the pilot maybe intended to do but didn't.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right, it's like you're driving to McDonald's and you see the one here. There's another one seven miles, but you pull into the closest one first. That's essentially what happened here. Let's get right to it. This is Google Earth. It started in Chicago's Midway. They turned the plane going south. Go ahead, Sean (ph), go ahead and hit the play. It's going south. It's going to probably fly over just to the west of St. Louis, not that far from Columbia, into Jefferson City. Springfield, Missouri, right there. Branson, Missouri, just to the south of there. Silver Dollar City, I've been to this area an awful lot.

What they were planning on doing was getting to the airport right here - well, right here. This is the one right here. Take that back, right there. That's the dirt one. This is the one here. You'll see the (INAUDIBLE). That's the airport that they eventually landed in right here, coming down runway 1-2, not that much different than one down here landing 1-4. So they saw this airport first and I believe they just said that must be it and they came down.

Now, the issue is not so much that it was short. The issue is what it looked like at the end of this runway.

BALDWIN: Look at that.

MYERS: That is the cliff. That is the falloff of where they were 300 feet from there.

BALDWIN: And then the highway.

MYERS: They wanted - they wanted to land at this one. Well, it's not dirt, but it looks like dirt because it's all plowed around here. This is runway 1-4. This is the real Branson Airport that they came up short by about seven miles, but at least they got that plane stopped.

BALDWIN: OK. So as we wait - and, guys, let me know if there's live pictures of this plane so we can show people what we're watching and waiting for - Richard Quest, my question then to you, tell me about the size of this jet and I guess the challenge in taking off.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: Here we go. There's the live picture. There's the jet.

QUEST: All right.

BALDWIN: But the challenges in taking off from this - this particular runway?

QUEST: OK. The runway is only 3,738 feet long. They had intended to land on a 7,500 foot runway. So immediately you can see that this runway that they landed on, which is why it was so difficult to stop, and they had to really push the brakes on.

BALDWIN: Right.

QUEST: Incidentally, Chad, I want to just point out, the notice to airmen in the navigation instructions does say, no safety overrun for this particular airport. At runway end, large drop-off. So, you know, there is a clear warning about this. Of course they didn't know they were landing there, so they didn't know to read the warnings.

What's going to happen now? This aircraft is probably what they call operator's weight. Operator's empty weight.

BALDWIN: What does that mean?

QUEST: It has got -- it means it's the weight of the aircraft, the weight of the usable fuel that they put on just to get it in the air, and the seats. Now, that sort of weight, this plane can take off from that runway. It could not take off from that runway if it was full to the brim with fuel and with passengers. But it's clearly much lighter.

Now to those who are wondering, is it, will it, can it, won't it?

BALDWIN: Right.

QUEST: Every time - every time a plane takes off, the pilots do the calculation and it is a matter of physics between the weight of the aircraft, the temperature on the ground at the moment and the length of the runway. You factor all that in and you get what's known as the rotation speed and the v-1 (ph) speed and that tells you whether you'll be able to take off on that runway. It's a simple question of mathematics. They've done the sums. It can do it.

BALDWIN: Here's my simple question then back to you, Richard Quest is, why did this happen in the first place? Do we know yet?

QUEST: The NTSB is investigating. I can give a pretty good guess.

BALDWIN: OK, hit me.

QUEST: All right, they weren't using an instrument landing system. They were on a visual approach into the airport. They saw the airport that they thought it was. As Chad's diagram shows, the runways are about 20 degrees different in terms of (INAUDIBLE). So it's sizable, but not huge. They see the right - they see what they think is the right runway. They head in that direction. And they never look down at the instruments to check each other, to check that they are right.

BALDWIN: Wow. Wow.

QUEST: That is the sort of way this happens.

And one other thing. In U.S. aviation, not so much overseas in Europe, air traffic control will often give you a clear to land, clear to land, clear to land quite a long way out. So they will have gone on to approach, got on to final approach and will have been -- at Branson Airport they would say (ph) clear to land and they would have been on their own navigation to make sure that the runway was empty. I'm guessing that's the way it happened.

BALDWIN: OK.

QUEST: And as they came into land, they just did it.

MYERS: Hey, Richard, no one yells at them and says, you're too low, you're too low because you're seven miles from the real airport?

QUEST: In theory, yes. In practice, as you can clearly tell by this case -

BALDWIN: They don't (ph).

QUEST: And the Airbus case with the dream lifter earlier last year, no. You're -- they just don't. They assume you're on the right path. Remember, it's not an instrument landing system here. It's not an (INAUDIBLE) approach. They weren't on any form of automatic. It's probably a visual landing that they were doing.

BALDWIN: OK. OK.

MYERS: And it was dark.

BALDWIN: Yes, and it was dark. It was last night. Once again, no passengers --

QUEST: Any one - look, any one of people could have got involved here and said, hang on, you're not on the right path for this runway. It could have been the captain in the left seat. It could have been the co-pilot. I don't (INAUDIBLE) pilot flying (ph).

BALDWIN: We don't know. We don't know what we're watching for and we have the - we have that camera in live pictures. We see the cones surrounding the planes. As soon as we see the cones moving, that will be our heads up to come back to the live picture and we'll watch this hopefully successful takeoff from that airport.

QUEST: It will be successful.

BALDWIN: It will be.

Richard Quest, thank you very much, and Chad Myers. We'll see you when that happens. Thank you, sir.

Let's move along. Got some news for you just in to CNN here.

We are watching this high school. This is just outside of Houston. The FBI is on the scene after a suspicious package was found at Seven Lakes High School. This is Katy, Texas. We are told by our affiliate KPRC that a device has been found that is, quote/unquote, potentially explosive. Students and staff at the high school have been evacuated. You see them all here scattered about the school sports field, the football field here. Parents are being told, stay away, you cannot pick up your students, your children at this time. We're watching this story very closely out of Katy, Texas. As soon as we have more information, we will pass it along to you here live.

Coming up, for days more than 300,000 people have not been able to use tap water to drink, to bathe, to brush their teeth. That could soon be changing, of course, as anxiety is running high over this contaminated water. Plus, a figure skater falls and finishes in fourth place, yet she makes the U.S. Olympic team over the ladies who beat her. Is that fair? We'll discuss coming up. You're watching CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: An Omaha juvenile court judge has just decided that two-year- old who was seen cursing in a video can remain with his mother and both will be placed with the same foster family. You know the story, the boy made headlines after being seen in this video showing several adults, you could hear their voices in the background, cursing at him, using racial slurs, manipulating this toddler to swear back at them. Well, the mother and her son now were taken into child protective custody, along with two other children from that home.

You heard me right, the mother has been in child protective custody because of her age. You see, she was just 16 when this video was shot. The Omaha Police Officers Association posted the video on the website saying the video is an example, and I'm quoting them, of a cycle of thuggery and violence. The boy's mother told CNN affiliate KETV she does not condone what happened, but she said all kids curse. We've got a much bigger discussion on that one coming up at the top of the next hour.

Moving on. CNN has learned that New Jersey's Chris Christie, dogged already by what looks like a dirty trick scandal, has potentially serious trouble on a second front. Washington wants to know why Christie, using federal aid dollars pledged to Superstorm Sandy relief, spent $4.7 million on tourism ads when they could have been done much, much cheaper? As it happens, the more expensive option included ads starring Chris Christie and his family here when he was running for re-election.

Gloria Borger with me now from Washington, our chief political analyst.

And, Gloria, welcome to you.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks.

BALDWIN: We have this bridge scandal on one hand, and we'll get more into that in a minute. But this is totally different. This is Superstorm Sandy. The feds looking into, you know, how recovery aid was spent. And let me just get to this. This is CNN exclusive reporting because we have a statement from Christie's people -- this was issued earlier today. Let me read this. They say this. It says, "reviews such as this are routine and standard operating procedure." It goes on to say, and I'm quoting, "we're confident that any review will show that the ads were a key part in helping New Jersey get back on its feet after Sandy."

My question to you is, how harmful is this? This investigation?

BORGER: Well, look, you know, once you raise one question, you know it opens a whole Pandora's Box about a whole lot of other things. And I remember at the time when these ads were running that eyebrows were raised about why does Chris Christie have to be in these ads?

Don't forget, the recovery of Hurricane Sandy has been so important to Chris Christie's political life. You know, his popularity went up. He grew more popular with women voters. He was seen as somebody who could cut through the red tape, raise the money, get the recovery program on its way and working really well. And so at the time, you know, people were saying, OK, fine, you know, Christie is the face of the recovery, so maybe that's the reason. So this whole investigation, whether it's routine or not, is something I'm sure the Christie people would rather not be talking about right now.

BALDWIN: Especially on top of the investigation into the traffic jam scandal.

BORGER: Sure. Yes.

BALDWIN: We know that today the New Jersey legislature, they formed a special committee with a special council and subpoena power to investigate how high up it goes. There are still so many - so many unanswered questions here.

BORGER: Well, you know, and this morning, Brooke, I've been spending my morning going through some more documents that I received about Steve Fulop, who is the mayor of Jersey City. He's the new mayor. And when he was first elected, Brooke, he wanted to have some meetings with state commissioners to kind of get acquainted and the Christie administration was very happy to set up these meetings until -- and they were on the books -- until Fulop told the Christie people that, you know what, I don't think I'm going to endorse you, and suddenly, suddenly the meetings evaporated.

And let me read you one e-mail that the mayor of Jersey City actually wrote to one of these Port Authority executives. He said -- after the meetings had been cancelled. He said, "as a side note, I'm not sure if it is a coincidence that your office cancelled a meeting several weeks back that seemed to be simultaneous to other political conversations elsewhere that were happening." And he said, "I sincerely hope the two issues," the canceling of the meetings, "are not related as it wouldn't be in the interests of the residents of the state of New Jersey."

BALDWIN: Because that's the accusation with this whole bridge debacle with the Fort Lee mayor and political retaliation.

BORGER: Exactly. Right. You know, and let me give you some context here. Chris Christie, who's clearly looking at a presidential bid, wanted to get as many Democrats endorsing him as he possible could because he wanted to show that he is a Republican -

BALDWIN: Working across the aisle.

BORGER: Who can bring Democrats into the tent, right? So they were going around looking for these endorsements. And once this mayor -- who was a good candidate because he's known to be bipartisan -- once this new mayor said that, you know, it's not going to happen, suddenly, out of thin air, all these meetings vaporized. And by the way, all the cancellations, according to the e-mail that I have, all the cancellations came on the same day from all the different people. Coincidence?

BALDWIN: Well, tomorrow - tomorrow's the state of the state. That's a whole other conversation, but it's like -

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Will he address it? How does he address it? We'll be talking about that tomorrow.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, thank you very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Coming up here, any San Francisco fans thinking of going to the Seahawks-49ers game? You might have a tough time scoring some tickets. We will tell you why your zip code might mean no tickets for some fans. That's a little later.

But first, hundreds of thousands of people without water may soon be able to use their tap water again. But it's what caused the toxic spill in the first place that's raising a lot of eyebrows here in West Virginia. We'll discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Got some breaking news for you at this hour.

We are now learning from the Pasco County sheriff's office in Wesley Chapel, Florida, that there has been a movie theater shooting. Let me just look down and tell you what we know. We know that two people, again, according to this sheriff's department, two people were shot inside. You are looking at pictures. This is the Grove 16 Theater. The suspect is in custody. Apparently this one male suspect went inside the movie theater, shot these two victims and both of these victims have since been flown out from inside this movie theater to a Tampa area hospital. Conditions of those two victims not yet known. But again, shooting inside this movie theater in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

For five days they have not been able to use tap water to brush their teeth, cook, bathe or drink. But this very moment, that is changing for some people in West Virginia. Three hundred thousand people in nine counties all across the state were told to stay far away from the water because it's contaminated. And developing right now, public health officials confirm the first zone, this is what they're calling this, the first zone can now start using tap water. That includes the capital city of Charleston. So downtown Charleston and the areas -- the east end areas, that's a-OK. Homes and businesses should flush their plumbing systems. This is the guidance we have.

And these zones were created just to keep the water pipes from being overwhelmed here. But there was another major development unfolding, cracks, that city council - city officials, I should say, they say they were found on the containment wall maintained by Freedom Industries. That's the chemical storage facility responsible for this leak. So these cracks. Take a look at this. CNN obtained these pictures from county emergency management officials. They reportedly show the wall which 7,500 gallons of coal cleaning chemicals leaked. This is the wall and this is the wall that surrounded the tank that housed the chemical. Those cracks in the wall and the age and the design of the storage tank are raising a lot of questions and concerns about upkeep at the plant. So to have a bigger discussion here about what's going on in West Virginia, Jennifer Sass, senior scientist at the National Resources Defense Council joins me.

So, Jennifer, welcome.

JENNIFER SASS, SR. SCIENTIST, NATL. RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL: Hi, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let's just back up because, first of all, when people think West Virginia, I think a lot of people associate that with coal, right?

SASS: Right.

BALDWIN: But what people may not know is that this long storied history with regard to coal as, of course, an integral part of the economy, but along with that comes difficulty in regulation.

SASS: That's correct. Yes. So in this case, I think in this particular work facility, a lot of things went wrong. For one thing, I think the facility failed in its preventive measures and they failed in monitoring so that the spill ended up happening and had to be reported by community members back to the facility. And then I think in their reaction time, they failed to alert community, first responders and the drinking water facility downstream.

BALDWIN: Yes, here's some of the facts. This is what "The New York Times" is reporting and also "The Charleston Gazette," that the site of this spill had not been inspected on a state or federal level since 1991. And, you know, a lot of questions for lawmakers as far as why this storage facility was allowed to exist on a river. You know you read and, of course, the governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, says, we're working on this. You know, no other leak of this magnitude should every happen again. But again, it's tough in a state where coal is so central for this economy to then be regulated. It's sort of intricately linked.

SASS: Right. Although the chemical facility should be regulated by federal officials and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for example, which hadn't gotten out there for several decades, really has had its budget slashed and is really suffering in its enforcement and compliance ability. The Chemical Safety Board had also tried to investigate some very serious violations by other facilities in West Virginia. Those recommendations that it had made for safety had been ignored and the Chemical Safety Board has also had its budget slashed severely. So our oversight mechanisms have really been suffering and the people power to get out to those facilities on a regular basis are really lacking.

BALDWIN: So do you think that at least this incident, a sliver of silver lining, could be that this is raised to the forefront. I mean I know there have been incidents past which have also raised questions, but might this be exactly the vehicle that one needs to, you know, fix this?

SASS: Yes, I hope it's an opportunity that the state will take, as well as federal officials and Congress, when they take a look at the budget, to realize that when we try and protect workers, communities, and the environment, we do need to work together and government needs to be involved in that process.

BALDWIN: OK, Jennifer Sass at the NRDC. Jennifer, thank you very much.

SASS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, big surprise at the box office. The most popular movie about war. But it's where Americans flocked to see it that's pretty interesting.

Plus, a dramatic river rescue caught on video in the icy waters of the Chicago River.

And more on our breaking news at this hour, this suspect in custody after a shooting inside a movie theater. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just about the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Disgraced New York Yankee star Alex Rodriguez is not going down without a fight. The third baseman shortstop says he plans to file a federal appeal against his 162-game suspension as early as today and an arbitrator upheld most of Major League Baseball's suspension of the star from that earlier season here. The break will cost the slugger $25 million. But A-Rod is adamant he's being targeted by the league. Just this morning, his attorney, Joe Tacopina, suggested to CNN that the league's actions are mired in dirty tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE TACOPINA, ALEX RODRIGUEZ'S ATTORNEY: The actions taken by Major League Baseball against Alex Rodriguez in this investigation are frightening. If I'm a Major League Baseball player right now, I'm horrified by what went down. There were criminal -

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: But what -

TACOPINA: There was criminal conduct -

BANFIELD: But, Joe -

TACOPINA: It was criminal conduct in an effort to try to get Alex Rodriguez.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Tacopina also said they are not afraid of the MLB. In fact he said both he and Rodriguez would agree to allow all of the sworn arbitration transcripts to be unsealed and released if the league agrees to do the same.