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Two United Flights Almost Collide at Bush Intercontinental; Obama Nominates Donovan for OMB, Castro for HUD; CNN Hero Helps Furnish Homes; Man Records Own 70-Foot Fall and Climb Out in Himalayas

Aired May 23, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's the bottom of the hour. I'm Don Lemon.

We're keeping an eye on the White House, because at any moment -- there you see it to the side of your screen there -- the president is going reveal some changes to his cabinet, including the naming of a rising Democratic star to a very high-profile position.

So make sure you stick around for that. We're going to take you there live, once it happens.

But first for you now, some scary news for millions headed to the airport this holiday weekend as we learned today about two more passenger planes that were seconds away from colliding.

It happened May 9th at Houston's George Bush International Airport moments after two United jets took off. Three hundred passengers on board may not have even known.

But radio chatter between air traffic controller and pilots tell just how close the planes were to a disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOWER: United 601, thank you, turn right, right turn. 601, just stop your heading. Stop the turn right there, there. United 601, stop your turn. Stop your -- stop your climbing. Stop your turn, United 601.

UNITED 601 PILOT: 601, do you know what happened there?

OTHER PILOT: You all basically crossed directly over the top of each other. That's what it looked like from my perspective

I have no idea what was going on up there in the tower. But it was pretty gnarly looking.

UNITED 601 PILOT: I'm guessing he was supposed to give us a left turn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You could tell that was urgency there. "Stop your turn, stop your turn, stop your turn." The planes came less than a mile from each other, horizontally, and just 400 feet, vertically. Goodness!

The FAA says the controller involved was in training and recognized his mistake in telling one of the planes to turn right instead of left and corrected the plane's course. There was also a trainer standing by to jump in if needed.

So joining me now, CNN aviation analyst, Mr. Jeff Wise, the fourth incident in recent weeks. Is it too many planes or human error? That was scary.

Sometimes I listen to that audio channel, and I think you can on United.

JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATIOIN ANALYST: Yeah. You are sitting there in your seat and you listen to the traffic controller get all panicked. Turn, turn, turn.

LEMON: Right.

WISE: You know, I fly small planes just for fun, and as we all know in aviation, the whole point is to be calm, cool, and collected.

And when you hear that kind of tone in a controller's voice, it is extraordinary and you listen and follow instructions very carefully at that point.

LEMON: So, OK, so how close -- it says they came --

WISE: With a mile.

LEMON: -- within a mile, horizontally, just 400 feet, vertically. That's pretty darn close, especially when you're traveling at that speed.

WISE: Right, so each plane can be going in the neighborhood of 200- miles-per-hour. They weren't exactly heading right into each other.

A mile, it sounds -- if you had to walk a mile, it's not so near, but the planes are supposed to be no closer than three miles apart in that kind of a setting.

LEMON: So this is too close? Anything under three miles is too close, right?

WISE: Right. Right.

LEMON: So then what is -- is there a penalty? Does this person get disciplined? Because they were in training, and there was a trainer there. Is this part of being trained?

WISE: Any time you have a system where there is a set of rules, you're not supposed to get closer than a certain distance, you're naturally going to have some cases where people go over the line. And the thing to remember, the system has enough margin of safety built in that there haven't been collisions between 'liners in recent memory.

LEMON: Knock on wood. Yeah.

WISE: Yeah. Exactly. This would be a very bad day should it ever happen.

But remember, we've got a whole new air traffic control system that's being rolled out in the very near future, and it will be even more technologically sophisticated, so this kind of thing will become even rarer and hopefully will never happen.

LEMON: It's interesting because -- I don't know the system that does it, but in the last one that we reported on, the system was telling one plane pull up and the other one pull down, and so it does that automatically.

The pilot doesn't go, "Oh my gosh, there is a plane coming," and then steers.

WISE: Oh, no. No, absolutely.

LEMON: By the time you see it, it's probably too late.

WISE: Right. I mean, even with cars these days, the cars won't let you hit the car in front of you, and obviously with aviation, the systems are more sophisticated even than that.

So with more information, more technology --

LEMON: It happens more than we think, doesn't it?

WISE: Unfortunately.

LEMON: Thank you, Jeff Wise. Appreciate you.

And a reminder for you, we are awaiting an event at the White House. There you see the White House, right there.

In just a few minutes, the president expected to announce changes to his cabinet, nominate a face that you may be familiar with.

We're going to bring you his remarks live, just as soon as it begins. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back. We are getting you live to the White House now. It should start any moment, the president going to make some major cabinet announcements, right now.

And standing by to talk to us about what's going to happen in just a few moments, our White House correspondent Jim Acosta is there. Jim, what can we expect? JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, what you're going to see is the president name the second Latino to his cabinet. This is going to be San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, who is a rising star inside the Democratic Party. He has been talked about as a potential running mate to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

And when word started leaking out of Democratic sources over the weekend, I talked to Henry Cisneros, the former mayor of San Antonio, who was also the HUD secretary, and he said this is a springboard for Julian Castro. So that is one thing that you're going to see in just a few moments.

Shaun Donovan, who is going to be tapped as the next budget director, director of Office of Management and Budget for President Obama, he is also somebody who is seen as a very close aide and top official inside this White House, somebody President Obama likes a lot.

And of course all of this got started, Don, because of the problems with the ObamaCare Web site. That led to the departure of Kathleen Sebelius. Sylvia Mathews Burwell moved over from OMB, over to HHS. That created the opening at OMB. Don, leaves HUD, over to OMB.

I think I'm keeping all of this straight. You almost need your White House baseball cards to explain this, Don.

But what's interesting is that the president is sort of cleaning up this mess at HHS with this cabinet shuffle, but he's got another one on the horizon over at Veterans Affairs.

Eric Shinseki, a lot of Democrats starting to call for his resignation, a potential cabinet shakeup could be in the works in the months to come when we see the outcome of all of that.

LEMON: It appears they are standing up in the White House, and the president is walking in now.

That is Jim Acosta, standing out on the White House lawn, and the president about to make some announcements to his cabinet, which Jim told you about, Julian Castro and also Shaun Donovan getting new positions in the Obama administration.

So let's take a look at the president. You see the president and I believe the vice president in the room, as well, and the two men should be there. Let's listen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I took office, businesses were shedding 800,000 jobs a month, our deficits were heading towards a trillion dollars a year and every member of my cabinet had a tough job in front of him.

But few had a tougher job than Shaun Donovan. The housing bubble that burst triggered the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes and the irresponsibly of a few bad actors badly hurt millions of responsible, hardworking Americans.

Home values had fallen 20 percent from the year before. New housing starts had fallen nearly 80 percent from their peak. Hundreds of thousands of construction workers were out of a job and a record number of people were behind on their mortgages.

Five years later, things look a lot different. Home sales are up nearly 35 percent, construction is up by more than 120 percent, new foreclosures are down by nearly half, and while we're not anywhere near where we need to be yet, millions of families have been able to come up for air because they are no longer underwater on their mortgages.

A $50 billion settlement by the big banks means justice has been done for hundreds of thousands of homeowners who were unfairly targeted by deceptive mortgage schemes.

And all of this is in part because of the outstanding work of Shaun Donovan.

Now here's the problem. When you're good at your job, people always want you to do even more. That's why today I am nominating Shaun to be the next director of the Office of Management and Budget.

To take his place at HUD, I am nominating another all-star who's done a fantastic job in San Antonio over the past five years, Mayor Julian Castro. Before I talk about Julian, I want to embarrass Shaun a little more.

Over the years, Shaun has taken an agency with a $40 billion budget, he has made it smarter and he has made it more efficient. He has changed the way HUD uses data to save taxpayer dollars.

He has helped build strong sustainable neighborhoods and connect those neighborhoods with good schools and good jobs. He has helped reduce homelessness among our veterans by 24 percent since 2010, and he's helped 4.3 million families buy their piece of the American dream, a new home.

Shaun has helped us navigate some unexpected challenges, as well. When Hurricane Sandy slammed ashore, it was personal to Shaun. He was born in New York, got married in New Jersey, raised his kids in Brooklyn. Once he took his -- he once took his driving test on a road that was wiped out by the storm, so he understood what this devastation meant to a community that he loved.

So when we were looking to somebody to lead the recovery and rebuilding efforts, I knew Shaun was the right person for the job, and he has come through, helping the communities he knows so well not only rebuild but rebuild smarter and better.

So Shaun has earned a reputation as a great manager, a fiscally responsible leader and somebody who knows how the decisions we make here in Washington affect people's lives all across the country.

And that's why I'm absolutely confident he will do a great job leading the Office of Management and Budget and help even more hardworking Americans get ahead. And my guess is that Shaun is grateful to my outgoing head of OMB, Sylvia Burwell and her team, for leaving behind a deficit that they have cut by more than half since I took office. I'm just saying that's helpful.

Now, obviously, we have also got to make sure that as we move Shaun into a new position that we've got somebody who is going to do an outstanding job at HUD, and that public servant is Julian Castro.

The first time most Americans heard this man speak is when he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention almost two years ago, and they saw this young guy, a pretty good speaker, not bad looking, talk about how America is the only place where his story could even be possible, and I watched and I thought, That's not bad.

But the people of San Antonio have known about Julian and his brother Congressman Joaquin Castro, who is here today, along with Leader Pelosi and congressman and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Hinojosa. They have known about him for a long time.

You know, as mayor, Julian has been focused on revitalizing one of our most wonderful cities, planning thousands of housing units downtown, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars of investment.

He has built relationships with mayors all across the country. He's become a leader in housing and economic development.

Today companies are choosing to create jobs in San Antonio, and this year my administration named the east side of San Antonio a "Promise Zone," a place where citizens and the federal government are working together to remake the community, family by family and block by block.

This speaks to the fact that Julian cares deeply about the people he serves and the city that he loves.

It is also a reminder that he has never forgotten where he comes from. Julian's grandmother came to this country from Mexico. She worked as a maid, worked as a cook, worked as a babysitter, whatever she had to do to keep a roof over her family's head.

And that's because for her and generations of Americans like her, a home is more than just a house. A home is a source of pride and security, a place to raise a family and put down roots and build up savings for college or a business or retirement or write a lifetime of memories.

And maybe one day the kid grows up in that home and is able to go on and get a great education and become the mayor of San Antonio and become a member of the president's cabinet.

Julian, (speaking in foreign language), and it's precisely because he's lived out in the American dream that he'll work his tail off to make sure more people can follow that same path and earn their own dreams, as well.

So I want to thank Shaun's wife, Liza, and her very outstanding boys, one of whom badly beat me at ping pong during a Super Bowl game. I want to thank them for them sharing husband and dad with us a little bit longer.

I want to thank Julian's wife, Erica, and this adorable young lady who gave me a hug before we came in for agreeing to let Julian take on a new challenge.

I'm absolutely confident that these two individuals are going to do a great job because they have done a great job in everything that they have done in the past.

They are proven leaders, they are proven managers, they are going to be effective and, most importantly, they've got huge heart.

They're involved in public service for the right reasons, and for that reason I hope that the Senate confirms them both without games or without delay.

And with that, I want to give both of them an opportunity --

LEMON: All right, that's President Obama there, you see him there in the East Room.

What he's doing is very simple. He's nominating now his current Housing and Urban Development secretary, Shaun Donovan, who's going to become the Office of Management and Budget, and also the mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, will become the director of HUD.

So, anyway, those are the two big cabinet announcements, the president making at the White House now.

Up next here on CNN, new information about that 2-million pounds of recalled beef that we have been telling you about, the recall is expanding to more states.

Plus, we're learning other food items that could be on your Memorial Day menu may be unsafe to eat, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You need to pay close attention to this, because for nearly 12,000 people in the D.C. region who are homeless, finding their own place to stay may seem like a solution to all their problems.

But many people who finally lift themselves out of homelessness face yet another challenge, and that is turning a house into a home.

And that's where this CNN Hero steps in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very emotional right now. I'm excited. I'm so glad things are starting to turn around. For like five years me and my kids have had no way to go.

We just had to go from place to place. We slept in (INAUDIBLE). We moved in here with nothing.

When I see my children on the floor going to bed, it hurts me.

Hi!

MARK BERGEL, CNN HERO: There is no stability and there's no dignity when you live in apartments that have nothing in them.

So, how this works? OK. Anything this that you want in here - you put your sticker on, and that's why you guys will take home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

BERGEL: Once we get the homes furnished, they have a chance to just take a breath and start to create a different life.

We pick up the furniture and other home goods from people who have more than they need and we distribute them free of charge to people who have nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like this table. This family who could sit down and who can just eat.

That's something to sit on, something to lay on. Now, we come back on track.

Now, my kids can pursue their dreams.

BERGEL: This is a good start? Right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes. It is.

BERGEL: It's a good start.

I help people to find the hope that was missing from their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love you. Good night.

BERGEL: And the opportunity they did not know was before them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Very nice.

Every week we honor a new CNN Hero, an everyday person doing extraordinary things to help others.

If you know someone like Mark who deserves this recognition, make sure you go to CNNHeroes.com. Go right now and tell us all about them.

An American researcher in the Himalayas rose to a life-threatening situation, and you can see it happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOHN ALL, FELL 70 FEET INTO CREVASSE: I'm very well (inaudible). I fell through that hole. Thankfully I didn't keep falling that way. I got tripped here instead on this ledge.

My arm I can't use. I have to somehow climb out that way. Thank God I stopped on this ledge.

Oh! (Inaudible) I'm going to get back up there, though. Oh! My right arm is seizing up. I can't use it anymore. I'm going to try and stem above that, get through that, try and head that way.

Oh! So I can't get out this way. It's too soft. I can't talk because I have a broken rib, I think, or my chest is filling of blood. So I'm going to have to crawl through there, try and climb up, out through this thing. Hopefully, I can get out.

I'm so (inaudible) close now. Oh, (inaudible), that hurt bad. Oh, I'm so close. (Inaudible) easy if I had a working right arm. Oh, (inaudible)!

Climbed all the way over, up, over. I'm so (inaudible) close. (Inaudible). I've just got to go a little further if I can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Of course he survived. John All spent five hours saving himself and then also speaking to CNN Katmandu.

I have a programming reminder for you. Watch "THE SIXTIES." It's a new series from executive producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. It focuses on the decade that changed the world, Thursday night, 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

Thanks for watching. Have a great Memorial weekend.

Jake Tapper with "THE LEAD" starts right now.