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Trump: U.S. Airman "Safe and Sound"; Trump: U.S. Military Rescues Second Crew Member. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 05, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, welcome to another hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Paolo Sandoval in New York.

And we do want to begin with breaking news out of the White House and a major development out of the Middle East. President Donald Trump announcing that the second missing American crew member whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran has been successfully rescued by U.S. forces.

President Trump posting on his Truth Social account not long ago here, writing in part, we got him. My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States military pulled off one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history for one of our incredible crew member officers, who also happened to be a highly respected colonel and who I am thrilled to let you know is now safe and sound. President Trump went on to write that this service member sustained injuries, but will be just fine.

This high-stakes search, it started this week after an F-15 Strike Eagle fighter was actually shot down in the region. Another crew member was rescued alive shortly after the crash and is now receiving medical attention.

For the latest now, let's head over to CNN's Jim Sciutto, joining me live from Tel Aviv. Jim, is there any indication that this operation was clearly in the works since this incident, since the crash?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: It was, absolutely. Search and rescue efforts underway since the moment this F-15 went down with its two-person crew. As you know, they rescued the first pilot early on, but I was told on Friday that they received a communication, had received a communication from the second pilot Friday evening and had spent a good, well, more than 24 hours attempting to locate him and then get him out of the country safely, and that's what the president has just announced.

We were also told that he had been injured, and that, of course, added to the concern, the urgency to get him out of the country safely. In addition to that, we know that there was a race, in effect, underway between U.S. search and rescue teams and Iranian authorities, the military, who were attempting to get to him first. And you even heard Iranian state TV encouraging residents in the area to locate him, offering rewards to locate him, and report that location to the authorities.

So, this is a race, in effect, that U.S. search and rescue teams won, and a difficult one, because these search and rescue operations, although the teams are highly trained for this, they're dangerous, because you're putting a lot of aircraft over hostile territory, and many of those aircraft, the helicopters involved in the extraction, the fixed-wing aircraft involved in locating the pilot, they fly low, and they fly relatively slow compared to the jet, for instance, the F- 15, which was shot down.

And Iran, of course, demonstrated its ability to threaten aircraft, taking down that F-15, and also taking down an A-10, a warthog, as it's known, in that same 24-hour period. So, this is an enormous relief, certainly for the pilot, the pilot's family, for the military.

I am certain for the other member of that F-15 crew, who I'm sure spent the hours leading up to this rescue, wondering if his co-pilot, or really weapons officer, would come out alive. And we -- well, we now have that good news.

SANDOVAL: Yes, it's a wonderful outcome, especially for the family of this service member, without a doubt. The president writing that all Americans, regardless of their party, should be proud of this moment. So, there is that. However, the war rages on, Jim.

So, based on what you're hearing there in the region, what happens next, especially as we continue to look at this current deadline that President Trump set for Monday for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen?

SCIUTTO: Well, the president has said that this operation will not affect U.S. war planning. And as he said in his address to the nation two, three days ago, that he said there were two to three more weeks in the war. Now, we should take both that timeline and his latest threat to Iran with something of a grain of salt, because he has put out a number of deadlines, red lines, et cetera., that he hasn't met on those timelines, right? So, that timeline could slide.

But at a minimum, the president is saying that he's trying to apply more pressure on Iran to open the Strait, which, of course, is affecting international oil markets.

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And it's somewhat contradictory, again, to his speech to the nation, because you'll remember in his address, he said that the U.S. doesn't care about opening the Strait because it has enough of its own oil, and he intended to leave that to other nations.

But here, he seems to be putting himself back in the game, as it were, to try to pressure Iran to open the Strait to allow shipping. But I will say this, that we know from both its continued ability to target countries such as Israel, as we see air raid warnings here quite frequently, as do Iran's Gulf allies. You know from Iran having been able to shoot down these two jets, but also our own reporting that U.S. intelligence assessments show that Iran continues to have missile capabilities, that it still has an ability to fight back, right? So, any sense that this war might be over soon and decisively, there's really not a lot of evidence of that right now.

SANDOVAL: That's CNN's Jim Sciutto reporting live from Tel Aviv, following those developments throughout the night. Thank you so much, Jim.

I want to bring it back now to the United States and head over to Washington, where CNN's Brian Todd is standing by with the very latest on what we're hearing from the White House, perhaps from other officials there. Brian, good to see you. So, we know, according to the president's post, that the service member was injured, that he's a colonel. Is there really anything else that we've learned?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president did give some additional detail, Polo, and I can tell you that a second U.S. official confirmed to me a short time ago that that second crew member has indeed been rescued, this official saying that the rescue operation has been completed.

I pressed the official for more detail on whether there was any kind of a firefight involved or anything like that. The official didn't want to give more detail at this time. We're going to, of course, be gathering more information in the coming hours to just learn more detail about this rescue operation and the specifics of it.

You mentioned there is some detail, though, coming from President Trump. He called this one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history. As you mentioned, Polo, President Trump saying that this second crew member, quote, "happens to be a highly respected colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now safe and sound."

Some other detail from the president in that Truth Social post, Polo, he said, quote, "At my direction, the U.S. military," quote, "sent dozens of aircraft armed with the most lethal weapons to retrieve the missing crew member." President Trump saying, quote, "He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine. This miraculous search and rescue operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave pilot yesterday," which the president said, quote, "We did not confirm because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation."

So, the president kind of giving you a little bit of an insight into the messaging that they were trying to get across on Friday, on Saturday, and then tonight, early Sunday morning, East Coast time.

The president also posting on Truth Social this phrase, quote, "This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. pilots have been rescued separately deep in enemy territory." And then in all caps, he posted, "We will never leave an American warfighter behind," end quote. As you and Jim were alluding to a short time ago, this comes after more than a day of uncertainty over that second airman's fate. This entire incident, we should point out to our viewers for perspective here, with this one F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, this is the first time that a manned U.S. aircraft was shot down over Iran during the conflict by hostile fire near the beginning of the war. Three F-15s were mistakenly shot down by friendly fire by Kuwaiti forces.

And as I believe you and Jim also alluded to a short time ago on Friday also, a U.S. -- a second U.S. military plane, which was an A-10 Thunderbolt II, was struck by Iran. But that pilot of that A-10, which is also known as a warthog, was able to navigate that plane out of Iranian territory before ejecting from the aircraft. And that pilot was also rescued.

So, you've got two U.S. warplanes being shot down over Iran. Of course, one of them was the warthog, that pilot managing to navigate out of Iranian airspace before ejecting and being rescued. So, two warplanes, though, being hit by hostile fire within about a 24-hour period, around, you know, that 24 hours on Friday. And a lot of uncertainty surrounding those two airmen aboard that F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet.

But good news coming from the president that both crew members have been rescued, Polo. And what we can say, some additional information on the F-15. This is according to the Air Force on their website. The F-15, quote, "has the ability to fight its way to a target over long ranges, destroy enemy ground positions, and fight its way out." It describes the rear cockpit, the weapon -- in the rear cockpit, the weapons systems officer monitors the aircraft's status, checks for possible threats, and selects targets. That is according to the Air Force information page.

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And you can see on our graphics there some of that additional information. It's got a 20-millimeter gun, four to eight missiles, two to 26 bombs, depending on the size. And it's developed for strike attack missions there. That's the F-15E Strike Eagle plane in question here, Polo.

So, some good detail coming from the president of the United States, from a U.S. official who I talked to, and from the Air Force website on that plane, its capabilities, and this rescue operation. And, of course, we'll be eager to get some details in the coming hours about whether -- just some details of the rescue operation itself and just how close it was. I think the president did allude to that as well in his Truth Social post, saying that Iranian forces were getting closer to this second crew member by the hour. But, again, I think as Jim characterized it, this was a race that U.S. forces fortunately won, at least at this moment.

SANDOVAL: Yes. It is a remarkable development there. Brian, I know it's late there in Washington. So, grateful for your reporting. A lot of officials are in Washington, probably not getting a whole lot of sleep tonight. Thank you. CNN's Brian Todd. For more now, I do want to head back out to CNN military analyst and former U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, joining us again with additional perspective. Cedric, great to have you again. So, we're learning this is a highly respected colonel, as Brian was just pointing out. Tell us a little bit about your reaction, given the positive conclusion to at least this chapter in the ongoing conflict.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Yes, it's certainly great news, Polo. And, you know, one of the things, when you think about what that man, that colonel, was doing, he was basically there, as Brian was explaining, to guard the aircraft against the various threats that are out there. So, his mission is a very complex one. And when you think about conducting this flying mission while you're flying at, you know, several hundred miles an hour, sometimes at low level, it's a very stressful job.

And then to have this, you know, incident occur where you're shot down and then you have to escape, evade, and you have injuries. The fact that he made it out is absolutely fantastic. So, there's -- you know, we're -- as Air Force -- fellow Air Force person, I, you know, definitely salute him and I definitely salute all the crews that were involved in this rescue.

The key thing about this, I think, Polo, is that, you know, when you look at the risks involved, we have to remember that those risks are considerable, even when we have basically air superiority over a piece of territory like Iran or parts of Iran, there are still risks involved. And so, we have to be very careful with how things unfold in this case.

But the fact that they were conducting the mission to, I think, the best of their abilities, and that when this happened, when this accident happened, they were able to basically recover from this and we were able to get him out, as well as, of course, the pilot before that, that is, you know, absolutely good news. And, you know, we're very proud of the professionalism that these airmen exhibited as well as the rescue crews exhibited. So, it's, you know, a good day for the Air Force and it's a good day for the U.S. military.

SANDOVAL: Yes, and for the country, as the president points out. Back to that last point, though, Colonel, do you expect the Air Force, CENTCOM, really just all forces involved, to look at the situation that brought us here in the first place and reassess perhaps its aerial approach in this conflict?

LEIGHTON: Yes. Usually when a situation like this occurs, they take a time to, you know, step back. Now, that might not mean stepping back from the volume of attacks or things like that. Those attacks might still continue, but the approach will be different. And as they refine the approach, the process is known as mission planning. As they plan the missions and they create what's known as an air tasking order, which basically lists the targets that they're going after. They also have to figure out the routes that they're flying and that's part of that mission planning process. And that process has to be really intricate. So, what they're going to do is they're going to demand even more rigid, more finite intelligence so that they can figure out what kind of threats they're really dealing with here. I think those threats are evolving. And so, this is going to be a challenge for the intelligence professionals who are involved in this operation. They're going to have to think about, you know, mobile surface-to-air missiles, man- portable missiles, those kinds of things that are very hard to predict.

And so, there may be efforts to go after the storage facilities, even more efforts to go after those storage facilities. We've had some of those efforts. They've been quite numerous, actually, in most places in Iran.

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But there are a lot of places where Iran can still hide a lot of weapons and some of those weapons can still be used, in some cases, to great effect.

The other thing that has to happen is they have to do basically a lessons learned type assessment of what happened here and that will then feed into the following mission planning processes. So, the lessons learned, you know, will be how did this happen? And as best as they can tell, what really caused this aircraft, the F-15, to be shot down? And the same for the A-10 that we mentioned earlier.

So, when they look at this, they try to figure out exactly what kinds of -- you know, things happened, what kinds of maneuvers could have been undertaken to potentially avoid that kind of threat and also what kind of things could be done to neutralize the threat. So, in some cases, it might involve the adjustment of what is known as the radar warning receiver and the types of electronic parameters that are there. That radar warning receiver is designed to detect radar threats that emanate from surface-to-air missiles.

But if the surface-to-air missile that is shooting at you is not programmed by radar or not targeting by radar, then that presents some other challenges and they have to develop the techniques and the procedures and, in essence, the flying paths to avoid those kinds of threats. And that's the kind of thing where the threat assessments really have to be continual actually, Polo.

SANDOVAL: An incredibly harrowing incident that went down and just remarkable the way it's described and certainly looking forward to hearing more information eventually from the administration as far as how it actually went down here.

But as you point out, though, certainly a moment to recognize this incredible rescue. But important questions, as you also point out, that should be raised. Colonel Cedric Leighton, really appreciate your time, your analysis. Thank you.

LEIGHTON: Thanks so much.

SANDOVAL: Stay with us. More of your breaking news coverage continues in a moment. Don't go anywhere.

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SANDOVAL: Back to our breaking news now, a U.S. crew member whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran has been rescued. U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media that the colonel is now, quote, "safe and sound" after the U.S. military carried out, quote, "one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history."

That operation started on Friday after the incident, after that U.S. F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down. The two crew members were able to eject. The other was rescued shortly after the crash.

And we're joined now by retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley. He's the founder of the legal firm McCarley & Rosen and also our CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas. Thank you both so much for staying with us.

Alex, if I could go straight to you and bring us up to speed on what you're hearing from your sources about the situation on the ground, anything additional that you're learning in addition to what we've already heard from the president?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND DIRECTOR, COUNTER TERRORISM PROGRAM, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Yes. So, I was made aware of aspects of the operation several hours ago, but we withheld reporting due to the risk to U.S. forces that were still operating on the ground. This will go down as probably one of the most harrowing rescue operations in U.S. military history for operating behind enemy lines to get a U.S. aviator who was down on the ground. What we're hearing is that these involved hundreds of special operations forces to the point where several aircraft actually got stuck and were potentially blown in place with additional aircraft sent to replace them to get the folks that were on the ground.

The aviator is said to potentially have navigated up a mountainside up to about 7,000 feet while injured and kind of had to remain there out of sight, you know, trying to get in touch with U.S. forces with a beacon being located or activated to make sure that the U.S. knew where they were.

There were hot -- there were Iranian forces that were in hot pursuit, so to speak, as the president put it out towards the end, that obviously became more difficult as more U.S. forces came into the area because at that point, you can't really hide the noise and all the folks operating there. And so, it was very harrowing towards the end and, again, very successful operation that prevented this from turning into a strategic bargaining chip for the Iranians.

This was a tactical operation, you know, it was meant to take out a bombing target, obviously, that went south when the aircraft went down and it could have turned from a tactical bombing run into a strategic opportunity for Iran. And this mission prevented that from happening. SANDOVAL: The precision with which this operation was carried out, the way you described it, it's absolutely incredible. Now, when it comes to the timing in this, Alex, do you have any sense of when the rescue team was physically able to make contact? It's our understanding that they were in contact with the pilot -- I'm sorry, with this airman after the incident, but when were rescue personnel on the ground making contact with them?

PLITSAS: So, this has been going on over, well, it's been over for a little bit now, but this went on for hours, going back over the better part of the last day. This involved not only the Department of War, but also the Central Intelligence Agency who played a key role in providing intelligence and helping to locate the downed aviator at that time.

So, there was an initial operation to try to grab the pilot and then the weapons system officer. The weapons system officer was unable to be extracted initially. That actually led to additional aircraft that went down. We know that an A-10 Warthog that was providing tactical air support during the initial extraction operation was hit. The pilot was able to successfully navigate out of Iranian airspace over Kuwaiti airspace and then bail out. And one of the initial helicopters that came in for the extraction operation also took fire and was hit on the way out.

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So, that just speaks to the precarious nature of this. And despite the fact that those aircraft were hit, which speaks to the threat on the ground, you know, an additional operation was launched that was successful here again, putting a lot of U.S. service members into harm's way. They did so willingly and it ended up being a successful operation.

You know, the Iranians have probably one of the most dense air defense networks in the entire world, starting with the 12-day war this past summer and now, into this operation, the United States and Israel subsequently took out as much as you can of the -- what we'll call the integrated air defense systems. For those who are not familiar, those would be the systems with the radar dishes and the missiles that fire up in the air, the anti-aircraft missiles to take down planes, as well as Iran's fighter jets to gain air superiority and air dominance. But that doesn't mean the threat picture is done at that point.

There's also shoulder-fired missiles. And when you're flying low to the ground, you're still subject to small arms, even something like machine guns firing on the way in. There's videos of Iranian police that were firing at the helicopters yesterday.

So, again, this speaks to not only after 13,000 targets struck, the first aircraft went down, this speaks to the equipment, the training, the performance of our men and women in uniform and the absolute heroism and valor that was displayed, not only by the aviator, but the special operations forces that went in to rescue them. This is a very, very proud day for America. SANDOVAL: Absolutely. Alex, if you can stay with us, I want to go now to General McCarley. Just off of Alex's last point, just the harrowing nature of this operation. Wondering if I could get your thoughts, what stands out to you as we hear how close this operation potentially came to not being successful?

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY (RET.), U.S. ARMY AND FOUNDER, MACCARLEY & ROSEN, PLC: There is in every one of these rescue and extraction actions, a huge threat and a huge risk of failure. And just to look back for a couple of years, back to 1980 at the time when the U.S. engaged in an attempt to recover and rescue 40 U.S. embassy personnel who were detained by the Iranian regime.

And at that particular point, we lost several aircraft on the ground. It was a failure, not necessarily because of the absence of initiative and aggressiveness and the actions of our soldiers, special operators at that time, but we had a difficulty in terms of integrating the intelligence as well as the systems. We didn't have sufficient backup. The bottom line of that reference historically is that that attempt in Iran in 1980 failed.

So, we have this instance and that's why we trumpet this success because of the high risks that have already been articulated by both me and your other commentators, the high risk associated with this effort within over almost 200 miles into Iran itself in very difficult geographic territory. You're talking about valleys, but those valleys are surrounded by mountainous regions and to bring in a force to recover that airmen and as well to protect those who have to hit the ground, those air force PJs, the para-rescue personnel and army special forces that are actually going to land those pave hawks, those helicopters on the ground to pick up that injured airmen, that in and of itself is extraordinary and there is risk right then and there.

And as sort of a final note, my one of my bigger concerns was that if those para-rescue personnel had hit the ground and we didn't have the benefit of timing, we could have had what frankly could have been the first ground conflict between U.S. service members and members of the Iranian armed forces right there at that rescue site and that would have completely changed the dynamics of this particular operation. So, we got lucky and that is a very, very good day for the United States.

SANDOVAL: No, it's an incredibly sobering point that you make there, General, the possibility of what could have happened, but fortunately the stars aligning, plenty of luck, but also the skills of the operators of this team, certainly important to recognize their success and also the fact that this airman is safe despite some minor injuries.

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Thank you both so much for staying with me again, Major General Mark MacCarley and Alex Plitsas. Thank you so much for all your valuable insight. Really appreciate it. And stay with CNN, more breaking news after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANDOVAL: Welcome back. Let's get you up to speed now on the latest developments out of Iran. In that breaking news, President Donald Trump says that the second crew member from that U.S. fighter jet that was shot down over Iran has been successfully rescued.

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He posted on social media that the crew member sustained some injuries, but he is safe and sound. The post also said that the rescue effort involved dozens of aircraft, and he called the operation one of the most daring search and rescue efforts in U.S. history.

Iran announcing on Friday that it shot down an F-15E fighter jet. You can see what was left behind in some of these photos. Its other crew member was rescued earlier. And that leads us to this development in the last hour of the successful rescue.

I want to go now to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joining me live from Hong Kong following developments out of the Middle East very closely. Kristie, in addition to what we've heard from the president, any new information possibly?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, Paul, this was a dangerous and high-stakes operation. This missing American pilot has been rescued in Iran in an operation that involved dozens of aircraft. This, according to the U.S. president. We know that this pilot, a colonel, he had been on the run since Friday since his F-15 Eagle jet was shot down by Iran. We know that he has also sustained injuries, but according to the U.S. president, is safe and sound.

Let's bring up the Truth Social post that Donald Trump used to share the news. He said this, quote, in all caps, "we got him." Goes on to say, "My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the U.S. military pulled off one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history for one of our incredible crew member officers who also happens to be a highly respected colonel, who I'm thrilled to let you know, is now safe and sound," unquote.

Experts say this has been a complicated and dangerous mission. The downed pilot had been on the run for one and a half, close to two days, again, since that F-15 fighter jet was shot down on Friday. Supplies running out, including food and water, very weak comms, also under active pursuit while in Iran. In fact, it was reported that Iranian tribesmen reportedly shot at U.S. helicopters that were attempting to find him and taking part in this search and rescue mission.

Again, it was on Friday when Iran shot down that F-15 fighter jet. One pilot was rescued on Friday. The second pilot rescued just moments ago in the last hour or so. We were able to confirm that. This was a high stakes operation. This was a successful operation, but experts also point out this highlights the risks for both the United States and Israel as the war in the Middle East grinds on, risks that will continue to be there despite previous assertions of dominance and total control over Iranian airspace. Now, this dramatic rescue, it comes amid heightened tensions and increasingly heightened rhetoric between the leadership in Tehran and also in the United States. We heard that threat from U.S. President Donald Trump, threatening to unleash, quote, "all hell" on Iran if his deadline is not met, a deadline to reach a deal, a peace deal, and for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This is what the U.S. President said. He said, remember when I gave Iran 10 days to make a deal or open up? Well, time is running out. Iran's military has responded with a threat of their own. Trump's deadline is Monday, April the 6th. Back to you.

SANDOVAL: Yes. One Truth Social post with that incredible announcement that this pilot's been rescued, but that other Truth Social post, a reminder that the conflict rages on. CNN's Kristie Lou Stout, really appreciate your reporting as always.

Mick Ryan joins us now. He's a retired major general in the Australian Army and a senior fellow for military studies at the Laue Institute. He also wrote, "The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire." General Ryan, always great to see you.

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY (RET.) AND AUTHOR, "THE WAR FOR UKRAINE": It's good to be with you.

SANDOVAL: I'm curious, just as, again, a lot that we still do not know, but the key headline here, that this service member has been successfully rescued. We've heard from other experts and other folks in the reporting indicating that this was not only a remarkable rescue, but a harrowing and a very close call. What is your initial reaction to how this all apparently went down?

RYAN: Well, this is an operation that would have started as soon as the U.S. Air Force had confirmed it had lost an aircraft and it had isolated aircrew on the ground. U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army Special Forces, and a range of other organizations would have been coming together doing crash planning and come out with a range of different options to rescue both these crew members. No one in the world could really pull this off like the U.S. military has.

SANDOVAL: What do you believe that the Pentagon should now be doing now that they have their service member back safely in terms of reassessing their aerial approach in this conflict in an effort to try to avoid this from happening again? Because though the Iranians have their missiles, but even small arms fire is something that they're obviously worried about.

RYAN: Well, there's no such thing as perfect protection in war. And despite the very best efforts of U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aviators, there's always going to be a risk of flying over enemy territory, even if it might just be engine failure.

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So, they will relook at the air defense environment that the Iranians might be able to put up. But by and large, the Iranian air defenses have been suppressed. I mean, there's been over 10,000 missions so far with only one fighter jet loss. So, I think by and large, the U.S. Air Force has been pretty successful in doing that.

SANDOVAL: General, back to the rescue itself. Before we wrap up, just curious, what kind of lingering questions you still have on your mind as we wait to learn more?

RYAN: Well, I think what we've seen is an exemplary case study of joint interaction between all the different services. And I think if I was to say one thing, the people who will be most proud and most glad of this rescue will be the family of this pilot, as well as the second pilot who was rescued before, both of those groups of people will be extraordinarily happy to have seen what's happened today.

SANDOVAL: It is an Easter Sunday that that airman and their family certainly will never forget. Mick Ryan -- General Mick Ryan, thank you so much for your time as always.

RYAN: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And stay with CNN as we continue to follow breaking news out of the Middle East and the successful rescue of that missing U.S. service member.

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SANDOVAL: And I'm Polo Sandoval. Live in New York, where we are following the latest developments on the rescue of a missing American crew member whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran.

Earlier, President Donald Trump announcing on Truth Social that the airman was retrieved, calling the rescue daring. He added that the service member sustained injuries but will be just fine. Another crew member was rescued alive shortly after the crash and is now receiving medical attention.

I want to dive deeper now, get more analysis on this rescue and head over to U.S. -- retired U.S. Navy commander and pilot Richard Kolko. Commander, always great to have you with us.

RICHARD KOLKO, U.S. NAVY COMMANDER (RET.): Thanks, Paul. Glad to be here.

SANDOVAL: As we wait to learn more about how this operation went down, I'm curious what stands out to you based on what we've learned in the last hour or so.

KOLKO: Well, the joy everybody's feeling at the success of this mission. I'm certain people had ideas that things weren't going to go this well, but clearly, the people that were operating -- running this operation had information that this was going to have a better outcome than many people had thought. This came down to training for that aviator. All aviators go through that SERE, survival escape resistance class -- Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape.

So, he had a plan, the CSAR, which is Combat Search and Rescue. We've heard some of your guests already talk about that. This is a group of men and women that are prepared to do anything necessary to recover as somebody who was shot down, and they carried out this mission.

But when you go back and look at the operations, these two aviators got into an F-15E Strike Eagle, went out to carry out their mission. There is a lot going on behind the scenes besides those two up front dropping bombs on whatever their target was. And that has to do with the AWACS, which is the airborne early warning, the aircraft in the air that knows where that F-15 is. There's satellite coverage. The combat search and rescue package was standing by in case something goes wrong.

So, there's a lot going behind the scenes anytime there is an operation going on, and a lot of that we don't see about or hear about.

SANDOVAL: And as all of that plays out, I'm curious, typically, what does training dictate that some of these service members do if they are stuck behind enemy lines? I mean, is it a matter of essentially bedding down, sheltering in place until they're able to actually get rescued?

KOLKO: Well, that depends on the terrain, but it certainly goes on to their training. You know, as we said, it's, you know, survival and evasion. Those are the first two steps that they have to take. As soon as they punch out of the airplane, there's a locator on their seat that starts to tell the combat search and rescue where they're at or where they're parachuting down into.

And then, of course, they carry a radio. It's called a C-cell radio. And they can broadcast on that radio. They can even text on that radio. And they can all securely GPS. That helps provide a location. Aviators shot down, typically, taught to travel at night. You want to make most of your movement at night so it's not as easy to spot you. But it depends on the terrain.

But he certainly had a plan. Part of his brief, his flight brief, would have been what happens if you get shot down, what direction to go to, who to communicate, what channel to use, where to meet up, all kinds of things. They may be changed, but you at least have to have an initial plan in mind on paper that everybody is on the same page. And that's what happened here. And just a great ending. And I know, as I said, people probably weren't expecting this.

SANDOVAL: Just punctuating that last point you made, the president saying that his location was being monitored basically around the clock as they were planning that extraction operation to get him out. A couple of closing thoughts from you. I'm curious if you could just tell us, perhaps, as you mentioned, sort of the textbook nature of how this all panned out for future operations. What do you expect this to be a main takeaway, particularly for the Air Force?

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KOLKO: Well, you go through this SERE training, that Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape training, very early in your career. And I remember sitting in the auditorium at the end of that training, you're haggard and worn out. It's been a tough, it's one of the tougher classes you go through. And the instructors said, you need to remember this training. You can't get complacent because you may go through that training and maybe years later, and it probably was in this case, since that aviator went through this training. And all of a sudden you find yourself hanging in the straps of a parachute going down, having punched out of an aircraft, and you've got to go back to that training. And there's steps you have to take while you're under the parachute.

You can, if you're able to, you can start that radio right then and there while you're still in the sky. You're assessing the terrain where you're going to land. You've got to know what direction you're going to go. You've got to have your emergency equipment that you can, that you're familiar with and can use. And you can barely imagine the stress that this person is going through at that moment. So, very tough.

So, it comes back to -- and I've heard many of your other guests say it, comes down to training, remembering your training, utilizing that training and putting that training to use. And when you go through that class, you're like, this is really a pain, but -- and you can be sure that this person now is thankful that they went through that pain, had that training, was able to recall that and the huge effort that happened from everybody to help recover him.

SANDOVAL: Yes. Well, what stays with me in addition to that firsthand experience that you've shared is another one of our guests explaining how this could have been potentially the first ground engagement had that rescue operation come under fire. Richard Kolko, really appreciate your time, your analysis, your perspective, and also your experience as well. You've been there in terms of the training. Thank you.

And stay with us. More of your breaking news coverage after this.

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SANDOVAL: Back to our breaking news. President Donald Trump says that the second airman shot down over Iran has been rescued and is safe and sound. The U.S. president posting on social media about that search operation, saying that the U.S. military sent in dozens of aircraft to retrieve him. He says that the crew member, who was a colonel in the Air Force, sustained injuries, but quotes, "will be just fine."

The operation took place days after the F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iranian territory. The first pilot was rescued shortly after that crash and was receiving medical attention. This was the first time a manned U.S. aircraft was shot down since the U.S. and Israel started their war with Iran. And now, we face that looming deadline that President Trump imposed on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a deadline set for Monday.

And we do want to thank you so much for watching this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval. CNN's breaking news coverage continues with my colleague Ben Hunte in a moment.

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