Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Air Force Reducing Missions, Disabled Plane Returns Safely
Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: We have another embedded journalist right now I want to get to, Gary Tuchman. He's at an air base along the Iraqi border, an air base that's been incredibly busy and incredibly noisy.
Gary, go ahead and tell us what's going on right now.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we hear you better this time because it's less noisy right now. We're in a lull between the warplanes taking off and the warplanes landing.
The air war is continuing in earnest. The weather is good. But we're seeing it take place over Iraq with less planes. The Air Force is telling us 20 percent fewer flights will take place in the 24-hour period, ending tomorrow, then took place in the first few days of the war. And the reason, they say, for that, is because things are going very well with the air war.
We want to give you a look right now, while we're talking -- we talked to you about this before, about the emergency vehicles that are on the taxiways and runways. We have to move very slowly because of the videophone, the picture gets distorted. But you'll see back there on the horizon the emergency vehicles with the red flashing lights are going to meet another plane coming in.
This is considered routine. A pilot will call back from a bombing mission or a leaflet mission or a support mission and say there's some type of problem with the plane. They're very cautious and they meet the planes when they lands.
Before when we were telling you, Wolf, we were telling you that for a period of time a plane was sitting in the corner of the taxiway with eight emergency vehicles nearby. As it turned out, nothing major happened, but the plane was disabled. And they actually brought out one of those tugs that you see at the airport that pushes your plane back from the gate when you go somewhere, to tug the plane, which wasn't moving, back to the ramp. That was a very strange sight to see, this powerful warplane, which had just come from Iraq, be tugged back to the ramp here.
But we're being told by Air Force authorities they're expecting a total of 1,600 sorties between this morning and tomorrow morning. Before it was 2,000. The main targets: Republican Guard positions and air support for the ground troops. A major plane here, the A-10 attack plane, that's its primary purpose, to protect the troops that are on the ground. They're going to be doing a lot of that tonight.
The Air Force is saying they're very proud, because they say Iraq still has 300 fighter planes on the ground. Not one of them has taken to the air during this war.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, Gary Tuchman. We'll be getting back to you later, Gary Tuchman. He's in an air base not far from the Iraqi border right here in the Persian Gulf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Safely>
Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: We have another embedded journalist right now I want to get to, Gary Tuchman. He's at an air base along the Iraqi border, an air base that's been incredibly busy and incredibly noisy.
Gary, go ahead and tell us what's going on right now.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we hear you better this time because it's less noisy right now. We're in a lull between the warplanes taking off and the warplanes landing.
The air war is continuing in earnest. The weather is good. But we're seeing it take place over Iraq with less planes. The Air Force is telling us 20 percent fewer flights will take place in the 24-hour period, ending tomorrow, then took place in the first few days of the war. And the reason, they say, for that, is because things are going very well with the air war.
We want to give you a look right now, while we're talking -- we talked to you about this before, about the emergency vehicles that are on the taxiways and runways. We have to move very slowly because of the videophone, the picture gets distorted. But you'll see back there on the horizon the emergency vehicles with the red flashing lights are going to meet another plane coming in.
This is considered routine. A pilot will call back from a bombing mission or a leaflet mission or a support mission and say there's some type of problem with the plane. They're very cautious and they meet the planes when they lands.
Before when we were telling you, Wolf, we were telling you that for a period of time a plane was sitting in the corner of the taxiway with eight emergency vehicles nearby. As it turned out, nothing major happened, but the plane was disabled. And they actually brought out one of those tugs that you see at the airport that pushes your plane back from the gate when you go somewhere, to tug the plane, which wasn't moving, back to the ramp. That was a very strange sight to see, this powerful warplane, which had just come from Iraq, be tugged back to the ramp here.
But we're being told by Air Force authorities they're expecting a total of 1,600 sorties between this morning and tomorrow morning. Before it was 2,000. The main targets: Republican Guard positions and air support for the ground troops. A major plane here, the A-10 attack plane, that's its primary purpose, to protect the troops that are on the ground. They're going to be doing a lot of that tonight.
The Air Force is saying they're very proud, because they say Iraq still has 300 fighter planes on the ground. Not one of them has taken to the air during this war.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right, Gary Tuchman. We'll be getting back to you later, Gary Tuchman. He's in an air base not far from the Iraqi border right here in the Persian Gulf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Safely>
