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Gulfstream Jet Touches Down Safely in Oregon; General Motors to Eliminate 30,000 Jobs
Aired November 21, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, of course, we are following that developing story out of Hillsboro, Oregon. It's that Gulfstream V jet that is still airborne right now, trying to make a landing, a safe landing. It's having an issue with its landing gear. We have been following this story for about two hours now.
It's a Nike corporate jet. There are seven people on board. The nose gear is down -- left side of the aircraft, no problem. It's the right side, the right landing gear that is locked at about a 45-degree angle.
Don't know if the pilot is going to be able to shake it loose or not. We are following that story and hoping that this jet is going to make a safe landing soon. We will bring it to you live as soon as it happens.
That's out of Hillsboro, Oregon, or, possibly, Portland International Airport.
It's happening right now.
And LIVE FROM has got all the news that you want this afternoon. So, stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, getting word that, possibly, the story we have been following for about two hours now, this Gulfstream V jet that's been airborne with landing gear issues, this is earlier tape, via one of our affiliates, KPTV, where you can see the landing gear.
The nose is down. The left side is down. But the right side has been locked in this 45-degree angle. We're getting word that, possibly -- we don't have a visual on the aircraft yet, but it's possible that the landing gear is down, that -- that everything has -- the pilot has been able to shake loose that right side of the landing gear and everything is intact.
Not sure yet. We're just -- we are hearing some chatter, trying to confirm that. This is earlier tape that you're seeing of what it looked like when the landing gear was locked.
Now, this is a Nike corporate jet. We are told there are executives on board. Not sure if the CEO, Bill Perez, is on board or not. We are working to confirm that right now. It is possible that he is on that Gulfstream V. Working the story right now, we -- we have our -- great.
Carol Dean-Toder, who had been with us pretty much all afternoon on this, she's a former Gulfstream instructor, also has 1,000 hours in the cockpit of one of those, we must say, very nice jets, Carol.
CAROL DEAN-TODER, FORMER GULFSTREAM V INSTRUCTOR: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Very nice aircraft.
DEAN-TODER: Yes, they are.
PHILLIPS: So, here we are. We are getting word that, possibly, all the landing gear is down.
Have you been able to work your sources, Carol, or make calls to anybody? Do we know if, indeed, that's true?
DEAN-TODER: No, I haven't been able to contact anyone about exactly what the problem is.
PHILLIPS: OK.
DEAN-TODER: Yes. They're not going to share that information right now with anyone outside of the -- the cockpit, anyway.
PHILLIPS: All right.
So, we're thinking now -- it's been a couple of hours. I mean, we're looking at about two hours, two hours and 15 minutes airborne, 25,000 pounds of fuel -- the pilot, obviously, trying to get rid of a lot of that fuel, so, if indeed, he and she -- he or she is ready for a landing and it -- and it is not a landing with full landing gear, then, that's obviously to make things safer, to prevent any type of explosion.
DEAN-TODER: Right.
PHILLIPS: So, here we are. We will kind of recap again.
Let's say that the right side of the landing gear is still up, in that 45-degree locked position. The pilot, right now, what do you think is going through his or her mind?
DEAN-TODER: The pilot is reviewing all of the ways that this aircraft is going to be affected by the fact that that gear is not down. The -- the situation is much more complicated than you might imagine. It's not just that the landing, you're going to come down with one gear missing.
The weight-on-wheels system in the G-5 affects many of the systems. And the gear has to be fully down and locked for that weight-on-wheels system to kind of connect all of the other operating systems on the aircraft, including the ground spoiler system, which normally assists the aircraft in slowing down and many other systems that are tightly coordinated in that airplane.
So, there are -- there are a lot of things that those pilots are going to want to be reviewing right now, as far as how the system, other systems on the airplane are affected, how that landing needs to be handled differently, also, in the situation that they have to do a go-around, for whatever reason, how the airplane is affected when the weight-on-wheels system is not operating properly.
There's a lot of systems in the airplane. They're very closely integrated. It's all computer-operated. And the aircraft is very redundant in the operating of -- of every system. So, it's an excellent aircraft. If you're going to have this problem, the G-5 is the airplane you want. But they're going to be reviewing all of those systems.
PHILLIPS: One serious debrief once that aircraft lands.
DEAN-TODER: That's right.
PHILLIPS: We have been getting -- hearing various report of, possibly, that landing gear is OK and is down and...
DEAN-TODER: Oh.
PHILLIPS: ... and that plane is getting ready to land.
We just got this report in from a reporter on the ground from KOIN out of Portland, Oregon, Carol.
Let's listen and see what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC TAYLOR, KOIN REPORTER: Yes, Katie (ph), that's what we're being told.
We are being told that the landing gear is down, but we don't know if it's the three essential items of landing gear, the three pieces of landing gear that you need, of course, to land normally.
We also don't know which airport that that Gulfstream V, that Nike jet, has in its sight -- in its sights.
Let me give you an appreciation of what we're dealing with here at Hillsboro Airport. Over there, you can see, quite a few emergency vehicles have assembled. Those is, of course, one of the airports in play in dealing with this Gulfstream V, this Nike jet.
Also around here, on the flight line, we have got a number of people here watching and waiting to see what happens with this. Of course, this has generated a lot of attention, and people are here waiting for what will hopefully be a safe landing.
And, of course, Katie (ph), behind me...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right.
Once again, that was Eric Taylor with KOIN Television out of Portland, Oregon, there.
And I have been looking at the wires see if, indeed, I can find any confirmation to what Eric is saying. He had heard reports that the landing gear was down. But even Eric was saying that he's not sure if it's all three parts of that landing gear, Carol.
But it looks like the plane is coming in for a landing. We're being told that this is it, that this is the final loop-around. And, as we watch this aircraft, we will see if all -- if all the landing gear is down. Keep our fingers crossed.
DEAN-TODER: Oh, that's excellent.
If -- in case the gear is down, I'm sure that they achieved this in flight using aerodynamic -- aerodynamic maneuvers to force that gear down using high G-forces. I'm sure that Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, they were talking with their test pilots. And they probably game them some pointers as to how do this, and at what speed that they should try these high-G load maneuvers to get that gear down.
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN-TODER: And, hopefully, that they were successful. If that's true, that's excellent.
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN-TODER: It says a lot about the airplane, says a lot about the crew, and says a lot about Gulfstream test pilots.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, indeed.
And -- and good point, Carol, because we had talked about there were reports that this was the -- the first flight for this aircraft. But you -- you corrected -- wherever we got that information, you corrected that and said there's no way this would be the first time that this aircraft has been airborne...
DEAN-TODER: That's right.
PHILLIPS: ... because of test pilots and all the checks and balances it has to go through.
DEAN-TODER: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: And -- and you're able to see these live pictures with me, right, Carol, from where you are?
DEAN-TODER: That's correct. Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, let me know if -- if you're able to get a good visual and if you can see if all that landing gear is down.
I'm being told, from traffic control, about seven minutes until this aircraft is going to land. So, obviously, the pilot is -- the pilots made the decision that it's time to bring it down. Whether that -- all that landing gear is -- is up or down...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: ... he or she has decided, with regard to fuel and time, it -- it's time to land, right?
DEAN-TODER: That's -- that's right.
PHILLIPS: OK.
DEAN-TODER: And -- and I will be anxious see here if that gear actually did come down.
PHILLIPS: Definitely.
And, like you said, from aerodynamic maneuvers and being able to use G-force to sort of knock that right side of that landing gear loose...
DEAN-TODER: Right.
PHILLIPS: This is a -- a tight shot of that aircraft, that Gulfstream V, that we were able to freeze for our viewers to be able to see. It was kind of locked in a 45-degree angle.
DEAN-TODER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Now, let me ask you, Carol, I would -- I'm assuming that that -- that that is better than the completely stuck and locked behind the doors, right? It's good that it was sort of out 45 degrees. Would it be able to shake it loose vs. if it was...
DEAN-TODER: Yes. Well...
PHILLIPS: ... it was locked behind the doors, or no?
DEAN-TODER: Yes.
Your chances of getting it down are much better, of course, if it's kind of hanging out there.
PHILLIPS: Right.
DEAN-TODER: But it already is going to have a little momentum to come down and lock completely. So, yes, that definitely is an advantage to have that gear hanging down a little bit, so that you can, you know, try to -- try to pop it down completely using those high-G-force maneuvers.
PHILLIPS: OK.
And now you're -- we're seeing all three angles. This is terrific. This is what we love about our affiliates here on CNN.
DEAN-TODER: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: We have got all three of our Portland, Oregon, affiliates giving us an angle from on the ground, to a little -- you know, a little higher up there, to our airborne shot.
So, we can watch all angles of this aircraft as it comes in for a landing.
If you're just tuning in this is a Nike corporate jet, a Gulfstream V, that had issues with the landing gear. And it's been circling now for more than two hours.
And Carol Dean-Toder, who is a former Gulfstream instructor, also has flown this aircraft, 1,000 hours in this aircraft.
Carol, you and I were just talking about that, you know, time is everything, a chance for the pilot just to collect his or her thoughts and take his or her time...
DEAN-TODER: Right.
PHILLIPS: ... on thinking about this landing, working every possible scenario to get all that landing gear down. We're actually getting a -- a tight shot here. It looks like it's all down, Carol.
DEAN-TODER: Yes. I'm looking at it right now.
PHILLIPS: It's all there, isn't it?
DEAN-TODER: Oh, yes. It does. It looks like it's down completely.
The indications from the cockpit would -- would tell you everything. Unfortunately, we cannot see the indications in the cockpit that would reassure them that the gear is absolutely down and locked. But it -- from this angle, it does look like it has been completely extended.
PHILLIPS: And here it comes. It's coming in for the landing.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: More than two hours, we have been watching this Gulfstream V jet -- that pilot and that crew, no doubt, and those passengers, extremely excited...
DEAN-TODER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: ... to see that -- that airstrip and get ready to make a touchdown.
Pretty amazing. Here it comes, coming in for the landing. Hopefully, all that gear is locked and there will not be an issue as it touched down.
Let's listen in.
DEAN-TODER: It looks good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... anyway's way here as they take a shot. And let's -- this is the -- the moment of truth guys, right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have touchdown.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
Carol, it looks...
DEAN-TODER: All right.
PHILLIPS: It looks good. It's down. All -- there we go.
DEAN-TODER: It looks great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are a few hundred feet away from the landing, guys, but I do believe I heard a collective sigh of relief.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
DEAN-TODER: Yes. They did it.
PHILLIPS: Oh, that's...
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN-TODER: ... did it.
PHILLIPS: ... fantastic.
DEAN-TODER: They did an excellent job.
PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what. I can't wait to -- to -- to hear from this pilot. Hopefully...
DEAN-TODER: Yes. I'm looking forward to it as well.
I know some of the pilots there at Nike. And, so, it will be interesting to see if one of my friends was on that airplane.
PHILLIPS: Well -- well, do me a favor. If one of your friends is, indeed, on that aircraft, can you hook us up, so can -- we can talk to him or her?
DEAN-TODER: Sure. I will -- I will do that. I will talk to him and see.
PHILLIPS: And it's possible you might have trained one of those pilots, yes?
DEAN-TODER: Absolutely. I have trained so many G-5 pilots around the world, I have lost count.
PHILLIPS: Well, I hope that's you're training in action right there, Carol.
DEAN-TODER: Yes. Maybe it was.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: That would be pretty awesome.
DEAN-TODER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the debrief now.
In all seriousness, they -- they're on the ground. They're safe. They -- they landed. They are extremely excited, probably, to go home...
DEAN-TODER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: ... and maybe pop a bottle of champagne.
But, in all seriousness, they have got to debrief and they got -- how do you -- how do they go about now talking as a crew, as a pilot, on -- on this situation?
I mean, do you talk about everything that went wrong, went right? Do you go every -- over everything minute by minute? What do you do after something like this?
DEAN-TODER: Well, right now, the pilots are still talking to the tower. And they're just coming in. And they -- they have got a lot of adrenaline to burn off. The -- the -- who knows?
The passengers are probably cheering in the back...
(LAUGHTER)
DEAN-TODER: ... just relieved to be safely on the ground again. And these pilots will debrief the situation. They won't be debriefing it right now. Right how, they're just concentrating on getting that airplane to the ramp safely and doing a normal shutdown.
You're going to have a lot of maintenance personnel from Nike, and probably from Gulfstream as well, that are going to take a look at that system and find out exactly what went wrong.
And these pilots are going to have a debriefing. And I'm sure that all of the pilots from Nike, including their chief pilot, are going to talk about what went wrong and how to prevent this situation in the future. And they're going to congratulate those pilots for doing an outstanding job, getting this airplane down with normally operating gear and no problem whatsoever.
PHILLIPS: Carol Dean-Toder, former Gulfstream instructor, also has plenty of hours in the cockpit of an aircraft like this. Carol, we're going to just break off for a quick second to get a commercial break in. But we are going to continue to follow up, maybe hear from the pilot, who knows, maybe find out who exactly was on board that Nike corporate jet.
But what we can tell you right now, after about two hours and 20 minutes, a pretty intense situation there, wondering if, indeed, this pilot was going to be able to bring this aircraft down without the right side of its landing gear.
Great news to report: It landed safely.
Carol, thank you so much for just the great insight.
We're going to take a quick break.
Appreciate it.
We're going to take a quick break. We will be right back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks good. You can see that front piece of landing gear hit the ground. It appears as though mission has been accomplished, touchdown of the Gulfstream...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And, if you missed it, here it is, a pretty harrowing time, for about two-and-a-half-hours, for the pilot of this Gulfstream V, or maybe not. Maybe he or she wasn't concerned at all.
But I'll tell you what. We were following it for a couple hours, because the right side of the landing gear was not coming down. It was stuck. And this is a Nike corporate jet, seven people on board. And what happened was, it took off from Hillsboro, Oregon, airport. It was headed to Toronto. We're pretty sure that some of the Nike executives, possibly the CEO, was on board that aircraft.
But they took off. And the right side of the landing gear just got locked at 45 degrees. And, so, they had to circle around and circle around for a couple hours, burning fuel, trying to figure out if indeed they could shake that right side of the landing gear loose.
And what it looks like, that pilot might have been able to use a little aerodynamic maneuvers and some G-force to sort of knock that landing gear loose. And it was able to finally come in for a fantastic landing. All the landing gear came down. And it looks like they're going to be taking the jet straight into the hangar.
Obviously, the media covering this story, we were kind of hoping to get a visual of who is inside that jet, if indeed it is the CEO of Nike, in addition to the other passengers, who they are. But we might be able -- who knows. They might be able to -- to lock this aircraft down, open up the door, and we might be able to see who indeed comes out of there.
But, of course, we're eager to talk to that pilot, find out what he or she did that worked to get the right side of that landing gear down. You're looking at live pictures via our affiliate KPTV -- all our Portland, Oregon, affiliates just doing an incredible job covering this live event for us, either by the air or by ground. So, we have been able to get all angles and good visuals of this aircraft, as the pilot has been really strategizing to figure out how to bring this aircraft into a safe landing.
Here we go, door's coming down. We will see if we will be able to identify any of the -- any of the Nike players here, see who the first one is out of the door, if it's the pilot or the co-pilot or members of this crew.
I can tell you, with the Gulfstream V, there is definitely at least one flight attendant on board, which had to, you know, maintain the calm aboard that aircraft, keep the crew calm, make sure everything was OK, as the pilot and the co-pilot were dealing with the landing.
But if you're just tuning in, we can tell you, the good news is, the plane landed safely, no issues, from what we can see with regard to the aircraft or -- or those on board. But we can tell you that the pilot did an incredible job just trying to troubleshoot the issue the landing gear on this aircraft.
Here's -- here's the landing you're seeing via our affiliate KOIN -- great touchdown. But what we can tell you, prior to this, for more than two hours, this aircraft was airborne with the right side of its landing gear locked at a 45-degree angle. The nose came down fine. The left side was OK. But it was the right side, you can see right here, that got stuck.
And that's the issue that the pilot was dealing with for a couple of hours airborne. So, he or she was trying to lose fuel and try to -- to -- to knock that right side of the landing gear out. They were able to do that. He or she was able to do that. And it came in for a safe landing.
We will let you know who was aboard this Nike corporate jet, after about probably two-and-a-half-hours of -- of a lot of stress. But the good news is, the plane has safely landed. We will let you know more as we get it, of course -- hopefully hear from that pilot.
Well, grim days at GM. That's the other big story that we're talking about today. The world's largest automaker says that it will eliminate 30,000 jobs, a quarter of its U.S. hourly work force. It also plans to close or scale back about a dozen plants, including four major U.S. assembly plants.
One of them is in Doraville, Georgia, not far from us, just outside of Atlanta.
CNN's Betty Nguyen is there.
And have you been able to talk with anybody, Betty?
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We have been able to talk with a couple folks, Kyra.
A lot of folks out here say that they weren't really surprised by this news, because, back in June, GM announced that it was going to make 25,000 cuts. So, it knew that they could possibly be on the line for those cuts.
But, today, as we learn, 30,000 cuts, nine plants, including three assembly plants -- we're outside the Doraville, Georgia, assembly plant. And when folks got the news this morning, they said that it, indeed, was a sad day here.
But let me tell you a little bit about what they do here in Doraville. Here's a look at what they produce on the line here at this assembly plant, the Buick Terraza, the Pontiac Montana V5, the Chevy Uplander, and the Saturn Relay.
There are 2,900 employees here. And the GM spokesperson out here says that this plant is scheduled to shut down in 2008, but that really depends on consumer demand. If consumers are really buying these products, then they could stay open until 2008. If they're not, they could shut down sooner.
Nonetheless, this word coming just three days before Thanksgiving is definitely not what employees wanted to hear today.
Take a listen to Greg Lott (ph), who works here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing here has been coming for about the past five, 10 years. We knew it was going to close. Just didn't know when. And we are just hoping that we can get our retirement time in before it close.
NGUYEN: And how long have you worked here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-eight years.
NGUYEN: How does this feel?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you don't -- you don't want to even know how it feels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes. You don't even want to know.
Here is reaction as well from the United Auto Workers union's president and vice president. This is their joint statement. Take a look.
"Today's action by General Motors is not only extremely disappointing, unfair, and unfortunate, it is devastating to thousands of workers, their families and their communities. While GM's continuing decline in market share is not the fault of workers or our communities, it is these groups that will suffer because of the announcements -- the actions announced today."
And, again, workers said they were not surprised, but it's definitely not the news that they wanted to hear today on this dark, gloomy, rainy Monday -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, doesn't GM have a contract with the unions to prevent these layoffs, Betty?
NYUGEN: It sure does. GM has a contact -- contract with the unions that says they can't really lay off anyone before September 2007. So, as you know, with this plant scheduled for shutdown in 2008, if it comes before then, there's going to be some way to have to pay these workers, because, according to that contract, they have to be paid with or without a job Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Betty Nguyen, following that story there in Doraville, Georgia, just one of the plants dealing with the big news that is hitting GM right now.
You know, Doraville, Georgia, is just one of the many communities that will feel the impact of the GM plant closures. The list of assembly plants on GM's hit list includes Oklahoma City, Lansing, Michigan, and Spring Hill, Tennessee. And GM also will close an assembly plant in Canada, eliminate one shift in an Ohio assembly plant, and close stamping and power train plants across North America.
Disappointing, unfair, devastating, three words the United Auto Workers union is using to describe the GM announcement on thousands of workers and their families now.
And here are the rest of the numbers. GM says that 30,000 hourly jobs will be eliminated, some as early as next year. That's equal to 27 percent of GM's hourly work force. GM also says it plans to eliminate about 7 percent of its salaried non-union work force.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do not believe it is wrong to criticize the war on terror or any aspect thereof.
Disagreement, argument, and debate are the essence of democracy. And none of us should want it any other way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A salute to free expression and a bid to bring the Iraq war debate down to a simmer from a furious boil.
In his second major speech on Iraq in a week, Dick Cheney defended Americans' right to disagree about the war, how it started and when U.S. troops might pull up stakes. But he still doesn't want to hear claims that the White House, and he in particular, fudged the pre-war intelligence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHENEY: A few politicians are suggesting these brave Americans were sent into battle for a deliberate falsehood. This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety. It has no place anywhere in American politics, much less in the United States Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Innocent civilians, victims, once again in the ongoing fight for Iraq.
Two deadly events happened today near Baquba. Insurgents caused one, U.S. troops the other.
Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, with the latest now from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. military officials tell us, about 9:00 in the morning, a patrol was passing through the town of Kanan. It had just gone through the marketplace.
And then they say the explosives were detonated, missing the patrol, but killing five people in the market, wounding 11 other Iraqis who were there.
But about two-and-a-half-hours before, perhaps the most tragic incident we have heard about this day, U.S. military officials saying that a car full of Iraqis, an Iraqi family, came too close to one of their patrols. The rear gunner fired warning shots, three warning shots. They say that the family of Iraqi civilians didn't slow down. More shots were fired, fired directly into the car.
Now, according to U.S. military, three people were killed, one person injured. According to survivors inside that car who were interviewed at the hospital, they say four people died, five people were wounded, a family driving along the road, very tragic incident, this in the early hours of this morning, just as the sun was coming up, close to a U.S. base near the town of Baquba, about 35 miles, 50 kilometers or so, northeast of Baghdad.
And, still, late into the day, U.S. military says it is still running checks on bodies found in a house in Mosul after a shoot-out with Iraqi police on Saturday -- that shoot-out so ferocious that it -- towards the end of the gun battle, insurgents inside the house detonated explosives, trapping them and destroying, killing them inside the house.
Eight insurgents' bodies were found inside that building. But such was the ferocity of the firefight that U.S. military and Iraqis testing to see if one of the bodies inside the house was the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. We understand DNA testing and fingerprint testing going on, on those bodies at this time.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Now, amid the U.S. withdrawal debate in Washington, a common position in Cairo -- that's where groups of Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds spent a contentious weekend mulling no less than the future of their country.
They didn't and don't agree on everything, by any means, but they did hammer out a consensus statement in favor of a timetable, an unspecified timetable, for pulling out foreign forces. They also agreed on the right to disagree.
"Resistance," the groups say, "is a legitimate right for all the people. Terrorism, however, is not legitimate resistance. And, thus, we condemn acts of violence, killings and kidnapping that target Iraqi citizens, civil, governmental and humanitarian organizations, national wealth and houses of worship."
A more formal conference is scheduled for February in Iraq.
Now, imagine President Bush quitting the Republican Party and forming a new one. Well, something like that is happening in Israel. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today resigned from Likud, the party that he helped found more than 30 years ago.
He's forming a new centrist party and pressing for early elections. Israeli lawmakers today took a step in that direction, voting to dissolve -- dissolve Parliament. Sharon has taken a pounding from inside the hard-line Likud Party for his decision to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Today, he said his new party would give Israel new hope for peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The new movement that we're setting up today will serve the Israeli people for many years to come. It will be a new home for all those Israelis who wish to act responsibly and out of belief in the state, and put into practice the Zionist vision.
I call upon everyone who believes in this to join us and to head into the future together with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Grim warning straight ahead, images of what's believed to be a text message from the suspected mall shooter in Tacoma, Washington. We will have a live update.
The news keeps coming. We are going to bring it to you all day -- more LIVE FROM straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In 1962 GM accounted for half of the cars sold in America. Today it only makes about one fourth of the cars sold in America. And now it's dumping 30,000 members of its U.S. hourly workforce. Editor-in-chief Csaba Csere of "Car and Driver" magazine, he's in Detroit. Good to see you.
How are you?
Let me ask you -- I'm doing okay, thank you very much. But this is your beat. Let's talk about what's happening with General Motors. I'm curious, what's going on? Are the cars just not selling?
CSABA CSERE, CAR AND DRIVER MAGAZINE: That's in the end the biggest problem. GM has been losing market share continuously for the last 25 years. As recently as 1980, they had 45 percent of the market. And they probably have been losing three-quarters of a point in market share every year between now and then. As the market share goes down you've got to reduce your plant capacity. This is simply the latest round in these capacity reductions.
PHILLIPS: There's always been this perception that American cars are not as well-made as the foreign cars. Is it just finally catching up with companies like GM that people are just convinced that a foreign car is just better made?
CSERE: Well, it not finally catching up. It's kind of been the trend and the perception all along. The funny thing is that currently, on quality standards, domestic cars are closer to foreign cars than they've ever been. Depending on which segment you look at domestic cars, and GM cars in some cases, are more reliable than foreign cars. After 25 years of being on the wrong side of the equation, it's not that easy to convince the customers.
PHILLIPS: How do you get -- how do you convince the customers? And is it possible that companies like GM can get up to standards or get up to the quality that we've seen in foreign-made cars?
CSERE: Part of it is the quality. As I say on the quality front, they're already essentially there or close enough that it doesn't matter.
PHILLIPS: It's promotion, proof and promotion?
CSERE: It's proof and promotion, but it's also not just quality. There's a lot of people who buy cars as an appliance, but there's a lot of people who are emotionally attracted to cars and you've got to build cars that are good-looking, that are exciting and that satisfy people. GM's got to make some progress on that front as well.
PHILLIPS: It's a good point. I want to ask about employees. We've been talking a lot about the pensions and all of the money that GM has to pay retired workers and that the company hasn't been able to keep up with that, and then there's the issue of making money off of the cars. So now employees right now wondering, well, will GM stop paying my pension?
CSERE: Well, at this point, that's not on the table yet. But GM at some point has to stop shrinking, because one of the problems with their business case is that they have this giant liability called legacy cost to the retirees' pensions and their health care. Even if they shrink the plants to match the shrinking market share, what they have to pay out to keep those retirees going doesn't shrink. So they really have to sustain the size of their business. They can't continue to downsize like this forever.
PHILLIPS: Real quickly, do you actually see the end in sight for GM or is GM just one of those companies where it will always be there?
CSERE: I don't think there are any companies on the map that will always be there at this point. I would say that this is a very good move for GM that they had to do. But you can't cost cut your way to prosperity. At some point they've got to turn around the other side of the equation and have a line of cars and trucks out there that people are willing to buy at a price large enough so that GM makes money on it. They have to do that in order to stay alive.
PHILLIPS: Csaba Csere, Editor-in-chief of "Car and Driver" magazine. Thanks for your time today.
Despite the downsizing announced today, GM is the still the world's biggest auto maker. In addition to its familiar line of domestic cars -- Chevrolet, Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC Trucks, Hummer and Saturn -- GM also owns several foreign name plates: Vauxhall, Saab, Holden. GM's problems aren't limited to the United States either. Just this past weekend, GM dropped a lawsuit against a Chinese company that it accused of make a GM knockoff.
Look at this. GM claimed that a Chinese car named the Chery QQ is a virtual copy of a small car built by GM's South Korean subsidiary and sold in China as a Chevrolet Spark. GM also complained the name Chery sounds too much like Chevy. GM now says it has resolved its dispute with the Chinese company, but it didn't offer any details.
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PHILLIPS: Well, disturbing text messages sent from a man charged in a terrifying mall shooting could yield some clues to a motive now.
Police in Washington state say that 20-year-old Dominick Maldonado opened fire inside the Tacoma Mall yesterday shooting six people. Hostages were taken and released unharmed.
But just before the rampage, Maldonado called his ex-girlfriend and sent her some text messages.
Our Soledad O'Brien spoke with her on CNN's "American morning."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He says, I'm holding people hostage in a shopping mall. What did you say back?
TIFFANY ROBISON, MALDONADO'S FMR. GIRLFRIEND: It shocked me. I didn't know exactly how to respond to that. I was like, what are you doing? What are you doing?
And he's like, I'm crazy. I'm crazy. I can do this. I'm crazy. And he's like I got to let you go. I'm on the other line with the police, and that was the end of that.
O'BRIEN: Did you ever think that he would do something like this?
ROBISON: Vaguely, but not...
O'BRIEN: Really? Why?
ROBISON: Because of the way he has talked in the past. The way he's thought. And he said he wanted to do something stupid. He didn't go into details. He didn't explain. He just had said that.
O'BRIEN: Was there something that precipitated it? I mean, do you know was there one event that led to this?
ROBISON: I couldn't tell you. This is quite random to me. I know that he was upset mentally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the shooting terrorized shoppers inside that mall. Many of them ran and took cover as gun shots rang out.
And one shopper, who saw the whole thing, tells us what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard some pop, pop, pop, pop. We thought it was a machine that was filling the stuffing in the bears and stuff. And we looked up, and there was a gentleman standing or it wasn't a gentleman. There was a man standing out in the hallway in the middle of the mall and he had an AK-47.
And he had it down to his side, and he turned. And he turned back towards the J.C. Penney's area. And I had already heard about four, five shots.
And he shot about five or six times more, turned. And then he was probably looking west and shot again four or five times.
And I told my daughter and my grandson to run, and they ran out the door toward the back. And I looked for my wife, and I got my wife. And granddaughter out the door. And we were hiding in the back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, suspect Dominick Maldonado is expected in court today. "The Seattle Times" reports that Maldonado has a juvy record that includes convictions on burglary and theft charges.
The paper also says he has a history of drug problems. Well, nearly three months now since Hurricane Katrina. The largest newspaper in New Orleans is blasting the federal government again.
In a broadside aimed at unnamed officials in Washington, "The New Orleans Times-Picayune" gets its dander up. They act, says the paper, as if we are a burden. They act as if we wore our skirts too short, and invited trouble.
The paper says, quote, "we can't one with that."
Joining us from New Orleans, Jim Amos. He's the editor of "The New Orleans Times-Picayune."
And Jim, you could actually sit there, and say, you know what, we told you so.
JIM AMOS, EDITOR, NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE: Well, this is one case where we take no pleasure in saying we told you so. After all, it's our city and our neighborhood, our houses.
PHILLIPS: And people may not understand what I'm talking about and that's the extensive series that you and your journalists, your paper, put out. I mean, dozens of articles about the condition of those levees, and what could happen to the city.
So, I'm curious now, after the fact, how are you, your newspaper, your journalists going to hold politicians accountable, track the money that's coming into New Orleans, and make sure it's done right this time?
AMOS: Well, actually, we have learned a lot more about those levees since Katrina hit. We've learned through our investigations over the past several weeks that the flood walls have collapsed. Federally designed by federal engineers were only anchored about ten feet deep in soil.
It was an engineering disaster waiting to happen. One of the LSU engineering professors who looked at it said that first year engineering students could have seen the potential for disaster here.
So, one of our main focuses is going to be to see that the federal government: A. Funds what is need to protect the great American city, and that the design is properly executed.
PHILLIPS: Well, Jim, we saw during this disaster, how journalists have definitely become advocates in this situation, and whatever newspaper or network journalists are holding those responsible, many people responsible. Holding them accountable and asking and demanding answers.
So, you're already investigating stories again and uncovering these loopholes. In the past, you didn't get answers. Are you getting answers now?
AMOS: We are. We have the focus of the entire city of New Orleans behind us. And I think we are beginning to be heard. But it's really not just a special case for New Orleans. There are 23 million people in this country, who live, potentially, in the path of a hurricane.
So, what the federal government does for New Orleans or fails to do for New Orleans, those other millions of people should pay attention to what happens to us. It really is the fate of many American cities that rests in our government's hands.
PHILLIPS: And what are you asking New Orleanians to do? I mean, you're obviously asking a lot from the government, which you should, and I hope those investigations continue.
We'll follow up on them. And we'll be reading them. And hopefully you and I will be talking again.
But, what you asking New Orleanians to do to stand up and fight for the rights of the city?
AMOS: We're asking our readers to let not just our congressional delegation, but the congressional leaders and the Republican leadership especially know how important it is that this be done, and that they focus on this problem and on the need to build adequate flood protection for a great American city.
PHILLIPS: And Jim, in your op-ed piece or in your editorial rather, it says, but we need the federal government. We need our Congress to fulfill the promises made to us in the past. We need to be safe. Some voices in Washington are arguing against us. We were foolish, they say. We settled in a place that is lower than the sea. We should have expected to drown.
Powerful words, Jim.
AMOS: New Orleans is no special case. Where New Orleans goes, many other American cities will go.
PHILLIPS: And what do you want from Congress? What do you want from the federal government?
AMOS: We want levees that can withstand floodwaters, not only of the kind that Hurricane Katrina brought us, but still stronger hurricanes that may be in our future. And we don't think that's an unreasonable demand.
PHILLIPS: "Times-Picayune" editor, Jim Amos, great stories. I'm going to keep reading them. I know you've got some pretty incredible investigative reporters there. Lots to uncover in that city of New Orleans, Jim.
AMOS: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: I appreciate your time.
AMOS: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Well, the countdown is on for video game lovers. Just hours from now the new Xbox goes on sale.
Just ahead, we're going to show you, actually Daniel Sieberg is going to show you, why you might want to add it to your Christmas list, even if you're not an avid player.
Daniel, are you already addicted to this?
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lately.
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PHILLIPS: Well, the holiday season officially kicks off on Friday. But for hardcore video game lovers, it begins today. The long-awaited Xbox 360 hits store shelves at midnight. And you can bet a lot of people will be lining up to get their hands on one.
CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg here to explain what the hype is all about. He already got his hands on one. He always gets the inside scoop. And you're just going at it, Daniel.
SIEBERG: Yeah, that's right. Well, we're doing some research here.
PHILLIPS: Oh, yeah. Sure.
SIEBERG: You know. This is very in-depth, hands on, is what we like to call it.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sell me on this, OK. Sell it.
SIEBERG: Well, I don't know if I can be the someone to sell you one. But I will tell you what it does. It is the Xbox 360. It will officially be available as of midnight tonight. Coming out tomorrow. It is the next foray by Microsoft into the console video game market. You might remember the original Xbox came out about four years ago. I'm going to try to talk and play at the same time here.
They're trying to incorporate all sorts of different features in it this time around. Just like last time, they're incorporating the DVD playback, you can actually plug in your MP3 player, you can watch movies. It's got all kinds of different features. So, they're really trying to get into your living room as much as getting on you're desktop.
The games, of course, this is a game called Cameo. It's one of the few original titles designed just for the Xbox 360. About 20 different titles or so come out, including what you're seeing here is NBA 2K6 from Sega. A lot of sports games that are coming out. But not a whole lot of original titles.
Another one "Call of Duty," but that's also been around in some form for a little while. This is a war game. Basically the graphical capabilities...
PHILLIPS: Hold that thought, Daniel. Real quickly, want to take you to the CEO, William Perez of Nike. He was on board that aircraft that was airborne with landing gear problems.
WILLIAM PEREZ, NIKE CEO: And we tried a number of different maneuvers. We were up there for over six hours, a little over six hours. The pilots, unbelievable. Unbelievable what they did for us. They were very calm, collected, very professional. Told us every maneuver they're going to try.
We tried some zero gravity maneuvers, some very interesting maneuvers, put it that way. Gulf stream trouble shooting was terrific. They were on the phone with us probably four hours or so. And we went up -- I don't know what we went up to -- about 20,000 feet. We shut off the left engine, put all of the hydraulic force into the right engine, and we did a few maneuvers. And it came down.
And then once it came down, Charlie Denson (ph) and I could tell by the look on his face -- he was facing that way -- that we were in very good shape. And at that point, the only issue was locked in permanently when we landed or not. And it was locked in permanently. All is well. I don't leave again on a flight until tomorrow morning.
QUESTION: Describe the zero G experience.
PEREZ: Oh, it's -- what I did was is I held a magazine there. And when we went down the magazine stayed in the air. So, it was interesting.
QUESTION: What about the other passengers?
PEREZ: Everybody was calm. We were sending e-mails, we were talking, the phones were working part of the time. You could use cell phones. So, there was -- everybody was calm.
The pilots were very professional, very calm. They told us everything they were going to do before they did it. And we were -- I was blown way when I found out there was so much news. My mom found out to Ohio. We had a friend call from Amsterdam. And it's -- I guess it's all is well that ends well. But there really -- it wasn't much of an issue because we had great people work on.
QUESTION: Bill, can you describe, one more time, the procedure that they actually used to shake the wheel well?
PEREZ: I think, you know -- I'm going to get in trouble. Because I'm not technical. You're better off getting a briefing from somebody...
QUESTION: Describe what it was.
PEREZ: Well, simply they turned off the left engine, to force all of the hydraulic power to the right side. And we did a little -- some ups and downs and turns, twists and turns, and it popped down. It went green. We were watching those red lights. They went green. Charlie (INAUDIBLE) was smiling. We were smiling. And then it's all over.
QUESTION: You mentioned Charlie Denson (ph), who else from Nike was onboard with you?
PEREZ: Mara Richardson, Mary Key Buckley, Charlie and I.
QUESTION: Will you be riding in that plane again soon?
PEREZ: As soon as they can fix it. I'm going out tomorrow morning. So, listen -- been flying -- I was 13-years-old, I had about 150,000 miles. So, I lived inn South America, you fly all of the time.
QUESTION: Can you say once again who was on the plane?
PEREZ: Merit Richardson (ph), Charlie Denson, Maru Kay Buckley.
QUESTION: No ill feelings toward Gulf Stream knowing this was its maiden flight?
PEREZ: No. This wasn't -- by the way this is not the plane's maiden flight. This is a used plane. So, this is a maiden flight with Nike. And they were great. I mean they came to the party when they had to. They had their -- all of the -- many of the maneuvers we tried was at their recommendation.
And I know they're disappointed, we're disappointed that it happened. But they helped us through a difficult time. And I appreciate it. We just had a call from the CEO of Gulf Stream.
QUESTION: You speak very calmly now. Did you feel this way a couple hours ago?
PEREZ: I wasn't at all worried the whole time. I was not worried one bit. You're dealing -- you have professionals in the cockpit. And you shouldn't worry.
QUESTION: What was the react inside the cabin once the thing actually touched down?
PEREZ: We were happy. I don't know if we clapped or cheered or whatever. We were very excited about that. It's nice to be on the ground. So I don't have much else to say. I'm going it take off. But thanks a lot. Appreciate your interest.
QUESTION: The zero G thing, that was separate and apart from...
PEREZ: The zero G didn't work.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)
PEREZ: I think you just have zero gravity.
PHILLIPS: That's Nike CEO Bill Perez talking like a pilot there as soon as he came up to the mikes. He knew everything that went down inside that cockpit as they had been airborne with landing gear problems. Pretty amazing testimony, the Gulf Stream and the pilot flying that aircraft. Bill Perez talking about zero gravity maneuver, something that we had been talking about while watching the live coverage. The pilot was able to do it, use a couple high G maneuvers to unlock that landing gear that was stuck on the right side.
Bill Perez saying he didn't worry. Everything was professional, Gulf Stream on the phone for about four hours helping that pilot and the crew and everybody on board remained calm. They came down for a safe landing. Good news all around. Quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
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PHILLIPS: Well, that does it for us here on LIVE FROM. Busy Monday. Ali Velshi getting ready for the closing bell.
Boy, we've had a lot of stuff going on. I mean, from the Nike CEO talking like a pilot there.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That was pretty incredible. I had to do a double take to see that was in fact the CEO, because he sounded a lot like a pilot.
PHILLIPS: Yeah. Well, what a testament to the pilot, that he's able to deal with just the stress and the drama of having to land that aircraft. You know, get that landing gear down and talk to his passengers like that.
VELSHI: I like the fact that we've seen a few of these landings come in in the last few weeks. It sort of warms my heart that these things can end successfully. And if you're going to cover news as extensively as we do, that sometimes the stories actually are really good.
PHILLIPS: Amen. Now, GM not so good. It's been a big bummer, talking about all these folks that are going to lose they're jobs Thanksgiving week.
But, you know, GMs got to make some improvements to keep up with -- I guess the competition, hey Ali?
VELSHI: Yeah, and a lot of those improvements have been made. There have been measurable improvements in quality in GM cars and American cars in general. But you know, for all those years that they weren't there, the Japanese automakers got a foothold. And today, it's unclear what a Japanese automaker is and what an American automakers are. Toyota, for instance, set to take over the number one position from GM, employees 190,000 people in the U.S. So, hard to know.
PHILLIPS: Ali Velshi, we're close -- how close are we to the closing bell?
VELSHI: Well, we're about 30 seconds away from the closing bell. So, I will wish you...
PHILLIPS: What can we talk about for 30 seconds -- you're going to wish me fairwell.
VELSHI: I will wish you fairwell. It's been lovely talking to you. And we will talk about at this time tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: Sounds wonderful.
VELSHI: That's the New York Stock Exchange you're looking at. The GM news has not dampened markets right now. The Dow is getting ready to close 56 points higher to 10,822. Over at the NASDAQ, we have a gain of 13 points to 2,240.
So, despite the news of 30,000 layoffs coming, it's otherwise a good day on the markets. Now, here is Wolf Blitzer standing by in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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