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Quest Means Business

Baldwin Says Heart Is Broken After Fatal Prop Gun Shooting; Vaccine Mandate Bad For Supply Chain According To U.S. Business Group; Snapchat Parent, Beyond Meat Watch Shares Plummet; Honeywell Aerospace Unveils New Anthem Cockpit System; Dubai's Floating Grocery Deliveries; Reports: Evergrande Staves Off Default With Key Payment. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 22, 2021 - 15:00:00   ET

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

[15:00:19]

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS HOST: The Dow is on track for an all-time record close. It has shaken off some losses this morning. Those are the

markets and these are the main events.

Alec Baldwin says he is cooperating fully with police over a deadly shooting on the set of his latest film.

Snap shares have their biggest ever drop after Apple makes a tweak to its App Store.

And Evergrande pulls a rabbit out of the hat paying its debt just in time.

Live from New York. It's Friday, October the 22nd. I'm Alison Kosik, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Good evening. Tonight, Alec Baldwin says his heart is breaking after a bizarre and deadly incident on the set of his latest film. Law enforcement

and studio workers are trying to understand how a prop gun fired by Baldwin ended up killing a woman and injuring one other person.

Baldwin made his first public statement about the shooting a few hours ago on Twitter, calling it a tragic accident. Detectives in New Mexico are

investigating what kind of projectile came out of that prop gun that Baldwin fired.

Pictures taken outside a Sheriff's Office show him doubled over in anguish. He said his heart was broken for the victim's family. Forty-two-year-old

Halyna Hutchins was pronounced dead in an Albuquerque hospital. She was the film's director of photography. The film's director, Joel Souza was also

injured.

We're getting new details about the investigation. Stephanie Elam has more from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This new statement coming in from New Mexico's First Judicial District Attorney, he says that right now, it's

unclear if charges are going to be filed. That's one part of it, but also says: "We will look into all facts and evidence of the case with great

discretion and have further information at a later time. Our thoughts are with all affected by this tragedy."

And of course at this point, we are starting to hear more from people who knew Hutchins and knew her work and saw that she was a rising star as many

have referred to her to be including the agency that represented her. They put out a statement on social media saying, quote: "All those in her orbit

knew what was coming. A star director of photography who would be a force to be reckoned with. All of us at Innovative Artists are heartbroken. We

mourn for her family, and we hope this tragedy will reveal new lessons for how to better ensure safety for every crew member on set."

Which is obviously a big topic of discussion and you can see that people who were there on the set are starting to remember her. If you look at

Frances Fisher, an actor who you've seen in a multitude of roles I feel like from "Titanic" on down to "Watchmen." She is also part of this

production of "Rust" that's been filming there in New Mexico.

She posted this really beautiful picture of her with Halyna where she just says that "Rest in paradise, dear Halyna. I loved watching you work."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Paul Biddiss is a military adviser and an armorer for films like "1917" and "Jason Bourne" and he joins me now live from London.

Thanks for your time today.

PAUL BIDDISS, MILITARY ADVISER AND ARMORER: Hello. Thanks for inviting me.

KOSIK: So your job is actually to make sure that things like what happened on the set of "Rust" don't happen at all. The Director of Photography was

killed. The Director was injured, so based on your expertise, how do you think that this happened?

BIDDISS: Well, I mean, it's too early to really speculate on what happened on that particular set and I think it's obviously only right that the

authorities and all the departments carry out their investigations first.

But you know, from my experience, you know, there is very strict -- stringent drills and procedures are used on all film sets worldwide that do

their best to prevent such accidents from happening. And I speak for the U.K. film industry. Our hearts go out to all crew members of that

production for something that on the looks of it is just a real tragic accident, but a very rare one at this time.

KOSIK: Right. Right. What are the protocols in place then when it comes to having guns or prop guns on the set?

BIDDISS: Well, there's different categories of weapons. You have live weapons, which we call practical, which can fire live rounds, and then we

have non-practical, which are like rubber weapons or they could be just non-firing metal weapons that look very simple -- very similar to normal

weapons.

[15:05:10]

BIDDISS: We also have a thing called UTM rounds, which is Ultimate Training Munitions, which doesn't fire blanks, but with the weapons that

are used on such films like westerns, they are used -- they are actually loaded by the person holding the weapon, which means they don't have a

restrictor in the barrel, so foreign objects can get into a barrel, unlike an automatic weapon, it has a restrictor and the blank is the whole point

of a restrictor, it clogs the power up, it stops anything from going out, and it helps recycle the weapon.

But the protocols are -- a weapon is brought out. It is cleared in front of the actor, sometimes the Director will want to see that weapons cleared.

The actor is also trained. So one of my jobs is to train actors in not only being realistic, but being safe.

And then, you know, the whole process where myself, the armorist, we're watching the actors. We're watching what they're doing, we're making sure

they're not getting too close to any cast members or any crew members. So, we're always setting distance, we're making sure they are not getting too

close to walls. So empty cases, ejecting and bouncing and hitting them.

So there's a lot of procedures and if an armorist sees anything that's dangerous, they will stop. Regardless of who the director is, they will

stop because safety is always paramount on these -- on such productions.

KOSIK: What about the setup of this actual set that we're talking about? Obviously, you're not -- you weren't there. But do you think it's unusual

that the Director and the Director of Photography, the DP, would have been in the path of this?

BIDDISS: Well, normally when you set up action shots, you will do a dry rehearsal, which basically means the weapons are not loaded and they will

do a dry rehearsal until they're happy. It is called blocking off. Once they're happy, and they're happy with the way the rehearsal, the way the

camera angles, and they've got everything ready and set up, then the armorer will come on, and then he will show the weapon clear and then load

the weapon in front of the actor, in front of the director.

And once he has made that weapon ready, he will say "Weapon is hot," so that's telling everybody that the weapon is hot. Now, there may be for

instance, you'd want to get the camera really close up to the actor, but there will be safety distances, 10 to 20 meters, the DoP and anyone that is

in the path of that blank ground firing would have worn safe protection, like a safety glass, plastic glass like a shield just to stop the fragments

that come out of the end of the barrel. So that's -- sorry, go on.

KOSIK: I'm just curious. I mean, everybody watching what's being loaded into the weapon, if protocols were followed correctly, which obviously we

don't know. What do you think could have been in the barrel?

BIDDISS: Well, there's -- I mean, it fits, like say, a weapon that doesn't have a restrictor because it's loaded by the actual operator itself, like a

handgun, similar to like a revolver that was used by Brandon Lee. In that instance, it was simply some prop bullets, which are not live bullets that

are just like a bullet, but without the gunpowder, and then a foreign object has managed to find its way into the barrel, now it could be --

KOSIK: Sorry to -- finish your thought. Finish your thought.

BIDDISS: So basically, it could have been a foreign object, by mistake, that could have gone into that barrel, even like a stone. The barrel could

have gone into the ground -- that acts as a projectile that potentially could be dangerous or fatal.

KOSIK: Okay, Paul Biddiss, thanks so much for your time tonight, and all of your expertise.

BIDDISS: Thank you.

KOSIK: IATSE, which is the union for stage and set workers said it is heartbroken by the death of Halyna Hutchins. Its members were planning to

go on strike just this week over safety standards until a deal was agreed with the studios. Onset, workers will now have designated rest periods

after they've worked five days in a row. Many workers are still not satisfied though.

One of them set up an Instagram page which lists hundreds of anonymous stories of safety concerns. They describe things like working 36 hours

straight, going an entire day without a bathroom break, and working so long, they literally fell asleep at the wheel.

Anousha Sakoui covers the business of Hollywood for the "LA Times" and she joins me now live from Los Angeles. Anousha, thanks so much for joining us.

You know, Hollywood went ahead and worked out this contract keeping you know, this big strike from happening. I'm wondering how much -- when they

talked about safety standards, were of concern with this contract? Were they concerned that something like this I could go wrong on set?

[15:10:04]

ANOUSHA SAKOUI, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY WRITER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": So, I just want to make things super clear up front like your previous guest did.

We really don't know what caused this. So, we don't know if it's a safety issue, we don't know if it's a freak accident. So, I really want to say

that up front.

But, you know, one of the big issues like you were saying for crew is that they've been working very long hours, even within this tentative agreement

that they still have to vote on, they could still be working 14-hour days, which, you know, is a long day for most people. And definitely a long day,

if you're -- you know, in the heat of New Mexico or you know you're carrying a lot of equipment.

So a lot of crew that I've spoken to and we've been reporting this at the "LA Times" have been sort of rising up, especially using social media

saying these terms, they're not happy with them. They want a cap on days.

So, you know, that tiredness can lead to errors, and yes, so -- but as I said, we don't know if that's the cause here.

KOSIK: Aren't there ways though, around using prop guns or guns on the set? Can't computers handle a lot of the effects that we see now?

SAKOUI: So one of the things that's sort of being discussed, you know, this is really sort of this -- this tragedy has really sort of amplified

these calls from crew that have been using social media to share their stories, like you said, sometimes anonymously, often mostly anonymously,

because they are nervous about retribution.

They are, you know, raising their concerns about safety, you know, questioning if the right things are being done and if their safety is being

compromised. And one question is this, like could special effects be used to you know, replace the use of guns on set. Live ammunition is not meant

to be on set, but as your previous speaker said, that, you know, ultimately, it can be a projectile and we have seen accidents, we've seen

deaths as a result of using, you know, so-called prop guns.

So, you know, that is a question. The reality is, is that directors and filmmakers will want the most realistic film and that might mean using a

replica or a lifelike gun.

KOSIK: All right, Anousha Sakoui, thanks so much for your time tonight.

SAKOUI: My pleasure.

KOSIK: Former U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to return to Wall Street unleashes a trading frenzy. It's been so intense that it prompted a series

of halts. We'll find out what analysts are saying in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:06]

KOSIK: A major U.S. business group says President Biden's vaccine mandate will lead to mass layoffs and could be catastrophic for the supply chain.

The National Association of Wholesale Distributors wants the White House to delay the December 8th deadline. Federal contractors may no longer employ

unvaccinated workers after that date.

At a CNN Town Hall On Thursday, the President talked about the steps he is ready to take to ease the supply chain crunch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Would you consider the National Guard to help with the supply chain issue?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes. Absolutely, positively. I will do that. But in addition to that, what you've got to do

is you got to get these ships in and unloaded. And one of the things in my infrastructure plan, there's $16 billion for port expansion. We have to be

able to move things along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Jay Timmons is President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. His trade group represents some 14,000 companies and he

joins me live from Washington, D.C. Great to see you.

JAY TIMMONS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS: Good to see you, Alison.

KOSIK: I'm wondering, what do you think about the business organization you've just heard about? Do you agree that the vaccine mandate, which goes

into effect December 8th could cause mass layoffs and catastrophic supply chain disruptions?

TIMMONS: I think what we've seen is that more -- the more information that is available on the efficacy of vaccines and how it saves lives has really

encouraged folks to get a vaccination, and to not only keep themselves and their families safe, but also their co-workers.

I think when we're looking at the supply chain issues, Alison, probably the number one issue that we're seeing in manufacturing, is frankly the skills

gap that we have. The fact that we have 900,000 open jobs in manufacturing today. So, that is slowing down our ability to produce and manufacture the

products that we need for everyday life, which is why the NAM has kicked off Our Creators Wanted Campaign to attract and inspire the next generation

of manufacturing workers.

KOSIK: Yes, there is a struggle to attract workers in the manufacturing industry. Is there an industry-wide push to improve working conditions, you

know, improve that shift work that many are doing and raise wages?

TIMMONS: Well, you know, the great news about manufacturing, back in 2017, when we were able to achieve the significant tax reforms that we'd been

asking for, for 30 years, really, when we were able to get those tools, we promised that manufacturers would invest more in America, we would hire

more American workers, and we would raise wages and benefits.

We've kept those promises. We've had record investment and job creation over the last several years, and in the last 12 months, we had higher wage

growth than we've had in this country since 1982. That's almost -- that's almost a 40-year record. So, we're doing really well at really making

manufacturing even more attractive than it already is. It's already a very exciting industry to be involved in.

But with that, we need to make sure that we're doing the right things in Washington, like not raising taxes and costs on manufacturing, which makes

it harder to invest in America and create jobs right here in this country.

KOSIK: You know, part of the problem in the supply chain is that U.S. companies have moved their manufacturing assets. They've moved them outside

the U.S. to access cheaper labor. Do you see companies reversing course, because of this supply chain crisis we are in, meaning bringing

manufacturing back to the U.S.?

TIMMONS: Yes, Alison. So let me just tell you, going back to those tax cuts in 2017. That was really rocket fuel for the manufacturing economy.

That's why you saw such record investment and job creation here.

I was just in South Carolina yesterday at our Creators Wanted on the ground experience where we had several high school -- several hundred high school

students going through this experience and learning more about manufacturing. It was held at Nephron Pharmaceuticals, and Nephron has just

invested significantly to create a new factory to build surgical gloves, which has been a problem and it was a terrible problem during the pandemic.

We didn't have access to those because they were made offshore.

Companies like Nephron are investing in America so that we have the supplies that we need, not only for every day, but also if we ever have to

face another catastrophe like we've been facing during this pandemic.

KOSIK: And you've mentioned taxes and how they have worked in the manufacturing industry's favor. I'm curious how happy you are that

Democrats, they didn't or couldn't agree on lifting the corporate tax rate, keeping that in the massive legislation that is sitting on Capitol Hill

right now.

TIMMONS: Well, you know, this fight, this discussion, let's say, started earlier this year when those business tax increases were initially added to

the infrastructure investment legislation.

[15:20:06]

TIMMONS: Now, we need infrastructure investment in this country so badly. We've neglected it for decades. We were very successful in moving that away

from that package and getting infrastructure investment across the line in the Senate; now, we hope to see it happen in the House so we can get that

done.

Reconciliation, an entirely different spending bill has its core kind of funding principle, those business taxes that kind of raised their ugly head

again. And we spent a lot of time talking to Republicans and Democrats about exactly why raising taxes on business today would reverse all of the

progress we've made in the last three years since we had those -- since we had tax reform in 2017.

So we did all we said we would do in terms of investment and job creation and wage growth when we got tax reform in 2017. We don't want to see that

undone with a reversal to those archaic tax policies in the past. We don't want to lose investment in this country. We don't want to see American jobs

lost, and we certainly don't want to see wages not grow as they have been in the last three years.

So yes, we're very pleased that it looks like we're not going to see those tax increases in the reconciliation package. But nothing is set until the

bill is done. So, we're going to keep working to make sure they're not included.

KOSIK: Yes, I mean, there's always the likelihood that lawmakers will go after Corporate America to replace that source of revenue, right?

TIMMONS: Well, they might, but you know, again, do you really want to raise costs on America's job creators when the message -- I mean, look at

the supply chain issue that we have right now? Do we want to make that worse? Do we want to make it worse in terms of not being able to make

things here in America? I don't think our policymakers and our legislators want that to happen.

KOSIK: Okay, Jay Timmons, great talking with you.

TIMMONS: Good to talk to you.

KOSIK: And we're seeing how supply chain issues are causing trouble for a wide range of companies, including social media and plant-based foods.

Shares in Snapchat's parent are down more than 20 percent. It's been hurt by a change in Apple's advertising policy. Its officials also note that

companies won't buy ads if they can't deliver their goods.

Beyond Meat also down after warning it won't hit its revenue target. The plant-based meat company saying labor shortages, the delta variant, and

severe weather all hurt its sales.

CNN Business reporter Paul La Monica joins me now. So, I'm curious after I heard what happened, how Snap was impacted by Apple's move, basically, to

keep advertisers from tracking users' activity, what recourse does Snap have to go around that and help advertisers figure out how users are

interacting with their ads.

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, I think, Alison, that it is really just going to take time for advertisers to figure out these new

Apple iOS policies and what they can do to you know, have better metrics to see what Snapchat users are really engaged with.

And this is obviously not just a problem for Snapchat, you're seeing shares of Facebook and Twitter also both falling today concerns as well about what

these iOS changes will mean for both of those firms, which are obviously very heavily dependent on online advertising, mobile advertising as well.

KOSIK: And gosh, looking at Beyond Meat really taking it on the chin today. Who would have thought, you know, Beyond Meat was all the rage at

one point. Now, there is kind of a lukewarm welcoming to this in the grocery store. What changed for this company?

LA MONICA: Yes, I think that there are obviously elements of the world we live in right now where supply chain concerns and COVID are two major

factors that are hurting a lot of companies.

But I think we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that Beyond Meat, even though it does have this very buzzy partnership with McDonald's for its

plant burger, you have Impossible really doing a good job now also with the Burger King Impossible Whopper and also gaining shelf space in supermarkets

so that you can get Impossible plant based products not just Beyond.

So, I think this is a pace of not necessarily the category thing in trouble as much as you can't be a leader forever without competition coming in, and

Beyond Meat has some pretty significant rivals, Impossible being first and foremost.

KOSIK: All right, Paul La Monica, thanks for breaking all that down for us.

And it's been another wild trading day for this SPAC linked to Donald Trump's social media venture. Shares in Digital World Acquisition were

halted again Friday after the share price doubled again. It's now up eight- fold since its market debut on Thursday and there are signs on Reddit, that retail investor crowd that it may be getting involved here.

The Trump SPAC reportedly is attracting interest from traders at Wall Street Bets. That's the Reddit group at the heart of the GameStop saga

earlier this year.

[15:25:08]

KOSIK: I want to bring in Matt Egan. He is here with more details. Great to see you, Matt. I'm so glad you're following this because this is

intriguing on a number of levels.

When you see the stock do so well and be so volatile, is its performance indicative, do you think of how successful this new media venture will be?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, that's a good question. I don't think we know the answer to that yet, Alison. We do know that this looks like

another meme stock and this time, a meme stock backed by the former leader of the free world.

This company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation, it was up. It quadrupled yesterday, it was up at one point today nearly 300 percent. That

lifted up more than 1,600 percent since the deal was announced Wednesday night. And even though it has come way off its highs, you know, this is

still a company where the market valuation of well north of $2 billion.

One strategist told me that to see a pop like this is extremely unusual after a merger announcement. Some of these SPACs, they're up like 10

percent, not up over 1,000 percent.

Now, we do know that this company is drawing some interest from Wall Street Bets, which is that Reddit trading group that helped fuel GameStop earlier

this year. This company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation is the fourth most mentioned stock on Reddit today. That is called -- that is from

Swaggy Stocks, which tracks these social media mentions.

But listen, we do need to urge investors to tread very carefully here. The Trump media company, you know appears to be an entity with no revenue and

no known product just yet. They are planning to launch a social media platform, but that hasn't happened.

And you know, taking the politics out of it. I talked to the University of Florida Professor Jay Ritter who studies IPOs and he told me that companies

that go public and have no revenue at the time, they have an abysmal track record.

Normally, these merger announcements, they would contain projections of revenue. They would contain information on capital structure, this one did

not include any of that, and yet, the stock is way up. Maybe that's because, you know, without any known revenue, the company could be worth

anything you want it to be. It's hard to argue what the fundamentals are when we don't even know what the revenue is.

The other thing to remember here is that, you know, President Trump, he clearly has a very big following. So, it is easy to see how that could

translate into a social media platform with some influence and that could eventually turn into some real revenue.

But we also know that former President Trump, he has a history of filing for bankruptcies. His businesses have filed for four bankruptcies, all of

them related to casino companies that he owned in Atlantic City.

And Alison, the last time that Trump was involved in an IPO was in 1995 when he took one of those casino companies public, but that company lost

money every year it was public, and a decade later, it filed for bankruptcy.

KOSIK: Certainly not a good track record. You know, it could be that these investors are interested in his ideology. They may be interested in this

venture, or they may just be looking to turn a quick buck. Who knows?

Matt Egan, thanks so much for your reporting.

And we'll be back with more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:34]

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Honeywell has cut its sales forecast for the year. The industrial group says there's an uncertain

global environment to deal with. That's not stopping it from launching new technology though. The company is developing a new cloud connected cockpit

system for planes designed to work more like a smartphone. The head of Honeywell aerospace explained to Richard how it works and knowing how much

he likes flying, they decided to give him a try as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE MADSEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, HONEYWELL AEROSPACE: The Anthem cockpit is a complete game changer for aerospace. First of all, it's modular. So that

means building block approach. It can be used on any type of aircraft, urban air mobility, helicopter all the way up to an air transport aircraft.

And because it's modular, gives the same pilot experience through all those different aircraft. That's a big part of the success.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: When you already have great tentacles in the avionics and in the A.P. use and the wheels and the brakes

that you were telling me about. Why this? Why have you done this?

MADSEN: Well, a couple of things. First of all, the cockpit is the heart of the aircraft.

QUEST: Right.

MADSEN: Absolutely this -- it's the -- it's the pilot interface.

QUEST: But what does this give them?

MADSEN: So what this gives them is connectivity. First of all, connectivity is always connected, so the pilots can upload their flight plans ahead of

time. Airlines can download information from the aircraft, when it lands, it's always connected. That takes a lot of time out of preparing the

airplane and turning the airplane around when it lands. Second, it's got an completely intuitive user interface, very much like an iPad or a tablet or

an iPhone, smartphone.

It operates in a very similar fashion. You can expand the screens, slide the screens change, have what you want on a screen. All of this aimed at

having a simpler, safer pilot experience. Makes it easier to fly the plane.

QUEST: Right. But we've also learned in recent years of the difficulties with information overload, or what we'll might describe as the startle

effect. And if there's one thing that has become clear, is that the glass cockpit has huge benefits, but does require tremendous concentration.

MADSEN: Well, it's actually a big part of our focus with this cockpit was to be able to provide to the pilot what they need to see and only what they

need to see when they need to see it. Through the different phases of flight based on the type of aircraft it's in, and also based on the

situation that the aircraft is in. It doesn't overload them. It has a ton of power behind the scenes. But it's -- you're able to see just what you

want to see, when you need to see it and not what you don't need to see.

Minimizing the distractions. It's very important point to enable pilots to fly these more complex modern aircraft.

QUEST: If we talk more generally about aviation, the sustainability, IATA has just passed net zero 2050. Everybody in Boston accepted an element of

responsibility and then promptly tried to pass the buck to somebody else. Everybody said we've got to do orbit but actually really well said I demand

from fuel. We have (INAUDIBLE) I demand from OEMs. I demand from manufacturers. So what's your responsibility to help the industry get to

2015 net zero?

MADSEN: Well, it's everything we do really is aimed at efficiency, productivity, safety, efficiency, a big part of that is fuel.

[15:35:00]

MADSEN: This cockpit will enable the pilot to operate the plane more efficiently, not only preflight and post flight, but also get to their

destination more efficiently. You think about a one-hour flight, if you can take two or three or four minutes off that flight by navigating the

aircraft more precisely. It's three percent savings, four percent savings, five percent savings. It's significant. It also enables the pilots to spend

less time training more time flying.

That's a big part of what the airlines cost structure is to with the pilot community. And by saving airlines money, they can put that money back into

things that make the aircraft more efficient.

QUEST: Can I fly it?

MADSEN: Absolutely. We're going to let you take a spin here and I think you're going to find that it really is very intuitive. If you can run a

smartphone you can fly an airplane with our cockpit.

QUEST: Well, let's try it. Let's have a go. All right, sir. Show me how we fly.

JASON BIALEK, HONEYWALL ANTHEM PRODUCT LINE DIRECTOR: OK. So airmanship and simple interfaces. So what you're talking about, a lot of times we have

pilots who are actually good airman but they get distracted. So we're constantly working on minimizing the distractions.

MADSEN: I think -- I think one of the important points that you mentioned, Richard, is what -- when things get hectic and you're in a challenging

environment that's the time to simplify the information.

QUEST: Yes.

MADSEN: Not rely on all that detail that you learned when you were going to flight school.

(CROSSTALK)

MADSEN: I lost my champagne --

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: Where's the airport?

BIALEK: It's straight ahead there. About 12:00. Stop. About with a maybe 2000 feet remaining, something like that.

MADSEN: You're down.

(CROSSTALK)

BIALEK: Excellent.

MADSEN: Wait, I'm supposed to get off in Cleveland.

QUEST: There you go. Oh (INAUDIBLE)

MADSEN: You're going to be checked out and this thing in another 15 minutes, Richard. You're going to be a qualified pilot.

QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) sir.

BIALEK: Not a problem.

QUEST: Thank you.

MADSEN: Thank you, sir.

QUEST: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Richard did pretty well, but I don't think I want them flying me anywhere. The pandemic sparked an explosion in online grocery delivery. One

Dubai entrepreneur is delivering groceries to the sea and canals around the city and doing so in a sustainable way. Anna Stewart has the latest. Think

Big.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: It's like your everyday shop. Shelves packed with snacks, sunscreen, swimming goggles. But here all hands on deck is

literally the case. It's called an aqua pod, and it offers everything needed for a summer day on the water in Dubai.

AHMED YOUSSEF, CO-FOUNDER, AQUATIC ARCHITECTS DESIGN STUDIO: So the big idea behind the Aqua pod is to bridge the gap between the onshore living

which has been living on main land and the offshore living and to have a self-sustained or sustainable community advocacy.

STEWART: Before years, Ahmed Youssef has been building floating pods that can provide all kinds of services. This supermarket can serve customers

that float through and hop aboard, or it can deliver through an app specially designed for customers at sea.

YOUSSEF: The application itself is also customized for the marine environment and therefore the kind of address it intakes from the customer

is their boat name, their boat number, and this is how we can find it easily at sea and fulfill the orders.

STEWART: Ahmed is a serial entrepreneur. He also launched a burger joint and a lounge that expands.

YOUSSEF: The echo pod Lounge is expanding, which gives it 25 percent more space to its interior. And as you can see now the sofas are actually

stepping out of the aqua pods.

STEWART: When floating offshore, the pods must work off grid and that means on the roof solar panels. Below deck, desalination tanks produce fresh

water. And overboard the container collects floating trash from the sea.

YOUSSEF: It's also safeguarding the environment and that's what makes the aqua pod a development that is completely different from a normal boat or a

marine craft.

STEWART: According to the company, the aqua pod supermarket serves up to 50 different boats on peak days. For groceries, Ahmed's sustainable pods are

quite an attraction and he has bigger plans. From floating homes to sport centers and entire mobile communities. He might have a reason with a

quarter of a billion in the world vulnerable to rising sea levels, self- sufficiency, fairing structures could help.

YOUSSEF: Getting your power sources from the sea, getting direct access to abundant water source from the sea. These are all very important aspects to

cities that are looking to always have the capacity to find different alternatives and solutions to adapt to the ever changing economy,

environment and developments.

[15:40:01]

STEWART: In the meantime, Ahmed keeps afloat and is now fishing for new customers in fresh waters. Anna Stewart, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Alison Kosik in New York. You can connect with me on Instagram and Twitter @AlisonKosik. I'll be back at

the top of the hour as we make a dash for the closing bell. Up next, Quests World of Wonder. And speaking of wonders of the world, we'll leave you

tonight with these remarkable live pictures of a volcanic La Palma in the Canary Islands. Have a great weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:58:17]

KOSIK: Hello. I'm Alison Kosik. It's the dash to the closing bell. We're just two minutes away. The Dow looks like it's going to finish the week at

a new record high. It's already hit an intraday high during the session. Despite a small wobble around lunchtime it is set to finish higher for the

third time this week. Meantime, the S&P 500 is close to the record highs it said on Thursday. Tech stocks have been weighing it down.

The NASDAQ is off almost one percent. The head of the National Association of Manufacturers in the United States says the struggle to hire workers is

hurting supply chains across the country. Speaking to me on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Jay Timmons said the number of open jobs was a huge problem for

the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY TIMMONS, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS: I think when we're looking at the supply chain issues,

Alison, probably the number one issue that we're seeing in manufacturing is the -- frankly the skills gap that we have. The fact that we have 900,000

open jobs and manufacturing today. So that is slowing down our ability to produce and manufacture the products that we need for everyday life, which

is why the NAMM has kicked off our creators wanted campaign to attract and inspire the next generation of manufacturing workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And a sigh of relief for Evergrande. The Chinese property giant at risk of bankruptcy has managed to stay afloat, at least for now. State

media Evergrande has avoided an immediate default with just hours to spare. The company made a payment on international debt that had a final deadline

this Saturday. Its problems not over though, with another deadline looming next week.

And that's your dash to the closing bell. I'm Alison Kosik in New York. Closing bell is ringing on wall street. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts

now.

[16:00:02]

KOSIK: Have a good weekend.

END