you're in the cnn newsroom where the news unfolds live this saturday, september 17th. a frightening plane crash caught on tape at an air race in reno, nevada. the pilot jimmy leeward and two people on the ground were killed. dozens more were injured. witnesses say could it have been much worse. they credit leeward with maneuvering his p-51 mustang away from the crowd anticipate grandstands just seconds before impact. our dan simons is there. dan? >> reporter: we're expecting a news conference in the next 15 minutes. where hopefully we'll get more information from federal investigators as they comb through the wreckage looking for clues as to what brought that plane down. in the meantime i want to introduce you to another

eyewitness. this is bes bessi murphy, a nur far west virginia. what did you see? >> i was further away. i was in the pits area. at the point i did not see the actual impact. what i had heard was all call for medical personnel as they were asking for people to leave. so i responded, and when i got on the scene, they were quickly within just a couple of minutes from my time to get to the area, they already had the people triaged, had the ambulances available, had the situation pretty much under control. they still had people looking for families and friends, people were still in shock, so they were still trying to get people out of the area but as far as emergency responders, they had the situation pretty well under control. >> that's why we wanted to talk to you because you're a nurse back home in west virginia. you came here on vacation to see

the races. and you chipped in to help, essentially. >> exactly. they had asked for all medical personnel. there were others that responded to the call as well. and you just went in and kind of helped out as you could. >> what we've heard thus far and it hasn't been updated for some time is that there were three people confirmed dead, 50 people or so taken away from the scene. can you give me a range in terms of the kinds of injuries you saw? >> well, the bulk of the injuries would have been from, a lot of the cuts, lacerations from the flying shrapnel, from the plane on impact so that was the bulk of the injury. >> and the plane, you couldn't really see much wreckage, correct? >> no. it was in smaller pieces at that point. and it was scattered. so that was the cause of the injuries. >> all right. thank you very much. fred, one of the things that we

hope we'll get more information about is this growing speculation that a piece of the plane actually dislodged mid-flight what's called the elevator trim tab. i've seen pictures of this taken by one photographer that clearly shows something that came off of that plane. there's some speculation that it was in fact this trim tab that keeps it stable and hopefully investigators will address that in a little while when we expect to have this news conference again in about 15 minutes from now. >> all right. we look forward to that. thanks so much, dan simon. jimmy leeward was a veteran flyer. the 74-year-old florida real estate developer even worked as a stunt pilot for the movies. leeward flew stunt scenes in "the tuskegee airmen" and "amelia." days before the crash he expressed confidence about how he would do. >> right now i think we've calculated out, we're as fast as

anybody in the field or maybe even a little faster. but to start with we really didn't want to show our hand until about saturday or sunday. >> again, sadly pilot leeward died in that crash. a memorial that was scheduled for leeward in reno today has now been cancelled. all right. take a closer look at this photograph. the photograph of leeward's p-51 mustang taken just before the crash. is getting a whole lot of attention right now. that circled area right there, you'll notice there's a piece missing. that elevator trim tab that our dan simon was talking about, steve cowell is an aviation expert and knows jimmy leeward. steve, i know this is very difficult to talk about the examination of this plane just hours after a man that you knew died. >> well, it is very difficult. jimmy and i had met several

years ago at the international council of air shows. our connection was through the tuskegee airmen. my plane was utilized by those men during world war ii. he, of course, flew in the movie. >> all right. so now let's talk about what took place just prior to that crash taking place. the plane that leeward was on, let's look at that photograph one more time and examine what perhaps a lot of aviation experts are now examining as well this elevator trim tab the area that's circled. apparently it's missing and you heard from that one interview earlier who said it may have come off at some point from takeoff. and then being in the air and then plunging. explain how vital this piece is to that tail and what it generally would control? >> what the elevator trim tab will do is it will relief the control pressure from the pilot.

so the pilot isn't always having to pull back or push forward on the stick. he can ad just that tab so that he has a neutral feel for the aircraft in any particular configuration, whether you're going straight, turning, climbing, or descending. >> and this may break off at perhaps take off if that were the case then clearly there was some sort of fatigue, perhaps on that tail. these planes are inspected many times over. what would they be looking for if there was any way of preventing this kind of break off? >> well, first and foremost they are going to be looking at the log books of the airplane. they have a record of all of the inspections. the next thing they are going to be talking to will be the mechanics that were involved in inspecting the airplane prior to jimmy taking off, in addition they are going to be looking for anything else amongst all the

pieces that may have contributed to the cause of this accident. >> and this would take place at a very popular race, you saw that there were so many people there, three people died including the pilot. clearly it could have been much worse too. it was just an issue of where it made impact. narrowly missing the grandstand area. >> well, that's correct. now, the grandstands are actually about a quarter of a mile from the racecourse. the racecourse for the p-51 mustang is denoted by pylons and it's about an eight mile course because of the speed of the aircraft. the crowd is kept at a very safe distance, much more than the required distance by the faa. >> all right. and so you don't in any way question the safety of air shows such as this? >> absolutely not. air shows are just a wonderful

form of entertainment and where safety is absolutely paramount. not only to the crowd but to the performers. >> steve cowell thank you so much for your expertise. we're monitoring the ntsb news conference that's expected to get under way minutes from now. later on this hour we'll talk to one man who was there when that plane crashed. his eyewitness account at 3:45 eastern time. other news now today. ted kennedy's only daughter has died. kara kennedy was 51 years old. she's seen here in 2009 accepting her father's presidential medal of freedom from president barack obama. she died of a heart attack yesterday after a workout at a washington area health club. and another prominent death in the news. former u.s. senator charles percy, the moderate illinois republican served in the senate for nearly 20 years and became the chairman of the powerful foreign relations committee. in recent years he was battling

alzheimer's disease. he died today at a washington, d.c. hospice. he was 91 years old. new york state police are looking for a missing soldier they say is armed and dangerous. russell markham escaped from military custody thursday night. the 20-year-old is accused of burglary. a ground swell of support for a georgia man set to be executed on wednesday, 42-year-old troy davis insists he did not kill a savannah policeman back in 1989. rally supporting davis is being held around the world this weekend including this one in atlanta. several witnesses pointed to davis as the shooter have recanted their testimony. but the vick aems mother still thinks davis is guilty and says she has been waiting for justice too long. >> it has been hell. because i would like to have

some peace. i would like to have this situation over with. we are the victims. and those people that recanted, why did they wait 17 years before they recanted? they should have done it if they felt that way earlier. not when the final time has come now. >> supporters of troy davis are calling on the state board of pardons and paroles to grant clemency. we're keeping our ears and eyes open regarding iran today. expecting to hear at any time now whether two american citizens convicted of being spies will actually be released today. talking about shane bauer and josh fattal. they have been locked up in iran for two years now. let's go live now to oman. mohamed, any news on their release? >> reporter: well, still a lot of questions even at this hour.

there's been nothing definitive from the judiciary in iran whether the two hikers will be released today, actually this evening here in this part of the world. now all day we've been speaking to the lawyer for josh fattal and shane bauer and he indicated he was feeling very positive and very optimistic about the prospect of his client's release today. why was he feeling so positive about it? he told us he went to the court earlier today. one judge signed the documents saying that the bail had been posted for his clients and all that remain in this procedure was for another judge to sign those documents and that that should be done at any time. at this stage we don't know if it's been done. we don't know how much the bail was that was posted and when exactly they will be released. there's a lot of speculation they could be released any time in the coming hours. a lot of people inned in this case making sure they are released. the reason why we're here in oman, last year when sarah

shourd was released, the first stop after she left iran was here in oman because the omanis had arranged for her bail. the omanies sometimes act as mediator between the u.s. and iran. >> mohamed, thanks so much. a beetle that takes a bride again. sir mccartney's wedding plans. who is this bride to me? we'll let you know next. ♪ whoa! hey! [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪

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bahrain. crowds of anti-government demonstrators during and after a funeral killed by riot police tear gas. then mccartney making it official that he's getting married again. mccartney and his fiancee filed paper work yesterday at the same town hall where he and linda mccartney married back in 1969. the bride is an american. his third marriage her second. and you think the germans know how to throw a beer festival. check out oktoberfest, phillipine style. that's 1,200 beer mugs stacked up right there. stacked up to 30 feet tall to kick off a nationwide celebration of food and drink and festivities. walk very carefully around that beer mug. or it will come tumbling down. are you using a computer or smartphone might be easy for you

but for thousands of disabled people these are tools they can't use. one company is helping them communicate by blinking. gary tuckman has this week as technovations. >> reporter: drew miller was 43 with no major health issues until als limited his ability to sneak and move. now he can communicate and connect online with the blink of an eye. >> it's revolutionizing life for people with disabilities. now they have a communication tool. they can take part in social media. >> reporter: for drew and people with similar disabilities, eye tracking technology is a huge part of their eyes. it can become part of everyone's sooner than you think. new computers let you flip through folders, scan over maps, select music with a glance of your eye. >> in the next five to ten years eye tracking technology will be in almost every device you use on a day to day basis.

>> reporter: which could mean using your eyes to adjust settings in your car, scroll through the web and even play games. it looks like a lot of fun but can also give insight to how we think. >> so many things about the way your eyes move is related to how are you brain is working. >> reporter: also helping doctors spot early developmental problems in children and rehabilitate people with traumatic brain injuries. it's the technology of tomorrow with advantages you can see today. gary tuckman, cnn. >> you want to live a healthy life so are your eating the healthiest foods on the planet? take a look at these top foods from fitness magazine. number ten beans. nine spinach. number eight garlic. seven avocados. number six walnuts. the top five when we come back. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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we're talking healthy eating for healthy life tile. fitness magazine is out with it's top ten healthiest foods on the la net. we listed five of them before the break. chew on this. number five, salmon. pots to. number four dark chocolate. my producer's favorite on the list. number two broccoli and number one lemons.

that sucks. maybe not. all right. there's a lot of talk and blog chatter this week surrounding the positive arsenic in apple juice. dr. oz highlighted the concern on his show. his former classmate and colleague called him on the carpet on abc's "good morning america". take a look. >> we had some concerns about arsenic in april many juice not because we thought about it but other groups independent of ours over the last three years have been publishing reports about this. i have to call into question some of the assumptions you make. you claim most of the arsenic in apple juice is of the organic type. that's not true. the only study i looked at that value waited high levels of arsenic which was published from the university of arizona in 2009 showed most of the arsenic was -- >> have to interrupt you. how can you go on the air and

publish arsenic results without breaking it down into total -- into inorganic and organic and the dangerous kind and the kind that's not dangerous. any food lab that does testing does total first and then looks to see if it's harmful. how can you tell people it's harmful without doing those tests and how can you do testing in just in one lab without getting those results confirmed with other labs. no good scientist would do that kind of work. >> i disagree. we looked at the total -- >> okay. that was quite the argument. so what do we need to know about the arsenic and the difference between organic and inorganic arsenic is the subject of our weekly look,000 get and stay healthy. we have a forensic trained pathologist in san diego now. for those who did not see the program in question can you summarize the controversy arsenic contamination or it's

included to some degree in some apple juices. >> sure. what he was saying is that bottles packaged bottles of imported apple juice made from concentrate that there were dangerous levels of arsenic present within the apple juice. but that's where dr. bessler got on top of him. they claim it came from contaminated water that was added to the mix and in many parts of the natural world water may be contaminated with this arsenic. here's the problem. dr. oz reported inaccurate or incomplete test results. he reported a number called total arsenic. total arsenic is made of that dangerous inorganic and dangerous organic. meanwhile the fda got whiff of this and did their own test on the same batches of apple juice. not so fast. the levels are far lower than you said and so low you can test. >> far lower -- >> we're not even going test.

>> very low of the total arsenic or very low of arsenic? maybe not the inorganic. >> fda said hey dr. oz you reported total, you report ad number of 36. we repeated all the tests and the total number is somewhere down between three and six which is very safe and so low we're not even going to test for the inorganic. they went back to a second laboratory. the point about that is whenever you get an unexpected high level on any test reorder the test and reorder from some other place. that's what the fda did. they found the numbers were so low we couldn't measure. we weren't going measure. >> so where is some of the places we fine organic arsenic. this is the safe arsenic. >> sure. arsenic itself of course is an element that's present in the soil, in our water and in our air. when it combines with compounds like chlorine and sulphur that's when it becomes dangerous. it's a poison at that point and

can kill cells throughout the body. the damage that comes from inorganic arsenic occurs over months to years. it's cumulative damage. can affect the bone marrow where you make your blood cells, affect the skin and cause kidney damage. inorganic in a high dose over a long period of time can be lethal. >> dr. oz went to the air waves one more time. he talked to our t.j. holmes and this is what he had to say. >> we have shared our methodology and la bra information. it's on our set. we've given to it the fda. i want a conversation. i don't want folks decide on their own oh, it's too complicated for me to figure out. american apples don't have arsenic. why do we ban arsenic on apples and still taking apples from other countries into this

nation. once in while we need to figure we're getting what we're supposed to. some companies don't have arsenic others do in their apple juice. >> so, what's the takeaway then? should we feel comfortable with grabbing that bottle of apple juice from concentrate or fresh or otherwise? >> i've been to enough medical conferences when a doctor has been called out and now he begins the tap dance. it's albio gus and no one should be afraid to drink apple juice. fda has done a wonderful job in protecting the sources of food we enjoy. everyone should enjoy their apple juice and not be concerned. >> something told me you were take a sip. all right thank you. cheers. >> we'll talk again soon. >> thank you.

how does jennifer hudson feel about losing 80 pounds. she says she's prouder of that than she is of her academy award. my conversation with her next. customers' needs,

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nationwide is on your side. jennifer hudson isn't just a powerhouse singer and academy award winner actress she's a spokesperson for weight watchers and she's been speaking out in the intersection between obesity

and hunger. i first asked hudson what inspired her to go from size 16 to size zero? >> a huge part of it for me just like the lose it campaign is about helping the children be healthy and, you know, things like that and making sure they are eating at the same time. i wanted to set an example for my son. that was a huge part of it. after being pregnant and wanting my body back and knowing i could do whatever i want to do with it. having the child and wanting to be table set an example for him which i did not have growing up. i wanted him to have a fair shot and fair chance. if nothing else he knew, he had that example. so that's what inspired me to do it. >> so now as america tries to digest these numbers about obesity and hunger, and that the obesity rates are climbing as are the numbers in hunger, too many families, too many children are going hungry, how do you

think america should be tackling this? what's the problem here? >> they should definitely tackle it. nobody should be hungry. and, again, that's the great part of weight watchers while we're losing somebody else is gaining. we know somebody sells eating because things are given from that and so that makes, that inspires us that much more. definitely something we should tackle and it's no reason why we can't help each other. >> david, a lot of people have a hard time understanding how is it do you have obesity at the same time you have hunger in the very communities, segments of our population dealing with an overweight problem there's the issue of hunger. >> yeah. i mean it is one of the great paradoxes we have two significant health issues in this country. one is obesity which is driving chronic disease. the second is poverty of which statistics just came out very recently which shows how bad that's gotten. ironically those who have the fewest means are left to

purchase the cheapest calories and too often it's those things heavy in added sugars and fats. you have this sad effect obesity is at its worse with low-income communities. >> understand that weight watchers donates a dollar to a group that works to fight hunger in america with every pound a member actually lose. explain to me how that works and how that will benefit a lot of people. >> lose for good which is the program we're running now. as our members lose weight we're making contributions to two programs. share of strength which is to discussion on school breakfast and action against hung certificate doing amazing things overseas. as our members lose weight they can see the benefit of that your own health improving while at the same time seeing benefit in the community more broadly. >> jennifer, you're really tackling a lot. weight watcher. every designer is coming your way. they want to dress you.

there was a great segment of the population, a lot of women who said you know what jennifer hudson was allowing a lot of women to feel big and feel very beautiful and now they are seeing a lot more svelte jennifer hudson and they feel betrayed. what do you say why you came down in your weight and how do you respond to those who feel betrayed. >> there's nothing wrong in being the big girl that they may be. that should depend on. at the end of the day it's what you want for yourself and how you feel for yourself. no matter what size that is it's what you want for yourself. it's nothing else. not about size. it's about good health and least for me it's about good health. overall what you want for yourself. if you want to be that big girl, be the fiercest big girl you can possibly be and i'll be the healthiest fierce girl i can be.

>> fierce and healthy. people in so low income neighborhoods, they are not getting nutrition that they need. vegetables and fruits are not sold in the local stores there. one cnn hero is working to change this. her story in minutes. checking our top stories right now. federal investigators are heading to reno, nevada to determine what cause ad world war ii plane to crash during an air race. three people were killed including the pilot. dozens more injured. the p-51 mustang slammed into box states nearly missing the crowded grandstands. witnesses are calling the pilot a hero. no word from iran on whether two u.s. citizens are out of prison or will be shortly. iran's prison said a few days ago he expected josh fattal and

shane fwbauer to be released. some are calling this the u.s. version of tahrir square. they said occupy wall street. they are mostly young, overeducated and underemployed. the leaderless group is asking people to head to wall street, set up camp and stay put for two months and repeat one simple demand. the group has not decided yet. striking teachers in tacoma, washington are defying a judge's order to return network. the judge warns he may consider legal sanctions during a hearing for september 27th. nearly 2,000 teachers walked out tuesday after stalled contract negotiations. classes are cancelled for monday. america's war vets are being hit especially hard when it comes to finding a job. the unemployment rate for men and women returning from afghanistan and iraq is more

than 11%. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr shows us how a former marine is helping to fix that problem one crop at a time. >> i'm a city girl tell me what this is. >> all kind of edibles growing. right here is curly dog. kind of sour. you can cut this raw in a salad. cook it. >> reporter: after serving in the marine corps reconnaissance unit in iraq, mike haynes returned home in 2004, plagued with such severe combat stress he couldn't work, he found himself homeless. >> when i came back, i really had extremely difficult time transitioning, and i just could not interact or associate with society at all. >> reporter: then mike came to this farm just outside of san diego. here fellow marine and his wife teach farming combat veterans looking for new careers.

it's much needed help. the jobless rate for iraq and afghanistan war veterans is 11.5% in today's already fragile job market. and mike was vulnerable. >> frequently he gave us a call and said you know i don't think i'll make it. we koercoerced him. >> reporter: now a new slew lif mapped out. >> i got to find out if they sell it in huge containers. >> i'll call my main distributor. >> reporter: mike is going into production with his own hot sauce. he's trying to get it open market shelves this fall. an army veteran, dwight felt a connection. >> here's a person i want to get involved in this and it fit in with what i do for work, but gave menu opportunities to help him develop his label, his

brand. >> reporter: mike says he's learned to seek support but for combat vets getting any job can be tough. >> it's hard to find support for these vet rasp coming back because there's so much involved with turning that off. you know, the on switch that's been triggered when you're in combat. >> reporter: perhaps something switched on for dwight thinking about whether helping a young vet get ahead makes him feel like he's still serving. >> that's funny. i haven't even thought of that in that way. yeah. maybe so. maybe it's a rewarding feeling that i didn't get when i was doing it at the time. interesting. >> barbara starr joining me now from washington. what about other programs or people trying their best to help out veterans. >> reporter: in the president's new job there's, as a matter of

fact, a number of programs trying to offer tax credits and other incentives to hire veterans. it will remain to be seen if congress passes that. one of the big efforts to get jobs for veterans. it bad, isn't it? very difficult for too many veterans to find work. >> reporter: it is, indeed. you know the veterans unemployment rate you mentioned 11.5% for younger iraq and afghanistan veterans. in some places it's running double than that especially in rural areas, small towns veterans, home towns that want they go back to. it can be up to double that and many young veterans say if they don't choose to go school the best they can hope for is some minimum wage paying job and that is not what they are looking for. most of them, of course, are looking for careers and good paying jobs just like the rest of us. >> absolutely. thanks so much especially after so much that they have been through and experienced.

barbara starr in washington, thank you. your doctor says you should eat more fruits, vegetables. what if you can't find them in your neighborhood store? our cnn hero is shipping it in, 33,000 pounds of roduce at a time.

diabetes related amputations and deaths are rampant in many low-income areas. stunned by the poor health and the lack of fresh foods in her east harlem neighborhood, this week's cnn hero is bringing nutrition to the street. >> i grew up in very low-income areas. i experience ad lot of poverty, homelessness as a child as well. it taught me to redefine myself and not let your past determine your future. when i moved to new york to school i was living in east harlem and there's very few places to buy fruits and vegetabl vegetables. people were super mall our jishd. i saw the connection between poverty and obesity. it seemed unjust. i had to do something about it. i'm giving nourishment to people who are literally dying for it.

>> free collard green. >> change is possible. if you want somebody to try a tomato give them a tomato. they have to feel it, touch it. people won't change unless something in them changes. we go some place where other people won't go. we're giving classes. you can eat healthy on a low budget. >> what are these? >> grapes. >> what is this. >> chicken. >> we want them to start early on. ate ripple effect for the rest of their life. >> at the end of the day the parent are the ones doing the shopping. we have to win them over as well. >> when i see a child it remind them of opportunities that i didn't have and i want them to success seed. it's about pulling yourself up and never accept nothing and i can see it in people's faces. people are getting it. >> all year we've been

introducing you to remarkable every day people who are changing the world. next thursday we'll announce this year's top ten heroes on cnn.com and can you vote for the one cnn hero that inspires you the most online and this year on your mobile device as well, all ten will be honored live at cnn heroes, an all-star tribute hosted by anderson cooper but only one will be named cnn hero the year. witnesses to that horrible plane crash in nevada say it was like a battle zone. we'll hear from one of the witnesses next. we were so blessed when we had triplets. if by blessed you mean freaked out about money. well, we suddenly noticed that everything was getting more expensive,

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ntsb is there in reno and momentarily taking the podium there. when that happens we'll take you live. so witnesses are sharing some of the chilling details about what happened before, during and after that crash. this all happened during a race in reno, nevada. dr. gerald lint was sitting near the back of the bleachers when the p-51 mustang crashinged. he's joining us right now by phone. explain to me, sir, what happened. >> well, i just got in the grandstand to watch the last race, and i sat down on the edge of the grandstand and there was a second, i think it was a second lap or two, two planes went by and i watched the third plane and whenplane. when he got in front of the grandstand he went straight up in the air. i thought it was a mayday call where he had an engine fail where they go straight up and

turn infield. he went straight up in the air, turned a loop upside down. he was coming down right for the grandstand. and so everyone started diving for cover and he turned a little bit and went right into the vip area. there was about seven, eight rows of booths on the tarmac in front of the grand stand. he dove right into one of the set of booths there and big, big terrific noise and big black cloud came up. no fire. it was just devastation. >> incredible. it seemed to happen so fast. did you see whether people started running, you know, for their lives? was it a moment where people started worrying about where that plane was going to come down? >> yes. people on the grandstand, the guy beside me jumped off the edge of the grandstand just a split second before it hit. i jumped off the grandstand and

twisted an ankle. people didn't have much time to react. people high in the grandstand didn't have anywhere to go. but the people in the vip booths, they didn't have time. they saw it coming straight down and they didn't have much time to do anything. >> have you been to these air races before? >> yes. i go to them just about every year except when i was in the military and i was gone out of the country. goi to them every year. >> you never feel unsafe or that anything could happen? you feel good about them? >> well, you're sitting in the bleachers and they come around the pylon there on the west side, they come down in front of you. if they miss the pylon they will be over the bleachers, but i don't feel unsafe. i wouldn't feel unsafe going to a race like the indianapolis. >> dr. gerald lent, thank you very much for your perspective. we'll go to reno now to hear from members of the national transportation safety board.

>> the investigator in charge of the accident, mr. howard clagens. he's nobody as the iic or investigator in charge. at 8:30 this morning the rest of the ntsb team arrived. our first activity was to basically walk through what had happened so far. so we walked the accident site, had a chance to speak with the ntsb investigators -- the three that were here at the time of the accident -- and get an update on their current activities. let me tell you about those current activities. the investigators have isolated the accident site. they have walked the accident scene which means that they have gone through and identified and processed the wreckage. the reno police department and nevada highway patrol is mapping

the wreckage area with a very high technology gps laser system. the runway has been swept. that's in preparation to open up for operation again. the ntsb investigators have also made initial contact with the racing team crew. also, as part of the ntsb team that arrived today, we have members of the safety board's office of transportation disaster assistance. they are here to work with local resources. i really want to emphasize that this is just the beginning of this accident investigation. and the focus now is on gathering factual information. there will be periodic briefings and you will be informed by public affairs so that we can update you on information that's learned over the course of the investigation. i would like to finish by thanking all of the first responders for their efforts yesterday and ongoing assistance

of the ntsb in this investigation. we are going to take a few questions from you. we have folks here on the phone as well. and we are open for questions now. >> what's the latest casualty count? >> first of all, the city of reno will be compiling all the information about fatalities and injuries. since we knew that you would have that question, we are very fortunate to have deputy chief evans from the reno police department to give you an update. >> first name, please? >> excuse me? >> first name. >> dave evans, deputy chief, reno, p.d. i'm going to go through the latest totals we have. there is no more information i have at this point but we can update you at a later date. we transported 54 patients from the scene here to area hospitals. of those 54 hospitals reported two fatalities. we also have a total of seven

fatalities that we know of at this time on the tarmac to include the pilot. 17 folks are still being treated at local hospitals. a total of 24 have been treated and released. that's the very current information we have at this time. >> would that be a total of nine fatalities then? >> yes. correct. >> thank you. other questions. >> sir, can you talk about whether a plane like this has a black box or other data reporting device. >> so the question is whether a plane like this has any kind of recording device. it's very unlikely. the investigators have raised the question because of some of the modifications to the aircraft. it's unclear given the impact and the speed whether there is going to be anything available but they are looking for that. >> there is a photograph apparently out there showing the plane with a piece of the tail section missing prior to the crash. is that an area of concentration for you guys?

>> the question is there are pictures and video showing a piece of the -- appearing to show that a piece of the aircraft came off. we are aware of that. in fact, a component has been recovered in the area where that was observed. but i think it is critical at this point to know that we have not identified the component. it will be examined. so we don't really know what the component is or if it came from this particular aircraft. we are very clearly going to focus on that. that's part of the factual information gathering that's going on now. >> we talk about video and photo -- >> yes. the question is how photos and video will play a role in this investigation. and, in fact, that's one of the activities that's now going on -- >> we'll continue to listen to this press conference involving the national transportation safety board there as they investigate the crash that took place in reno, nevada, at this air race. now officials are saying the

death toll, nine people died when this vintage aircraft, as you see right there also caught on videotape when it went down. nine people, including the pilot. all right. we'll return to reno. the site of the crash at the top of the hour. cnn has two crews on the scene gathering new information. we'll be right back. in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade and check my investment portfolio, research stocks, and set conditional orders. wait, why are you taking... oh, i see. hey max, would it kill you to throw a guy a warning bark? [ dog barks ] you know i wanted a bird. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry.

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