louisiana coast. the school is heading north after spending the winter in warmer waters. thanks for joining us we'll see you at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. "fox and friends" starts right now. good morning. today is tuesday, march 24th. and i'm in for elizabeth hasselbeck. a fox news alert, he is the first official presidential candidate for 2016. to the media, ted cruz is just another target. >> who is ted cruz? it's an uncompromising secret service. a no gun control, no irs. >> stop it, it's scaring me. >> my gosh, i'm frightened. >> wait till you hear how he responds to this one. oh, brother. a gun store owner, banked with a local credit union until they told him this.

>> firearms, ammunition, auction ears and check cashing companies. >> did the government antigun agenda force a shutdown of his accounts. just two years after a double mastectomy, angelina jolie revealing another major health decision. it's all about surgery. we'll tell you about that straight ahead because mornings are better with friends. >> this is greg morland. you're watching "fox and friends." thank you very much. >> and the rooster. >> look who we have today. great to have you. >> hi. >> i am so ready. i think the last time i was here i was in a halloween costume um >> a one term senator out of

texas decides to go to liberty university to say i'm in on the gop and the dnc side to say i want to be the president or get the nomination for 2016. it was pretty amazing. you got to be in awe with the janet jackson microphone around his ear. he was able to speak for about 45 minutes without a prompter. >> wow, we would be screwed. >> no tell promper, no nothing. it looks like a fantastic turnout. as it turns out a little bit of brilliant stage craft on the part of the senator's team. because mondays and wednesday and fried is confirmidation. if students don't show up they might have to pay a $10 fine. >> i'd show up for a great speech any day. >> ted cruz was on with sean hannity last night. if you missed it, here's a snippet. the senator makes it clear something has to happen in this

country and it has to happen now. >> i think there is an urgency to what we're facing in politics that is unlike anything you and i have seen before. the only thing to win is to bring back to polls the millions of conservatives who have been staying home. millions of christians, reagan democrats who have been staying home. as i look at the field i see a lot of good people who i like and respect, but i don't see a whole lot of candidates who can energize the voters that stayed home. >> he touched on his strategy, his strategists say he will not try to appeal to political independents. he's not going to. he think there's are so many super conservatives out there who have not voted over the last two election cycles. he can get elected that way. >> he wants to turn out the vote. what can i do and say as a candidate that is different that will be compelling to get people motivated to get to the polls.

there was a problem with that with the gop with respect to romney and mccain. >> if he cannot do what reagan do and convert conservatives and get independents, he will not have success. senator rand paul sat down with megyn kelly last night to say don't forget about me. i will probably announce in april. here's what my problem is with my good friend. >> i also think that we should take those principals and try to bring in new people with them y. spent the last couple of years trying to go places republicans haven't gone. and maybe not just filling out red meat but throwing out something enticing to people who haven't been listening to our message before. we're thinking about it and we're close to a decision. we'll have some kind of announcement april 7th. >> do you think that's the date? >> yeah, i think there's something going to happen then and it will be he will announce for president. >> let's take a look at the newspapers. on the front of the paper.

he's defined as ambitious. first in the gop field for the presidential bid. i don't think they like republicans. gop's pan cruz's pres bid speech. no, we can't imagine. >> here's an example of how other networks covered him. >> the first major candidate announcing he's running for president promising now abortion, no gay marriage, no gun control, no irs. >> who is ted cruz? an uncompromising secret service. >> he's already known as an uncompromising conservative. he angered members of his own part including john mccain. >> that's totally insear. they made up. he said nice things about him on

sunday. the other thing is, ted cruz calls himself an uncompromising conservative. >> he probably wears it as a badge honor because he's man that stands on principal. he's firm in his convictions. he wants to eliminate government waste. and get rid of obamacare. put something forward that would work. >> because he was the first one out, he got a lot of coverage. he was watching it. it was on with sean to respond to the mainstream's reaction to him being the first. >> the media historically paints two chariactures of republicans. we're either stupid or evil. >> or both. >> or both. the media is telling reagan and dan quail was stupid, nixon was evil. stupid is better. if you're picking one or the other stupid is better. i guess i take it a little bit of a back handed compliment.

that the media has to some extent invent a third one for me, which is crazy. >> one thing about him, no one can call him stupid. allen dershowitz said he might have been the most -- best debater -- formidable. >> that he ever had in any of his classes in his entire career. >> that's quite a compliment. >> he clerked for a chief justice. the big question is can he get elected. let me describe him. smart articulate. 40 something, first term senator. trained in constitutional law. doesn't care for his executive. >> people are a little. freaked out by one term senators who want to be president.

>> my point is they're at the same point in their careers. >> be honest, is it really hot in here? >> i like it had. >> i'm going to talk to heather. i'm going to adjust the thermostat. >> it's about 70. >> it's way too hot. >> bye. >> that's his way to get a sclitz. >> that's the thing. >> i saw some cereal outside the studio. i'll talk take it from here. good morning i have headlines to bring you. we start with a fox news alert now. the three most dangerous terror organizations in the world working together training recruits in northern africa. americans are believed to be among the trainees at the isis, al qaeda, and boko haram camps. then back here at home, the pentagon still investigating the isis hitlist targeting military families. the families say they've been notified by the government but haven't received any guidance on how to protect themselves.

robert durst is being held without bail in new orleans. the millionaire murder suspect is said to be dangerous and also a flight risk. the defense wanted durst released so he could be tried for murder in california before facing weapons charges in louisiana. fox news's judge jeanine pirro has been following that case for decades. she was at the front row of that courtroom until the judge asked her to leave. listen. >> he had convinced the judge for a while he wanted me out of thethe courtroom because they w going to call me for a witness. clearly he cannot remove me from the courtroom. the judge had to make a decision. >> judge pirro will join us live at 8:15 a.m. eastern time. a huge win for republicans pushing for tougher election laws. the supreme court refusing to take on a case challenging wisconsin's rule that requires voters to come to the polls with a photo id. critics say it discriminates

against minorities who don't have proper id. an ncaa game, an anonymous person called the university of maryland and police department to say a man was planning to shoot the daughter of michelle obama's brother. robinson, you can see her, she's a freshman player on princeton's basketball team. she was headed to maryland for a tournament game. secret service notified and the game went on. those are your headlines and i'll see you back. feeling better? >> i lowered it down to 63. it feels like 100. >> it's the same temperature. >> you might have a fever. >> you come in and you say i'm hot h. do you notice anything different today? >> yeah, i do. >> joel is back. >> maybe it's kimberly? >> that's true. >> would you feel hot, too? >> maybe she messed with the

thermostat. >> thanks, i'm with you. >> somebody didn't get their vitamin fortified cereal a. a gun store owner banked with a local credit union until they told you this. >> we don't do firearms, ammunition, auctioneers and check cashing companies. >> did the government's antigun agenda force him to shutdown his accounts? that outraged businessman joins us live next. an american pride theme at one high school dance almost nixed because it could offend some students. this, you're going to have to hear it to believe it. >> we'll take your temperature. ♪

in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement

to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars. you can't breathe through your nose, suddenly, you're a mouth breather. a mouth breather! well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow, it opens your nose up to 38% more. so you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do,

sleep. add breathe right to your cold medicine shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. and look for the calming scent of new breathe right lavender, in the sleep aisle.

ya know what salesman alanim a ready foames becomes?he second his room is ready, i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! a "selling machine!" ready for you alert, only at lq.com. well, today the doj's effort to combat consumer fraud faces controversy. operation chokepoint was supposed to help illegal. but this gun store owner recorded this conversation with his bank.

>> we don't do firearms, ammunition, check cashing companies. >> he is the owner of hawkins guns, llc and he joins us. this is incredible, because they are specifically targeting it appears. you have evidence to back this up including audio tape. tell us what happened. >> i was notified by the bank on november 13th that they had to close tie account due to being a gun dealer. and, you know, it's a sad day in america when this can happen to you. >> were you taken totally by surprise when you started to reveal this and unravel kind of the mystery as to why you were targeted? >> yes, i didn't realize how big of an issue it was until i started investigating what had happened to me. my other business is a private investigation company. i'm in tune to seeing things that don't seem to be right. >> because you have that background you were able to do

this investigation and expose it. there have been businesses that have been fauskted. firework sales, to bako sales, coin dealers and pharmaceutical sales. were you surprised that this is the list that's going through operation chokepoint? >> yes, i was surprised when i saw gun dealers on that list as well. >> to me, that gets a specific, political ideology that they're focusing on somebody supporting gun rights, et cetera and targeting. the doj refutes this. they have issued a statement on operation chokepoint. they said we do not target businesses operating within the bounds of the law. we have no interest in pursuing or discouraging lawful conduct. where does it go from here? >> hopefully today congressman sean duffy will be able to bring light to this situation.

and hold those accountable that are bringing this upon law abiding business owners. with his help and with the help of the united states consumer coalition, i'm hoping that we have a team here that can finally put this to rest and hold accountable those who are nishiating this. >> you were able to catch this because you were sharp and keen and focused on it and took the extra steps. imagine if other people didn't have the same resources that you have or the investigative background, something like this might not go noticed. many americans could be affected by it. >> there is many americans across this country has have been affected. they may have not come forward yet. the consumer coalition is getting numerous calls since my story broke. hopefully more people will come to the table and come forward with what has happened to them.

>> we certainly thank you for sharing your story with us this morning on "fox and friends." good luck, keep us post. >> thank you for having me. two years after a double mastecto mastectomy, angelina jolie facing another surgery. lawmakers who deny climate change may be at risk to lose funding. theous rajs new way the white house may be targeting them now. next. ♪

are you still getting heartburn flare-ups? time for a new routine. try nexium® 24hr. the latest choice for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? i would. i would indeed. well, let's be clear here. i'm actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way! i have no financial experience at all. that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. find a certified financial planner professional who's thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan.org.

cfp -- work with the highest standard. yourfull of advice.lways usually bad. so when ron said you'd never afford a john deere tractor, you knew better. the e series. legendary quality. unexpected low price.

got some quick tuesday morning headlines for youmentf new overnight, the hunt is on for a gunman who opened fire new austin state university in tennessee. five people now hospitalized with serious injuries. no word yet on a motive for the shooting. after a lengthily investigation into race relations at the university of virginia, at a fraternity, police say they cannot find any evidence to support the claims made in that rolling stone article. the magazine came under fire last year for a number of major discrepancies in the story. now the frat, the center of it all is exploring legal auctions against rolling stone magazine. we'll keep you posted. here we go, a fox news alert. it's been two years since angelina jolie had a double mastectomy to reduce her chances of getting cancer based on her family history. >> she is now announcing she's had her ovaries removed after

early signs of the disease. was good decision? let's ask dr. samadi. she had this history in her family, start ing with her mother. she did an analysis to discover what her risk was. >> she's followed everything we've talked about on this show for many years. know your risks. mom, grandmother and aunt had breast cancer. she ended up having that marker. that gives you a high risk of breakfast and ovarian cancer. she did the mastectomy in order to reduce the risk of breast cancer. fortunately the oveinier tests were normal. she went ahead and had a removal of her ovaries because of the high risk of getting ovarian

cancer. and there was a benign tumor in those ovaries. she's cancer free. this removal of her ovaries is actually a simple test. there's no incision. she's going through her recovery. this is a great example for america to understand that screening saves live. >> you're saying she didn't have the choice after the mastectomy to do this right away. she did a follow up test that resulted in this and made the decision. >> right. obviously the risk of breast cancer was much higher, 87%. that's more cosmetic. removal of ovaries involves hormon hormones. that was a bigger decision. >> that can have a big impact on a woman's life, especially a young woman like jolie. like you said breast cancer, risk, a double mastectomy. that's removing tissue versus having an hormonal impact. >> there is a lot of confusion

in this country, should i go for a screening or not. medical doctors may say yes you should or not. there are a lot of guidelines coming down the pipe lines. u.s. say do it this year, the next year don't for many reasons. people are confused. i commend what she did. she went for a screening, he got the test. she got multiple consulitation. she did a lot. we talked about the samadi challenge six months ago. let's put a screen about this. psa for men and mammogram for womenrupt the same thing. learn your risk. this is what we talked about six months ago. improve your quality of life. once you know what your risks are, get screened. this is where the huge program with the government. should they get screened or not. >> the government is not paying for it. >> if you have it, treat it aggressively, which she did. should every woman go and take

out their breast and ovaries and man take out their prostates? of course not. we look at every individual and decide. guidelines are the guidelines. the society is changing every day. she did the right thing. >> real quick, the problem is not everybody has the same access to resources or funds to pay for extra testing perhaps your insurance may not cover which makes it tough for women's health issues. >> that's true. insurance is a huge problem. there are a lot of foundations we can use to save your life. let me read you something, it's not easy to make these decisions. it's possible to take control and tackle head on. this is very important, on any health issues. i don't want you to be scared. you can seek advice, learn about the option and make the choice that's right for you. it's a personal decision. knowledge is power. >> when someone famous does something like this it makes your job easier. >> i'd love to meet her. i would love to get brad pitt

involved. go to #samadichallenge. post your pictures. we want to save your life. she's a good example for women and men. >> we want to save our men too. get your psa tested as well. >> we will post everything on samadi.com today. >> thank you. >> thanks coming up, straight ahead on this show, fox news alert coming your way. isis recruiters are trying to expand into afghanistan as they take more territory in the middle east. what does that mean for our military strategy? jennifer griffin is live next with our sources this morning along with her incredible award she received last night. if you thought it paying for lions to use a treadmill. wait till you hear how washington is wasting your money now. first, happy birthday to jim

parsons, he's 42 today. >> happy birthday, jim. ♪ i want to be rich like basketball hall of famer dominique wilkins, are taking charge ...with non-insulin of their tvictoza.abetes... for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills, and comes in a pen. victoza is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c.

it's taken once a day, any time. and the needle is thin. victoza is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight. victoza is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza is not insulin. do not take victoza if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include swelling of face, lips, tongue or throat, fainting or dizziness, very rapid heartbeat, problems breathing or swallowing, severe rash or itching. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. serious side effects may happen in people who take victoza

including inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) which may be fatal. stop taking victoza and call your doctor right away if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back, with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need... ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza. it's covered by most health plans. we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature.

legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. a fox news alert now. secretary of state john kerry now admitting the terror group, isis, is trying to recruit within afghanistan. >> this coming ahead of a sit down between president obama and afghan president ghani. what does this mean for our military strategy? let's ask fox news national security correspondent jennifer griffin. >> first off, we got to thank you yesterday. from the afghan president, especially the military. >> a very different president afghan president who came to the pentagon. he thanked the u.s. troops. it was the first time they had been thanked in 14 years by an

afghan leader. >> what took so long? >> even though i know personally people who have saved the life of the former president he never thanked them. this is a new relationship. i can tell you it was a different mood at the pentagon yesterday. >> for the folks who are watching yesterday, we hear the stories about how screwed up things are over there in afghanistan. looking forward, can it get better? it is totally messed up right now? >> it was interesting hearing president ghani talking about -- he had a statement where he quoted kennedy, ask not what you can do for us, but we are going to now stand on our own two feet. the problem is the u.s. is still going to have to fund the afghan government. the one lesson that was learned by this white house is you pull out of a country too quickly, you leave a vacuum and get isis. what you'll see in the meeting with the president is he'll slow

down the withdrawal of u.s. troops. he's also going to pledge $800 million in aid. the question is, are there going to be ways in which they can check out that aid is used so it doesn't contribute to corruption. >> right. in the past we have not been able to keep track of the fundings, so we have to be more specific in terms of where it will be allocated and keep tabs on it. is it the right use of that keend of money. >> the other thing is they will increase the size of the afghan military. we heard that before when they trained the iraqi military. they weren't there when they needed them when isis came on the scene. we will hear from the president that they're going to be asking for an increase of 25,000 more afghan troops. the u.s. has to pay for this. the afghans don't have the money. but i would say that president ghani is good news for the u.s. he is a much better partner than the former president. >> he had a job here, he had a house in maryland. >> he understands economics.

>> that gives people hope. as you know there were overtures to pakistan. the taliban get training funded. look at the governments that are coming together a little. is there any sign that's continuing? >> there are some signs. pakistan has tried to go after the taliban in areas. they've had fights into the tribal areas. again, pakistan and afghanistan have to be seen and dealt with together. without that, you will have afghanistan still trying to defendant itself from the taliban, which -- >> so what brings you to town? >> we had the most amazing evening. it was perhaps the best night of my life. we were down at the new york stock exchange. the congressional medal of honor gave me a journalism award for covering the military. there were 30 living medal of honor recipients in the room. it was unbelievable. i was honored by colonel barnum

from vietnam. we have this incredible book that they gave me. >> what is >> 30 recipients signed this book. you can buy this online now. the medal of honor foundation is not only just remembering what these incredible young men did to -- the valor they showed in combat. we had several people from different wars. they're trying to raise $100 million to build a museum in charleston, south carolina, to remember the service and sacrifice. they have a school program where they go out to the schools and have a character building program that teachers can take this video of all the living recipients and their stories and teach children. >> i bought this book for my son. >> it's amazing. >> it's cooperstown and canton

all wrapped into one. they recognized you for your fine work. that must feel great. >> it was the honor of my life to be -- to just be in the room with those people. my mom was there, my brother was there, my husband was there. and it was an amazing evening. >> well-deserved. >> a courageous talented woman. you've been so much in your life and you've done a wonderful job here at fox. >> great to have you here. 23 minutes before the top of the hour. we've got news. for that let's go to heather. jennifer, congratulations. we start out with a fox news alert. this morning, some new information coming in. allegations that israel allegedly spied on nuclear talks between all the powers and iran to sway the united states against making a deal with that country. the wall street journal reporting that israel sought confidential information to share with u.s. lawmakers to

convince them not to reach an agreement with iran. israel has publicly slammed the iranian nuclear plan, but they deny spying allegations. the u.s. is expected to unveil a tentative agreement with iran next week. remember the neighborhood watchman who was acquitted in the shooting of trayvon martin. he is lashing out at president obama. george zimmerman accusing the president of inflaming racial tensions here in the united states. >> president obama held his rose garden speech stating if i had a son he would look lie trayvon martin. to me that was a dereliction of duty. pitting americans against each other based on race. >> he says he feels no guilt for the shooting and insists he did nothing wrong in defending himself. fema holding disaster funds hostage in the name of global warming. the agency anouncing it will deny all disaster preparedness

money for states whose governors who not include global warming into his budgets. lawmakers have to determine how it will affect their states. patriotic students standing up for the red, white, and blue. administrators in lexington, massachusetts, tried convincing students to nix an american pride theme as a part of national pride school dance. they said that they needed to make the event more inclusive. the students denied the idea and insisted on keeping the american theme. imagine that. those are your headlines. let's head out to brian. great job. let me tellio awhat's going on in the nfl that will affect everything. the blackout rule that says if you do not sell out your game you cannot be televised will get

in 2015. the league has ruled where nfl games are not allowed to be shown on local tv. there were no blackouts last year because the minimum number of tickets were soldism a lot of times owners pick up the extra tickets. jacksonville will be happy with that decision. mudo'ne davis is showing maturi. she is forgiving a college player who got kicked off his team for writing a mean tweet. she reached out the university and said the player make a dumb mistake and deserved a second chance. the school stands firm on its decision. what a great thing for her to do. remember this villanova picka low player? it turns out her tears were good for a trip to the tonight show. >> i'm looking up at the jumbo

tron and i saw it. all i could think about my dad was at the game. i didn't want him to see me crying. but then it turned into like, everyone saw me crying. >> everyone. in the whole entire world. did you see all the -- >> yeah. >> people on the internet started adding stuff to your photo. my favorite is this joe biden one. look at this. someone went a step further and take a look at this. travolta. >> she did not know what that meant. she got a chance to sit in with the band. her name is roxanne. she was crying because villanova was the number one seed. >> that heart, all in. >> that is great. people do not give enough attention to the band. steve is not here. >> he would say coming up you've seen them in the movies.

>> no. >> now, force fields can be a realistic way to protect us from terror attacks. if you thought it couldn't get paying for lions to use a tre treadmill. wait till you hear how washington is wasting your money now. jennifer jeff flake is here with us next. ♪ take the money and run and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. next. ♪ take the money and run e jeff next. ♪ take the money and run n jeff next. ♪ take the money and run a jeff next. ♪ take the money and run t jeffs next. ♪ take the money and run o jeff us next. ♪ take the money and run r jeff us next. ♪ take the money and run you may not have time to roll out a perfectly flaky crust that's made from scratch. or mix vegetables with all white meat chicken and homemade gravy. but marie callender's does.

just sit down and savor. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

just sit down and savor. 5.6 million hospital workers helped perform 26.6 million surgeries deliver 3.7 million babies and treat 133 million e.r. patients. now congress is considering cuts which could increase wait times reduce staff, and threaten your community's health. keep the heart of america's hospitals strong. for you and your family tell congress: don't cut hospital care. we ship everything you atcan imagine.n, and everything we ship has something in common. whether it's expedited overnight... ...or shipped around the globe, ...it's handled by od employees who know that delivering freight... ...means delivering promises.

od. helping the world keep promises. some quick headlines now. one small sip for man, one giant gulp for mankind. a brewing company launching a new beer made with yeast that has travelled to space. the limited edition of ground control beer hits shelves on

april 13th. it's genius. any fan of sci-fi knows the effects of a good force field. >> never saw that movie but now i do want to see it. the kind of technology is becoming a reality at boeing. the company getting the patent developed plasma shields around military vehicles which would prevent sound wave damage from nearby explosions. >> with the national debt climbing over $18 trillion it's no surprise washington has a superintending problem. >> senator jeff flake is here. >> good morning. >> what are you talking about waste? i heard this administration has cut things to the bone. >> you would think so. when they talk about the budget, oh, this is all bare, it's not.

>> you've got eight different examples of how our cash is being wasted. let's start in the bridge to nowhere region. we have broken it down to bridge to nowhere. let's go to the first one. here. if we could move that that would be terrific as we take a look at the four things you're considering. in the first bracket you have the department of agriculture, the cash crops. what are the cash crops? >> usda has a crop insurance program. not a regular one, but this is called the harvest price option. where if you buy insurance for a ford taurus, if you total it, you get a payout for a cadillac. >> only in america. >> it costs about $19 billion over ten years. >> what about this? >> this is the nea funding hallucination road trip with elvis and teddy roosevelt.

it's called roos elvis. it's a budding movie. one performance critic said go to watch it to see how your tax money is wasted. >> so far, i think this would be it. the monkey junky. >> we're actually paying $1.4 million since last year to see if stressed out monkeys are addict today cocaine or can become addicted to cocaine? >> is that a problem in the monkey community? what about the porknados. >> iowa state, but we're actually -- we spent about $150,000 since 2014 to have them do cat scans on sharks. we're funding the cyclones with sharks. there is something about that that just doesn't sound right. >> i think the sentimental

favorite would be the monkey junkies. let's take a look at the other side of the bracket. the shrimp on a stick. >> the houdini, eight employees made $1.1 million on administrative leave. >> on leave. fantastic. >> there is -- $210,000 to renovate a facility to provide a private company to do flavoring for e cigarettes. >> really? >> your tax money. >> kind of like the fact he's got paid so much money. $710,000 to renovate a tow boat on the ohio river. the isis federal highway administration money going to a tow boat. >> and the snow dogs? >> it brings to mind the very bad movie, cuba gooding movie. this is a snowmobile race in alaska that the national guard, or your taxpayer money spent

$400,000 last year to fund. >> that could advance to the finals. if people are watching and they would like to weigh in -- >> our second year of doing this. we have a project called pork chops where we highlight and bring them together for the tournament at the end of the year so they can go on to jeff -- senator jeff flake on facebook and vote on it. or tweet it @jeffflake. give us your pick. and we'll see where we go. >> i've lost out on the basketball thing i'm going to move on to this. >> thanks for helping us out. he's the first official candidate to make it his promise, this won't be the last either. >> imagine, in 2017, a new president. signing legislation repealing every word of obamacare. >> big applause line there.

is that plan just too far fetched to be a reality? we will talk to judge andrew napolitano next.

this is a fox news alert. french media reporting an air bus has crashed in the alps. there were at least 142 passengers on board. imagine in 2017 a new president signing legislation repealing every word of obamacare. >> senator ted cruz running for president on a promise to reverse obamacare. now doubling down with his own

plan. >> question is is that plan just too far fetched to be a reality? here to weigh ip, judge andrew napolitano. is it legal and can it be done? >> if he becomes president and congress agrees with him, obamacare will be repealed. and what will replace it or what will the affect of it be? remember, only nine million people out of 330 million americans have signed up for obamacare on an exchange. that's the number of people who didn't have health insurance five years ago who now have it. if you abolish obamacare, you're not going to affect the other 221 million americans. you're going to affect the nine million. what will become of them? senator cruz proposes a free market solution where you could buy insurance overinterstate lines. you could taylor insurance for your own needs. for example, i'm a single male living in new jersey, why do i need pregnancy protection? the state of new jersey says one

size fits all no matter age, gender. >> kind of like a healthcare snuggy. >> only she could put it that way. >> she's been to alaska. >> under senator cruz's plan, you could taylor an insurance policy just for what you need. that would drive the places down. >> doesn't that seem be fair? why should people pay for protection they don't need. >> not only that -- i'm going to defy the supreme court on this. where is in the constitution is the congress authorized to regulate healthcare? that's part of the argument he made. >> his argument -- there was a candidate that tried to run against obamacare last time and that was mitt romney and he lost. >> if josh earnest thinks the president's views are popular enough to be elected, what planet is here walking on. >> please don't yell at me in lou of josh earnest. you know how sensitive i am.

>> serious stuff, great job. a firt alert a plane carrying at least 140 passengers has crashed in france. we have the breaking details next. ♪ nexium 24hr. it's the purple pill. the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand. available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protectiontm. and stomachs are growling. or is that just me? it's lobsterfest,

red lobster's largest variety of lobster dishes all year. double up with dueling lobster tails. or make lobster lover's dream a reality. but here's a reality check: it ends soon. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction,

stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com

good morning. today is tuesday, maenrch 24th. a fox news alert. a plane with nearly 150 people on board comes crashing down in the mountains. we are live with the very latest. all right. ted cruz the first official candidate in 2016 election laying out his plans for america. his critics wasted no time firing back. the senator here live this hour to respond to those attacks from many in the mainstream media to his colleagues on the right as well. also, breaking this morning, new allegations that israel spied on nuclear talks between the united states and major world powers. those details straight ahead. thanks for joining us on this

tuesday, you're watching "fox and friends." this is a fox news alert. we've just received word that a budget airline out of germany called german wings apparently one of their flights between germany and spain in a air bs a 320 has gone down in the french alps. >> there were 142 on board and four were working in the cabin when this went down, as well as two pilots. we do not have details on this. we know it was going from barcelona to germany. the media says we have heard reports speculating on the incident. we do not have confirmed

information. >> it's being picked up by the associated press. german wings low cost airline out of berlin. one of their a 320s has gone down. >> joining us on the phone is our aviation expert. we're getting breaking details regarding this incident with the airplane. a large number of people on board, including crew and two pilots. give us your thoughts on this developing situation. >> it's a low cost airline in cologne. it has a couple of -- according to our reports she was lost at about 6,800 feet, which is mountaino mountainous. that implies a possible collision with a mountain, flying at perhaps too low an altitude. it's very unusual for an aircraft of this nature to lose

control, so i would have to start to speculate that something occurred, possibly in its altitude or it lost some type of engines and was not able to recover power and descended into a mountainous area. >> you don't like that elevation for that area. that puts up a red flag for you? >> anything like that with a mountainous radar. they're talking about 6,800 feet. my first suspicions perhaps an engine out, some type of control problem that had been lower than they should be in the area. or even misreading a map for a minimum en route altitude. >> you're following this with your sources right now. if the flight, jp, was between germany and barcelona, how close

to either of those locations were this particular crash? were they taking off, landing, should they have been at 7,000 feet? >> it was lost at 6,800 feet. yes, that is heading into a mountainous area. so, yes, there is a possibility of simple misreading of an altitude or a control problem that brought the aircraft down into a position where it became -- >> jp, so there could be pilot error, could be something that malfunctioned with the instrument panel and the reads that prompted them to be at the incorrect altitude. because, otherwise, if it was pilot error, it doesn't make sense because you shouldn't be at that altitude in that area, correct? >> that's pretty much it. those type of things do occur. there are many times a pilot flying on a route might miss the minimum inroute altitude.

again, some difficulty in the cockpit, has them preoccupied. any of those combinations can occur. >> tell me about the a 320, the type of plane this is. >> it's a medium range. fly by wire. you've had the a 320 that crash would airasia, sime type of aircraft. it's a highly automated aircraft. computer driven where the pilots are mostly outside of the control route until something happens and they have to go inside the control loop. >> it sounds like -- i'm looking at a news report out of the area, it looks as if they did have a warning that something was going hay wire. they're reporting the jet crashed near a small mountain village in the southern alps. it made a distress call at 10:47 a.m. local time and disappeared off the radar at

about 11:20 a.m. so it was still in the air for about another 35 minutes. what does that tell you? >> it tells me that he made a distress call, he was having problems within the aircraft itself. possibly the loss of an engine. where in that mountainous terrain he did not have enough power to clear the mountains. if he made a distress call, quite obviously they were in control of a situation where by they were running through a corre check list. when you're in a mountainous terrain the biggest thing you have is maintaining the altitude. the warnings inside the cockpit are very simple. these are ground proximity warnings. and if those systems are starting to trigger in an cockpit you are approaching an altitude you will not be able to clear. >> if you're in that plane right now -- i know this is asking you off the cuff -- you're having problems in that area, where do

you go first if you're between barcelona and germany in the french alps? >> that's a difficult decision to make. your computers can give you the nearest possible airport. you can quickly pull that up on your scope. that's the problem. but the problem is, you're descending down into a mountainous area, and if you're not able to maintain altitude, you don't have too many options in there. maybe hope for a valley that you can physically see. of course, that is going to depend upon the weather that you have. are you flying ifr, instrument flight rules, and you can't see the ground? so there is an extreme problem of a pilot facing an emergency in a mountainous area where by he may have instrumentation that can tell him the nearest airport, but can you make it to that nearest airport and clear the mountains. >> that must have been a stresful time for the pilot in the cockpit when you know you're

losing altitude. this is a automated plane. the pilot was trying to make corrections or find clearance to be able to land. what do you do in a situation like this if you don't have anything that's close enough to be able to get this plane down safely? >> well, there is where the stress factor comes up and the training kicks in. you've got to check list the run. you've got your instrumentation that's telling you of nearest airports. there is a point in time when all pilots say that the worst -- the things that are most useless to you are the gas you left behind and the altitude above you. you've got a real serious problem. it occurred many, many years ago. with a dc-9 that gutted out both engines in the atlanta area coming down in a mountainous area. he spotted a highway and he was able to go down on the ohio.

unfortunately, the accident did not turn out well. because he landed on the road okay, but the road made a twist down the end and piled into a mountain. it's very difficult when you're running through a check list in a mountainous area. >> that reminds me of captain sully making that last minute decision putting the plane into the hudson. >> according to the french president, there are no survivors to the crash. >> no surveervivors are expecte. they found debris near a village. if the distress was made for this air bs a 320 at 10:47 in the morning and it disappeared 33 minutes later from radar, that means the crew knew something was up and they were just desperately trying to figure out where to go or how to fix it, right? >> exactly. the minute that distress call came out, these people probably,

in all probability may have lost an engine. that gives you a clear may day. then you start running through the check list. if you're single engine over these mountainous areas. -- by the time he took off, you would have to see how much altitude he could possibly gain. and he -- losing it at 6,800 feet, in that area, that 30 minutes of decent was filled with check list and trying to maintain altitude. >> this particular plane should be able to stay aloft on one engine, right? >> it should be able to stay aloft with one engine. when you're in a mountainous area and you've got that load of people on board, you may have a problem with your maximum gross weight. and the height of those mountains in that particular area. yes, you could fly it on single engine. >> this plane wasn't at full capacity. it had nearly 150 passengers on board. it can hold up to 320. >> that's the a 320. it wouldn't carry 320 people.

the a 320 would be somewhere around 180 i would suspect. >> so it was -- >> before we let you go, when people say a discount airline, that doesn't mean they're going by things cheaply, that just means there's no frills. >> yes, german wings had been there been. and german wings had gone bankrupt and was absorbed by another company. when i flew for this german airlines in munich, the quality of the pilots was excellent. >> a former pilot and air traffic controller -- if you're just waking up right now, apparently over the french alps a german wings -- a low cost airline -- one of their air bus a 320s went down. at least 142 passengers on board with six members of the crew as

well. robert, if the distress call went out over the french alps at 10:47 a.m., they said they have a problem and they disappeared off the radar 33 minutes later, what do you think might have happened? >> well, i think that first call is really going to be the important one. where were they at the time that that happened? because if they were able to turn around, they could have, i suppose. but apparently at that point, they didn't think it was that serious if they kept going straight ahead. of course, i'm operating without a map in front of me. but, you know, i would want to know where they were in relation to the mountains. because that is -- that's the critical part. >> we do know -- >> is your first message if you're 30 minutes out when you start getting distress call, is your sense turn around or could that be more dangerous to a

populated airport from which they came? >> see, normally in flat terrain, yeah, that would be one of the first things you'd want to think about is to turn around. now, that i can see the map, i can see the -- turning around might not have been such a great idea either. we don't know what the approach was like going back into the airport they came out of. we don't know what the weather was like when they took off. and that -- you know, the captain may have decided that was more dangerous than trying to gain altitude and find a better place to, you know -- better direction to head. at that point, all you want to do is go in some direction where the mountains are the lowest. >> we have a former air traffic controller giving us an analysis about what we know so far about a crash of an a 320 that was going from barcelona to germany. we're trying to piece this

together. the french president has come out and said he does not expect any survivors. we have gotten a report that wreckage has been spotted. so we're continuing to talk to robert about that. first off, when you talk about this plane in particular, the german wing and this airline in particular, what -- any thoughts about that? any personal experience? >> no, not with german wings. certainly with the a 320. i mean, an a 320 is extremely popular commercial airliner. it has a really good -- until recent recently, we lost the airasia. it's been a safe airplane. it really has. pilots have come to depend upon it. i heard someone mention earlier about the automation of the airplane. at that point, it really -- you know, we don't know. there is just too many unknowns at this point. >> sure.

>> as to whether it was just an engine. and, of course, the one crucial issue we always think about when pilots say, well, we lost an engine, meaning one stopped operating, we can operate on one. of course the issue is if it was fuel or something in the fuel system, we don't know that whatever flamed out the first engine isn't going to take the second one as well. >> right. >> let me ask you this, if they make a distress call -- would you make a distress call if an engine went out? >> yeah, absolutely we would. that just puts somebody on notice that wherever we end up, whichever airport we're going to, we're going to need some help when we get there. >> sure. >> and it's also to put them on notice that there's a chance we might not get there. i mean, you know, no pilot really wants to admit that to passengers or anybody else. in the back of their mind, they're always thing that. that is a possibility.

>> whose call is it where they head next? if they call air traffic control and they say we've got this problem, we don't know what it is at this point, does air traffic control say you should turn around, go forward, or is it the people in the cockpit who decide we're going to try to put it down over here? >> no. unless the crew asks specifically, it's going to be the captain and the first officer who decide. >> we can't thank you enough for your analysis on this. stay close to your phone. we want to bring you a lieutenant general, a retired air force pilot. we're deal ing with an a 320. we don't know details but we know it has been confirmed as crashed and with 142 passengers aboard. >> because we don't know much, brian, there is speculation. the fact is a 320 can fly safely on single engine. i'm inclined to think there had

to be something else involved. i've flown over that area, low levels when i was flying 111's in europe. as well as f-16's. that's why i think that something else has to be involved with it. >> like what? >> what do you think? >> well, you don't know if it's weather. you don't know if it's a fuel problem. contamination in the fuel that had a problem on the other engine. and so there are a host of things that could have been involved. but the 320 is a safe airplane that can fly on single engines. that's why i'm speculating again. >> something more complicated. >> i've got very little information, but knowing it, that something else had to happen. the pilot has control. he's going to do what he has to do. and i don't know what the weather conditions are at the time. but he's going to do what he has to do to get to another

airfield. that's why i'm inclined to think something else has to be involved. it's a highly automated airplane. we will know. it is extremely unusual for an airplane of that capability and safety record to go down like that. again, i'm speculating. >> sure. >> what about the distress call? it came in at 10:47 a.m. and disappeared of radar at 11:20 a.m. that was a significant period of time where it was still in the air. they were able to maintain, i guess contact and had a visual on the aircraft. >> yes, and that's what is the interesting thing. because there were almost 40 some minutes, so you're wondering what else he was -- obviously had to be passing information, talking to his operations about what the problem was. although, it was an aircraft that was 24 years old, i don't think that has anything to do with it. but there are other implications, i think, that we

have to be looking at. because it was flying. it just didn't drop out of the air like the airasia airplane that went into the thunderstorm. we knew -- had a good inclination that was a weather problem. we do not hear that it wasn't a sudden impact and it disappeared. it was flying. the pilot and air crew were talking to their own operations, as well as air traffic control, which has not been released. >> sure. general, let me ask you something, this is not a long flight, correct? how long do you expect to be in the air if you're going from barcelona to germany? do you have any idea how long the rescue crew might have to get to a plane on the french alps. they are racing there. >> it is very difficult in that area. they'll go in, again, depend on what the weather is like with helicopters and search and rescue to look and get the location. so they can get a ground force

in there to do a search and rescue. and they are still in that phase, the search and rescue rather than salvage. it is not a very long flight, probably 1:15 at the most. it wasn't fully loaded with fuel, i'm sure. and so that's why i don't think -- and with only 150 passengers, it could easily, in my opinion, handle it on a single engine. what i'm concerned about is, that he stayed on the course he was going, going through the mountainous region rather than turning off to the west or back towards -- >> how do you explain that? that's significant. >> that is. that's what's very bothersome. i cannot explain it. those are one of the questions we have to ask. >> sure. >> why he didn't divert away from the mountains to an area where there were other airfields

he could have landed. and when you look at the map you've got up there right now and the route from barcelona up to germany, you can see if he had gone to the west, there is dijon and other airfields he could have gone to. that is what is confusing. i don't have any of those facts. >> maybe it was a fuel issue. you brought up something else i thought was telling. this is an aircraft that is highly automated has the ability to fly and land successfully. perhaps the fuel took out the one engine and took out the second. maybe he wasn't aware, thought he could make it. >> when you go on a single engine, you immediately want to go towards a divert airfield. he is not going to try to make germany. >> we do know the plane went down while it was flying between

germany and barcelona. it went down 65 miles north of nice as you can see on the map right there. the president of france has called it a tragedy. we do understand search and rescue headed to the scene. the scene is hard to reach, a very remote area, very mountainous. let me ask you something, regarding the emergency on bopa board. if you're on board and the pilot makes a distress call, does the pilot tell the passengers what's happening? >> not necessarily. he doesn't want to panic them. he's got to do the navigation and control of the aircraft and do what he has to do. he's looking for an alternate field he can go to right away. it's puzzling to me that the direction of flight seemed to be on course, rather than heading to areas where there are more airfields there.

>> what about flying at that altitude, general? >> well, the altitude is -- he wants to keep his altitude as long as possible. >> is it high enough? it's about 6,800 feet, are you happy with that? >> say that altitude again. >> 6,800. >> no, i'm not happy with that. >> too low? >> too low. >> that's the height of the mountain. >> that's the height of the mountain. i'm sure he was around 30,000, 35,000, which the 320 normally levelled off on that type flight. >> if it -- they were tracking it ever since the distress call was made. if it disappeared off radar at 11:30 a.m., 33 minutes after the distress call. would it disappear off radar if it was at the mountain level or had it been off higher and disappeared off the screen? >> if it disappeared it means it got off the mountain.

he was obviously in a decent. the french president knows probably exactly what happens because he's been listening to air traffic control or they have reported what happened. there is probably quite a bit of dialogue going on, which we're not getting now. unfortunately, so that's why i'm speculating. but it is very interesting, again, that the airplane didn't go in a direction where there were more airfields and away from the mountains. i don't know why. >> and was operating at an unsafe altitude of 6,800 which was not high enough for that area. >> if he was flying at 6,800, there was something really -- a big problem. so i suspect, though, he was higher. but i don't know that. >> general, here's the thing, this is what's different from the last time we lost an a 320 plane. we know where this is, it's not in the water. it will be easier to find out what happened between the transmissions, control, as well as the pilot. and also, you have a plane

that's on land and has crashed. they have identified a crash site. >> that's exactly correct. we'll find out what it is. it's the tragedy and the loss of human life that our hearts go out for the families. it will be pieced together. it will not be one of those mysteriesi mysteries. the fact is, it is interesting it stays on that course in that direction towards the mountains. that's what puzzles me which is why i think something else was wrong. >> let's go back to the fact -- i'm with you. i have fly in these air bus a 320's all the time. they are great. the fact it is 24 years old. can that have anything to do with it? the technology has changed a lot in 24 careers. >> yes, it has. i don't think that that necessarily had anything to do with it. it's a fly by wire airplane. and again, i don't know. it could be.

steve, you could be spot on on it. that may have been where something else happened. i just don't think it is only an engine problem. >> so, general, if it were the weather, and we have received no reports at this point that that weather was bad at the time -- if it were the weather, would they have made a distress call at that point, or would they simply have asked to go to another altitude to try a get out of it? >> if it was -- whether it was weather or not, they are going to make a distress call. that will be a may day, may day, may day. then you tell air traffic control what's your problem. they say, what do you want to do, and then that is when you see why he didn't go towards a landing field, an emergency landing field. because if you know barcelona right on the coast -- right between france and spain, it looks like he didn't deviate

much from his course. >> from his flight plan. >> from his flight plan. >> that shows perhaps some information he maybe wasn't getting to maybe correct course or there was additional complications. you could have had pilot error to not deviate. you could have had a fuel issue that could have compromised the second engine. a distress was made, what we do know the president of france is saying he does not expect any survivors and search and rescue teams are rushing to to get to that site. german wing gicize a low cost subsidiary of a larger airline. i expect we should be getting a statement from the airlines. >> those are all facts. it could have been heading towards geneva. and i don't know that. we're speculating. you laid out some facts. and that's all we have for our viewers. >> you know, it's interesting,

you mention it's a 90 minute flight. french officials are saying this plane vanished from radar screens 80 minutes in. which makes me think it was not on course or going too slow. it was behind where it was supposed to be landing in germany. wouldn't you say? >> yes, by the way, i just took a quick guess on that flying time. it could be two hours. i'm just looking at the map. and they are going out about 500 knots. it looks to me to be a thousand miles or something. that is a guess. i don't have the exact numbers. if i had google maps i could tell you. you're talking in that time frame, whether it's an hour and a half to two hours, that's in the time frame. and the takeoff. that is what is surprising. he's not going to have a full load of fuel, because that's a short hop for them. it's ideal for a 320. >> we have new information. >> the distress call that went

in at local time, 10:47 in the morning we were hoping what air traffic control could tell us what the pilot told them. it was quick and without information. what does that tell you? simply they said what? >> well, it puzzles me. why it was quick. i can understand thattism and then he's trying to maintain control. but it tells me something else must be bothering him more than just an engine out. he may have had other problems, hydraulics. and the hydraulics isn't as big as issue in a fly by wire airplane, he may have had other problems. normally he would be keeping air traffic control informed. they would be giving him vectors. they would ask him what do you want to do. he's in complete charge, he makes the decisions. that's where we're going into now, the speculation. we don't know that. when you see items come in and we start to understand more and

more what's going on, we'll have a full picture. the fact is, we have a tragedy here. and i would have to agree with the french president in that area. you're not going to have survivors. >> general, i can't thank you enough. stay close. we'll get more information and come back to you and see if we can further push towards zeroing in on what happened. if you're just waking up and trying to understand, so are we. there's been plane crash. this plane is a german wings plane. it's an airline that's a subsidiary of a larger airline. it was leaving from barcelona heading to germany. about 80 minutes in it dropped off radar and crashed. debris has been spotted in around southern france. >> right. it is currently 12:30 there at the crash site, which is described as hard to reach. the president of france has described this as a tragedy. no survivors are expected. search and rescue headed to the scene. we're able to piece together a

little bit about the last contact this particular german wings flight had with air traffic control. apparently, they made a distress call at 10:37 in the morning local time. and then disappeared off the radar 33 minutes later. that particular distress call was quick, without any particular information. the plane itself wound up landing -- crashing near barcelona at -- 65 miles to the north of nice. they were just shy of 150 passengers on board when it went down. >> joining us now an aviation attorney and licensed pilot to shed light on this tragedy situation. again, no survivors expected. right now, we're trying to piece together exactly what happened that doomed that airline. so give us your thoughts based on the information we have so far. >> well, so far we're all trying to piece this together. it's still early in the process. one thing that comes to mind is

since we don't know exactly what the distress call was, it may very well not have been a verbal distress call. it could have been the pilot turning the transponder on to the distress signal. we have a code that we put into the transponder that could have alerted everybody else that there was, in fact, an emergency on board the aircraft. >> why would you use that and not a verbal? >> it's one of the things we do. if we're very busy in the cockpit and things are happening fast, that is one of the things that you do on your check list. you try to put that transponder signal in. it alerts air traffic control to keep everybody clear of you and give you priority handling. it's a possibility, i'm speculating. >> i've never heard of something like that essentially it's a panic button. >> in a sense. what happens is, when you're flyingi flying, in order for them to

identify you you have a code. pilots will reach oover and press the button while they were attending to an emergency. >> they may be consistent with the sky news reporting the saying there was a quick distress call that was issued that emanated from the plane with no information following that. >> and that would lead to that explanation. and that may be what happened. >> it could. we're trying to find out what happened on what should be a relatively short and easy flight from one country to another in a very dense area. one thing that was speculated before and baffled the general. if you have a time in which you leave 30 minutes from your airport, and you're on route to your destination and you're having a problem, to stay in route to an area which leads you through the mountains, he found note weathworthy do you? >> it might be. if the emergency caused the

pilot to believe the best thing to do would be go straight ahead. that may have been something. he not have been able to turn the airplane. >> perhaps he thought he still had engine functionality with respect to the second engine if the first went down. >> and i heard that speculation earlier with possible fuel problem where you have an engine fail and shortly thereafter another engine fails. >> we do know this particular airline is a division of a larger airline. they put out a statement that says we do not yet know what happened to the flight. our deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends to tha passengers and crews on the jet. if our fears are confirmed this is a dark day. we hope to find survivors. >> this plane actually was last in service on sunday. that was the last day it flew prior to this trip.

to this. >> i realize this is speculation. we don't know if weather is a factor. there have been no reports that it was substantial at the time. what are some of the possibilities of things that could have gone wrong with the airplane? >> you always look at the three things, aircraft, pilots' reaction and you look at the weather. i brought up the weather for that area early as soon as i got the call from fox. i don't see anything that is a major thunderstorms, no major typhoons nothing of that nature in the area. weather would have to be something they'll consider, at this point there is nothing that stands out to any of us. >> if this is true of one of the facts, the flight descended 31,000 feet in ten minutes. how alarming is that? >> that's alarming. that would indicate some reason to get lower quickly. that could be a pressurization issue, where the aircraft

depressurizes. >> the plane never changed course, although it was having problems relatively soon after it took off. how does that strike you? >> could he have changed course? could he have gone somewhere else? depending on what -- the nature of the emergency is. perhaps, it involved the control system. and if that was the fact, then perhaps he couldn't change course at that point. or he was advised not to change course. >> if something like this happens and you put out the distress call -- we don't know if it was automated or the pilot. do you leave it on autopilot or take control? >> typically you would take control of the aircraft -- depending on the nature of the problem. if the problem is something you're going to be working on, you would leave the autopilot on, let the plane fly level and continue doing what you're doing. if it was something where the controls are at fault, the first thing you want to do is turn off the that could be what is causing your problem. >> interesting.

so far in terms of a weather report, some clouds and some light rain. that wouldn't be something to throw off an experienced pilot in a plane that size, correct? >> especially not at 31,000 feet. >> speaking of the weather our meteorologist here at fox just sent this to us. it looks like there was some rain and clouds over the northern mediterranean, but no major activity near barcelona or southern france, especially if they were at 31,000 feet flying altitude. he will put up a satellite image. he will put it on weather seven. >> it wouldn't have been a visibility issue. at this point it seems like that might be able to be ruled out. >> stand by. if you're just joining us. there is the -- that's the image of the weather radar. as you can see, nothing big. just like what sal was talking about over the alps at the time. it is currently 12:37 in the

alps. if you're just joining us german wings flight has crashed in the french alps. about 65 miles north of nice. a distress call went out at 10:47. it disappeared off the radar at 11:20 debris has been found. the president of france has call td tragedy. al does not expect any survivors to be found given the fact that the area is so remote. search and rescue teams are currently headed to the area. we should point out the distress signal was quick, and without information. >> right. we also understand, too, the french president said this is a tragedy on our soil. we're still trying to piece together what happened. why there was some distress signals. it doesn't seem as though the plane ever changed course. >> joining us now a former navy fighter pilot and fox news correspondent.

you've been following this story closely. give us your thoughts. >> what we're hearing a lot of people talk about right now is the distress call that was made. clearly the pilot was in trouble. clearly the plane had a problem. my experience is an f-18. what happens is when you lose one system it causes you to lose other systems. at this point, all we can do is speculate because we don't know what happened yet. for example, if the airplane lost one engine, that could have caused other systems to have problems. or whatever caused that malfunction could have caused others as well. in airplanes like this, we've been talking about how the airplane essentially flies itself in most cases, and then when there's an emergency, the pilot needs to take control and start handling the emergency. >> hands on to deviate from the flight plan that's been entered. >> not just that, but actually handling the systems themselves.

so these things can become more and more complex as bells and whistles start going off and you're trying to figure out what the problem is. in a situation like this, you will want to do is get altitude below you so you can handle the emergency. and based on what the -- reports we're hearing now, it sounds as though the pilots weren't able to do that. >> weren't able to get elevation. one report we got in they were at 6,800 which is low for that particular moiuntainous region. >> when i lost had my problems, i was over the water. my first thought is get altitude below me. if they didn't, it was probably because they were in a situation where they couldn't. >> how aware of you of where you're going and to turn around? for example, on your check list when you're having a problem, whatever that problem is, what number is we got to find a place to land as oppose today solve

the problem? >> you'll hear a lot of pilots aviate. get altitude below you. navigate, point to the nearest place where i can put the plane down. there are certainly emergency where you'll land as soon as possible or practicts. possible would be where is a valley, a flat area i can put the plane down. practical would be where san airfield. pilots would be making this emergency. >> communicating with air traffic control. >> the communication part is actually last. when you're the one flying the airplane, you won't get anybody get inside your cockpit unless they can help you. >> right. they can help you, but that communication part, that's the absolute last piece. because you're the one on the airplane and controlling it. they can help you. in this case putting out the distress call is important because it alerted everyone to where they are. that's probably why there is so

much information now about where the crash site is because they were alerted. >> there is limited information about what the pilot said to air traffic control. which would suggest they were in the cockpit for 33 minutes and they had their hands full. >> that's what it sounds like. >> quick distress with no information. that's is what sky news is reporting. >> right. i mean, like i said, it's the last piece is giving that distress call so people are alerted. so there's a blip on the radar. search j rescue crews can move thords that direction. the pilot and co-pilot would be working together trying to work through the emergency. >> when you talk about a major system on a airplane, something went south obviously you're talking about an engine, losing an engine or hydraulics. >> in the plane i threw, a lot of my hydraulics were run off the engine i lost. so you see how things -- >> you lose the engine you lose

hydraulics. >> in certain airplanes. this is not the airplane i flew. but every aircraft is different. you have to understand one system can cause other systems to fail. we're talking about weather, even if there's a little bit of -- if you end up in a little bit of a cloud -- >> let us put up weather 7 and it will show you the images over that part of europe. whatdize that say to you? >> it looks to me like there's not a problem. in the mountains, things are weird. weather systems are strange in the mountains. i don't want to speculate about what they were seeing. if you're in a little cloud and you're in some sort of an emergency situation. that makes it more complex, especially in the mountains. >> the flight was leaving barcelona on route to germany. a german wings air bus that was a subsidiary of a larger aircraft. the debris has been found at 2,000 meters latitude.

it shows there is debris in the mountains. number one, 80 minutes into the flight, if that report proves to be correct -- 80 minutes into the flight, they were reporting a problem almost immediately from takeoff. you could solve a lot of problems in that period of time. what does it go to tell you as a pilot if you have a problem early and you're in the air on 80 minutes. >> he didn't deviate off of course during that time he's referencing. >> we need to wait and see if he did deviate. at this point, you know, he may have try today make a turn. if you end up with an engine failure, for example, you may not want to turn into that engine. the airplane i flew the engines were close enough together, it was considered axial thrust. i could turn into a dead engine. in a bigger plane you probably don't want to. it probably depends on what is on your left or right. >> what does that mean? if the engine on the left wing is out, that means you don't want to go to the left. >> in certain airplanes yes.

based on how far apart the engines are and some other systems. >> you might not have an option and do a 180. >> if you're in the mountains you're low -- another point to make is when you start turning you lose lift. when you start turning your airplane you are dumping lift. if they're low in the mountains already, you will get the wings level and do everything you can climb. >> if there are some -- you know, we're trying to piece this all together. it sounds like it left the gate -- this particular a 30 left the gate around 8:30. then it made the distress call at 10:47 it sounds like it took a little while before it took off en route to germany. were they waiting for something, air traffic control clearance? >> you're saying it took off two

hours later than planned. >> it sounds like they left the gate at 8:30. then the distress call was heard two hours later. >> that indicates to me that they didn't receive -- didn't have an in flight emergency until well into the flight. they're already in the mountains, inroute. they have to make the decision first, where am i going to put this down. >> it's complicated by that area. otherwise you might have options. if you had -- we saw with harrison ford, he was able to land in a golf course, something nearby. >> this is what we know about the distress call. the source says the pilots called urgeance, emergency, emergency as opposed to a may day call or a 7700 squawk. >> 7700 squawk. that is -- you put that into your transponder to indicate you have an emergency. there are different squawk codes for different things. 7600, for example would be if you've lost communications.

if they put 7700 in that would be the same thing as declaring an emergency. may day is also declaring an emergency. >> what is urgent? i guess, what is emergency emergency mean in pilot lingo? >> it means, you know -- >> i have no other options. >> it means look at me on the radar because i'm going to need search j rescue. >> really? >> there's nothing worse that you could say to emphasize how bad this is, than urgent, urgent? >> that's correct. there is really not much reason for the first pilot to say much more than that. because what that first pilot needs to be doing is working with the pilot to go through the check list and try to figure out how to handle the emergency. we talked about things like engine failures, hydraulic failures that can get complicated. >> fuel issues. >> there is also things like electrical failures. fire, can chew through wires quickly and mess up your system.

there is a number of things that can go wrong. these pilots have thousands and thousands of hours, most of it is straight and level. >> the french interior minister said that the plane debris crash has been found at 2,000 meters altitude in the alps. it looks to be an extremely long and difficult search and rescue operation. the area's remoteness poses challenges. the french president says there is likely no survivors. >> that is strong -- >> i don't get that. >> because he obviously knows what happened and there aren't. >> it's near a village and people have already seen big parts of the airplane. >> stand by, let's talk to greg palkot live from our european bureau. what are the european reports looking like this morning? >> not good at l. we just got off the phone with one of our contacts in france.

she tells us that the french officials are seeing debris scattered around the crash site. but perhaps more worryingly than that, but probably predictably, bodies scattered around the crash site as well. that crash site as you've been telling our viewers very remote. it is 2,000 meters up, about 6,000 feet up in the southern french alps. that's about 100 miles northwest of the coastal city in france of nice, but it is no picnic at all. it is in the southern french alps. i am also told there are no roads nearby. the villages are small nearby. it is, according to the french officials -- we can back this up from our knowledge of the area -- a very remote place. however, as you noted, a bissurprisingly early on, but apparently because they have

sure confirmation of this, french officials are saying they believe there are no survivors in this crash. 142 passengers, six crew members on this german wings plane. that means that the heights, something like 38,000 feet, the rapid decent and crash into the mountainside makes all the officials, the french security officials, the air bus manufacturers of the plane, the german wings airline operating the plane. are pretty sure that no one could have survived that. the plane left from barcelona. it rolled out of the gate at 8:45. it was headed towards germany. a major regional hub there. no doubt with a lot of tourists on board. we don't have a break down of the passengers right now. the search just beginning by the french authorities and by the aircraft makers. back to you. >> quick question, so if it left

at 8:45. it took off at 8:45? if that is so, how long would you say they were in the air? we did have reports that it was 80 minutes in the air. >> that sounds about right from my knowledge of those air routes from barcelona to southern france. that's about a 400 mile stretch. they would have reached maximum altitude of 38,000 feet. that decent, worrying the distress call, we're told at just about 5,000 feet off the ground. also worrying -- the mother company of the german wings airline, is one of the most reliable airlines i've travelled on it hundreds of times. the most reliable airlines out there air bus, reliable, too. you've got to believe something bad happened very fast. >> we were getting information while you were talking, quick question for you, when do you think the first distress call

when theato towers were aware t plane was having problems? >> we have just heard 5,000 feet off the ground probably something like -- as we say, an hour or more into that flight. i don't have exact information on that. >> as we look at these particular images where the plane went down, it was still 1,000 kilometers from where it was going to sit down. if you're just joining us the news this morning is not good out of the french alps. a german wings, which is a low cost airline, a jet bound from barcelona to germany has gone down. no survivors are expected. they had about 150 souls on board. a distress call was made a little before 11:00 at the local time there.

it disappeared off the radar at 11:20. apparently it distress call was quick with little information given. >> let's bring in kenneth to help us with the search j rescue. we have ominous words. he's a former officer at la guardia and kennedy airports. where do you go? >> the first thing they'll do is put together rescue teams. local fire fighting equipment that will come from the nearest town. there will be experts and search and rescue, who will be marshalled from the local airports. there will probably be bringing in military because they have the air lift capability and the rugged terrain capability that will be able to go in. one of the things they've got to worry about is all the local people who are going to come to

try to help. it's a very remote area. what you're going to have is limited access. when a plane went down on the north shore of long island a couple decades ago, one of the biggest problem was one access in and that road got blocked up with vehicles. >> obviously, they're considering it search and rescue right now because they don't know the nature of how many people may have survived, all though it sounds bleak. at this point. going forward -- who takes command on something like this? the local police? the national army, whom? >> generally it will be the local police will be first on skoo scene. the national civil aviation authority will be involved. because it's a german airliner, they will invite the aviation

authorities from germany to also get involved. also, air bus will be involved because as the manufacturer they will lend technical they're not involved in the official investigation, but they'll be there. you will also have call in some military assistance because of the fact it's a remote area. and they will be able to marshal large amounts of man power. >> this is the report we got. bodies are scattered through out the crash site and there has been debris spotted in a remote area. so it is going to be tough to get. i am hopeful for, is that there are emergency crews who understand the terrain, that will be summoned. for example, if it's mountainous in the alps, that's not a surprise to rescue crew and how they're trained recolle, correc? >> yes, these people train all the times for all sorts of

different emergency. they've been involved in search and rescue missions in that kind of area. they also train for that kind of area for the things they would normally do, the military. >> can you tell us just upon arriving at a scene like this, some bits and pieces of information, just from a forensics standpoint you'll be able to glean -- shed some light on to what happened? what transpired? >> the first thing you do is look for the flight data recorders and the cockpit voice recorder. those are the two best pieces of information. the so-called black boxed which are not black at all, they're orange. to make them highly visible. they look for those because those are going to have the technical information about 30 or 40 points of information on it. also, the cockpit voice recorder, which will record and give them information on what was being said in the cockpit. they will be able to hear the pilot and co-pilot talking to

each other as they try to work their way through the problem. >> that's separate from the information we got, during that brief distress call, they simply said emergency emergency. ken, i know your expertise is on the ground, but looking at -- it's largely speculation at this point. but something went hay wire on that airport. what are your thoughts? >> you know, it's -- anything right now obviously is purely speculation. a number of things that could have gone wrong, as the -- your other guest said could have had an engine problem, fire on board that started somewhere on the aircraft. these aircrafts are fly by wires. there is a lot of computers and other things that can go wrong. one of the -- >> it was 24 years old. >> yeah. a lot of things that could have happened, i mean, one of the things you see is this plane descended about 31,000 feet in

under ten minutes. >> rapid decent. >> that's a fast decent. that tells you that they had something going on that was causing them to lose altitude quickly. one of the things you want to do is keep yourself as high as you can. so this is -- indicates to me there was a problem probably either with their control services or possibly with one of the engines. >> thank you so much for providing the search and rescue element of this plane crash we're trying to investigate. thanks for joining us. if you're just joining us right now, as we look at the map right here, earlier today, this german wings jet took off from barcelona. it was headed for germany, but it crashed about 1,000 kilometers short of its intended goal. >> the crash is believed in the alps, the plane is believed to have 148 people on board, 142 were passengers.

no survivors are expect. >> right now the cause of the crash remains unclear. the pilots did send out a distress signal before contact with the aircraft was ultimately lost saying quote, emergency. emergency. and the crash site has been found by investigators at 6,000 feet altitude. the cause at this time remains unclear. >> we do know the french president has been briefed of the situation. he believes there will be no survivors because of the rugged terrain in this particular area. that area, if you've been to france or nice, this particular area was 65 miles to the north of nice. >> between 65 and 100. sadly we do have some people reporting bodies have been scattered throughout the crash site. it was a rapid decent. it was not a very long flight. but that flight was not able to be completed. we're trying to put all this

together. the french president said this was a tragedy on our soil. >> now we're joined by shepard smith with the latest. >> thanks for joining us. >> good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. this is the continuing coverage of disaster in france. an air bus has fallen from the sky after giving a distress call. the french president confirmed all their best estimates in france are that everybody on board was lost. again, as we've been reporting during "fox and friends" this morning, the jet was headed from barcelona to germany. in the event that is extremely rare, a midair distress signal. now, the vast majority of all plane crashes happen within minutes of takeoff or landing. most often during these sorts of

flights, this is an extremely common route in this area. these flights will be operating on autopilot. the chances of something going wrong with a modern jet like this one, with a company like this one with such an out standing safety record something happening in midair would be extremely rare. what we have no clue right now is what caused the pilot to send out a distress signal. after the distress signal, the data from flight aware, which tracks flights while in midair suggests that the plane did descend rapidly. it would not be a crash, in other words, a full steam drop from the air. it wasn't like that at all. from all the data we're able to get from flight aware, it appears the decent was quick but appeared to be in the early going now, the data suggests it appeared to be a somewhat controlled decent. where is the jet? according to authorities, it has crashed in the french alps in

the foothills of the alps. and the local reports indicate to us that there is debris and there are bodies scattered across a very rugged terrain. this area is well known for its hiking trails -- of course in the middle of winter it's skiing. an out door region which is popular for tourists. it very widely scattered and not heavily populated. there are a lot of trails. again, we're at 6,500 feet of altitude which will complicate search and rescue efforts. 6,500 feet means there will be a lot of things that are difficult for those moving their way in. there is an airport not far away. because of the rugged it train and the fact there is so many out door activities there. every vimmage from the reports i've been getting has a team of rescue operators. some who are volunteers, some who are paid by authorities. who are on standby 24/7 all year

around to effect rescues in the area. the rescues would normally be hikers or vehicle on the ground to help people who are in distress in some way or another, someone has fallen or twisted a leg or gotten into an accident. there are people there to come and help. the idea there would be massive rescue teams to effective a rescue of this kind is outside of what the immediate capabilities are there. there are reporters on the ground from the bbc and others who suggest there is shock throughout the area. that there is debris scattered over a wide area. and according to a report i got moments ago, bodies are being taken to a morgue at a gymnasium that has been set up there. the french president suggests that a large number of the people on board would have been german. we know that with the easter season upon us, a lot of europeans vacation in this area. this would be a popular destination, especially for

germans. it was a german wings air bus a 320. a popular jet. this one about 24 years old. as we all know, the age of the jet doesn't matter as much as its maintenance record. the maintenance records for this particular airline are extremely good. our sister network sky news in the united kingdom is having a live report. let's listen. >> well, in fact, here at the french civil aviation administration, i'm being told that basically they will not be the ones conducting the investigation about this crash. they will not be the ones communicating about it. i spoke to one of the people in charge, he was telling me indeed, there was no distress signal called from the plane. but basically the plane just dropped autradar. and they lost all radio communication with this plane at 10:47 a.m. local time here. just after that, a member of

parliament in this southern region of france, communicated and said that two helicopters had taken off in the minutes after the alert was given and had found where the crash had taken place. and this plane has crashed in a -- near a small village. it's in a mountainous region in the southern part of france. it is popular with hikers. it is a very difficult place to reach by land. it takes hours to actually walk to the crash area. so it's going to be very difficult to access. what we know is a group of specialists firefighters have been sent from the capital city around there. they are part of a group which is called the grimp. they specialize in working in difficult environments.

we'll know more when there's more information about what the debris looks likement also, the minister of interior, he's on his way there. he should be arriving very soon. >> our correspondent from sky news speaking live from the airport in paris. they are working to get more information on what happened. i can telll you the following a we go to the graphic. we'll return to sky news as they have new details. this is a german wings air bus a 320. let's listen to the french president now. >>. translator: this plane was flying between barcelona and germany. there were 148 people on board. the conditions of the accident, the reasons for which have not yet by verified indicate there have been no survivors. i would like to firstly express

our solidarity with the families of the victims of this tragedy that has taken place in france. even as we do not yet know the identities of those victims. i have already spoken with the prime minister. and the interior mainister who immediately travelled to the crash site. a crisis center has been formed. we will know more about this in a few minutes' time. before then, we are dedicating our efforts to insuring the accident has no further consequences. i will be speaking with the german chancellor angela merkel. it is very likely many of the victims are german, as well as with the king of spain who is visiting us today. it is a tragedy, another aviation tragedy. we are trying to understand all the elements that may have caused this. we will, of course, give them to

the relevant authorities, spanish as well as german. and the families of the victims. >> this is the french president speaking a short time ago on what -- the updates as they had them. he mentioned the german chancellor is in on the mix. i've just been informed the german safety experts are on their way to the crash site. that's according to reuters. the airline is a discount airline, but it has from all we've been able to learn over the last hour what appears to be a perfect safety record. no previously reported crashes or any sort of midflight or on ground accidents. the fleet, according to the reporting of the bbc is on average about nine years old. this particular one, as i reported earlier is 24 years old. again, as far as we can tell, the maintenance records are very good. this a 320 had been with its

parent group since it was manufactured in 1991. again from the bbc. when it went down today it was according to the reporting of flight aware, a somewhat controlled decent, not a drop from the sky. and then a crash into the foot hills of the french alps. a remote village, a lot of hiking around it with some small rescue teams. nothing to be able to mount a search and rescue in a place like that. that said, the french president says this is not a search and rescue mission but a search and recovery mission as all of those on board are believed to have died. the french put out that report almost immediately. upon eyewitnesses at the scene saying what is being described to us as a horrific crash site with debris scattered over a very large area with bodies scattered around this village. they set up a morgue there. there are no treatment centers set up as there are no living

victims. a morgue has been set up at a nearby high school. we're after the noon hour autothe french alps. an a 320 crashed with 140 people on board. flight 4 u 9525 from barcelona to germany. a large number of german passengers believed to have been on board. we don't have the manifest. it's owned by a german carrier. we've been able to get a lot of information from sky news which is based in the united kingdom and has offices across the region. they have made it clear that mounting a recovery effort could take many hours. the locals, apparently, are pitching in to help with the recovery effort. most concerning to news consumers around the world, the conditions under which this plane reported a distress. the distress signal came out about 90 minutes into the flight. not -- a little more than

halfway through this two hour long flight on a very common route. very highly travelled with no instances of major troubles in the past couple of decades. again, this route from barcelona to germany highly travelled. for reasons which at this point are completely unknown, the pilot began sending out a distress signal. they were at cruising altitude. and flying along at what would under normal circumstances be preprogrammed flight plan. they would be on autopilot. suddenly out of nowhere there was a distress signal. after the distress signal, the plane began to rapidly descend, according to flight aware, but not what would amount to an uncontrolled drop from the sky. it crashed in the foot hills from the alps. our correspondent flew for the united states navy. the decent as i'm seeing it, rapid but not like a drop from the sky. >> you know, there is really no

reason that a pilot would intentionally descend in an emergency situation in the mountains. that indicates at this point there was probably some sort of an maernemergency cacausing dec. because when you're in a mountainous terrain area, when you're in any situation when you're in an aircraft emergency the first thing you'll do is climb. you will want to get altitude beneath you so i have time to make decisions. in an airplane, altitude is time. >> you know, another thing that we -- the latest information we have on the weather is from some people who had flown that route earlier in the day. it's a quarter past noon there n now. that the weather does not appear in the early going to have been a factor. all across that part of europe, the weather was fine. there was no reason for any concern. again, an excellent track record with no crashes -- or major incidents of any kind from this

german wings flight. can you give us an idea of the sort of thing that might create a distress signal? what might have been happening. or is it too wide ranging possibilities to speculate? >> if it was something catastrophic they probably would never made a distress call. it wouldn't have taken so long for the airplane to disappear from the radar. something catastrophic happened, in flight explosion, major failure the caused the electronics to drop. this indicates there was an emergency situation that made them realize we need to put out a distress call and alert search and rescue the fact that we may end up in a crash situation. al there was also a in flight emergency that the pilot and first officer would have been working through. of course, there is the option of an engine failure. it would cause you to lose thrust. a dual engine failure would be a real problem in this kind of an airplane. you would be trying to work through the emergency. the first pilot and pilot would

be going through check lists. that distress call is the last thing you would make. the first thing you would do is you would have your hands full handling the emergency. you need to aviate navigate communicate. depending on the emergency you're dealing with a flat area where you can put it down. something to keep in mind, is that if there was some sort of loss of thrust in the mountens, when you turn an airplane you lose thrust -- you lose lift. you dump lift. a lot of people are asking why would the plane continue on course. it may have been trying to climb to get out of the mountains. >> it's possible. we're expecting to learn more at 10:00 eastern time. in addition, we've been able to find out that german safety

experts are on scene. and reuters has more details on the plane. i mentioned earlier it crashed at the 6,500 foot altitude there in the french alps. we have been able to get a list from where the correspondents are from. greg palkot is with us. >> we're getting a bit of a break down. spanish authorities are saying there were 45 spaniards on the flight. remember, there was 148 on board. the flight leaving from barcelona headed to germany. i used to live near there. i know that airport is a major head especially for tourists and for charter groups, especially for the low budget airlines. i am reckoning that the bulk of the passengers, remaining passengers will be german. the crew probably german. that airport is also near the holland and belgium border. there could be a smattering of

dutch and belgian on board. i'm thinking we'll be hearing a lot of german and a fair number of spaniards on that flight. we were talking about the descend, we're looking at some of the numbers we are seeing coming across our information here. one report claiming, don't have this confirmed that the plane went from 38,000 feet to 6,800 feet in the space of ten minutes. i think you were saying that your source was saying it was a controlled decent. that's fast. as you were saying, it's not like a rock falling from the sky. there could have been some control. again, the crash site, it is a remote area. we are talking to people on the ground there. they are saying that the french investigators are seeing scattered debris. unfortunately, they are seeing bodies as well. scattered across an area of something like five acres of the southern french alps. on the map, it doesn't look too far away and too remote. it's only about 100 miles

northwest of the busy nice city on the coast of france. but, again, it's up 2,000 feet into the alps. there are few roads and major towns nearby. >> 6,500 feet the altitude there. greg palkot with us from london. the ceo of the parent company of german wings said he had no information about what happened to the flight. what happened in midair when the distress signal went out. quote, my sympathy is with the families of the passengers and crew. we learned of the 148 people on board, the german chancellor's office confirmed they believe a large number of those will be german, just as greg palkot has reported from london. you mentioned the debris from the crash was found at an altitude of 2,000 feet. the crash site in a mountainous area from 6,500 feet to

2,000 feet in altitude, greg palkot mentioned five acres. that would be a steep hill indeed. either the early reports of the 6,500 feet of altitude were wrong or there is debris over a wide range from 2,000 feet of altitude up to 6,000. we don't know the trajectory of what the plane went in. there were no indications about specifics from the pilots at the time. the fact the went down while at cruising altitude, there were problems at cruising altitude. they weren't about to begin a decent. they were at altitude. this was in midflight leads many to question exactly what may have happened. to say it is unusual is on point. the vast majority of crashes happen in a short period of time after takeoff or just before landing. sky news is reporting, as i mentioned a little while ago, weather conditions were calm. there was no low ceiling. no turbulence had been reported by ailerliners that were in tha

area. the way pilots learn about turbulence midflight is from -- in many cases from other pilots. there had been many others on the heavily travelled route in the late morning. who had been reporting no turbulence and no flight problems at all as it relates to weather. the ministerial -- they have activated the ministerial crisis cell over there to try to coordinate the aftermath of this crash. and the germans and the prime minister in france are suggesting they will have a extreme, as they put it search and rescue crew together within a short period of time. traffic times are very, very long. german wings says it can't confirm really much of anything about the -- except the fact this has gone down, quoting an air france minister. german wings is a compitant company giving it is owned by a reputable company. it's all within the continent

there, two to three hour flights is about it. the air bus a 320 is a successful airplane that's been around for 20 years. quoting now, it surprises me this aircraft flying from barcelona to germany would zb at a low altitude. nobody goes low in the alps unless you're landing. it was at cruising altitude when it begun this decent. quoting again, something catastrophic has taken place there or there's been some sort of a major emergency. it was the -- if it was the major emergency it would have been consistent with the radio call. there was a distress call sent out. now the search and recovery mission is underway. our friends at sky news in the united kingdom have perspective on the big wall behind them. >> it took off from kwoala lumber. >> as close to the scene as they are.

they have basically taken over the nearest town hall. that is where they're basing themselves to continue their work. there are 210 police officers heading to the scene. 240 french firefighters heading that way as well. a huge emergency response. it is a very, very remote location. i'm told to get to that actual crash site, they the two helicopters up. it can only be reached by helicopter quickly. it's a two and a half hour hike from the nearest village. it is an extremely remote area where it came down. >> a german plane flying from spain to germany. what do we know about the nation alt of those on board? >> we're waiting to hear from the spanish government. we're hearing at least 45 spanish passengers on board that aircraft. obviously, there will be german nationals heading back to germany, barcelona a hugely

popular destination. 148 passengers in total on that aircraft. 142 passengers, and crew as well. spain's deputy pm said 45 passengers believed to be spanish. the spanish king is in france on business. others are heading back to paris to deal with the situation. i couldn't know, the emergency response ongoing on the ground. an extremely re mote area to reach. >> now the investigation underway. of course, air bus is finally put together -- made in many countries, including the uk in europe, but put together not too far away. >> precisely. we will know a lot more in the next hour and a half or so. because the airline, the parent company of german wings are due

to hold a news conference at 2:00 p.m. our time. that news conference, they will have a lot more information. i think the key question will be what was said in that distress call at 9:47 a.m. local time. just precisely what information was given. because thereafter followed catastrophic loss of altitude. the aircraft at one stage was at 40,000 feet and plummeted down to 6,200 in the stase of ten minutes. quite a loss of altitude. something has gone staggeringly long with that flight. that would be one of the first questions to them later on. what can they rule in and what have they already ruled out? >> thank you very much. i think we -- >> sky news our sister network in the united kingdom. the latest reports we've gotten from the gound now. a couple of helicopters in the air. you heard a correspondent say it's a two and a half hour hike

up to this very remote area where the vast majority of the debris is. and -- could you kill that, please? that would be helpful. there is a great deal of concern about the place in the middle of this flight where this happened. you heard the greater specifics now. at 40,000 feet descended to 6,000 feet in the space of about ten minutes. james hall was the head of the national transportation safety board joins us. that sort of event at cruising altitude in the middle of a flight, does that tell you anything? >> there is very little information. as you know, at this point. best to wait and see what developments as the day progresses. certainly a horrible tragedy. >> the vast majority of crashes happen just around takeoff or landing, right?

>> that's correct. statistically, yes. >> under normal circumstances an hour and a half into a two plus hour flight, would they still be on autopilot? >> well, most likely. again, it's hard to know once we have the recorders and black boxes, more information, clearly will be available. but the 320 is widely used here in the united states as well as world wide, so there's going to be keen interest in finding out as quickly as possible what happened to this aircraft. >> german wings, a low cost carrier, but the parent has an excellent safety record. >> they have an excellent safety record. all options are on the table here. of course, unfortunately, due to the times we live in, you have

to look at both the possibilities of some sort of criminal act, as well as a failure of the aircraft. >> the criminal act thing, is one that i've been thinking about but not talking about very much because i don't have a lot of information. we understand the world we live in today. and, you know, when something happens like this at cruising altitude in the middle of fight. not because something like this has happened before, but it's quite rare. >> it's extremely rare. that's why there has to be -- with as many flights as you have just as we're speaking right now in the air, you want to be able to find out as quickly as possible what occurred. and hopefully rule out the possibility of any criminal activity. >> a very heavily travelled route i'm learning, jim. >> yeah, well all of the skies

over europe, like the united states are constantly crisscrossed by folks in major airlines. and mostly done every day on a very safe basis. so, again, with such scant information, it's very difficult to do anything in responseful way other than say everything has to be on the table to be looked at. i'm sure that's what the authorities are doing. >> given the remoteness of this crash site and the difficulties of the terrain around it, what's the first thing that you do when you get to a site like this in an effort to determine what happened? >> well, obviously, if there are no survivors, the first thing, obviously, is going to be the -- safety -- survivors, but in this situation, the first thing you would be looking for would be

the recorders. or any other information that, you know, would clearly indicate what might have occurred. >> forgive me, the spanish prime minister is speaking through sky news on this particular crash. we know the number of spanish passengers on board. translator: it's very drawmatic accident. we will do everything in our powers and our hands to help. anything that is possible to help the families. to give them our support. ladies and gentlemen, i hope you understand that i can't talk about anything different. what i just said. thank you very much. >> the spanish leader speaking. jim, so many people from different countries on board this flight. in a very popular tourist time. a lot of different countries are going to be involved in this investigation, i would suspect?

>> yeah, it's, i guess the germans i'm sure have already mobilized their team. >> they have. >> and the ntsb will be participating as well. certainly it will take us time to get folks there. some time for the agency to get people there. >> no weather problems, jim, no turbulence reported by pilots along this route. no trouble on this airline. i guess as a result of all this we have a void of information and not a lot to go on. so until they get in there and find something, it sounds like we won't know a whole lot. >> no. but there is, obviously, the good news here is the fact we do know where the aircraft is located. and we do have evidence of the wreckage. and i assume rescuers are moving to that site, if they haven't already reached it. >> they're trying.

two helicopters on. jim hall live with us on the line. these pictures you're seeing on the left hand sky of the scream are from sky news. they're the first images from a rescue helicopter on the site. there are two helicopters that were able to mobilize in the early going. others are moving in on the ground. there are no roads to the area. it's my understanding where this is, from the nearest village, a more than two hour hike in there. as scant as this is, there is really not a lot to see here except these are the first images from the crash site from a rescue site from a -- rescue helicopter that's on board. these pictures are from the news agency france two. again, this is the airport now where they're putting up word of this on the screens there inside the passengers terminal on the left hand side of your screen.

spain's prime minister says 45 people on board are believed to be spanish. as you might imagine, in germany, they are waiting for information. french president said there are no survivors. the air bus that went down is a work horse of modern aviation. it's a singleale twin engine jet that is used to connect cities that are between one and five hours apart. world wide there are more than 3,600 of these planes in operation. that's the word from air bus which also makes the smaller but nearly identity a 319 and a 321. the german airlines crashes in the south of the alps while flying from barcelona to germany. the a 320 safety record, just

1.14 fatal accidents perone million take yauoffs. on the phone with us is former commercial airline pilot and aeronautical engineer. they're at altitude, they're at cruising altitude. a little more than halfway through the flight. all of a sudden in perfect weather with no turbulence reported by other pilots there is a distress call and it desnds over a ten minute period. with that as our guide, what can you tell us? >> first of all. that controlled rate of decent, about 3,000 foot per minute tells me there's only a few items you would start that decent so quickly. pressurization problem, either a massive pressurization loss or a slow leak. an engine loss or one or two engine. one engine you will have to get down to a lower altitude.

or a fire of unknown origin, one of the worst check lists in the world. control problems. those are pretty much about it. why a pilot would immediately start a decent. it is relevant that he had time to make the one may day call, which you would do right away. that's just instinct. you don't descend in that type of a route just helter-skelter without warning pilots you're going down. it's a short call. may day, may day. german air wings 9225 stand by. everybody is alerted we have trouble and they stand by to see what you will report. not many reasons to come down. those are pretty much the prime reasons. >> listening to german authorities, and a quote here. something catastrophic has either taken place or there has been a major emergency. if it were the second, it would probably have been proceeded or consistent with the radio call. something happened and suddenly. because if you're at cruising

altitude, it wouldn't be something that is built like a slow leak you noticed, wouldn't it. >> you would come down at 3,000 foot per minute with a slow pressurization leak. absent any further kaulcalls, i start to go away from that. let's look at the instantaneous ones. engine loss. both engines, you're coming down. a massive pressurization, not catastrophic, i'm talking about a massive pressurization loss, hole in the cabin where the cabin goes up to to that altitude. that requires an immediate decent. you would be putting the plug and hitting 5 to 6,000 feet per minute, not the 3,000. with that altitude and that amount of time, you've got a glide of about 120, 130 miles. of course, now you've got to take into account the height of

the terrain below you, which you're going into the southern alps. you're getting up at altitudes to 9,000 feet. >> the distress call emergency, emergency and very little more. i would guess the first thing you want to see is notify. your focus is on getting the plane righted. >> right. either he calls out a emergency or may day, the more standard phrase, you've got a full blown emergency. now the pilot turns to the other pilot and calls for the check list. from there on in, you start getting a very, very busy. the typical operation is sullenbering's flight was six minute long, in three minutes they did the entire check list and put the water. time is of the esen. once you have alerted authorities you are coming down and all other aircraft are now listening and watching for your aircraft even, and they're

tracking you on radar. he is on positive radar. they're watching him come down, now the check list is all important. and, again, absent any further calls from that pilot to explain the difficulty they're going through, lends me to believe they're running through a difficult check list. something like a loss of electrical, fire of unknown origin, which is the worst and longest check list of them all. >> one thing that statistics do tell us the data does tell us they're at 3,000 feet, six minutes later than at 24,000 feet. that's not a check list of a plane of which you lost control. that suggests pilots were in control? >> i have no problem with that. that 3,000 feet per minute decent looks good. >> not a stall. >> no. it might have had difficulty

with flight control. that appears to me looking at that 3,000 foot per minute and the distance he travelled off his route, i would suggest it was more an emergency where he's coming down and looking for an airfield or a place to put that airplane down. and along that route, along there, there are major highways that traverse that area. quite frankly, without an airplane very close by, which i'm not aware of any there, i've flown that route many, many times. he might have just been looking for a valley and a main highway to put the machine into. >> the french newspaper is now tweeting that the incident is the worst plane crash in terms of fatalities on french soil since 1981 when 180 people died in an accident there. the civil protection service there is asking relatives to call a certain line. what we have is a major event with extreme difficulties on the

ground. jp, ju getting emergency personnel into this area is going to prove to be extremely difficult. >> they're going to rely on helicopters, quite a bit. if you've ever skied that area -- i've skied that entire area as well -- these people have highly skilled helicopter pilots. very much accustomed to high altitude mountain type flying. they're aware of the type of winds that can occur. these are highly skilled pilots. i would suspect that. i would believe you have already reported they've got helicopters in that area. to get surface traffic up to that area is going to be very difficult. and my glass is always half full when they say no one could possibly survive that. well i've seen and heard and read of many terrible accidents where a child or a young person or two or three people have miraculously survived the crash. until it becomes a search and recovery, i'll go for search and rescue.

>> understood. viewers who are watching on television as opposed to listening on satellite radio may notice the number of people on board has been upped to 150. that comes to us from the airline itself. from german wings. which now confirms there were 144 emergency two pilots and other crew members on board for a total of 150 people. the french president confirms all on board have died. this confirmation came in quickly due to reports on the ground. that tells us -- if the french president, jp comes forward to say almost immediately that all on board are lost, that tells us a bit about the rate at which the plane came in and how severe and extreme the scene must be. >> the problem is, when you're coming down at altitude into a mountain range, you're not only working the check list, you're also concerned about your minimum in route altitude you

can maintain safe flight. this aircraft came right down and struck the mountain, it could very well be simply working a check list, the ground proximity warning system triggered too late. your rate of decent was too late. or with no engine power, you are coming down and you have exhausted your last chance to go for a valley -- see a road, see an airport. when you hit a mountain, it's all over w. that speed, forward speed, rate of decent. the best you could flair that airport to would be maybe 1,000 foot a minute for the impact. it's going to be a deadly crash. >> the french president now with the king and queen of spain. let's listen. translator: apparently there are no french victims. but we're not yet totally certain this is the case. once again i would like to voice our deep sorrow.

for the families that have either lost somebody or are waiting for news. i perfectly understand the decision taken by the king of spain that he has just announced. he took this decision to heart, talking about it with the prime minister. myself and we are mourning. i would like to confirm that everything has been made available to both -- i understand the circumstances of the accident, as well as find the victims. the accident occurred in a very difficult area. and rescue will only be able to

reach it in a few hours. i would like to thank all the civil service departments that have been mobilized as well as the french army. to go as fast as possible to the site of the accident. some assistance are already there or will be soon. the secretary, the minister, the transport minister. there will also be ministers from the country affected by this tragedy. german and spanish ministers. i have just now talked with chancellor merkel, who was deeply affected by this tragedy. the king of spain, who will go

very soon at half past 3:00 precisely to the minister of the interior. the prime minister will welcome us and give us an update on what has been done in terms of rescue. and analyzing the circumstances of this tragedy. this visit cannot -- cannot be completed now. we will do that at some point in the future. we are proud to welcome the king of spain and the queen. >> the french president and king and queen of spain speaking of the number of spanish passengers believed to be at 45. why they were speaking we got to what appears to be our first eyewitness account. it comes from the bbc. the bbc reports that a hotel worker from the nearest town of

substantial size witnessed the plane coming in. this witness at the hotel has told bbc 5 radio live. the plane was flying very low. this worker named william said there is several helicopters at the crash. it is very difficult to get into that area that is normally covered in snow. right now according to this first eyewitness, the particular area where the plane went down was dry and not covered in snow. so flying very low. lea gabrielle who was a pilot for the united states navy, foggy conditions potentially, but not a low ceiling here. the mountains certainly complicate things. >> that was the first thing that came to mind when i saw the fact that you showed taken by a helicopter pilot in the area. it does look like it's foggy. where that would come into play is if the pilot was in a emergency, loss of thrust

situation, which is what it sounds like happened because of the rate of decent. he would be looking for a flat area to get the wings level and to put the plane down. some sort of valley or road, any sort of a flat area. that -- the area may have been obscured from the pilot's perspective because of the clouds we're seeing. because of the misty conditions in the area. they may be a factor in this. of course people on the ground saw the plane crash. that's why they're saying, you know -- why the french president is saying no survivors at this point. as you mentioned. but when a pilot has a loss of thrust situation they will want to get the wings level, find a flat place to land. the areas may have been obscured in preventing the pilot from seeing anything. he may not have been able to turn the plane. if you have a loss of thrust you want to decrease the rate of decent by keeping the wings level and minimize the impact as

much as possible. another thing to think about here, this may have turned into a complex emergency. jp was talking about the bells and whistles that will go off as you get close to terrain. in a emergency situation there may be a lot of bells and whistles coming off. when i was flying and had problems, a lot of different bells and whistles start going off. as the pilot, in this case the pilot and first pilot would be working through emergency procedurets you can get confused. you're going down to your basic flying concept, which is trying to get the wings level, and try to put it down anywhere you can with minimum impact. >> 14 minutes before the hour. breaking news continues. an a 320 jet has crashed in the frenchal wants.

150 people on board. the french president says we are to expect no survivors. this is a search and recovery mission. four helicopters are on scene. the hike from the nearest village is a two hours mission. german and french authorities have mobilized. the french president spoke a short time ago, as did the king and queen of spain, along with hollande. the german wings is cologne based. they have given us the break down by country on this flight from barcelona to germany. we showed you a moment ago the first still image which has come to us from one of the helicopters flying above the area. the first reports have come in from one eyewitness at a nearby hotel saying the plane had been flying very low. that the area where it came in

is dry, but would normally be covered in snow. we know that from flight aware that the decent of this plane was somewhere around 5,000 feet per minute at one point. though slower prior to that. jp is back on the line with us. a controlled on some level decent with a catastrophic crash at the end. >> yes, those are controllable -- the first one 3,000 foot per minute is a normal glide even for a twin engine plane. the most important part of any of this when you have a controlled problem such as a lost of thrust on boat engines, is that the rate of decent is also corresponds to a maxim glide speed. the other could be attributed to a pilot seeing an area he may want to work towards.

a air bs is a peculiar fly by -- about 98% of time it's flown by autopilot control with limited maneuverability. the minute the pilot kicks off autopilot. he expands that envelope to far more maneuverability. he's got far more pitch up and roll capability. as long as he keeps the air speed up he will maintain control of that aircraft and avoid going into the stall protection feature of the air bus, which that takes all bets off. that was something i really wouldn't want to get technically involved in. it looks to me like a controllable rate of decent, a controllable aircraft. that pilot's head is on a swivel. whether there's mist or what gabriel said about the task loading in that cockpit. you bet. when those whistles and horns go

off and you're concentrating on the check list. that aircraft is going down. he's not getting a chance to gain altitude tells me he's having severe problems. >> a short time ago we got a eyewitness report from a nearby town, the word was it was dry at the time, suggesting there was no snow. the translation error is as follo follows, there is snow on the ground, but it was not snowing. it goes along with reports we've gotten from reports at the time. there was not weather in the area at the time. the pictures suggests to our correspondent there might have been fog. we're not sure yet. no on the ground, but no precipitation at the time. a very difficult task getting up in there. the area which would be available for helicopter

landing, we don't even yet know, jp, if there are open spaces along this route where helicopters would be able to land to help facilitate a search and recovery effort. it may be the helicopters would be force today hover in this area until people can get in on foot to clear a landing zone. the description of this area is such that it would be a very long hike and not a lot of open spaces. trails along this, but a very jagged landscape. and potentially, at least not a lot of places for helicopters to put down. that would be infinitely complicating. >> these pilots are highly trained. they go after people who are involved in snow accidents. it's very easy to hover a helicopter and rappel your people down. >> a lot harder to get down there and figure out in a timely fashion what might have happened. i know they set set up a morgue

in a nearby gymnasium. how they're getting to and from it is amazing because our word on the ground is -- >> they have already rappelled down people. those people -- trust me, they could land this thing on a dime on a mountaintop, they're so highly skilled. they would have rappelled forces down into that area. those people are on the ground and doing exactly what you've said. looking for possibility of survivors looking to hack away any underbrush. they are setting up locaters so that the ground forces can make their way to it. but i have a great respect and high regard for those chopper pilots who operate throughout these areas of the alps. >> what sort of events can cause a rapid depressurization? >> just a failure of something within the cabin, much like southwest airlines had a few years back when a hole appeared in the top. you can have a massive leak due

to something else that occurred. a crack in the cabin that lets out the air. a rapid decent doesn't have a rapid depressurization. it could be a small leak. when we pull the plug on this aircraft, my rate of decent,norableally, nishly i have ten minutes to go down to 15,000 feet is closer to the area of 6,000 feet per minute. >> they lost the signal at 6,800 feet. after that is a town, an interesting graphic coming in from sky news. if you want to switch over. this may this controlled decent to some gree adegree and ended in -- i guess we're on different channels. 6,800 feet is where they lost the signal. the vast majority of the debris seen, according to the locals there, just could be -- a discrepancy in the reporting in

the early going. some at 10,000 feet, some at 6,800. >> 5,700 feet from what i pulled up, so, yes, it could be -- that's also -- it's on a major road that cuts through that area. so you could have lower altitudes there. that's not an improbable occurrence to have that. the difference in the altitude. coming down in that area and that type of thing, you could ding a wing, just get too close to a mountain. you could have a wind effect that drives you -- mountain waves. all of these type of things. that pilot appears to me was in a controlled decent but he ran out of time and airspace. >> the king of spain, during that news conference a short time ago during the appearance with the french president, the king and queen of spain, is in paris and had an official state visit to france.

following conversations with hollande they have decided to postpone their visit and they are headed back home now. if we could switch over to sky, i would appreciate it. this is the terrain in this area. sky news, if you would for the video portion of this. this is the best shot that we've been ail to get. our understanding is that this came in from a helicopter that's right there on scene. you can see a lot of snow. i think what they'll do is cycle through the series of maps, which is very good. here's the overview. there's the spot where flight 9525 was last located. you can see that area right there in the center of your screen, the red marking at 6,800 feet. that's the terrain where all of this was happening. again, we don't have anything to indicate that weather was involved. the air bus a 320 with a pretty

well perfect flight record. a low cost division of germany's largest -- what was the report again? >> jon scott is with us. he's a pilot himself and the anchor of the 11:00 a.m. hour eastern time. did something catastrophe happening while at cruising altitude with a call of emergency emergency doesn't leave you a lot to go on? >> no, it doesn't. i couldn't kn it's only speculation. this plane was about 24, 25 years old. that's not particularly ancient as aircraft go. sometimes, especially with these planes that fly a lot of short hauls, a lot of up and down, a lot of pressurization, and depressurization. times there had been instances in boeings where the metal fatigue would eat into the

interior of the plane. and the outside would pop off. it could have been something like that. again, it was fairly sudden. and as you say, catastrophic. we don't know yet. >> maernemergency, emergency an controlled decent. not a drop from the air. but the data suggests to those who seem to know about these things this would not have been a drop. the pilots in some degree of control based on the numbers. >> right. i've looked at the -- there's a flight tracking website that shows you the altitude. this thing did not go straight down as you say. it was a fairly controlled decent. also, the indication is that the pilot requested an altitude of 5,000 feet. that may just be some of the confusion that results as these first reports are coming in. perhaps, because the crash is reported to have happened at about 5,000 feet elevation. there is no need to go down

quite that low. you know, if you've lost a major section of your plane, you don't need to get down that low. you can get 15,000, 13,000 feet and be fine. i am curious, if indeed the pilot requested that altitude why he wanted to go that low in the alps. >> if he was situationally aware of where he was at the time or if there was a degree of chaos. who's to know. >> that's right. there have been problems with the pitot tubes on the air bus. but i don't believe those involve the air bus 320. the pitot tube is the device that measures your air speed. that's the probe that sticks out. you see them on the front of most aircraft as you're boarding. there have been problems with icing in the pitot tubes. that's what ended up bringing down air france 447.

ice got into the pitot tube, plugged it. the computer wasn't able to measure how fast the plane was going. the crew did not react properly. whether, you know, that could have been a factor in this flight, we don't know. but again, if the pilot said he had an emergency and he had day light -- this happened in morning hours in france. it's much easier to control a plane and decide where you're going to put it if you can see what's going on around you. it's really a mystery what might have happened. >> it certainly is. we'll look for you a couple of hours from now on fox news. thanks. it was in every way an absolutely normal day. a 320 flying along routine height on a routine flight and retine weather. a distress came emergency emergency. then a rapid decent began. somewhere between 3 and 5,000 feet per minute. a request for a lower altitude

and crash into the foot hills of the french alps. the french president confirmed 150 people on board and all 150 are lost. our coverage continues throughout the morning and throughout the day. bill: we are getting new information after a plane crashes in the french alps. they are thousands of feet highs in the mountains in southeastern france. there is new word that debris has been located. a tough morning and busy morning. martha: we are getting brand-new video from the germanwings flight crash site. these pictures were taken from a rescue chopper trying to reach that area. you can see that will