re days. because we need nine more days to continue this debate. great conversation this morning. thank you all very much. a reminder, stay with nbc news all week for a special coverage of hurricane sandy and of course the election. that's all for today, we'll be back next week for our special election-week broadcast live from nbc's democracy plaza in new york. because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." i'm veronica de la cruz. hurricane sandy packing 70 miles an hour wind and taking aim at the jersey shore. it could bring a wall of water into new york city from virginia to massachusetts. 7500 flights have been canceled and amtrak service halted. let's bring in bill karins with the latest. bill, what is the latest? >> the storm is heading towards the jersey shore. ever so slowly it stopped going to the east and then it was going north overnight. now we're getting that rare, westerly component to a storm moving along the east coast of

the united states. that's what's going to make this an historical storm track of sandy. still a category 1 storm in the center coming out to the bottom of your screen. the heavy rain is really set up over the last six hours. right over the top of areas of delaware maryland and southern portions there of virginia. all i watt to virginia beach and norfolk. washington beach and -- light rains for you. the rain has been steady and heavy throughout the overnight hours from wilmington to wildwood to atlantic city. not much northern progress yet. that's going to be the trend with this storm. not expecting a lot of rain on the northern half and the worst wind where we don't get the rain. this time tomorrow veronica millions and millions of people won't have power. >> bill we appreciate you watching it. we're going to keep you updated on hurricane sandy throughout the evening. first back to our regular program. security cameras roll as a

barrage of bullets is dodged. >> these are absolutely terrified. it's just utter panic. >> an airborne race car flies directly at a cameraman. >> this went from really cool to this sucks like bam. you okay girl? >> a pilot runs out of fuel and crash lands in the pacific. >> at those speeds, it's like hitting a brick wall. >> powerful tornadoes. >> it's throwing 18-wheelers. this is something i have never seen before. >> target a small town. >> oh, my gosh dude. it's headed right for us. >> devastating everything in their path. and a terrorist bomb blows up a bar. >> i was laying in a puddle of beer and blood and broken glass. this is closest i've ever come to death. >> fighting for survival.

caught on camera. life or death. an 1800 horsepower race car going well over 100 miles per hour loses control spewing sparks and flames. it goes flying straight toward a cameraman who stands paralyzed. april 20th 2012. bristol, tennessee. the dragway best known as thunder valley hosts the american drag racing league's top sportsman's race. >> they go about 170 miles per hour. in about 4.10 seconds. it's pretty crazy. >> meet 21-year-old drag race driver lizzie muse i. >> warming it up i love warming

it up in the morning. i love it. >> when she lines up to start -- >> you got two sets of golds up there. both amber lights come on. i have a button trans brab you let go of it. once you see the amber light go on, you got to react real quick. >> and then you floor it. and then it just launches on the last amber. >> lizzie's qualifying run earlier in the day in her beloved blue camaro goes off without a hitch. she's interviewed by the track's cameraman. >> that was fun. >> yeah? looked fun. >> had a great time. >> good deal. >> but in lizzie's first official race of the day, things go wrong in a hurry. >> felt the car a little bit turning to the right.

took a hard left and went from there. i won't forget that one second of it because everything started kind of slowing down. then i felt the car lift up. i could see the wall like and sparks flying. i didn't know where is this car going to go, flip over. i had to brace for impact. wait until it comes to a stop. once it came on its four wheels again and i just felt relieved. >> you okay dude? you okay girl? >> bummed. because i wanted to continue racing that race. i'm thankful the car actually lifted up that way. i could have hit right into that wall and it could have been really bad. >> in spite of becoming airborne lizzie walks away without a bruise. >> that sucks. >> you okay? >> yeah. i'm more than okay. but mad again. it's all right. >> how is the adrenaline level?

>> i'm a little mad. it sucks. >> don't be mad. you're in one piece. >> she doesn't realize that the cameraman who is interviewing her narrowly escaped with his life just moments earlier. >> holy. >> only time i saw him is when he came running up to me. i was like how did you get here so fast. what the heck mo way. >> caught on camera arranged a reunion for the driver and cameraman. >> i can't believe you're here again. >> there's something saucy about a chick swinging akah camaro at you. >> michael hester nicknamed grinner, he's a veteran freelance photographer who works the drag way circuit. >> that's one for the reel boys. >> i hopped the wall and grabbed a second camera and it was kind

of a seam less thing. >> watch another angle as the car flies at grinner. covering him with sparks and flames. it's almost inconceivable how he doesn't get crushed. >> that was close. >> he holds his camera steady until the very last second. >> just standing there like i was hypnotized thinking -- what a great -- i'm looking at the screen, i am looking at composition. >> i hate to say that but carnage is the money shot in our world. we hate wrecks. but tv loves it. that's why the spectators come. that's what i was thinking. what a shot. and then i realized i was part of it. and then i realized i had to do something about it. >> but you still have o wonder why didn't he move away earlier?

>> hindsight is 20/20. should i have gone sooner in yeah. i'll give you that. but i didn't know where she was going. she was on the wall man. typically, they'll hit the wall and bounce off. my frame didn't change. >> right back over. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> these dudes were cracking me up. he was like you were like jackie chan. tuck and roll. >> while it's easy to joke. it really is a life or death roll not to be taken lightly. >> you all right, brother? >> oh, man. that was a close one, man. >> had i laid down where i was, i would have eaten those wheelie bars. >> the wheelie bars are the metal bars attached to the back of the race car to help keep the car on the ground. >> if death could scrape his nails at you, those wheelie bars when they hit that concrete and the sparks were coming at me, that's when i was like this went

from really cool to this sucks like bam. >> despite the close call grinner walks away with nothing more than a scraped knee. >> that's a day at the office for me. that's not a deterrent. that's the high that i get. >> i have been asked, too, about oh, are you going to get back in the car again? do you even want to race after that? >> this one is actually mine. >> it's a passion i have. it's just -- i want to continue doing it. i love it. >> can't wait. >> i've cheated death honestly more than anyone i ever talked to. i'm not a hugely religious fellow but i'm hugely still here. >> coming up -- >> oh, my gosh dudes. that's headed right for us. >> powerful tornado tear up a small town forcesing residents to fight for their lives. >> i don't remember anything until i woke up. >> when caught on camera, life or death continues.

in an instant, life changes. tornado on the ground. tornado on the ground. >> it's throwing 18-wheelers. this is something i have never seen before. oh, my. holy [ bleep ]. in 2012 a series of powerful storms decimates 14 states. >> this is a day of recovery after a violent weekend. more than 100 tornado touched down in the midwest. one of the most violent and destructive hits the small town of henryville indiana. with winds up to 175 miles per hour march 2nd 2012.

21-year-old adams grabs his smartphone and start to record. >> that's the most insane thing i've ever seen in my life. >> my adrenaline was going. i didn't really think about it. it seemed like it was a little bit of a distance away but not close enough to be dangerous. >> a rural community of fewer than 2,000 people. henryville has one four-way stop, one gas station and eight churches. when the tornado warnings sound, not everyone is concerned. >> my mother was texting me and she was telling me there was going to be severe weather. i kind of blew it off. didn't think anything of it. >> neither does perry hunter a teacher at henryville high school. >> it seemed like a normal day to me. we knew that there was a chance tore bad weather, but we get these warnings quite often in the spring.

>> coming right toward henryville. >> just a few miles away, perry's aunt and wayne her husband of 40 years, listened to the tornado warnings on television. >> you've got to be taking shelter now, portions of crawford county. there's a tornado on the ground. >> hoping goes to the north of us. >> we were watching out the living room window. that's when i said that looks wicked over there. it's coming here. >> i'm hoping it goes -- >> that's picking up. >> then we realized it was going to hit henryville. >> it's picking stuff up. you see it rotate. >> we both had little cameras to take video or snapshots. >> we just like doing that. we were always fascinated with the sky. we just always took pictures. >> it looks like it's heading right toward us. >> maybe we should get away from the window. >> it looked like it was so far away when i look at the videos. >> i've got to close the door. oh my gosh tornado on the ground. tornado on the ground. >> before they know it the

tornado is upon them. lenora and wayne huddle together in a room with no windows in the safest part of their house. and cover themselves with a blanket. the couple has no idea how things will turn out. >> he said i love you. i said i love you too. then immediately, we both said my ears are popping. it was like at the same time. >> what starts as a fascination with the stormy sky is now a dangerous life or death struggle for survival. lenora blacks out. >> maybe i remember kind of being lifted. but i don't remember anything until i woke up then. >> on the other side of town lenora's nephew perry helps release kids from henryville high school 15 minutes early. 1200 children from kindergarten through high school in connecting buildings. but one bus released early is trapped by the storm much the driver turns around and races 11 young elementary students back to the school. the driver's eighth grade

preston is on the bus with her and describes their terrifying trip recorded on the bus security camera. >> the bus driver came over the radio and said i see the tornado on the ground much there's a bunch of little kids crying. it was kind of scary. >> then we ran into the school. me and my mom were the last ones off. >> they get off the bus just in time because second later with the cameras still rolling, it's picked up and slammed into a diner. meanwhile, footage from the school security system shows what happens in the high school where about 80 adults and children are hunkered down in school offices and a closet. >> the light went out and then there was a loud explosion from the gym imploding. it's when i hit the ground covered up and we heard the school rattling probably for about ten seconds.

stuff starts being pulled out of the gym. you see stuff coming loose on the roof. it's 175 mile an hour wind. i ran around to the front of the school and it was completely gone. >> chaos and damaging hail follow. many in henryville lose everything. but they regroup and start over. knowing it may be a long road back before life returns to normal. >> i've talked to a few people who are really struggling with anxiety from the whole situation. i'm one of them. i mean it's not something i want to experience again. >> while some in town are scarred from the experience no one suffers a loss like lenora. her husband wayne, a retired emergency room nurse is found crushed in their home. he dies from his injuries. he's the one person killed in henryville during the tornado.

>> at 59 you never which you're going to be a widow. you just don't think that it will happen to you. >> lenora and her family are devastated and her house destroyed. but she plans to rebuild and install a tornado proof basement on the land she treasured with your husband. >> going to make him proud. people should cherish the time that they have. live it like it's your last. carpe diem he would say. coming up a plane runs out of fuel over the pacific. and next passengers under attack on a public bus. >> i did not want to die that day. >> when caught on camera, life or death continues. and one wedding 2 kids, 43 bottles of olay total effects many birthdays later, still looks amazing. thanks to the trusted performance of olay.

on a warm afternoon in philadelphia, a mundane ride on a public bus erupts in gunfire. it looks like a scene from an action film. but this is no movie. these men really do open fire on a bus full of passengers. >> i did not want to die that day. >> june 18 2011. scared passengers including this elderly woman standing directly in the line of fire do their best to dodge bullets and stay alive. >> this is a mid-afternoon, saturday. say around 4:00. >> desmond jones is a philly

resident and veteran driver for the southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority bus company. better known as septa. when jones starts his shift on that sunny spring day, he's in for a shock. captured on his bus equipped with eight security cameras. it all starts when this young mother and her 2-year-old son get on the route 47 bus and run into another passenger, picket. >> i got on at 7th and market. >> as the bus wind through the streets, picket notices the little boy. >> he was running up and down the aisle. >> he hears the mom to tell her son to sit down. >> she begins spanking him like he was some sort of animal. >> picket leans forward and reprimand the young mother. he's a child. you shouldn't be spanking him like that. if you continue to do i'm going

to turn you in for child endangerment. >> she was like. you don't know me. this is my son. i will deal with him anyway i choose to. >> for whatever reason shall he offers his unsolicited parenting advice, saying he's just a little boy, that's child abuse. >> philadelphia native joe is a veteran staff write for the philadelphia enquirer. over the course of his 30-year career covering court cases, he thought he had seen it all until he watches the footage captured that day by the security cameras on the bus. >> she is seen on there making a cell phone call pulling an eye 'em to her ear. she turns, says something to mr. picket. the bus stops and the side door opens and she exits. >> the call is to her friends who are now waiting at her stop. she's told them about her confrontation with mr. picket. and they're armed and ready for action. >> it looked like at first he was helping her get off.

i notice when he like seemed to grab her off, i knew that something was wrong. >> security footage captures exactly what's wrong in stunning detail. >> as she's exiting, another young man is coming toward the bus and she says something to him. from what the prosecutor said she wointed out mr. picket and said i want you to shoot that guy. >> as the mom and her son get off, one man goes in the front door and yes, sir turs for everyone to come to the front steps. meanwhile, his friend is busy pulling out a huge rifle he's got hidden down the leg of his pants. soon, he's joined by the man from the front of the bus who pulls out his own semiautomatic pistol and they open fire. >> just absolute pandemonium on that bus. these people are terrified. you see them racing to the front of the bus hoping to escape there. they see a gunman out the front

door. they're all piled up in the stairwell. it's utter panic. >> as bullets rip through the bus, picket climbs on the bus driver trying to escape the firestorm. >> they're targeting mr. pickett inside the bus, but targeting is a very loose word in this case. essentially what they're doing is spraying the bus. >> i was so scared for my life. i been shot before. i know what it feel like. i did not want to die that day. >> the footage then shows a terrifying moment as an elderly woman stands frozen in the middle of the aisle. >> she hears the gunfire apparently. and bend down and a shod goes through the window hits a seat right next to her. >> desmond jones takes his first opportunity to speed away. >> had she been seated upright, it would have gone through her first. >> the woman is lucky to be

spared after a total of nine bullets are fired into the bus. throughout the ambush jones, an army veteran, keeps his cool. >> passengers pretty much hit the deck. they knew what to do. everyone was down on the floor. we just got out of there. i took us to the nearest hospital. at the time, no one was hurt. but i was taught let the paramedics sort them out. >> desmond reacted to according to his training. as a member of the military, he took control of the situation. that bus is flying. he's radioed his dispatcher so the police are meeting him there. literally under fire. he had a sense of responsibility to his passengers. >> as jones drives away the gunmen cousins 20-year-old carone and 22-year-old patterson runaway. the men are arrested two weeks later and plead guilty to charges, including 11 counts of aggravated assault and attempted murder. they are sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison. the young mother identified as

20-year-old penny chapman also pleads guilty to charges including attempted murder and is sentenced to five to ten years in prison. >> to this day, i don't know why penny chapman did what she did. maybe she didn't think it would go to that level. >> regardless of the provocation, it's hard to justify having your friends come over to do this. the fact that these guys fire shots into a bus and didn't hit a single person is as close to a miracle as i can think of. coming up -- >> woke up this morning ♪ >> a night out on the town turns deadly. [ screaming ] i was laying in a puddle beer and blood and broken glass. this is the closest i've ever come to death. >> when caught on camera, life or death continues.

i'm veronica de la cruz

following the latest on hurricane sandy. as far west as chicago as many as 60 million americans are feeling the effects of this monster storm. it's expected to make a turn sometime on monday. the stock market is shutting down. the new york stock exchange and nasdaq will both be closed monday and possibly tuesday as well. we'll have more updates on sandy straight ahead. but first, let's get you back to our program. five long years of relentless palestinian israeli violence from 2000 to 2005 leaves a legacy of terror destruction and death throughout the second -- or uprising. >> it happened again today. another suicide bomber in israel. this one killed 17 people. suicide bombers attack israelis in public places. >> bodies scattered on a highway

in northern israel today. >> often on crowded buses. >> some burned to death, including a man and woman whose bodies were found in a final embrace. >> the israeli army retaliates. but the bloodshed continues. june 11 2003. another terrorist strikes on a crowded bus in jerusalem. >> two people standing away from me. >> she moves to israel from new york after the 9/11 attacks to work with victims of terrorism. she's on her way to meet a friend in jerusalem when she's caught in this suicide attack near her new home. >> i felt a huge shockwave hit my face. the only way to explain to you how the shockwave feels, it's like two pieces of metal that hit so hard and vibrate back. that's how i remember my face feeling like. >> after the blast when it stops, there's a split second of

silence. it's not the silence that you hear outside in the summertime when the crickets are out, it's the silence of death around you. once the silence stopped, my ears started ringing very loud and i started screaming. >> from her hospital bed, sahri makes a statement. >> if i leave, if i'm afraid the palestinians win. >> i had shrapnel and both my eardrums were blown from the impact of the blast. my legs were badly cut up my hair was burned, my face was burned and bruised. >> she stays in the hospital for more than a week. she knows she's lucky. >> if i hadn't taken that seat next to the window i definitely wouldn't be here because everyone who was seated and standing around me did not survive the attack. >> 16 people are killed that day. more than 100 others injured. >> just six weeks earlier, 50 miles away in tel aviv another

bomb goes off. >> how can they do this? [ sirens ] [ screaming ] >> april 30 2003. just after midnight seconds after an explosion. >> i was laying in a puddle of beer and blood and broken glass. this is the closest i've ever come to death. >> when the blast goes off, filmmaker jack baxter is finishing up a shoot on his documently called blues by the beach, about this unique bar in tel aviv. >> we started doing the documentary about mike's place and the waitresses, the bartenders to try to get that perspective. pretty much stay out of the

politics. >> i want you all to take care of the people in the house, the waitresses, the bartenders. this is a song about freedom. >> mike's place is a bar where people come to escape the tension of a country too often torn apart by terrorism. the bar has an international feel. nearly everyone speaks english and talking about politics and religion is discouraged. >> a good bartender knows how to get out of it eloquently. a good line is are we still talking about sex. >> he's chosen mike's place as the subject of his documentary to show how israelis are coping with the violence. >> over the course of just two weeks, jack has become close friends with the owner, bartenders josh and pavla, avi, who works security and dominique a waitress from france who has dreams of opening her pastry shop. >> she really affected me and

the film shows what she's like. >> if things are going well i see my sif self-having my own coffee shop things. selling cakes to half of tel aviv buying my cakes. >> it's jack's last night in israel. he's having a beer outside saying goodbye. >> dominique was sitting next to me. that's when one of the suicide bombers came up and tried to get into the place. >> the security guard has a bad feeling when this man walks up. >> the guy was a little bit too quick in his pace. suicide bombings were going on all the time at that particular time. we both looked at each other and froze. >> this man is strapped with plastic explosives when avi kicks him in the chest to keep him from entering the crowded bar. >> the next thing i can barely remember is this guy stepping back up on to the sidewalk and

yelling, a la lock bar. >> he blows himself up. the explosion sends jack flying into the front window. >> the next thing i know i'm in the hospital and it's three days later. >> he's hurt. but he's going to be fine. he saved a lot of people's life that night. >> avi is critically wounded but hailed as a national hero. >> who knows how many people would have been killed in that small space. so he saved literally 100 lives. >> why mike's place? >> well i think mike's place represents the best that this part of the world has to offer. >> just weeks earlier, the suicide bombers at mike's place

record this video about their plan to kill as many as possible. >> the real terrorists are these israelis. they're really sickos. it's a great honor to kill one of these people. it's a great honor. >> jack's burned face heals but he still suffers from some of his other jar is. >> franken jack. i'm partially paralyzed down the middle. i had both my eardrums blown out. i had two operations on that. they grafted a piece from my neck into my ear. >> two musicians playing that night and dominique, the french waitress sitting right next to jack are killed. another 55 people are injured. the second suicide bomber

inexplicably disappears before achieving his goal. >> dropped his bomb belt and he took off. there was a big manhunt in israel. he was found 12 days later floating in the port of tel aviv. why are there people who feel the need to hurt each other ♪ that doesn't mean that i will forget you ♪ >> for those who lived through this suicide attack the close call with death is impossible to forget. >> after the cameras go and after the crowd disburses, you're the one that's left with mental pictures and pain. but you learn to live with it. >> coming up -- >> out of fuel over the water and nowhere near an airport. >> that's a very dangerous scenario. the plane can end up falling apart. >> when "caught on camera: life

or death" continues. es of olay total effects many birthdays later, still looks amazing. thanks to the trusted performance of olay.

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an airplane flying over the pacific has run out of fuel and is about to go down. >> it's a very dangerous scenario. >> it's called ditching in flight lingo. in this precarious life or death situation, it's anybody's guess if the pilot ho is the only person on board will survive. >> the flight brings back memories of the miracle on the hudson in january 2009 when a bird strike knocks out both engines on u.s. airways flight 1549. amazingly, all 155 passengers and crew on board survive. but no one can guarantee an outcome as smooth as this textbook landing. friday, october 7th 2011 the pilot of this cessna 310 twin-engine plane radios a distress call. he's just more than halfway through a 2300-mile flight from

monterrey, california, tohilo airport on hawaii's island. he realized he desperately needs help. u.s. coast guard pilot is called in to intercept the cessna and coordinate a rescue. >> we took off to intercept the pilot and escort him into the crash site. >> he and his hercules c-130 are on oahu's island. this long-range search and rescue plane is equipped with state of the art cameras housed in this dome attached below the nose of the airplane. operators from inside the plane can zoom in and track vessels and planes for miles around. once he reaches the distressed pilot, they're still 350 miles off the coast. >> we followed him for about an hour and a half. >> it's still unclear if the cessna will make it to land. >> i did not think that he was going to make it based on what

he was telling us with the amount of fuel that was in his tanks and the speed he was getting. i knew it was going to be close. >> after flying side by side for 90 minutes, it becomes obvious he's not going to make it. but will the pilot survive the crash into the open seas? >> it's a very dangerous scenario. luckily his type of airplane is capable of flying very slow, it's very light. it is the ideal type of airplane to ditch into the water. >> ma jessica gives the pilot instructions on how best to prepare to ditch the plane. >> the big item is making sure his wings were level, rate of descent was minimized and airspeed was correct when entering the water. we had him put on his life jacket, brace for impact with his life raft in front of him to provide cushioning and jettison the emergency escape hatch to exit the plane quickly out on to the wing. >> but if things don't go exactly as planned -- >> the plane can end up falling apart.

>> if that happens the pilot is in far greater danger of being seriously injured or killed. the pilot prepares for a crash landing and now the plane is out of fuel. just 13 miles from land it hits the water hard. >> it's like hitting a brick wall. so it's a very abrupt and you can see in the video, too, he makes a sharp, almost 180-degree turn at the end. it's a violent forward-throwing scenario. >> it's a tense moment as the spray from the impact settles, it reveals the first good sign the plane has not broken into pieces. but there's no more radio communication from the pilot and the plane won't stay afloat for long. rescue choppers are now racing towards the aircraft, which is bobbing in the swells. as they stay on site and sish will circle the wreck they hope for

the best. after 25 seconds, you can see the pilot crawling out of the jettisoned hatch. he stands on the wipg of his crippled cessna to wait for help. >> the helicopter was on scene ready for pickup. >> the helicopter arrives and a rescue swimmer drops into the choppy water. >> it actually only took seven minutes from when the plane entered the water to when the helicopter hoisted the man into the helicopter. >> watch as the rescue swimmer holds on to the basket even after it leaves the water with the pilot secured inside. >> the rescue swimmer holds on to the basket and drags his fins a little bit behind the basket to try and stabilize it as it goes up to the helicopter. >> once the rescued pilot and the coast guard swimmer with both safe inside the hock it's mission accomplished and the lieutenant stays on scene long enough to watch the cessna disappear. >> the plane sunk about 10 15 minutes after it entered the water. so it was a very good thing that the helicopter was on scene at

the time. >> the pilot is uninjured but shaken up and taken to an area hospital. >> he was very grateful. when he said just seeing the plane when we established a formation up on him to escort him in he really knew he had a lot of support. >> perhaps the luckiest coincidence for both pilots is a training session that rehearsed this exact life or death ditching scenario less than 24 hours earlier. >> one of the scenarios we were specifically training for was a small airplane running out of gas and falling short of the hawaiian island chain. the next day we had that actual scenario take place. >> and for a coast guard pilot, it's a proud moment when all the training and preparation is put to the test. >> it's very rewarding, especially when you see a scenario that you've practiced before that's when it all comes together. coming up -- >> one man's terror -- >> try and put you down at the search spot right there to the

left of him. >> is another man's thrill. when "caught on camera: life or death" continues. ght" plays ] really catching on! people can do it all! get a quote, buy and manage your policy! -[ music stops ] -it's great! well, what's with the... -[ music resumes ] -music? ♪ have fun tonight ♪ dude. getting a car insurance quote. i'll let it go to voicemail. [ clears throat ] ♪ everybody wang chung tonight ♪ putting it on vibrate. [ cell phone vibrates ] -[ loud vibrating ] -it'll pass. [ vibrating continues ] our giant store and your little phone. that's progressive mobile. a speed bump! [ wife ] a beached whale! lawn clippings! a mattress. a sausage link. mermaid. honey!? driftwood. come on, you gotta help us out here a little. [ male announcer ] febreze eliminates odors and leaves carpets fresh. ♪ ♪

[ male announcer ] febreze. eliminates odors and leaves carpets fresh. ♪ ♪ july 1994 a day at the beach on the pacific northwest coast goes all wrong when a swimmer starts a perilous climb up this cliff. he is hanging out on a deserted cove when the tide comes in and blocks the beach access out. to get to dry land he tries climbing up and over the face a 200-foot cliff. wearing just shorts and sneakers, he gets about 150 feet above the rocky shoreline when he panics and freezes. clutching to the side of the mountain. >> what starts out as a relaxing day trip is now a life or death rescue mission.

a four-man team from the u.s. coast guard is called and leaves its station in astoria, oregon. helicopter pilot, lieutenant don taylor. >> basically, we start out with the aircraft commander, the co-pilot the flight mek and the rescue swimmer. >> the crew gets to the scene in just a few minutes. the flight mechanic and rescue swimmer assess the situation to come up with a plan. >> basically looking at the situation they've got on the cliff, they're making the decision as to how they're going to get the rescue swimmer down to the victim where they'll position him to get him from point a to point b. >> put you down at the search spot to the left of him. >> set me down there if that's kosher. i'm walk down to about five feet below to the guy. walk over come up underneath him. hope to god it works. >> no problem. >> super. >> direct deployment of the swimmer. >> the tricky part.

they execute a technique called a direct deployment. in this case the rescue swimmer will never even get close to the water. instead, he'll stay tethered to the hoist cable and helicopter harness and make his way slowly to the stranded climber. as he's lowered into position the pilot is conscious of the wind generated by the helicopter blades which can be enough to blow the climber right off his precarious perch. >> we want to put the rescue swimmer to either side of the victim. we also want to put the rescue swimmer slightly below the victim on o the side of the cliff. >> the man has been clutching to the cliff for two hours when the swimmer makes contact well below him. scared and exhausted, his hands practically gone numb from holding on. >> easy forward. easy forward. right five feet. trying put the strap around. it's good.

>> finally, with a strap around the stranded climber, the rescue swimmer gives his pilot the signal to pull away from the cliff. >> prepare to take the load. left 50 feet. >> we want to get away from the cliff as safe and as quick as possible. we want to get the rescue swimmer and the victim over the water or close to the shoreline there where the surf is in case anything was to happen. >> bring the swimmer up. the swimmer is just outside the aircraft. the swimmer is just outside the door. moving in. moving in. >> safe inside the helicopter, it takes just a few minutes to land nearby. tired and dirty, this cliffhanger has a happy ending. while most people try and avoid these types of life-or-death situations, some actually seek them out flirting with danger at death-defying heights. >> you just have to find your

own way through it from point "a" to point "b." >> this is 24-year-old meche sameda from st. marian austria. he travels the world to places like california's yosemite national park. >> i'm going to do it. >> meche is one of two people ever to concur task point without a safety harness. a 99-foot walk on a one-inch thick nylon rope. a vertigo-inducing 6,900 feet over yosemite valley. remember, this is without any safety gear. >> whoo! >> meche is considered one of the world's best high-line slack liners both with and without a safety harness. >> the feeling is amazing because you control yourself. and if you lose focus, it's getting dangerous. >> slack lining has been around for decades.

this video from 1938 in india shows a man balancing on a loose bouncy rope pence the name slack line. these days the line meche walks is more taut and he takes the sport to new heights. once the nylon rope is stretched and anchored, meche gets to work. he makes it look easy, but make no mistake, it's not. even for members of meche's entourage who all use a harness. ♪ >> meche keeps his fear of falling in check. >> fear is not good. if you don't know how to control fear, it's becoming way more dangerous. >> green lake, austria, meche traverses a distance world

record, 525-foot, 12-minute walk over the icy cold green lake. >> it's really cold. it's about 45, 48 degrees. >> it's the longest slack line ever attempted in europe. getting past the midway, the lowest point on the line, is the hardest. >> you have to like control your breathing, your body. hear into yourself, your mind is collecting like so deep with your body, with your muscles, with everything. you feel the energy. >> also in austria a walk 12,000 feet high through the clouds across two of the highest peaks in europe. for most people, it's plain and simple terror. but for meche, it's just a warm-up. back in the u.s., he craves a tougher challenge and finds it. like in oregon's aptly named

monkey face, another successful ramble without the aid of any kind of safety harness. >> i think high-lining is less dangerous than driving a car. >> this daredevil doesn't just walk from one end to the other, when he gets close to the other side, he does his signature move. kneeling on the line he puts his hands together as if praying and actually shuts his eyes. >> i go like this and close my eyes for like one second. it's an amazing feeling. it is just something where i want to say thank you. >> it's inconceivable for most of us and yet even in near darkness, meche is completely unphased. >> whoo!