security cameras roll as innocent bus passengers dodge a barrage of bullets. >> these people 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 toward 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 the closest i have ever come to death. >> fighting for survival. "caught on camera: life or death." an 1,800-horsepower race car going well over 100 miles an hour loses control. spewing sparks and flames, it goes flying straight toward a cameraman who stands paralyzed. april 20, 2012, bristol, tennessee.

the dragway, best known as thunder valley, hosts the american drag racing league's top sportsman's race. >> we go about 170 miles per hour in about 4.10 seconds. it's pretty crazy. >> meet 21-year-old drag race driver lizzie mussey. >> the feeling of sitting in that car and warming it up, i love warming it up in the morning. just, i love it. >> and when she lines up to start -- >> we staged, we have two sets of golds up there. both amber lights come on and i have what is called a transbrake, a button, and you let go of it. once you see the amber light go on, you 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? it looked fun. >> i had a great time. >> good deal. >> but in lizzie's first official race of the day, things go wrong in a hurry. >> i felt the car a little bit dragging to the right and it took a hard left and kind of went from there. i won't forget that one second of it just because everything kind of started slowing down. then i felt the car lift up and i see the wall, like, and sparks flying. i didn't know where is this car going to go, flip over? i just had to brace for impact and wait until it comes to a stop. once it came on its four wheels again, i just felt relieved. >> you okay, dude? you okay, girl? >> and bummed because i wanted

to continue racing that race. and thankful the car actually lifted up that way because i could have hit right into that wall and 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. mad again but it's all right. >> how is the adrenaline level? peaked? >> oh, man. mad. sucks. >> don't be mad. you're in one piece. >> but 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'm, like, how did you get here so fast? what the heck? no way! >> we arranged an interview for her and with the cameraman lucky to be alive. >> there's something saucy about

a chick slinging a camaro at you, brother. the camera might be all right, dude. actually, we are still rolling. >> michael hester is a 25-year veteran freelance photographer who works the drag race circuit. >> that's one for the real boys. i hopped the wall and grabbed a second camera, and it was kind of a seamless 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. >> you know, just standing there like i was hypnotized thinking, what a great shot. looking at the screen, i'm looking at composition, and 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 a part of it, and then i realized i had to do something about it. >> but you still have to wonder, why didn't he move away earlier? >> you know, hindsight is 20/20. should i have gone sooner? yeah, i'll give you that, you know? but i didn't know where she was going. she was on the wall, man. typically they'll hit the wall and bounce off. so my framing didn't change. >> it went on by you. >> that's when it was a tuck and roll like jackie chan. >> these dudes crack me up. he was like jackie chan, tuck and roll. >> while it's easy to joke, it really is a life or death moment 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'd have eaten those wheelie bars. >> the wheelie bars are those bars attached to the back of the racecar to help keep the car on the ground. >> if death could scrape 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, and it's just, i want to just continue doing it because i love it. i can't wait. >> i have cheated death honestly more than anyone i have ever talked to. i am not a hugely religious fellow but i'm hugely still

here. coming up -- >> oh, my gosh, dude, it's headed right for us. >> powerful tornadoes tear up a small town forcing residents to fight for their lives. >> i don't remember anything until i woke up. >> when "caught on camera: life or death" continues. stamps.com is the best. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. i have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. can you print only stamps? no... first class. priority mail. certified. international. and the mail man picks it up. i don't leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again.

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to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment in ways you never thought possible. welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. in an instant, life changes. >> oh my gosh, dude, it's headed right for us pretty much. >> oh, my gosh, 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. >> in the plains and parts of

the midwest, this is a day of recovery after a violent weekend. >> more than 100 tornadoes 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 2, 2012. 21-year-old rhett adams grabs his smartphone and starts to record. >> this is the most insane thing i have ever seen in my [ bleep ] life. my adrenaline was going, and 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, you know, 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 telling me there was going to be severe weather, and i kind of blew it off, didn't think anything of it. >> neither does perry hunter, a teacher at henryville high school. >> it just seemed like a normal day to me. we knew that there was a chance for bad weather, but we get these warnings quite often in the spring. >> it's coming right toward henryville. >> i know it. >> just a few miles away, harry's aunt lenora hunter and wayne, her husband of 41 years, listen to the tornado warnings on television. >> you've got to be taking shelter now portions of crawford county because this storm is moving through your area with a tornado on the ground. >> i'm hoping it goes to the north of us. >> we were watching out the living room window, and that's when i said, that looks kind of wicked over there. it's coming here. it's picking up. and then we realized it was going to hit henryville. it's picking stuff up. look, you can see it rotate.

we both had little cameras that you can 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 and 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, 1,200 children from kindergarten to high school in connecting buildings. but one bus released early is trapped by the storm. the driver turns around and races 11 young elementary students back to the school. the driver's eighth grade son preston is on the bus with her and describes their terrifying trip recorded on the bus security camera. >> another bus driver came out with a radio and said, i see the tornado on the ground, and there was a bunch of little kids crying. it was kind of scary. and then we ran into the school. me and my mom were the last ones off. >> they get off the bus just in time because seconds later, with the cameras still rolling, it's picked up and slammed into a diner.

meanwhile, footage from the school's 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 lights went out and then there was a loud explosion from the gym imploding. and that's when i hit the ground covered up and we heard the school rattling probably for about ten seconds. and stuff starts being pulled out of the gym. you see stuff coming loose on the roof. it's 175-mile-an-hour winds. 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, and i'm one of them. 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 think 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 her husband. >> i'm 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. minutes couu fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that parker. well, did you know auctioneers make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em. hey now do i hear 23.75? 24! hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and .75! 25! now a quarter, hey 26 and a quarter, do you wanna pay now, you wanna do it, 25 and a quarter - sold to the man in the khaki jacket! geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you know.

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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. >> it was a midafternoon, saturday, somewhere around 4:00 or 5:00. >> 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, lafanus pickett. >> i got on at seventh and market. >> as the bus winds it way through the philadelphia streets, pickett notices the little boy. >> he was running up and down the aisle. >> pickett says he hears the mom tell the young boy to sit down. >> and she begins spanking him like he was some sort of animal. >> pickett leans forward and reprimands the young mom. >> and i said, he's a child, let him be a child. you shouldn't be spanking him like that. if you continue to do that, 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 any way i

choose to. >> for whatever reason, he offers his unsolicited parenting advice, he's just a little boy, that's child abuse. >> philadelphia native joe slabojen is a veteran staff writer for "the philadelphia inquirer." over his 30-year career of following court cases, he thought he'd seen it all until he watches the footage captured by septa security cameras that day. >> she is seen on there making a cell phone call holding it up to her ear. she turns and says something to mr. pickett. the bus door opens and she exits. >> the call is to her friends now waiting at her stop. she told them about her confrontation with mr. pickett. and they're armed and ready for action. >> it looked like at first he was helping her get off, but i noticed when he, like, seemed to grab her, i knew something was wrong. >> septa 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 pointed out mr. pickett 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 gestures for everyone to come to the front steps. meanwhile, his friend is busy pulling out a huge rifle he's had 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 in the bus. and these people are terrified. you see them racing to the front of the bus hoping they can escape there. they see a gunman out the front door. they're all piled up in the stairwell. it's just utter panic. >> as bullets rip through the bus, lafanus pickett 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 because essentially what they're doing is spraying the bus. >> i was just so scared for my life. i've 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 bends down, and a shot goes through the window and 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 had to duck. they knew what to do.

everybody was down on the floor, and we just got out of there. i just took us to the nearest hospital. at the time no one was hurt, but i was taught to let the paramedics sort it out. >> desmond reacted according to his training. as a member of the military, he took control of the situation. that bus was flying. he's radioed his dispatchers so the police are meeting him there. literally calm under fire. he had a sense of responsibility to his passengers. >> as jones drives away, the gunmen, cousins jerome and raheem paterson run away. 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 and spray the bus. the fact that these guys fire shots into this bus and didn't hit a single person is probably as close to a miracle as i can think of. coming up -- a night out on the town turns deadly. >> i was laying in a puddle of beer and blood and broken glass. this is the closest i've ever come to death. >> when "caught on camera: life or death" continues. for over a decade

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i'm milissa rehberger. here's what's happening. west virginia governor says tests are encouraging after a chemical spill. the accident made the water dangerous for some 300,000 people in nine counties. gas prices are up eight cents in the last three weeks.

the latest survey says regular is $3.35 an average. and "lone survivor" took the top spot at the box office, earning $38.5 million. now back to "caught on camera." five long years of relentless palestinian/israeli violence. 2000 to 2000 -- 2005 leaves a legacy, of terror, destruction and death lead to 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. sari singer is on board. >> they said the terrorist was standing two people away from me. >> sari moved here after the 9/11 terror 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 how the shot wave feels, it's like two places of metal that hit so hard against each other 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. and it's not the silence you hear outside in the summertime when the crickets are out. it's literally the silence of death all around you. once the silence stopped, my

ears started ringing very, very loud and i started screaming. >> from her hospital bed, sari makes a statement. >> if i leave, if i'm afraid, the palestinians win. i had shrapnel that went through my shoulder breaking my shoulder bone. both my eardrums were shattered from the blast. my legs were badly cut up, my hair was burned, my face burned and bruised. >> sari stays in the hospital for more than a week but she knows she's lucky. >> if i hadn't taken that seat next to the window, i definitely wouldn't be here because everyone 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? how can they do this?

>> 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 documentary called "blues by the beach" about this unique bar in tel aviv. >> we started doing the documentary about mike's place, the waitresses, the bartenders, to try to get that perspective. pretty much stay out of the politics. >> i want y'all to take care of the people here 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, so are we still talking about sex? >> jack has chosen mike's place as the subject of his documentary to show how israelis are coping with the violence. >> why not? >> over the course of just two weeks, jack has become close friends with the owner, the bartenders, avi who works security and dominique, a 24-year-old waitress from france who has dreams of opening her own pastry shop. >> she really affected me, and i guess the film shows what she's like. >> if things are going well i see myself maybe having my own little coffee shop thing or selling cakes to half of tel

aviv buying my cakes. >> it's jack's last night in israel. he's having a beer at a table outside saying his good-byes. >> dominique was sitting next to me. that's when one of the suicide bombers came up and tried to get into the place. >> avi, the security guard, has a bad feeling when 21-year-old asif hanif 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. so we both looked at each other and froze. >> hanif is strapped with plastic explosives when avi kicks him in the chest to keep him from entering the crowded bar. >> and the next thing i can barely remember is this guy stepping back up onto the sidewalk and yelling. >> as hanif stumbles backwards, 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. >> is avi okay? >> he's hurt but he's going to be fine. you saved a lot of people's lives that night. >> avi is critically wounded but is hailed as a national hero. >> who knows how many people would have been killed in that small space so he saved literally a hundred 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 asif and omar record this video about their plan to kill as many as possible. >> the real terrorists are the israelis.

they're really sickos. it's a great honor to kill all of these people. it's a great honor. >> jack's burned face heals, but he still suffers from some of his other injuries. >> frankenjack. i'm partially paralyzed right down the middle. i also had both of 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 who was sitting right next to jack are killed. another 55 people are injured. the second suicide bomber inexplicably disappears before achieving his goal. >> he dropped his bomb belt and took off, and there was a big manhunt in israel. he was found 12 days later

floating in the port of tel aviv. ♪ >> 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 disperses, you're the one that's left with mental pictures and the 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.

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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, and in this precarious life or death situation it's anybody's guess if the pilot, who is the only person on board, would survive. the flight brings back memories of the miracle on the hudson in january 2009 when a bird strike knocks out both engines on us 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 7, 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 monterey, california, to hilo airport on hawaii's big island when he realizes he's low on fuel and desperately needs help.

u.s. coast guard pilot lieutenant eric modjeska is called in to intercept the cessna and coordinate a rescue. >> we took off to go intercept the pilot and escort him into the crash site. >> modjeska and his hercules c-130 are dispatched from barbara's point on hawaii's oahu 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 modjeska reaches the distressed pilot, they're still 350 miles off the coast. >> we followed him for about an hour and a half. >> and 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 really is the ideal type of airplane to ditch into the water. >> modjeska gives the cessna pilot instructions on how best to prepare to ditch the plane. >> the biggest thing is to make sure his wings were level, his descent was minimized and his rate of speed was correct when entering the water. we had him put on his life jacket and had him brace for impact with his life raft in front of him to provide cushioning, and we had him jettison the open escape hatch to exit the plane quickly out onto 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 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 modjeska and his crew stay on site and circle the raft, they hope for the best. then, after about 25 seconds, you can see the pilot crawling out of the jettisoned hatch. he stands on the wing of his

crippled cessna to wait for help. >> the helicopter was on scene ready for the pickup. >> the coast guard 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 had hoisted the man into the helicopter. >> watch as the rescue swimmer holds onto the basket even after it leaves the water with the pilot secured inside. >> the rescue swimmer holds onto 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 are both safe inside the helicopter, it's mission accomplished. and lieutenant modjeska stays on the scene just long enough to watch the cessna disappear. >> the plane had sunk about 10, 15 minutes after it entered the water. so it was a very good thing that the helicopter was on the scene at the time. >> the pilot is uninjured but shaken up and taken to an area hospital.

>> he was very grateful that 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. >> but 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. and 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. >> we'll try to put you down to the spot right there to the left of him. >> hope to god it works. >> is another man's thrill. >> whoo! >> when "caught on camera: life

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july 1994, a day at the beach at 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 knocks beach access out. he tries to climb over 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 mech and the rescue swimmer. >> flying at 140 miles per hour, 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 are making a decision as to how to get the rescue swimmer down and how to get him from point a to point b and ultimately point c where the victim is. >> do you want me to try to push you down to the dirt spot there to the left of him? >> set me down there if that's kosher. and i'll walk down to five feet below the guy, walk over and come up underneath him. >> hope to god it works for him. >> all right, no problems. we're ready for deployment. >> now the tricky part.

they execute a technique called a direct deployment. in this case the rescue swimmer never even gets 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, and we also want to put the rescue swimmer slightly below the victim on 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 have practically gone numb from holding on. >> easy forward. easy forward. right five feet. he's starting to put the strap around. your position is 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. i'm taking 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. >> bringing the swimmer up. the swimmer is just outside the door. 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 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 taft point without a safety harness. a 99-foot walk on a one-inch thick nylon rope. a vertigo induced 6900 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 or 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, hence 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 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 it 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 one second. it's an amazing feel. it is just something that i want to say thank you. >> it's inconceivable for most of us and yet even in near darkness meche is completely unfazed. >> i got it! yeah, wud buddy! there's more to life. it is just those limit moments.

there are 2 million people behind bars in america. for the next hour, we open the gates. "lockup." >> i pray to god that somebody recognizes what's going on here. you know, we in here just rotting away, you know. >> today we have about 756 inmates serving a life sentence here at folsom. >> i was state raised, federally funded. >> we're dealing with murderers and rapists, and that's always in the back of my mind. >> they treat us like slaves up in here, man.