a major scare from a mistake. >> david kerley leading us off tonight. david, thank you. >>> there was another scare that played out today, this time, in dallas. and it was very real. more than 100 firefighters racing to the scene when a condominium went up in flames. those firefighters going door-to-door, pounding on them to get families out. part of the building then collapsing, and a may day call going out. several firefighters were trapped. abc's marcus moore is on the scene tonight. >> reporter: it started at 9:15 this morning. >> we got a lot of smoke inside. we got a lot of people. we need to start evacuating these buildings. >> reporter: this dallas condos engulfed in an inferno. firefighters going door-to-door, racing to get families to safety. red hot flames sending residents scrambling. >> things started imploding. you could see people's stuff going up in smoke. >> reporter: parts of the building collapsing. as more than 100 firefighters work to douse the flames. there are times when the smoke is building and choking as this fight continues. at

here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: this morning the data from this black box pulled from the 737ottom of the java sea painting a picture of a battle in the sky between an indonesian crew and an added boeing safety system resulting in the crash that killed all 189 on board. right after takeafter, warning alarms of something wrong, but it was apparently a bad sensor and data telling the flight computer there was a possibility of a dangerous stall. so the computer put the jet nose down, the pilots correcting pulling the nose back up. this happening more than two dozen times. nose down then pulled up until the jet falls out of the sky. there had been problems on this specific jet on three previous flights, but this lion aircr crew may not have followed procedures. >> what the crew should have done is disabled the system and bring it back to land. they should have done that immediately. >> reporter: the indonesians are still looking for the cockpit voice recorder which could provide even more answers but time is running out. the battery on its pinger is only guaranteed for a couple mo

>> david kerley with us tonight. david, thank you. >>> there's also news tonight about the catholic church sex abuse scandal. authorities executing search warrants on the archdiocese of galveston-houston. investigators searching for what they call secret archives, possibly containing information about a priest accused of child sexual abuse dating back to 1998. church officials say they are cooperating with authorities. >>> now the headline generating global backlash tonight. growing outrage over the reported birth of the world's first genetically modified babies, twin girls. their dna was changed. just today, the doctor said he's proud of his work, revealing there is another baby on the way. here's abc's paula faris. >> reporter: that researcher who claimed he created the world's first genetically engineered babies, boasting today at a medical conference. >> for this specific case, i feel proud actually. >> reporter: the doctor also claiming there is a second pregnancy in his study. gene editing, which involves alteri

here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: tonight, the words of a pilot struggling to fly her crippled>> we're single engine descending, have a fire in number one. >> reporter: captain tammie jo shults hearing from the first officer, "we have somebody that's flown outside," after the engine ripped apart and blew out a window. a flight attendant revealing that in row 14, passengers put their arms out of the plane at more than 200 miles an hour, to pull jennifer riordan back in. she didn't survive. just less than two minutes before the high speed landing, under her breath, captain shults says, "heavenly father." >> we are almost landing. everybody breathe. we are almost there. >> reporter: seconds after touching down, shults says, "thank you, lord. thank you, thank you, thank you, lord." the enginemaker and the ntsb are still investigating why that engine failed, which led to, as the crew noted in the cockpit, to the first death on a southwest jet. david? >> all right, david kerley on this story again tonight. >>> when we come back, the discovery in space. the super earth planet, much bi

>> david kerley, thank you. >>> and a midterm election bounce in the stock market today. the dow gaining 545 points. it was the best post-midterm rally since 1982. >>> and there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this wednesday. your money tonight. with a cold snap in the forecast this evening, three simple steps to lower your heating bill right away. >>> also, news tonight about a missing son. the plea from his parents, after an argument over his grades. >>> also breaking not, the massive fire erupting. the images coming in before we came on the air. >>> and then the jet skidding off the runway. two engines torn from the wings. a lot more news ahead. a lot more news ahead. mployed. lobster fisherman is the lifeblood of this town. by 2030, half of america may take after stonington, self-employed and without employer benefits. we haven't had any sort of benefit plans and we're trying to figure that out now. if i had had a little advice back then, i'd be in a different boat today, for sure. plan your financial life with prudential. bring your challenges. coach

here is abc's david kerley. >> reporter: the data from this black box pulled from the 737 wreckage ata battle in the sky between an indonesian crew and an added boeing safety system resulting in the crash that killed all 189 on board. right after takeoff, warning alarms of something wrong, but it was apparently a bad sensor and data telling the flight computer there was a possibility of a dangerous stall. so the computer put the jet nose-down. the pilots correcting, pulling the nose back up. this happening more than two dozen times. nose down then pulled up until the jet falls out of the sky. there had been problems on this pacific jet on three previous flights but this lion air crew may not have followed procedures. >> what the crew should have done is disable the system and bring it back to land. they should have done that immediately. >> reporter: the indonesians are still looking for the cockpit voice recorder which could provide even more answers but time is running out. the battery on its pinger is only guaranteed for a couple more days. david kerley, abc news, washington. >>> a

as my colleague david kerley learned at the ntsb in washington, putting that part of the box in water is standard procedure. >> you want it in water. >> right, we want it in water. when we recover it, we will submerge it in water to keep the electronics from essentially oxidizing or rusting and we flush it with freshwater. >> but even the saltwater, if it's gotten to it, you can still recover data? >> sure. we've been very successful. >> it's heavy. >> because it's such a thick-walled structure. >> that's right. because it needs to be able to sustain incredible impact loads. >> that with the pinger attached is the most important part. it's put on a host chassis so the data can be read out. >> as basic as they lreot of da sne these? >> we almost always get data. they're incredible the way they survive an accident. we're almost always successful in retrieving the data. >> in the tragic german wings crash the battered black box revealed the haunting truth. that tragedy, which killed all 150 passengers on board was apparently no accident. recovered data shows when the pilot left the cockp

here's david kerley. >> reporter: this is what passengers saw while racing down the runway for takeoff. >> everyone started yelling and looking out the window, yelling, "stop the plane. the engine's on fire! stop the plane, stop the plane!" >> reporter: but the frontier jet got off the ground in las vegas, terrifying some of the 166 onboard the airbus a320. >> we can see that metal had been ripped off of the engine. >> frontier 260, i think we got something wrong with one of our engines. >> reporter: and it wasn't just passengers who saw the damage. >> someone at the airport said that you're -- they just told us now your second engine cowling appears open or something like that. >> okay. we need to declare an emergency back to the airport. >> reporter: it was the engine covering, it's called a cowling, that had been shedded, exposing the actual engine, which can still operate. but the turn back to las vegas couldn't come soon enough for the passengers headed to tampa. >> it was panic. complete panic. i was shaking. we were kind of preparing for the worst at that point. >> reporter: the

here's david kerley. >> reporter: pilots could hear something wrong in the tower. >> cleared to land.ody up there that knows what they're doing? >> reporter: the controller, slurring her words, alone in the las vegas tower as another controller took a break. [ inaudible ] >> say that again. >> reporter: for 40 minutes, last wednesday after 11:00 p.m., pilots getting confusing messages. >> fronteir 762 -- clear for takeoff. >> okay, confirm, it's frontier 262, cleared for cakeoff. >> reporter: the controller, according to the faa, becoming inxas stated, leaving her mike open. pilots calling their airlines. >> everybody just standby, i'm taking over now. i'll be right back with you. >> thank you. >> reporter: the controller is no longer working for the faa, which immediately changed the overnight shift policy, requiring two controllers in the tower until at least midnight. david? >> david, thank you. >>> when we come back, the important new headline about your health, cholesterol and for anyone on a statin. >>> the major storm moving into the northeast. philly, new york and boston. >>>

our david kerley on the tarmac at reagan national airport. >> the airlines have added 158,000 seats to try and deal with what could be nearly 3 million flyers today. the best news for the airlines is that the weather doesn't look like it's going to hamper the effort for everybody to get home for the holidays. >> reporter: but most travelers will be hitting the roads, more than 48 million. traffic in chicago this afternoon slowed to a crawl. fueling that traffic? falling gas prices. the national average now $2.60. tom, with fuel prices dropping right before the holiday, many experts say there are a lot of people waiting to make the decision to travel at the last minute. if you're one of those people, tomorrow is the lightest day, the best day to avoid the grid lock. tom? >> eva pilgrim as some strong weather is moving in there. >>> and this thanksgiving, people are bracing for an arctic blast and record cold in the northeast. snow and wind blowing across syracuse, new york. look at that right there. temperatures plunging overnight from d.c. to philly, new york to boston. wind chills fal

>> david kerley, thank you. >>> when we come back, the halloween warning for children and parents tonightting up signs on his own on front doors in the preading across the dock. how it all happened in a moment. . i tried cold turkey, i tried the patch. they didn't work for me. i didn't think anything was going to work for me until i tried chantix. chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. i needed that to quit. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machine

our david kerley on the tarmac at reagan national airport. >> the airlines have added 158,000 seats tobe nearly 3 million flyers. the best news for the airlines, the weather doesn't look like it's going to hamper the efforts to get home for the holidays. >> reporter: most travelers will be hitting the roads. more than 48 million. traffic in chicago slowed to a crawl. fueling that traffic, falling gas prices. the national average now $2.60. there's a lot of people waiting until the last minute to decide whether to travel. if you're one of those people, thanksgiving day is the lightest day of traffic. the best day to avoid the gridlock. eva pilgrim, abc news, new york. >> you know, for some reason i was looking at eva's stand-up there, her image there, and i thought she was in palm beach. >> oh, really? with all that -- >> nice breeze. >> and the beyonce fan. >> yeah, exactly. >>> let's brings in accuweather's paul williams for more on today's forecast. >> paul, happy thanksgiving. good morning. >> good morning, janai, kendis. for the northeast, cold. not just regular cold, very cold. cr

here is abc's david kerley. >> reporter: just days after appearing in an orange jail jumpsuit accusedhe washington redskins are offering to put reuben foster in a burgundy uniform. he was released by the 49ers after this weekend's latest incident. >> the ex-boyfriend what? >> took my phone and broke it and slapped me in my face. >> reporter: claiming foster is a controversial move for the redskins. as the police and the nfl investigate, he can't play for now. >> there is no guarantee he will ever play here. he's got a lot of work to do personally, with the team, with the nfl, before he ever thinks about playing again. >> reporter: the nfl has been plagued by bad behavior of some of its players. >> we recognize that domestic violence and sexual assault exist everywhere. >> reporter: with the commissioner pledging in 2014 to make those players more accountable. >> foster met with players and had a physical but he will not be putting on a uniform until the commissioner lifts the ban on him playing. david kerley, abc news, landover, maryland. >> and foster's arraignment was pushed back to

here is abc's david kerley. >> reporter: the words of a pilot struggling to fly her crippled jet. >>from the officer we have someone who has flown outside. a flight attendant revealing in row 14 passengers put their arms out of the plane at more than 200 miles an hour to pull jennifer riordan back in. she didn't survive. just less than two minutes before the high-speed landing, captain shults says under her breath, heavenly father. >> everybody breathe. we are almost there. >> reporter: seconds after touching down, shults says, thank you, lord. thank you, thank you, thank you, lord. the engine maker and the ntsb are still investigating why that engine failed, which resulted in, as the crew noted in the cockpit, the first death on a southwest jet. david kerley, abc news, reagan national airport. >>> let's turn now to the morning's top sports headline. mets fans have something to brag about this winter. >> woo-hoo! yes. they are going to win the world series. >> just tell the people. >> okay. so they have new york's only major award winner, jacob degrom took home the national league cy

our senior transportation correspondent david kerley is at reagan national outside of d.c. with the latest. good morning, david. >> reporter: good morning, robin. the pace is really picking up. you can see this american jet, one of them that spent the night is being towed to a gate. you can see the line of jets getting ready to take off here. it's going to be a very busy day and you can feel it. now, we're normally used to snow and ice on this travel weekend but it was fog in seattle that caused a problem. three-hour delays for part of the day. if you are flying today, you are one of nearly 3 million flyers if you can believe that number which could be a record actually. 6% over last year. the airlines that deal with that have added 158,000 seats by bringing in bigger planes than the ones that they would normally use. getting you through security, tsa has added 1,200 officers, 80 canine units to try to get you through. robin, i talked to the airlines. they say they're in pretty good shape, they think it's going to be pretty good traveling even though we may set a record, rob

abc's david kerley has the latest. good morning, david. >> reporter: good morning, george.or break three days after this horrific crash. one of the black boxes now found. it could have the answers as to why that new jetliner went down. this morning, the first of two black boxes from the doomed indonesian flight found. directed by its pinging, divers recovered the important data recorder, which could explain why the lion air jet fell out of the sky just 13 minutes into its flight. some of the wreckage of the nearly brand-new 737 now seen on the floor of the java sea where divers will look for that second box, the voice recorder. overnight, one eyewitness saying she saw thick black smoke pouring out of the aircraft. she says it was just after takeoff under the right wing near the wheel well of the landing gear. and this video given to abc showing passengers boarding an hour before the tragedy which killed 189. investigators from the ntsb and boeing are now on the scene. some of them examining the wreckage of the 737 max 8 which has been recovered already. the airline says the

david kerley is at reagan airport with more. orning, david. >> reporter: good morning, michael. this data showing the pilots struggling with this new safety system that wants to nose down a plane if there is trouble. that pilots pulling back on their controls battling the computer. it is the data from this black box that this morning is telling the story of that battle in the sky between an indonesian crew and a jetliner's safety system. right after takeoff of the boeing 737 max-8, warning alarms of something wrong. but it was apparently a bad sensor and data telling the flight computer there was a possibility of a dangerous stall, so the computer put the jet nose down. the pilots correcting, pulling the nose up. this happens more than two dozen times, a tug-of-war, nose down, then pulled up until the jet falls out of the sky. there had been problems on this same jet on the previous three flights. but this crew could not recover. >> they may not have followed procedure. >> they did not follow procedure. the procedure would have b

our senior transportation correspondent david kerley is in washington with more on all this. >> reporter: good morning, robin. it was just hours ago that boeing sent word to airlines a safety feature on the aircraft could actually malfunction sending the aircraft into a quick nosedive. it's an admission by the company that there is a potential glitch in its newest aircraft. it is boeing's fastest selling plane ever, the 737 max, but this latest version of one of the most popular jets in the world can apparently suffer a serious software glitch. boeing, this morning, issuing a notice to airlines that a senso eep nodi. this jet is already flying in the fleets of southwest and american airlines. this morning's warning com the crash of an indonesian lion air 73713 minutes after takeoff, what killed all 189 on board. there is no indication the sensor failure caused the crash, but did it confuse the pilots? indonesian investigators have only said publicly the black box from the jet indicated it had another problem with an airspeed indicator on four flights. the boeing notice doesn'