and we know this now from what deborah hersman had said. the stick shaker, i can tell you, i've been in the simulators and i have simulated the stick shaker and it is brutal. this is a very, very aggressive noisy -- sounds like a rattlesnake. >> richard quest? richard quest, i want to go through a few points and have you respond to them. >> right. >> to make it as clear and concise to the viewer as possible. okay. so there's two different recordings. there is the cockpit voice recorder with two hours of information. excuse me. there's the flight data recorder which she said had 24 hours of information. >> correct. >> recorded the entire flight. she said the aircraft was configured for approach based on cockpit voice recording communications between the crew and the cockpit. the speed she said for approach at 137 knots. she initially said that and then questioned about it she said it was significantly below that. approach proceeds normally as they descend. no discussion of anomalies or concerns with the approach. a call from one of the crew

chairman deborah hersman has just completed briefing us interviews with these pilots. of the four pilots three of them were on the flight deck at the time of the landing. here's what she had to say about the supervising pilot on the flight deck. >> he reported that this was his first trip as an instructor pilot. this was the first time that he and the flying pilot that he was instructing had flown together. >> reporter: teams of n.t.s.b. investigators are examining the plane inside and out, locating and recording every piece of debris from landing gear ripped from the jet to the smallest piece of fuselage. the cockpit could hold clues to verify statements given by the pilots. the pilot in control of the plane was sitting in the left-hand seat. it was his first landing at san francisco in a boeing 777. he was being trained by the captain sitting in the

the head of the national transportation safety board deborah hersman: >> when we interview those four crew members, we're going to get a lot more details about their activities, about their work, about their training. we're going to be looking to correlate all that info with what we're finding on the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorders. >> reporter: investigators are focusing partly on the pilot, who had logged just 43 hours on the boeing 777. it was lee gang-guk's first time landing a 777 at san francisco's airport, though he had landed other craft there many times, an airline spokesman said. he did have nearly 10,000 flight hours on other aircraft. but whatever caused the crash, remarkably, 305 of the 307 passengers and crew members survived. >> when i stand up i saw the tail, where the kitchen located, is all missing. there was a big hole there, and i can see through the hole to the runway, the ground, and there was a lot of dust in the cabin. >> reporter: some of the survivors quickly tweeted accounts of their harrowing escape, even as the rescue operation was still u

. >> deborah hersman described the data found on the flight recorder. >> about about 1600 feet the autopilot was disengaged. and this was about 82 seconds priorq+2 to impact. >> reporter: just a minute and 13 seconds before impact, the plane was at 1400 feet, flying at 170 knots, or nearly 196 miles per hour. 39 seconds later a critical point. >> at about 500 feet the air speed was approximately 134 knot knots. >> that's slower than the threshold speed of 137 knots needed to safely continue the glide path and land safely. it takes the crew a full 26 seconds to apparently realize that there is a problem and try to do anything about it. >> at about 125 feet, the throttles started moving forward and the air speed was approximately 112 knots. this was eight seconds prior to impact. >> that means the plane was only eight seconds away from impact when someone applied the throttle on the still idling jet engines to try to gain speed, power and lift. >> about three seconds prior to impact the flight data recorder recorded the lowest speed of 103 knots. >> and we want to note when it finally hi

entrevista deborah hersman por eso ...que quiere asegurarse que la etapa de entrenamiento dentro de los vuelos trabajen mejor . durante el interrogatori o, uno de los pilotos indico que a la hora de aterrizar, la nariz de la nave estaba tan alta que el no podia ver la pista. tambien el piloto a cargo del aterrizaje confirmo que era su primera maniobra operativa de un avion de este tipo... y su supervisor confirmo tambien que aun es un piloto experimentado , era su primer vuelo como instructor de pilotaje. se definio tambien que al intentar levantar el avion de nuevo, la cola de la nave choco con el muro que divide la pista con el mar, partiendola y generando el choque y posterior incendio. blanca ---el medico forense del condado de san mateo, identific hoy a la adolescente... take vo ...que se cree murio atropellada por uno de los vehiculos de emergencia que acudieron a socorrer a los pasajeros del vuelo 214. ---se trata de "ye meng-yuan" de 16 aÑos originaria de china, pero el forense dijo que podrian pasar hasta 2 semana

the chairman of the ntsb deborah hersman has been briefing the news media.ching her live here in "the situation room." dan simon has been watching and monitoring. he's been covering this from the very beginning. there were four pilots on that plane, dan. there were three in the cockpit. one a relief pilot was way in the back part of the plane but the two pilots in control, one had a lot of experience flying a 777, landing many times in san francisco. the other one, very limited experience. had never done it before. and we now know what happened. >> reporter: and those two people had never been teamed up before. they were in that plane together for the very first time. and that pilot had less experience than we previously thought. he had only 35 hours experience flying that plane. we were originally led to believe he had 40 hours flying that plane. whether or not that makes a difference, we don't know. but the bottom line is these were two people who had never flown together before. and obviously what the ntsb is trying to figure out is if they made some bad

deborah hersman, thank you so much for joining us. i know that you will look at everything, but i also know that when investigate yoferz gors ge scene, some things catch their attention. what has caught your attention? >> well, you know, when we went out there last night and took a look at the aircraft, i will tell you, you can see the devastation from the outside of the aircraft. the burn-through, the damage to the external fuselage. but what you can't see is the damage internally, and that is really striking. and so, i think when we look at this accident, we're very thankful that we didn't have more fatalities and serious injuries, and we had so many survivors. it's really very, very good news as far as a survivable accident, which many accidents are. >> and was it miraculous or was it the result of something that so many did survive? >> you know, i would say much of this is the result of the hard work of the aviation community, taking accidents, taking lessons learned and plowing them back in, whether it's the design of aircraft or

deborah hersman reveals when she sees best in people and one of her hive's most significant moments. >>> and good evening. i'm in the nbc bay area weather center. an awesome rebound after that fog this morning. 90 in the valley. sunnyvale 82. live look outside does show plenty of clear skies. but we are tracking airport delays for tomorrow morning. i'll have that plus much more coming up. crystal geyser is always bottled at the mountain source. crystal geyser. crystal geyser. crystal geyser. then we deliver it directly to you. >>> in the past few days, she's become the most visible woman in the bay area. she's the chairman of the ntsb. and she's making head lines for not only what she's communicating but how she's communicating. tonight a rare fwlims behind the scenes. an interview with deborah hersman. >> hi, i'm reporting an airplane crash at sfo. >> shortly after the smoke cleared, deborah hersman arrived and her presence has been nearly everywhere, from the tarmac to the briefing room where she's made quite an impression. >> the flight crew told the flight attendant not to initia

we're seeing a lot of deborah hersman. she's very familiar with the bay area. in 2009, at the age of 39, president obama appointed her endoes about chairman, making her the youngest person to fill this post. president bush first appointed her to the ntsb board in 2004. the 33 year owed mother of three has been involved with at least 17 major accidents. as for her experience here in the bay area. she was overseeing the investigation of the 2010 san bruno pg&e pipeline explosion. nearly a year after that tragedy, she held a hearing and slammed pg&e saying the company exploited weaknesses in a lax system and oversight and government agencies that place the blind trust in operators to the detriment of public safety. >>> it's a dam ning accusation. passengers say they had to call 911 from the tarmac because emergency crews weren't hearing their calls. until now we've been hearing positive reviews of the first responders. >> reporter: yes, but in this situation, the injured passengers were in an entirely different section and may have been overlooked by first respond

entrevista deborah hersman por eso ...epartemamen to de seguridad indico que quiere asegurarse que la etapa de entrenamiento dentro de los vuelos trabajen mejor . durante el interrogatori o, uno de los pilotos indico que a la hora de aterrizar, la nariz de la nave estaba tan alta que el no podia ver la pista. tambien el piloto a cargo del aterrizaje confirmo que era su primera maniobra operativa de un avion de este tipo... y su supervisor confirmo tambien que aun es un piloto experimentado , era su primer vuelo como instructor de pilotaje. se definio tambien que al intentar levantar el avion de nuevo, la cola de la nave choco con el muro que divide la pista con el mar, partiendola y generando el choque y posterior incendio. angel live pero aun asi, el departamento de seguridad fue explicito en decir que seria precipitado concluir un error humano, pues aun quedan muchos detalles por investigar... dentro de ellos, si una de la dos jovenes fallecidas murio por el impactor de la nave o fue atropellada por un carro de bomberos

, any time you get a call that the speed is not the target speed which is that 137 knot speed deborah hersman referenced, you need immediate action. it can't deviate more than five knots, really. >> here is the sound of the stick shaker occurs four seconds prior to impact. >> that is just the ultimate clue that there is something gone terribly wrong here. it requires immediate reaction and the reaction has to be full power and try to get the plane away from the ground. >> explain to the viewers stick shaker. what does that mean? >> you see the control yoke which is similar to the steering wheel. in this case assuming target speed was 137 knots at about 120 or so or 125 knots, that's already too slow for this approach, the system would start shaking. literally start shaking the control wheel so that there is no way the pilot does not know that he's dangerously slow. the immediate reaction upon that is full power. >> is it fair to say if that happens, if that starts to shake that you are neigh trouble or about to be? >> you're about to be. it's a warning system that says you're coming dangerous

here's a picture of deborah hersman and bill english getting a closer look at the wreckage. witnesses say the asiana plane from south korea slammed into runway 2-8, breaking off its tail and catching fire before coming to a stop. the chairman told me the investigation team is usually on the scene for about a week for an accident like this one. she told me that they are expected to update the press at a briefing at 2:00 this afternoon. reporting live at sfo, matt keller, abc7 news. >> we will be there. thank you, matt. the chinese consulate in san francisco is opening at 10:00 this morning to help survivors of the sfo crash get new passports or whatever paperwork they may need and to help them with any other problems, as well. they have set up two phone numbers for families to call. boeing of the numbers are there on your screen and we also have them posted at abc7news.com. >> new video just in showing a fine forming right now at the asiana airline counter at sfo. people are waiting to catch the next flight to seoul, south korea. they say yesterday's flight is pressure in the

. >>> earlier tonight we spoke with ntsb chair deborah hersman who is headed out to san francisco rightcountry. >> on the phone, ntsb chair deborah hersman. good evening. i know you got the call a couple hours ago about the crash. tell me exactly what you do as chairman of the ntsb. when you got that call, what did you do? >> we get to the airport right away, and we get on a flight as soon as we can. actually, i'm in transit right now. we dropped into sioux falls to pick up fuel and we're back up in the air. we're heading for san francisco. should arrive there this evening. we've already got some folks on the ground for the ntsb. they work out in california and they're staking out the site for us. >> do you immediately, you yourself, go out to the crash as the chair? you're going to almost reassemble this plane and take it through every sing step of its approach and crash. what do you do when you get there? >> we have an amazing team of experts. all of these individuals really are tops at what they do. we've got people who are specialists in air traffic control and operations and struct

she's in san francisco, deborah hersman. i know you will look at everything. but i also know when investigators get on the scene, some things catch their attention. what has caught your attention? >> when we went out there last night and took a look at the aircraft, you can see the devastation from the outside of of the aircraft. the burn through, the damage to the external fuse large. what you can't see is the damage internally. and that is really striking. i think when we look at this accident, we're thankful that we didn't have for fatalities and serious injuries and we have so many survivors. it's very good news as far as a survivable accidents, which many accidents are. >> was it miraculous or the result of something that so many did survive? >> you know, i would say much of this is the result of the hard work of the aviation community taking accidents, taking lessons learned and plowing them back in, whether it's the design of aircraft or training of crew members. and even passenger. and we can't stress this enough, many accidents are survivable. it's ab

deborah hersman and joins us live now. alex?e this will be -- told me this will be lengthy and on the tame. >> one part of the investigation is to gather evidence out here at the crash site itself. you can see here the wreckage of the plane. still sits here on the runway this morning. >> another aspect will be to check the data on the black boxes. they are now at the ahead quarters in washington d.c. where they are trying to get preliminary results from them. possibly today. they hope the data on the units is still good. a team of federal investigators arrived here around midnight. and the ntsb chairman. deborah hersman came out and injured two passengers and injurying another 181 people. they say the plane was coming in low when the tail struck the runway during landing. >> the head told me it is much too early to say if they played a role in the crash. but they will be listening to the cockpit voice recordings. to found out if the pilot and crew had any concerns leading up to the landing. >> the voice recorder will tell us abo

fungia como instructor. 35:37 esta era la primera vez que los dos pilotos volaban juntos.dijo hoy deborah hersmande seguridad en el transporte.... agrego que el equipo de cuatro pilotos y copilotos ya fue entrevistado y estaba cooperando con la investigacion...explico que al momento del descenso el piloto instructor se dio cuenta de que volaban bajo y ordeno una medida correctiva asumiendo que la nave estaba respondiendo y mantendria la velocidad....la funcionaria ha explicado que el avion aterrizo casi cuarenta millas mas lento de lo que debia. 46:26 teniamos un piloto volando, otros dos pilotos en la cabina que tenian una funcion de monitorear una de las cosas criticas que deben monitorear es la velocidad al aterrizar tambien se dijo que a ninguno de los miembros del equipo se les hizo examenes de drogas o alcohol despues del choque. en esta conferencia de prensa tambien se supo que dos de la azafatas salieron expulsadas del avion al momento del choque, y aunque resultaron heridas, sobrevivieron. mientras tanto para los usuarios del aeropuerto de san francisco las demoras continuaban hoy 8:44 d

deborah hersman of the national transportation and safety board.more information, that would be great. thanks very much and good luck with the investigation. >> thanks, wolf. >>> just ahead, was it a case of pilot error in san francisco? we're going to show you some exclusive video to illustrate what may have gone wrong. stand by for that. >>> and a number of the crash victims have final injuries. we'll show you why and what they may be up against next. it's usually when i want to wear my favorite dress that i remember i should probably do laundry more often. yeah. yeah. cause' by the time i do there's all these mystery stains. i mean is it coffee? is it bronzer? did i play rugby at some point? could be gravy. i do like gravy. anyway, so my mom sent us these tide boost thingies to put in the wash with tide. together they're like twice as strong. yeah. so it's like bye bye stains, hello perfection. what? [ female announcer ] together, tide and tide boost double your power against stains that's my tide what's yours? bob will retire when he's 153, whi

deborah hersman kind of pooh-poohed that, we don't know until later. it get into the same point, who was playing the airplane and how they were flying it. it's real clear, with the safety record of this airplane, 1,100 of them delivered to airlines and only six of them out of service after 18 years. not a plane issue, a pilot issue. >> those pilots will be interviewed today and will continue to be interviewed tomorrow. we'll leave it there thank you very much. >>> at least 50 killed and hundreds wounded after chaos on the streets. with anti-americanism rising, time to stop sending your tax dollars to egypt? i'll ask senator rand paul when he joins me after the break. >>> legal experts live in studio with reaction to all of the highlights from day ten of the george zimmerman murder trial. stay with us. [ mortazavi ] i'm definitely a perfectionist. details are really important during four course. i want to make sure that everything is perfect. that's why i do what i . [ male announcer ] it's red lobster's just $14.99. start your feast with a choice of so

if you're not part of the aviation or transportation circle, you may not know that much about deborah hersmannow her call her debbie, but formally, she goes by deborah. and in case you wondered about the title, well, she uses chairman, not chairwoman. deborah hersman is the face of the investigation into the crash of asiana flight 214. >> we're not reaching any conclusions. we're gathering factual information. >> reporter: she is a triathlete, a wife and mother of three. hersman has also competed in races like the warrior dash. its website bills it as a 5k mud run complete with obstacle course designed to test your strength and stamina. and friends who watch her criss-cross the country leading ntsb crash team investigators say she's an expert multitasker. >> my guess is that when she gets that call, she's already prepared two or three days of meals, plus she has a very supportive husband. >> reporter: she doesn't have a pilot's license, yet she leads the independent federal agency responsible for complex investigations to determine probable cause in aviation and other transportation accidents

taking questions now, deborah hersman.chairperson of the national transportation safety board. >> the question was whether or not we had the lowest speed that the crew achieved. i will tell you that the speed was significantly below 137 knots. xxxx we're not talking about a few knots. we still have to corroborate some information. as i mentioned, this was a preliminary mention of the recorders. the 137 knots came from the crew conversation about their approach speed. we have to take another look at the raw data and corroborate it with radar and air traffic information to make sure we have a very precise speed. but again, we are not talking about a few knots here or there. we're talking about a significant amount of speed below 137.

more than 180 people to the hospital from the head of the national transportation safety board, deborah hersman. >> ifill: and hari sreenivasan updates another transportation disaster; the oil tanker train that exploded in canada killing at least 13 with dozens still missing and a town incinerated. >> woodruff: we return to egypt, where the death toll topped 50 when the military opened fire on backers of the deposed president. >> ifill: ray suarez explores the options to combat suspected chinese cyber-espionage that targets u.s. industries and trade secrets. >> chinese cyber hacking has been going on for a long time. what's new is that were finally fed up and want to do something about it. >> woodruff: and jeffrey brown talks with author colum mccann about weaving together three real-life atlantic crossings over three centuries in his latest work of fiction. >> what was it like to construct that, as a novelist, did you know how all these connections were going to happen? >> honestly? >> honestly. >> i had no clue whatsoever, it drove me nuts. ( laugh ) >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "n

more than 180 people to the hospital from the head of the national transportation safety board, deborah hersman. >> ifill: and hari sreenivasan updates another transportation disaster; the oil tanker train that exploded in canada killing at least 13 with dozens still missing and a town incinerated. >> woodruff: we return to egypt, where the death toll topped 50 when the military opened fire on backers of the deposed president.

more than 180 people to the hospital from the head of the national transportation safety board, deborah hersman. >> ifill: and hari sreenivasan updates another transportation disaster; the oil tanker train that exploded in canada killing

ntsb chairman deborah hersman joins us live from burlingame. thanks for joining us.now you're busy. >> reporter: good morning. >> can you tell us -- the pilots weren't tested for drugs and alcohol, standard procedure because they are foreign-based. had they been american pilots, they would have been tested. can you tell us why? >> well, in the united states, we have a long history of drug and alcohol testing requirements post-crash. these requirements are for the operator, the company, to do that drug and alcohol testing within a set period of time after an accident. that happens traditionally in u.s. cases. we were surprised when we arrived here to find that it had not been done for this crew. >> is that policy for the company, though? for asiana? >> well, for asiana, we have to look at their company policies and also see what's required by korea. [ coughing ] you. >> need a glass of water there. you have had a very busy morning. can you talk about where the investigation goes now? i know you spoke to all four pilots yesterday getting information. what's going on to

deborah hersman says flight attendants were key. >> the flight crew told not to evacuate. they were communicating with the towerer about the emergency. the lead or the cabin manager made an announcement over the pa for people to stay in their seats and to not evacuate. >> reporter: now, after that another flight attendant made a split decision after he saw smoke to tell everyone to get out of the plane. we will have much more coming up at 6:00. reporting live at the san francisco international airport i'm cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >> one of the many difficult parts of the story is the exact cause of death for one of the two teenage girls killed in the crash. officials indicated she might have been run over by a san francisco fire truck after the crash. the coroner has identified the girl as 16-year-old. the coroner spoke to the girl's parents yesterday. an official report is not expected to be released for at least two more weeks. >>> vice president joe biden expressed sadness during opening remarks. >> i want to start by expressing my sadness of quite frankly the am

deborah hersman said the jet was traveling about 190 kilometers per hour roughly three seconds before the impact. the pilots were trying to pick up episode to make another attempt at a landing. a cabinet attendant said it seemed like the plane was trying to climb into the air. >> translator: it felt like we were taking back off and there was a huge crash. then i felt another jolt and the plane swayed strongly from the left to the right. >> a fire broke out as the crew was trying to evacuate the passengers and she escaped after making sure everyone else was off the plane. >>> u.s. wanted man edward snowden is looking for safe haven. venezuelan president said his government received an asylum request. >> translator: we received an application letter for asylum. if he definitely wants to fly here he will need to decide when. >> reporter: former national security agency contractor snowden is facing espionage charges in the u.s. he disclosed secret documents on government surveillance programs. is he reportedly holed up inside a moscow airport. u.s. officials have revoked his passport. the

ntsb chairman deborah hersman revealing the plane's landing gear stuck. the seawall -- struck the seawall first followed by the tail of the aircraft. we've also learned the commanding pilot was serving as an instructor for the very first time. let's get straight to bob redell live at south san francisco right now. bob, you had a chance to talk to the ntsb chairman now. the question, what is she saying about the pilots not being tested for drugs or alcohol after the crash? >> reporter: good morning, jon. we spoke with ntsb chair hersman about that issue, why those pilots were not drug and alcohol tested after the crash of asiana flight 214. she tells us that it's up to the airline's policy as to whether or not that happened. she does not know if policy was followed saturday morning. that is something she tells us the ntsb is still trying to understand. ntsb investigators headquarter at the hotel here in south san francisco are also trying to understand why the auto throttle was not working during final approach. the two pilots at controls of the 777 told i

ntsb chair deborah hersman has a fascinating story.he married mother of three lived in jordan and spain before working in politics on capitol hill. you will learn all about her plus why her way of doing things is bringing praise and scrutiny. the news is back in the morning, frank and michelle. we'll see you at 7:00. >> anthony, we talk to her every morning and she is very meticulous, you can tell, and very detailed and forthcoming with all the details. >> i had lunch with a friend just yesterday, i bet we spent 15 minutes just talking about her. we googled her to get her information. she is so impressive. so we look forward to that all coming up at 7:00. >> reporter: see you then. >> sounds good. thank you. >>> a live look inside the george zimmerman murder trial in sanford, florida. both sides are expected to give their closing arguments today. i believe they are on recess right now. zimmerman is accused of shooting and killing unarmed teen trayvon martin in a florida neighborhood last year. the defense rested its case yesterday with

. >> this afternoon, ntsb chairwoman deborah hersman said investigators plan to interview the pilots tomorrow, and she had this to say about the current state of the investigation. >> they're now reviewing manuals in training. they're working to conduct 72-hour work rest histories. and those 72-hour histories are really looking at the pilot's flight and duty time, their rest opportunities, and the activities that have taken place in the days leading up to the crash. in our investigations, we're often looking for things that might affect human performance, like fatigue, like illnesses or medication, like health issues. and so, we will be looking at all of those things to see if there are any impacts on their ability to perform their jobs. >> joining me now, pilot and aviation lawyer arthur walt. arthur, thanks for being here. i don't remember a case like this of such catastrophic consequences, where on the tip of everybody's tongue, even if they're not saying it, seem to be the words, "pilot error." at this early stage, is that your assessment? >> yes, there's no question about that.

san francisco with the head of the ntsb, deborah hersman, chuck todd, dr. nancy snyderman and adventurer bear grylls will be here in the studio. up next the top stories in the politico playbook. first bill karins, not really an adventurer. >> no. >> we kind of like him. >> kind of like him? >> kind of good to see you. >> one day a week. let me know what day that is. >> okay. >> good morning, everyone. overnight tropical storm chan tell formed. our third storm already in the early hurricane season. this is not expected to be a huge ordeal but the forecast path does have me at least interested. the storm well to the east of the lesser antilles and 700 miles from barbados. not expected to become a big powerful storm but should be somewhere near florida or the bahamas as a weak system. now we have storms heading across illinois and wisconsin overnight. you're going to deal with the rainy morning there. we've had very warm temperatures this last week or two. today will be no exception. the humidity, it's still very high from chicago all the way through dallas. t

ntsb chairman deborah hersman says that investigators will analyze the planes flight data recorder and voice recorder to determine if there was a problem with the auto throttle. their initial inspection of the wreckage shows that the auto throttle was armed, but that doesn't mean it was malfunctioning. one of the critical things that needs to monitored on the approach to landing is speed...so we need to understand what was going on in the cockpit and also what was going on with the aircraft. none of the flight crew have been drug or alcohol tested because the u.s. doesn't require such testing for foreign based crews, such testing is deferred to the country in which the airline is based. in this case, south korea. in the newsroom, charles clifford kron 4 news. the surviving passengers from saturday's crash. are staying in a bay area hotel. some of them left the crowne plaza hotel in burlingame but hotel staff went out of their way to make sure they all had some privacy. staff members opened umbrellas to block anyone from seeing the victims faces as they walked through the doors. securit

the head of the national transportation safety board, deborah hersman, said the jet was traveling too slowly to land. she said it was moving at about 190 kilometers per hour just before making contact with the ground. the target speed for landing is about 250 kilometers per hour. hersman said the pilots were trying to pick up speed to make another attempt at a landing. a u.s. television network aired footage of passengers escaping from the wreckage of the airliner. the footage shows people using two escape chutes on the left side of the aircraft. black smoke is pouring from the fuselage as they flee. the cabin attendant said it seemed like the plane was trying to climb at the moment of impact. >> translator: it felt like we were taking off again when there was a huge crash. then i felt another jolt and the plane swayed strongly from the left to the right. >> she said a fire broke out as the crew was trying to evacuate the passengers and that she escaped after making sure everyone else was off the plane. >>> the european union has delegates from russia are the new faces around the tabl

. >> deborah hersman, chair of the national transportation safety board on her way to san francisco right now. we also have audio from the air traffic controllers just after that boeing 777 crash landing. the audio is short, it's a short clip, but you can hear an official saying "emergency vehicles are on the way." listen to this. >> 214, emergency vehicles are responding. >> san francisco airport officials also tweeted in the last hour that the airport has re-opened two of its four runways. it had stopped all flights in and out of san francisco immediately after the crash. let's go to the airport right now. cnn's dan simon is joining us with the very latest. you're inside the terminal there, and the most disturbing information, obviously we're all thrilled that so many people got out and many of them are okay. did any of them need to go to hospitals, many of them have gone to hospitals, about 130 or so, and some are reportedly in pretty critical condition. but we're especially worried about what the fire chief there saying, upwards of 60 people, dan, unaccounted for. and i'm not exactly

deborah hersman is not only leading the investigation into the crash, but many political insiders sayhe's a rising star in washington, d.c. we spent some time with hersman bright and early this morning. the 43-year-old mother of three is also the daughter of an air force fighter pilot. she used to fly herself solo as a teenager. she didn't realize she would be fath following in her father's footsteps. >> when we see you in town, that usually means something has gone wrong. >> i know. i don't want people to think i'm associated with disasters when they see me, but i tell you with what we see in accidents, sometimes we see the very best of communities. we see the very best of people in these very difficult circumstances. and i've certainly seen some of that here, whether in san bruno and all of the people. made very good friendships that still exist today. we see good things in people in very difficult times. >> coming up on the 6:00 newscast we go behind the scenes with hersman as she talks about her family, her brief flying career and why she no longer rides a motorcycle. that's tonig

deborah hersman has been the 'round-the-clock investigation since the momented it happened.. she can solve problems. she's used social media. pictures of investigators at the craze site. they've always corrected their own mistakes, tweeting this week, correction pilot in the left seat had 9700 of total flight time. her office sent out pictures of the recovered flight tata recorders over the weekend. >> it's about having a conversation with the world. >> but they have krit seitzed hersman from releasing information too soorm. >> it's a real balancing act. you learn and share with the american people without in any way compromising the investigation. >> reporter: she was first appointed by george. with bush. when george. with bush made her the chairman of ntsb she was 39 years old, she was the youngest. now at 43 she has a reputation at 43 of it. >> do you think she's getting attention for this because she's a woman o is she really aathink it's poechlkt it isn't some 50-year-old mae gentleman with a pocket protector. >> hersman herself is more norah and gayle. i marriage her s

ntsb chair deborah hersman says data on the flight recorder show multiple autothrottle and autopilot modes in the 2 1/2 minutes before the crash. >> we need to understand what those modes were, if they were commanded by the pilots, if they were activated inadvertently, and if the pilots understood what the mode was doing. >> a spokesperson for south korea's transport ministry says investigators removed the wreckage from the runway to another location at the airport. he says the team will conduct a detailed examination along with experts from the manufacturer boeing. >>> a severe summer heat wave is hitting middle eastern nations. the scorching temperatures are affecting work and religious events during the muslim holy month of ramadan. the coastal city of dubai in the united arab emirates has seen its daytime highs exceed 40 degrees celsius recently. inland the mercury topped 50 degrees on tuesday. starting this month, uae officials have banned construction firms from any outdoor work in the afternoon to protect workers' health. violators may be fined up to 30,000 durhams, about $8,1

. >>> for more on the investigation into saturday's crash at sfo, deborah hersman national transportationboard's chairman joins us now live from south san francisco this morning. thank you, deborah, for joining us. >> good morning. >> so tell us, where does the investigation stand this morning? >> last night, we turned over the runway and the salvage operations have begun on runway 28-left. they have to pick up those big pieces and also clean up the small pieces. >> deborah, i understand the pilot said during their interviews with you folks that some sort of blinding light about 34 seconds before the impact was seen from the cockpit. can you shed any light on that? >> well, one of the pilots stated he saw something that was bright. they asked him what it was, to describe it, if it was a laser. he said it wasn't a laser. he said when he looked back in the cockpit he could see the instruments just fine. we think it was temporary but he relayed that to our investigators. >> a flight attendant said she went right after the crash, she went to the cockpit, asked the pilot what she should do and

deborah hersman has the information. >> they're going to document the seating positions of those who were injured. >> reporter: at this point we are not certain where the two girls who died in the crash were sitting. nbc bay area has learned that the san mateo county corner's office got a call from the san francisco fire department. apparently members of the first response team were concerned that they may have played a role in the death of the girl whose body was found near the fuselage. published reports quoted the san francisco fire chief as saying that girl's injuries are consistent with being run over by a fire truck or other emergency vehicle. meanwhile, at today's press briefing ed lee praised the 225 first responders. he says hospital officials are crediting them with saving lives. >> with the injuries that they have notified us about that they were treating, they were saying that but for that triage work that was done at the crash site, some of these victims would not have survived. >> reporter: those first responders definitely saved lives. i spoke to two of them here today

deborah hersman of the national transportation safety board released the results of the analysis of the jet's flight data recorder. >> there is no anomalous behavior of the autopilot, of the flight director, and of the auto throttles based on the fdr data reviewed to date. >> the pilot also told investigators he realized the plane was approag the runway at a lower than usual altitude when it was about 150 meters above the ground. but hersman said data indicate the flight crew did not speak about the speed needed to maintain altitude until they were about 30 meters above the ground. ntsb officials are concluding their investigation at san francisco international airport. they will continue analyzing flight data and interviews before ruling on the cause of the accident. the two victims of the crash were both 16-year-old girls from china. they were schoolmates and friends. residents of the los angeles suburb where they were headed held a vigil in their honor. ♪ they were both high school students on their way to attend an academic summer camp at a school in west hills near l.a. about 250 p