kyung lah shows us firsthand. >> lock the physical door.lly lock out that door. >> reporter: so begins what is the likely descent and the a320 simulator. >> just dialled in. got the airplane going down. >> reporter: the motion of hitting 100 in this situation is unthinkable for you? >> absolutely. why would i do that? it goes against every grain in my body. there's no reason why i would do that. >> reporter: you know the consequences of that action. >> absolutely. >> reporter: if you had to step in this young man's mind, do you think he understood? >> it's a very difficult subject for a pilot because we are, again, here, to keep our passengers safe. to keep the airplane safe, to keep our crews safe, so to go where this young man went is hard for me to go there. by saying i'm fit to fly, that means i'm good to go. i'm ready to take on this airplane. >> reporter: and all the lives in the back. >> that's right. >> reporter: approximately 9 minutes later -- >> up. so now we would pull up and react. >> pull up. pull up. pull up. >> this the wors

kyung lah, cnn, los angeles. >>> another hour of news straight ahead. you are watching cnn. most of the products we all buy are transported on container ships. before a truck delivers it to your store, a container ship delivered it to that truck. here in san diego, we're building the first one ever to run on natural gas. ships this big, running this clean, will be much better for the environment. we're proud to be a part of that. you're not mr. craig. yeah, i'm confused, where's mr. craig? well, i'm sorta mr. craig. we're both between 35 and 45 years old. we both like to save money on car insurance. and we're both really good at teaching people a lesson. um, let's go. cool. sit down! alright. sorta you, isn't you. only esurance has coveragemyway. it helps make sure you only pay for what's right for you, not someone sorta like you. i think i blacked out from fear... did we ask him where mr. craig was? we did. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call. >>> officials say the germanwings co-pilot deliberately flew into the side of a mountain. investigators scramble to figure o

young yng kyung lah shows us firsthand. >> lock the physical door. it will totally lock out that door. >> reporter: so begins what is the likely descent and the a320 simulator simulator. >> just dialled in. got the airplane going down. >> reporter: the motion of hitting 100 in this situation is unthinkable for you? >> absolutely. why would i do that? it goes against every grain in my body. there's no reason why i would do that. >> reporter: you know the consequences of that action. >> absolutely. >> reporter: if you had to step in this young man's mind do you think he understood? >> it's a very difficult subject for a pilot because we are, again, here to keep our passengers safe. to keep the airplane safe to keep our crews safe so to go where this young man went is hard for me to go there. by saying i'm fit to fly that means i'm good to go. i'm ready to take on this airplane. >> reporter: and all the lives in the back. >> that's right. >> reporter: approximately 9 minutes later -- >> up. so now we would pull up and react. >> pull up. pull up. pull up

kyung lah has a report now from the scene. >> reporter: john christine, investigators have been here in the overnight hours trying to figure out exactly why this vintage plane lost power in the engine. what you can see over my shoulder is this extraordinary landing. you can see that the nose of this plane is bent into the ground. this is a small golf course you're looking at. the propeller is ground into the grass. but look at the body of the plane. it really wasn't that damaged. harrison ford was seated in one of those two seats. he did have some head injuries. but some of the people here witnesses say he was bleeding from the head but they managed to get him out, take him to the hospital. he's pointed toward the runway. neighbors say they actually heard the engine stall. >> having problems and then he turned around. when he was right by the house, the engine cut out. and then he turned around but that's what i heard, he turned around tried to get back to the airport. >> reporter: the neighbor says ford is quite a good pilot to manage right here only about 30 yards from where i'm st

kyung lah, cnn, las vegas. >> let's get more analysis now.ing in cnn aviation analyst and my former colleague miles o'brien. miles, good to see you. thanks for joining us. you're also the science correspondent for pbs news hour. and you are live for us from tokyo. hello, miles. i want to start with that cockpit door, since kyung lah just reported on that aspect. certainly it was designed after 9/11 to keep the bad guys out, and now it apparently kept a bad one in. and no way for the crew to get around that security. >> yeah. i mean, imagine this. that in the wake of 9/11 the presumption was the bad guys would be on the other side of the door. how do you create a security system that works in both directions? and that's what we're talking about here. one of the simple ways the airlines in the united states have adopted is to insist upon two crew members on the flight deck at any given time. so if one of the pilots has to leave the flight deck for whatever reason a flight attendant typically goes and sits in. if nothing else just to open and cl

kyung lah is with us to night. all of this happened near the airport where harrison ford took off, and what is the latest? >> so far the ntsb says it is engine trouble and he was trying to turn around to get back to the airport, and then this, the extraordinary landing. this is what is so extraordinary, because we can see the tree that this tree hit. some of the branchs are broken. and the small swath of green that you are looking at this is a golf course and the nose you can see it right there, and it is bent into the ground, and the propeller is kug into the grass, be look at the body of the plane, itself, and it doesn't appear that it is really that affected. so harrison ford wasn't crushed at all, but he was seriously injured, and the people here did try to help him to get out. but the extraordinary thing is that he managed to land here. neighbors heard the engine stall. here is what one told us. >> reporter: what do you think about the way he landed? in the green space some. >> well, it is amazing that he made

more sad. >> kyung lah, what is the latest with the investigation?ument that africa was reaching for their gun? >> yeah. they actually had a news conference, jake, are where they were showing the pictures of the gun showing that it was slightly disk discombobulated and that is proof they say of a struggle over the gun. right mou, the lapd appears to be standing behind the officers and the chief saying that there is a full investigation, and part of the investigation is critical to it, jake, two body cameras worn by the officers. jake? >> all right. kyung lah in los angeles, thank you so much. >>> up next, serious change of pace, and you heard the phrase when pigs fly? well, that beats that. it is a bird, it is a weasel,b and it is coming right up after this. to my body. with tempur-pedic the whole bed is comfortable. it's the best thing we ever did for ourselves. it's helping to keep us young. (vo) visit your local retailer and feel the tempur-pedic difference for yourself. whethbefore the big race... or a healthy start before the big meeting, there'

and kyung lah joining us g using us once again. heard from the ntsb and the fire department is trying to gather as much information as they can. >> reporter: yeah. you can see that there is actually a switchout of engines here. the they will be there overnight. they have no intention of moving it at least the next few hours or so but the ntsb said the engine failed, the pilot lost power. that is something that we are hearing also from people who actual lily heard the engine fail from the ground. they could hear it. this is what one witness told us. >> planes don't crash all the time. i think that one happened about five years ago. that crash almost right outside the house on the golf course as well. but you hear them quite often. the engines go out a little bit but typically they, you know, they come back on and everything is okay. but you're thinking, oh, maybe today is another one that goes down like today. >> reporter: when you heard, tell me specifically, what did you hear? >> the engine cut out, but it is not that special. you

kyung lah, cnn, los angeles. >>> an american detained in east timor is now back in the united states.stacey addison was greeted by her family in portland oregon. she had been held without charge in east timor for nearly six months. she was arrested in september after she said she shared a taxi with a stranger that was carrying methamphetamine. >>> we're going to take a short break. when we come back the possible u.s. presidential candidate forced to explain a comment. >> do you think being gay is a choice if >> absolutely. >> that comment raised a lot of eyebrows here in the u.s. up next, what dr. ben carronson is saying about his answer now. then you haven't seen this commercial. book now and save during the spring break sale at hotels.com. so i got this listing. 3 bedroom, 3 bath. i have a client that lives out of state. just knew it was for her. so i tried to get her on video chat. i'm on verizon. i... i'm not. so it's not a problem. my video chat isn't working so i try to send photos but even that doesn't work. she saw the granite counters and the fire pit she went nuts. so i'm tr

kyung lah, cnn, venice california. >> we've been looking into his flying history.s an avid pilot who got serious about learning how to nigh in the mid '90s. he's a certified pilot of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters and owns several of them. thursday's crash in california is not the first, though. in 1999 he crash landed a helicopter in california during training. neither ford nor the instructor suffered any injuries. one year later, ford crashed again. this time attempting to land in nebraska where the plane hit strong crosswinds. again, a mix of luck and skill, but no one was hurt. >>> there was a close call for more than 100 airline passengers in another situation. in new york at laguardia airport on thursday the plane skidded off the runway if you can imagine that, stopped just short of disaster. large hydraulic cranes are working to lift the plane off a fence, but officials say that could take hours. cnn's will ripley has this story. >> reporter: it's a terrifying image for everyone who flies. a delta passenger jet skidding off a slick and snowy runway at o

kyung lah is at the crash site very close to the aircraft itself. she joins us now with late details. o are investigators still on the scene there? >> reporter: they are still on the scene. we understand that this press conference is going to be happening momentarily. i'm actually watching them gather around the microphones right now, anderson. what they are looking at is what caused this. what happened. we are now hearing from witnesses. there was a witness we spoke to just a short time ago and he said that he actually heard the engine stop. he heard the engine fail. he said that's not particularly unusual when you talk about older planes like this. but he assumed that it would start again. but it sounded like, he said, that the propeller simply stopped and then it just never started. and so then this is what happened. the other thing he said was, you know, this is an area -- >> kyung, i understand the news conference is starting. let's listen? >> butler from the los angeles fire department and have investigator patrick jones. we'll take a few ques

>> thanks very much kyung lah.ront" now anthony blackburn, the man who actually filmed this shooting. thank you for being with us. i'm sure when this happened you were in shock and you were in shock that so many millions have now watched what you filmed. what happened that made you decide to take your phone out and start filming this? >> well after the officers said that they was going to tase him, that's when i felt like i should videotape it put it on facebook or something like that. >> and then, of course it turned into something much bigger and more horrific in terms of the man losing his life. i want to ask you, police say that one of these images -- and i'll show it from your picture, i've got a close-up here and a still. you can see the officers standing. the suspect is -- africa is on the ground in this image. he's lying on his back and you can see his hand. officers say that that hand is reaching for the officer's gun on the screen as people can see now, again, this still. you were actually watching this i

kyung lah, cnn, las vegas. >> all right, kyung, thank you very much.at happened on this germanwings aircraft it makes you wonder how well do pilots know one another before they enter a cockpit? back with me fred a former pilot and federal prosecutor. also back with me a doctor who is also a pilot herself. fred let me begin with you. with regard to this particular captain and co-pilot on this germanwings plane, i don't know how much they flew together i just know that they flew the leg prior to what would have been the barcelona/dusseldorf leg. you think of police officers partners all the time you know your tendencies behaviors, would that even be plausible for captains and co-pilots? >> well i'm not sure how plausible. some airlines have 15 000, 18,000 pilots. unfortunately, you don't really know who you are going to meet up with. i don't care who is in the right seat. the mindset of many pilots we have a right to rely upon the system. this pilot was suicidal. i get that. as a former federal prosecutor wants to label him as a mass killer. he killed 14

cnn's kyung lah is joining us live from the crash scene in venice, california. looking at that plane right behind you there, you can tell it look a lot of skill to get that plane to crash there, to go down there opposed to the homes nearby. >> reporter: very close nearby homes, george. over to my left is a house i can see a huge neighborhood of houses. they're about 40 yards away and you just mentioned the plane is right over my shoulder. you can see it's right about, i don't know, 25, 30 yards away. it's extraordinarily close, and that is not lost on the people in this neighborhood. this grass you're seeing is a golf course. it's a very small golf course. you can see the plane is quite in tact. the front of the plane, the nose, if you will, that snapped off. the propeller dug into the ground. the rest of the plane really is quite in tact. and that may be part of the reason harrison ford didn't have any more serious body injuries. from what we understand, the extent of his visible injuries mainly were to his head. he was seen by people in this neighborhood plead

>> kyung lah reporting. had high praise for just how cool harrison ford was in a tight situation. when you look at the amount of piloting mr. ford has done with challenging aircraft in stressful conditions you can see why. more now from randi kaye. >> reporter: stranded at the top of wyoming's table mountain. it was july 2000. then 22-year-old megan freeman and her friend were in desperate need of help. six miles into the hike, and her friend was nauseous and unable to walk any further. another hiker called 9-1-1 for life. >> he was picked up by the helicopter and the pilot was harrison ford. >> reporter: the harrison ford. he flew her friend to the hospital while megan hiked down the mountain. she hadn't recognized ford who was wearing a t-shirt and a baseball hat. >> the paramedics were the ones who told us, it was harry ford that picked them up which i thought was funny. they had known him well to be on a first name basis like that with him. >> reporter: a year after that rescue ford helped save this 13-year-old boy scout in yellow stone national park. ford's ranch was nearby s

we asked kyung lah to use a simulator and a pilot to show us what happened. >> and you lock this door reporter: and so begins what is like ti descent of the germanwings flight. we are in a a320 simulator with buck roger who currently flies with a commercial airliner. >> we dial in the altitude here, and got it going down. r. >> reporter: and the motion of hitting 100 here is unthinkable for you? >> absolutely. why would i do that? it goes against every grain in my body, and there is no reason to do that. >> reporter: you know the consequences of that action? >> absolutely. >> reporter: if you had to step into the young man's mind, do you think that he understood? >> well, it is a difficult subject for the pilot, because we are again, here, to keep the passengers safe, to keep the airplane safe, to keep the crew safe, and so to go where this young man went, it is hard for me to go there, and to say that i am fit to fly, i am good to go and ready to take on the airplane. >> reporter: and all of the lives in the back this is. >> that is right. >> reporter: approximately 9 minutes later -

>> thank you, kyung lah. now i want to bring in alan diehl, author of "air safety investigators" and also matthew l. wald aviation expert and jim hall a former chairman of the ntsb and juliette kayem, and david soucie author of malaysian flight 370 and now, if someone is in the cockpit preventing him to getting in, would that be recorded somewhere on the flight data recorder? >> only in that if they put the code in, it is going to put in a buzzer, and the buzzer is going to ring for 30 seconds, unless something is done, and they would pick it up on the cobckpit voice recorder. >> i want everyone to pay attention to this, because it is a airbus safety video, and it talks about what we are talking about. take a look. >> on the code pad, he presses the emergency code and enters the hatch key, and the green code will flash indicating imminent unlocking. in the cockpit, the light will will flash continuously indicating imminent unlocking, and then the door will go into unlocking sequence for five seconds. the gree

cnn's kyung lah traces the case that became an international sensation.a sensational international murder trial. amanda knox, the young accused killer and tabloid headlines cast as a villain knoxed as foxy knoxy. 21-year-old british citizen meredith kercher stabbed to death in 2007, part of a demonic sex game gone wrong, they said. the motive later changed to a dispute over money. knox and her then boyfriend drew suspicion by italian police for what they saw as bizarre behavior. not appearing distraught enough. the young pair caught kissing outside the crime scene. both arrested on circumstance call evidence and what knox claimed was a forced confession. then convicted in 2009, even after dna evidence on the victim's body only pointed to one man, rudy gaday. separately, he was convicted of the murder. the evidence against knox remained thin, leading to an appeals court to overturn the verdict in october of 2011. >> amanda knox was wrongly convicted. >> reporter: amanda knox was free after four years in an italian jail, vowing to never return to italy. >>

kyung lah, cnn, las vegas. >> want to bring in our panel to answer your questions tonight as well as mine. cnn aviation correspondent richard quest, veteran airbus captain ron stok, cnn safety analyst david soucie and award commentator jeffrey thomas. as kyung was just saying, we know much of the how though we'll learn more once the data recorder has been recovered but the why, that may take a long time and possible we may never know. >> i was interested in the last hour talking about building this mosaic to the why. the little pieces of information, who were the friends, where did they go, what writings, what e-mails. that's the only way, unless there's a note or something which we don't know. we may never know the why. 28-year-old first officers do not routinely commit mass murder with the plane and not being facetious when i say that. or even flippant. the enormity of what we've experienced and heard today is so great that this takes us out of the realm of anything. >> it was interesting when you and i and david were broadcasting last night for two hours in the new york times firs

he's ready to end all speculation and have a trial. >> reporter: kyung lah, cnn, los angeles. >> i want to talk more about that galveston case with the lead investigator on that case, cody kazless who was featured in the hbo documentary "the jinx." detective thank you so much for being here today. first of all, here we are 15 years later and you're right back at square one effectively. it isn't your case. but can you see the same things playing out right now that you had to deal with back in 2000? >> thank you for having me. yes, it's like deja vu. his attorneys are practically saying the same thing they said before my trial when he was taken into custody in pennsylvania and extradited back to galveston, texas. >> because he had jumped bail. >> because he pled for six weeks after jumping bail. >> caught with a disguise, caught with a fake id, caught paying cash, right? >> correct. he had rented a car, shaved his head, rented a car as my victim, morris black, in mobile, alabama. was posing as morris black at the time of his arrest and had false names, false bank accounts, set up in false

here's kyung lah with more. >> reporter: this is how the fatal confrontation ends captured by anthony blackburn on his cell phone. >> i heard officers say, "he's going for -- going for my gun." that's when the officers backed up and five shots rang out. >> reporter: we're learning how this unfolded. video from an overhead security camera obtained by cnn and seen for the first time today revoles a more complex picture. the video shows a man known among l.a.'s homeless as africa apparently dealing with drugs from his tent. the skpapd only real currency of skid row's economy. he gets in a fight with the man next to him, violently kicking the tent and the man. about 25 minutes passed on the video before a number of officers arrived. at first they talked calmly to africa. when africa dives into the tent officers draw their weapons. 30 second later, africa comes out swinging at police. on anthony blackburn's video, you hear the sound as officers use tasers which police say doesn't subdue him. you hear an officer say africa is reaching for his gun. homeless africa died on the sidewalk outsid

kyung lah has more on this unusual case. >> reporter: a flurry of new charge facing robert durst. in louisiana, a weapon and drug charge charge and the most serious in los angeles, that was murder. sdmoend ♪ >> i think he has the able to be a sociopath, but i think he's a narcissist narcissist. if you put them together it's the bottom of the barrel. >> reporter: jim mccormick mincing no words about robert durst. they were brothers-in-law, durst marrying his baby sister. jim mccormick said his sister wrote that he feared her husband, he was abusing her. she planned to divorce him. january, 1982 they have a fight and she vanishes. immediately mccormick suspects durst. we spoke last week just two days before durst's arrest. >> there's too many subtle clues and bits of certainly that are adding up to a preponderance of you're guilty. >> reporter: one of those subtle clues, durst takes four days to report her missing to now-retired nypd homicide detective mike struck. struck never nails his prime suspect. >> keeps coming back to the fact that we never found her body. we never had a cri

kyung lah, cnn, las vegas. >> we want to turn now to other stories that we continue to follow. course the middle east. the united states has joined in on the fight to recapture the iraqi city of tikrit from isis militants. the u.s. and its allies carrying out 17 strikes thursday targeting isis checkpoints, staging areas and a command facility. >> it is all in support of a major iraqi offensive that recently stalled after isis insurgents repositioned themselves in and around the city. cnn correspondent jamana karache joins us live from baghdad with the very latest. good day to you. it seems, though, that as the u.s. steps in we are seeing shiite militiamen step out and a great deal of mistrust with american involvement. >> reporter: well, george, let's look at what's been going on. this offensive has been going on for more than three weeks now. and what we saw was that the iraqi forces, these are joint forces that are made up mostly of shia militiamen and volunteers all working under one umbrella group known as the popular mobilization units. these groups are supported by iran.

cnn's kyung lah is live inside a flight simulator.feeling among pilots about how crew members can help each other avert disasters? >> reporter: well you touched on it fredricka. you're talking about two-person rule. we've been talking about it with pilot buck rodger. we were in an a-320 simulator this morning. how critical is that two-person rule? >> well the two-person rule really went into effect after 9/11 in the u.s. so we -- tsa has mandated all u.s. carriers to have a two-person rule and what that means is when somebody leaves the cockpit, another crew member comes in so there's always two people in the cockpit. it's for safety. if the pilot were to become incapacitated, the flight attendant would be there to open the door to allow the other crew member back into the cockpit. it's also there to verify who is coming back into the cockpit to make sure that it's the right person. >> reporter: but being alone, this co-pilot was cruising at 38,000. this is what we are at right now. >> we're right now at 38,000 feet. autopilots are al

kyung lah is outfront. >> reporter: this man refuses to talk about the raid of his apartment complex and more than 50 other locations across southern california by federal agents but this man, a chinese citizen who calls himself jeffrey woo, would. you came here to have your baby in america? >> yes. >> reporter: that's the goal of the lucrative shadow industry that investigators are investigating. it's called birth tourism, catering mainly to chinese mothers. the promise? come pregnant to america. your baby goes home a u.s. citizen. it finds roots in beijing, store fronts like this one and this one offer package deals. on chinese language web sites, they advertise to parents offering a step by step guide to obtain a u.s. visa and obtain to cushing and doctors care for the mother. according to the federal investigation, the pregnant mom pays up to $50,000 and then coached on how to lie and what to tell u.s. immigration all in exchange for her baby's u.s. citizenship. under current federal laws, coming to the u.s. just to have a baby isn't illegal but visa as well as tax fraud and mone

those images behind kyung lah at that fence 30 feet away from the plane that shows just the incredibled have been required if this was done on purpose, what do you think? you know harrison ford. you know his skill. what do you think happened? >> well too early to speculate, but i know harrison and flown with him. he's skilled, very safety-conscious and goes to training routinely for all of his aircraft. my guess is that he did just what pilots are trained to do. always looking for places to go should there be a problem and he did what he needed to do which is put the airplane down safely and not injure anybody else. >> i know you have flown with him in comethelicopters before. it's a two seater but when flown by himself, he was in the backseat and maybe part of the reason why he's alive right now. did he have a particular love for this plane, this type of plane? we know it was a vintage world war ii ryan pt 22. >> correct. he has a number of plastic airplanes from that era. he is a big fan of the world war ii era planes and more modern airplanes. he loves preserving them and protecting

we get more if cnn's kyung lah. >>> locked the physical lock on the door. that to lock, it will totally lock out that door. >> reporter: so begins what is the likely descent of the germanwings flight. we're in a simulator with pilot budge roger who currently flies for a commercial airline. >> you dialed in an altitude here and got the airplane going down. >> reporter: this motion of hitting 100 in this situation is unthinkable for you. >> absolutely. why would i do that? it goes against every grain in my body. there's no reason why i would do that. >> reporter: you know the consequences of that action. >> absolutely. >> reporter: if you had to step in this young man's mind, do you think he understood? >> i mean, it's a very difficult subject for a pilot. we are, again, here to keep our passengers safe. to keep our airplane safe and the crew safe. to go where this young man went, it's hard for me to go there. by saying i'm fit to fly, that mean i'm good to go. i'm ready to take on this airplane. >> reporter: and all the legislative days in the back. >> that'

i want to go to kyung lah standing by close to the aircraft. what are you seeing what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, anderson, we're very very close to this particular plane. i'm probably about 30 feet away and i want to actually give you a closer look of the plane itself from our vantage point which might explain some of the things you and miles are talking about. take a look right at the very front of the plane. you can see that that top part looks like it's almost been knocked off. basically when the impact happened the front of the plane, the nose appears to have been knocked off. but look at the body of the plane. there is no covering. this is a vintage plane. but it looks like there really was no direct impact on those two seats. if he was seated in the back that would explain certainly if there were not very very serious injuries. the other thing i want to show you is if we could take a wider look at this see how small this area is. you can see it's just this one strip of green here. where i'm standing it's 30 feet away. the house i

and kyung lah meantime gets us started with a look of what led to durst's arrest. >> i think he has the two together it's basically the bottom of the barrel. >> jim mccormick mincing no words about robert durst. they were brothers in law. durst marrying his baby sister cathy mccormick. jim says his sister wrote in her journal she feared her husband, that he abused her. she was planning to divorce him. january, 1982 they have a fight. and she vanishes. immediately, mccormick suspects durst. we spoke last week just two days before durst's arrest. >> there's too many you know, subtle he clues and bits of circumstantial evidence that were adding up to a preponderance of you're guilty. >> one of these subtle clues, durst takes four days to report her missing to homicide detective, mike struck. struck never nails his prime suspect. >> keeps coming back to the fact that we never found her body. we had a crime scene. >> no evidence. >> no evidence no crime scene. >> the case grows cold until 2000 when investigators reopen it. this time the millionaire flees new york to this rundown apartment in