here's abc's martha raddatz. >> reporter: the crash happened just after noon. moments after the f-18 fighter jet had taken off on a training mission from theoceana nay vail station in virginia beach. a two-seat fighter jet. 30,000 pounds of titanium, steel and carbon fiber, carrying a full load of fuel. 12,000 pounds. at the control, a student pilot. his fighter pilot instructor behind him. watching a catastrophe unfold. >> the plane went straight up with no sound and then it went right into a dive. >> reporter: a dive directly into an apartment complex in a congested neighborhood, just two miles from where the fighter jet had taken off moments before. >> the whole thing was in flames, the whole backyard. and then things started to explode. and -- i don't know -- i mean, things just kept exploding. >> reporter: both pilots managed to eject. but with just seconds to spare before the jet plunged into the apartment. residents who escaped the flames ran to their aid. >> i saw the pilot, i saw the parachute on the ice and he was still connected to it. he was laying

martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >>> now, our consumer watchdog report.orted here about the beef filler critics call pink slime. tonight, a whistle blower that came to him to issue a wake-up call about changes afoot in food safety inspection. here is jim avila. >> reporter: chicken dinner. america's number one meal. 84 pounds a person per year and the usda is about to make a controversial and fundamental change in the way the birds are inspected. removing most usda inspectors from the plant and turning it over to the chicken companies themselves. >> this is huge. the plants inspecting themselves is going to be a dramatic change. >> reporter: the government hopes to start a cost cutting project by year's end. doubling line speed and instead of the four inspectors looking at 35 birds a minute, there is one per line looking at 175 birds per minute. >> you are going to sit and watch them fly by. >> reporter: this inspector works on one of 20 lines already using the new system, signing an affidavit to the government accountability project. >> we are not inspec

martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >> fascinating country on so many levels. back here at home, a south florida father has turned in his 19-year-old son after spotting him on surveillance video committing a pretty heartless crime. this one is tough. boca raton police say he is on the scooter approaching two elderly woman. he snatches the 85-year-old's purse as he prepares to get on the bus with her 97-year-old sister una wheelchair. both women fall to the ground. the 97-year-old actually broke two ribs in all of this. i will quote you now because this guy has a special place in. >> in hell, special place for some one that would do that. bravo to the father. right. for turning his son in. you got to turn your child in. >> tough love. there it is. >> yeah. well, it should be -- another day -- of blockbuster testimony at the campaign finance fraud trial of former. >> likely to be questioned later today. and spent several days on the strand. abc's karen travers is covering the case and joins us with more. hi, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob and sunny, a day

here is abc's martha raddatz. >> reporter: the photographs are so disturbing. smiling, a head of an afghan soldier on his shoulder. and this one, they hold the legs on of a suicide bomber. almost all the men in the photos have been identified and are under criminal investigation. the similarages, recently given to the los angeles times by a soldier in the same battalion. >> that behavior violates or core values very but these apologies have come every month this year. january, marines urinated on a taliban. february, copies of the muslim holy book burned. march a soldier accused of the massacre of afghan sooiflans. while the pentagon says there is no excuse for such behavior, more than 1800 afghan troops died in afghanistan. every man in the photos had friends who died by suicide attackers. >>> now, our consumer watchdog tort. jim avila reported here about the beef filler critics call pink slime. tonight, a whistle blower that came to him to issue a wake-up call about changes afoot in foot safety invex. here is jim avila. >> reporter: chicken dinner. 84 pounds

martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >> not over, but a huge embarrassment.is new young leader at the helm. this was his first kind of global, you know, stage here to kind of come out on and say, look, we are a superpower here. to have it fizzle out like that is incredibly embarrassing. also, another stat here, $850 million poured into that rocket when so much of the country is starving. this is a poor nation. they spent that kind of money when so many folks are starving and dying in that country. >> they want -- the whole point of trying to propel this rocket was so they could become independent. they said it was for economic reasons. and -- >> the image takes a big hit. >> yes, it does. $850 million. >>> still overseas in syria, today is a day for massive protests by those opposed to the ruling regime. the government forces of president bashar al assad have been observing a cease-fire in its second day. that cease-fire is so fragile, the u.n. chief says it may be broken by any single gunshot. and no one is giving either side too much credit for holding thei

also martha raddatz have learned, some special forces, a key question, how long has this been going on? critics want to opinion if there's been an anything goes mentality on these trips. >> pierre thomas, in washington tonight. >>> american preparedness that worked. we left you on friday with a grave warning that it would be a dangerous weekend for millions and millions of people, and it was. 148 tornadoes in 72 hours, one of them a monster tornado cell on the ground for more than five hours and 250 miles. tonight new footage shows police cars seeming to drive straight into the belly of the storm. as we see evidence that all those warnings did save a lot of lives. abc's extreme weather team has been following it all. >> reporter: imagine driving across the kansas plains and seeing this, a storm chaser heading right into a monster twister. >> i can't believe he did that. >> reporter: saturday, a day of terror in tornado alley, look at this, as lightening strikes you can see one twister bearing down. but by light of day, a story of fright became one of survival. six people died in the tw

as abc's martha raddatz reports, it's something he's been forced to do a lot lately. >> reporter: thesmiling. the hand of a dead insurgent placed mockingly on his shoulder. or this one, where soldiers hold the severed legs of a suicide bomber. almost all of the men in the photos have now been identified and are under criminal investigation. taken two years ago, these images were just recently given to the los angeles times by a soldier in the same battalion. >> that behavior that was depicted in those photos absolutely violates both our regulations and, more importantly, our core values. >> reporter: but these apologies have come every month this year. january, marines shown urinating on a taliban corpse. february, copies of the muslim holy book inadvertently burned. march, a soldier accused of the massacre of afghan civilians. while the pentagon says there is no excuse for such behavior, more than 1,800 u.s. forces have died in afghanistan. the times says virtually every man in the picture had friends who were killed or wounded by home-made bombs or suicide attackers just like the on

but let's go straight to martha raddatz, reporting on the story and what they are saying at the pentagon tonight. martha? >> reporter: diane, north korea has had two previous missile failures, and now there is a third. just 81 seconds into this launch, the long range missile began having problems. 81 seconds. at that point, the u.s. saw on radar a substantially larger flare than was expected. they believe that is just around the time where the first stage rocket booster was separating from the missile. about ten minutes after that, the missile was no longer on several radar screens, including the national military command center at the pentagon. it clearly broken up and disappeared from that tracking system. now, there were three booster rockets on this missile. it is the third that puts the missile into orbit, which means going about 18,000 miles an hour and more than 100 miles above the earth. but it looks like it was not even close, and began having problems even before the second booster separated. there are reports of debris near the philippines and certainly more debris will be fou

martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >>> in other news this morning, three secret service agents areprostitution scandal. a supervisor is being allowed to retire. one agent resigned and another was given his 30 days notice. we are told the fired agent, though, is now planning to sue. meanwhile, the top republican in the house says he welcomes the steps being taken by the agency, but this, he says, is certainly not over. >>> the faa has just released cockpit recordings of an airline crew member melting down on board. it happened at the dallas-ft. worth airport right before takeoff, when a flight attendant flipped out and had to be forcibly subdued. jason whitely of our dallas station has the story. >> reporter: american flight 2332 had just pushed back from the gate when pilots first alerted controllers that something was wrong. >> american 2332, we're not going to be ready. we need to pull off. we have an issue. we would like to pull off here for a moment and hold. >> reporter: on the other side of the cockpit door, a veteran american airlines flight attendant was having a mental bre

martha raddatz joins us with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, josh.hen guangcheng had already been in prison in china. he was an opponent to forced abortions and a human rights supporter. he was placed under house arrest after getting out of prison. his family farm surrounded and under constant guard by police. he managed to escape, a dangerous and daring move. he's now believed to be in the hands of americans in china's capital. whether it's in the u.s. embassy or a safe how's. the u.s. has rushed over assistant secretary of state kurt camable to try to negotiate. the chinese hate foreigners meddling in human rights issues. they don't want to disrupt what progress was made but they want to keep chen and his family safe. to further complicate the matter, tonight, secretary of state hillary clinton heads so china for a previously scheduled meeting. >> thank you, martha raddatz, for that. >>> drivers getting more of a break while filling up. gas prices dropped another four cents in the last week alone, to an average of $3.82 per gallon nationwide. >>> p

martha raddatz joins us later with the latest. good morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, josh. this launch could take place any moment. and there's a lot of anxiety here about it in washington. and in the region. the north koreans have a command center ready to go. airlines have changed flight routes to get out of the way of the missile. this is their trajectory. the missile will be launched off west coast of north korea, and u.s. officials expect it to head south-southeast, passing near taiwan, then japanese territory, over the philippines then the waters off northern australia. the u.s. and others have radar and anti-missile ships in the region in case something goes wrong. this is a long-range missile that could be capable of reaching the u.s. but the biggest concern this morning is what comes next? u.s. officials believe that north korea will conduct another nuclear test. this time possibly with a uranium device. that would tell the u.s. there is a secret uranium facility somewhere in north korea. josh? >> high-level bri

abc's martha raddatz joins us now with the very latest. good morning to you, martha. >> reporter: good morning, josh. first, to the commercial jet. a plane packed full of passengers who thought they were headed for seoul, south korea. instead, two u.s. fighter jets appear and escort them to that military base in canada. the precaution was taken after a call claiming explosives were onboard. nothing was found. but this is a tense time. korean airlines is one of several airlines that travel to asia, which are changing their flight paths to avoid a long-range rocket that north korea is launching in the next few days. in fact, just this morning, the north koreans began trumping fuel into the rocket. the north koreans say the rocket is putting a satellite into space. but the u.s. and others don't believe it. and are calling it a provocation and violation of resolutions prohibiting nuclear and ballistic missile activity. but north korea, josh, is not backing down. >> we'll keep our eye on that. martha raddatz, thank you. >>> wall street begins th

martha raddatz joins us with new details about his dramatic escape. od morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, josh. chen guangcheng had already been in prison more than four years. he has been a strong activist trying to halt forced abortions and sterilizations which limit the sizes of families in china to one child per couple. but once the young lawyer got out of prison, he was placed under house arrest. his family farm surround and under constant guard by cordons of police. but he managed to escape a dangerous and daring move. it is believed he's in the american hands in china's capital at the u.s. embassy. which would essentially be a safe house. the u.s. has now rushed over a u.s. diplomat, is sis tant foreign of state. the united states is in a delicate position, but wanting to keep chen and his family safe. to further complicate it. tonight, secretary of state, hillary clinton heads to china, for a previously scheduled meeting. josh, very complicated. >> a remarkably delicate situation, as news becomes available for you, we will have it for

martha raddatz has been tracking this from washington. martha, the pentagon and all of asia on alert for this test. but it turned out to be a dud. >> a total dud. that rocket was airborne for 81 seconds. the rocket lifted off with no signs of trouble. but right after, the first stage booster rocket, which pushes the rocket higher and faster, the missile broke apart in flight. the debris fell into waters 100 miles west of seoul, south korea. it was over. >> there is a lot to make up for the embarrassment. north korea is going to plow ahead and actually try to test a nuclear bomb. >> that is a concern. it's the first time ever that the north koreans have acknowledged a failure of a rocket. so, that was a big surprise to the administration. but there were already fears that the north koreans would try to test another nuclear device. this time, a uranium device. so, everyone is bracing themselves for that development, george. they do not think this is over yet. >> and the administration was hoping to have a new era with north korea, now that t