file. let s take a closer look at the anxious hours for the u.s. military after an american f-15 strike eagle went down in libya. the pilot and weapons officers both bailed out. they re now safely out of pentagon. chris lawrence is putting together a time line for the heart stopping events. libyan state tv says the plane was shot down. the military says it was a malfunction. in either case it shows no fly definitely does not mean no risk. two fighter jets take off from italy on a strike run. but as they fly over libya, one of the f-15s malfunctions. once you can no longer fly the jet and you ve tried every procedure in your book, it s time to jump out. the two-man crew ejects and the plane crashes. the parachute is open, but they
fired at libyan defenses costs $1.4 million and so far, some 160 tomahawk missiles were launched, mostly by the u.s., adding up to $225 million. and that s just a slice of the no-fly zone expense to the american taxpayer. it gets down to how many naval ships have we got in the region? how many aircraft are flying off those ships? what additional military may be deployed to that theater? reporter: a leading estimate put the startup cost to military action between 400 and $800 million and the price of maintaining not fly zone, 30 to $100 million per week. fuel alone for each plane is $10,000 an hour. at a time went republican-controlled house is fighting to slash government spending, some say a no-fly zone in libya is not worth the price. cost is definitely going to be an issue.
cnn.com/caffertyfile. i like the last one. they re all good. you know. they re all smart people. what do you think of my idea? let the libyans pay for the operation. we re wasting your talents here in the situation room. you ought to be running the country. you should run for president. i ll vote for you. i want some cushy government job with my own plane if you get elected and we ll sort it out. just a little proposal. i think it s a hell of an idea. let s work on it. thank you, jack. new progress in a long and dangerous struggle to prevent catastrophe at japan s nuclear power plant. and we just heard. you saw it there. a defiant moammar gadhafi just a little while ago. we ll talk about what could happen in libya if the u.s. gets what it wants, namely, no more gadhafi in libya.
guidance on what went wrong with that f-15, why it went down not yet, surprise, because as you know, wolf, any of these planes on a normal basis gets a thorough run-through, but planes that have known, known to be going into a combat mission over hostile territory, even more so, so that is something that the military is going to have to take a long look at. chris, thanks very much. let s go to benghazi right now. cnn s arwa damon got a firsthand look at the crash site. she is joining wuss more on what he she saw. you also had a chance to speak with some on six leaders there as well. first of all what did you see when you went to the crash site, arwa? reporter: well, wolf, we saw the aftermath of the wreckage at that crash site and we also saw a number of resident he is from the area gathered around it. all of them saying that they were upset he that the plane had crashed but telling us about how the entire area, once they realized what was happening, had had basically fanned out, t
to look for the pilot, for the weapons officer. they say that they realized that these were people who were flying afly ing a plane to help them and wanted to return the favor and offer whatever assistance they could. ended up meeting one come who was part of that rescue effort and here s what he had to say. found his parachute, someone tell me the parachute was not far from the point which he was there and going directly there and i know he would be not far from that point. so, i am shouting to them, we will help you. we are coming to help you. you are coming to support us, to please, if you hearing me, stand up and present yourself for me. then he stand and coming to me. so he have right to afraid. and at first, he was afraid.