Page 2 - Small Cessna News Today

>> this is an area that brings out a lot of emotion >> reporter: while authorities describes todays incident as a hoax, americans are on alert investigators are now revealing new details about the hard landing that caused that plane carrying nascar legend dale earnhardt jr. and his family to burst into flames along a tennessee highway. nbcs gabe gutierrez has the latest >> reporter: tonight federal investigators are on the scene of the fiery plane crash in rural tennessee trying to find out wh...

Bill weir joins us live from san juan. what did you see, bill? >> reporter: this is the roughest ive seen in half a week here. just for perspective, it is an island off an island. as bad as it is is here, its worse there. for years it was a u.s. navy bombing range until george w. bush told them to move and clean all the munitions up. now it is a playground for the rich and famous and home to 10,000 natives who work there and support the tourist economy. for the last week, no one knew anything ab...

The f-16 that the cessna was there. >> why didnt the air traffic controllers see this small cessna? why didnt they warn the f-16? why didnt the f-16 not see this traffic. >> reporter: investigators say that flight data recordings on the f-16 will be key. steve osunsami, south carolina. new details this morning about the gun used in the san francisco murder at the center of the immigration debate. the gun was stolen from a federal agent, a ranger with the bureau of land management, it was taken...

>> witness confirmed two planes down. >> reporter: federal investigators say they cant yet explain how one of the most sophisticated fighter jets ever created managed to crash into a small private plane, midair. >> do not go near the smoke. its toxic. >> reporter: witnesses say it was like an eagle taking out a sparrow. >> like an aftershock explosion. big old fireball in the air. >> theyve yet to talk with major aaron johnson who survived. his parachute seen here in coast guard video. from his ...

>> reporter: it is the second time this summer united flights have been impacted by this kind of problem. the issue fixed within two hours, but the ripple effect lingering longer. some travelers -- >> a party of seven to newark. >> reporter: left scrambling to catch connecting flights. >> i definitely am not pleased. >> reporter: and others dealing with delays. >> hes grumpy. well, what else are you going to do? you know? yeah. so you just kind of roll with it. >> reporter: united gave vouchers ...

Breaking at this hour we are learning about a collision between an f-16 military aircraft and a small plane in south carolina. rene marsh joins me with more on this. rene, what have you learned? >> pamela i can tell you this is a rare situation we are following here. the faa has confirmed that midair collision between an f-16 fighter jet and a small cessna. this happened about 11 miles north of charleston, south carolina, a short time ago. an official close to the investigation telling me there ...

Determine were these planes flying in the correct airspace were they authorized to be where they were. air traffic control, was air traffic control talking to the pilots? all of that is going to be assessed once investigators get there because this i cant stress is going to be a very rare situation where you talk about an f-16 fighter jet colliding midair with a small cessna. clearly a breakdown in the system there. now investigators are tasked to figure out what went wrong so wrong. pamela? >> ...

Is that altitude, its out of reach of most radar detection, a clear vulnerability. >> ive said that a number of times, that it would be pretty easy to take a home built aircraft down the river, fly it up the mall. it wouldnt be the first time its been done. >> in jan, a drone crashed on to the white house lawn. and in 1994, a small cessna came down outside the white house. no one tried to stop that one, either. >> as part of hughes bail agreement, he is forbidden from visiting the capitol or fly...

>> we heard a loud crash overhead and looked up to see part of a small cessna airplane spinning to the ground. then, suddenly, we heard a thunderous crash that sounded like a bomb hitting. >> no one knows it yet, but 17 seconds earlier, half a mile above them, the private plane has collided with a boeing 727. pacific southwest airlines psa, flight 182. >> you see it over there? >> come on, get in the car, see it? just take this! >> at the moment of impact, nbc channel 39 reporter john britton an...

♪ might as well jump jump ♪ ♪ might as well jump a close call in the air for a pilot and a skydiver. >> the two got tangled up 75 feet above the earth. amazingly everyone was okay. but youd never know it from the pictures. abcs linzie janis has the story. >> reporter: a skydiver and a pilot have a miraculous survival story to share after they collided in midair. all of it caught on camera. >> as the shutters clicking away, i realize that im seeing something that is certainly spectacular....