the only way out for the three men aboard was to crawl through an overhead escape hatch after they hit the water. would you really have been able to get out? >> it's kind of rolling the dice ep that point. >> reporter: big roll of the dice. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: three lives. t mi reporter: lieutenant commander kellen smith, who is still aboard the "eisenhower" and spoke to us from the persian gulf, was sitting next to halliwell in the cockpit as his plane went off the end. s reporter: the plane disappeared for four full seconds, but it was the actions the crew took in the first second that saved them. smith pushed the plane's flaps down to give it more lift. halliwell pushed the throttles to full power and retracted the landing gear to decrease drag. were you saying anything like, "come on?" >> it was pretty quiet, actually, which was probably the best, since we were just able to focus on what we needed to do. >> reporter: watching in slow eotion, you can see the arresting wire after it snapped whipping across the flight deck.