From Snowy Tarmac, Pilot Pleads for Help
PHILLIPS: Let's look at some of the news from across the country. We start in Ashton, Kansas. Searchers now are looking for three people missing after a grain elevator exploded. Three people were killed. That blast was so powerful that people could actually feel it three miles away. No word to why this happened, but investigators say the grain dust is extremely flammable. Week six to the Michael Jackson death trial begins later this morning. Prosecutors will cross examine the anesthesiologist who's the star witness for the defense. Last week, he told the jury that Jackson probably died from drugs that he gave himself. And the St. Louis Cardinals have begun their reign as the World Series champs. The city honored the team yesterday, with, of course, the famous Budweiser Clydesdales. The Cards won their 11th World Series title by beating the Texas Rangers in seven games. More than 100 JetBlue passengers spent eight hours stranded on a frozen tarmac. They were headed from Ft. Lauderdale to Newark, usually an uneventful two-hour trip. But throw in a freak snowstorm, and it's a whole different story. The plane actually got diverted to Hartford, Connecticut. Passengers were trapped onboard with little food and water, backed up toilets, and very little fresh air. But no one may have been more frustrated than the pilot. Take a listen to this.</s>JETBLUE 504 PILOT: Look, you know, we can't seem to get any help from our own company, I apologize for this, but is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something? I don't care. Take us anywhere.</s>TOWER: Do you need any paramedics or anything like that?</s>JETBLUE 504 PILOT: No. We got the fire truck over here. And I guess they have some medical background here. I'm not sure who all the players are back there, in the back here, but it looks like they got it covered. My priority right now is a tug and a tow bar. Just give me a welding shop. I'd be willing to make one myself.</s>PHILLIPS: I think everybody loves to have a pilot like that. Mary Schiavo is here, former inspector general to the Transportation Department, you now work for a law firm that sues airlines. You're joining us via Skype from Charleston. You know, that's what we're talking about. That's the type of advocate we need. It's unbelievable. The pilot had to ask for a tug and a tow bar.</s>MARY SCHIAVO, FMR. INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. DOT: That is the kind of advocate we need. Unfortunately, in the aviation business, that kind of take charge attitude and advocacy is often not rewarded. And, unfortunately, in situations for these JetBlue passengers, that was really the only way they were going to get out of it. And the government fines as you know will go right to the government. It's not like the new $3,000 to $5,000 per person fines will help these poor people who were stranded. But JetBlue will get fined, without a doubt.</s>PHILLIPS: OK. Well, what should have happened? Immediately, especially -- what should have happened before the pilot even got to that point of frustration?</s>SCHIAVO: Well, what they have to do is first of all I think when this sorts out, we will find is they simply didn't have enough personnel there. But that's the airline's fault. This happened many times over. This happened to JetBlue once before, a couple of years ago. And we had a huge meltdown like this in Detroit after an ice storm which really started the Passenger Bill of Rights movement. And what has to happen is they have to get the planes to the gate and then to plane, and then move them or bring stairs to the plane because these planes are obviously very large planes. It's not like, you know, small ones. It's big airbuses that JetBlue flies. And then they have to keep moving the planes. And what the airlines don't want to do is move those planes, tug those planes around like the pilot was saying until they fill them back up with people and get them back out. But that is exactly what this airline Bill of Rights, or rather, Passenger's Bill of Rights was supposed to stop. It was supposed to force the airlines to get on the stick, get the passengers off the plane, move the empty plane, and get the next one at the gate.</s>PHILLIPS: Right.</s>SCHIAVO: That's what they don't like to do because it costs them money.</s>PHILLIPS: It does cost money. And, you know what? Just to be specific, because we jotted down exactly what that Bill of Rights is supposed to do, it says that after a two-hour delay, only a two-hour delay, which that's a long time actually, passengers must be given food, water, access to medicine, and toilets must be clean. And then after three hours, passengers have the option to get off the plane. So what the heck happened here? I mean, you can't get more clear than that.</s>SCHIAVO: You can't get more clear than that. And literally what JetBlue was saying is, its executives were saying is we're going to pay the fines. It's going to just, you know, the situation we're going to pay the fines and keep on doing what we're doing. And so, I would imagine that there will be people on the Hill and Congress looking at why these sanctions aren't strict enough. And I think passengers need to get some of that remuneration as well. Right now, the money all goes to the government. And the poor passengers are stranded. They have suffered for eight to 12 hours and they have no recourse really other than a lawsuit.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, and you made the point that the airline will be punished. It will pay the fines. And just for sake of balance here, JetBlue did give us a statement. Basically, it said -- it's blaming it on a confluence of incidents. The airline Web site goes on to say, "Getting all the flights deplaned at the same time in a small airport is not unlike trying to get an elephant into a smart car; it's not an easy fit." We will follow what happens to the airline. Mary, thanks.</s>SCHIAVO: Thank you.</s>PHILLIPS: You bet. Herman Cain is going to get some pretty tough questions today about sexual harassment allegations. His campaign has hit some other bumps in the road and survived, even flourished. So, will this be more damaging? We'll ask our Will Cain and L.Z. Granderson. They're coming up.