[Fredricka Whitfield, Cnn Anchor:] Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. An emergency situation involving Continental Airlines Flight 61 making its way from Brussels to Newark. You're looking at live pictures of Newark, New Jersey, where this plane is to land momentarily, possibly just minutes from now. And what has occurred is the pilot has died onboard. However, there are two first officers who are very capable and trained for this kind of occasion to take control of the plane and make a safe landing. We have a number of people involved in the mix here, various levels of reporting here. We have Rob Marciano with the flight tracker here in the weather center, we've got Allan Chernoff out of New York and Jeanne Meserve out of Washington. Rob, let me go to you first,because perhaps you can give us an idea where this plane is now in relation to that landing.
[Rob Marciano, Ams Meteorologist:] It's headed south in upstate New York along the Hudson Valley, right around Poughkeepsie, it looks like. And it's at 15,900 feet. Flight tracker is not instantaneous. It works on a ten-minute delay for various security reasons, but you get the idea here. Now it's on the decrease. That arrow means it's it's decreasing in altitude and about ready to make its approach to Newark, which is down here. Fifteen thousand six hundred feet and air speed to about 363 knots. Another thing, we have a decent amount of rain here across much of the tri-state area. So, New York freeway here, Hudson River right about there, so it makes its shoot down to the south and will land at Newark probably in the next 30 minutes. Visibility at Newark at about a mile and a half, not like it's ideal. They'll be making their approach via instruments, with not being able to see that runway probably until they bust through the ceiling, which is pretty low and then see a couple miles out. Both those pilots are the backup, and then first officer that was likely in the cockpit at the time, more than capable of landing this aircraft in these weather conditions.
[Whitfield:] Okay, rob, we'll check back with you and because of this emergency situation, it is first priority that this plane be able to find a runway there at Newark airport. Meantime, on the phone with us now, John Cox, former US Air flight captain. Mr. Cox, give me an idea the kind of training that's involved here, the preparation for a moment like this. Some saying that no one really wants to anticipate happening, but you have two first officer onboard. Is this the norm, so that if you have an emergency like this, they are the ones that are able to take control of the intercontinental flight like this?
[John Cox, Former Captain, U.s. Airways:] First, this is a very rare event. Pilots are medically monitored and to have a flight crew member have a medical issue of this magnitude is extremely rare. But even during the fact that it is rare, pilots do train for incapacitated flight crew members, and these two first officers are very, very qualified. They landed the airplanes many, many times before. At least one of them is qualified and type-rated in the aircraft for command from a legal standpoint. So, the landing as far as any danger to the passengers, this is, this will end up from a passenger standpoint being a routine landing. I'm sure when they do land that the paramedics will rapidly get on the airplane and address the medical issue for this pilot. That at this point the primary concern.
[Whitfield:] Captain Cox, I've got other questions for you, but for a moment I want to go to Allan Chernoff in New York. You now, Allan, have a statement coming from Continental Airlines.
[Allan Chernoff, Cnn Senior Correspondent:] Continental has contacted us, and Continental is saying that the captain of the flight, apparently died of natural causes. They're saying he's 61 years old. They are also saying that there are 247 passengers onboard right now, and they add that they do have that additional relief pilot, so the plane now being flown by the two first officers. And again, they are both fully qualified to land this aircraft. Continental saying that it is scheduled to land in Newark at 12:00 Eastern time. So, again, 247 passengers onboard that Boeing 777. Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] Thanks, Allan. Back to Captain John Cox, former US...
[Cox:] I'm due somewhere in about 10 minutes, and I've...
[Whitfield:] OK, Captain Cox, if you're still with me, former US Air captain. Based on the information that Allan just shared with us, fairly loaded plane, 247 passengers onboard Continental Flight 61. The captain died of natural causes, but you've got the backup crew, just as you mentioned, trained for when they might be incapacitated. If they're about 30 minutes out from landing at Newark, about what is taking place in that cockpit right now? What kind of conversation is happening with the control tower there in Newark?
[Cox:] The thing that is most important to understand is that the crew will try to make this now as routine as possible, to follow the normal procedures and bring the airplane through the approach procedure, align it with the runway just as they have done hundreds and thousands of times before. The focus for them is going to be make this as normal as possible. They're trained for it. They've each landed the airplane countless times. From the pilot's standpoint, they're doing the job they have trained to do and have done many times before. They are focused on maintaining it as normal as possible.
[Whitfield:] Our Rob Marciano reporting that visibility about a mile, mile and a half. It is rainy, but it doesn't look like it's torrential. Just seems like it is somewhat wet there in Newark. How might this impact this kind of landing, even though you're saying they're going to treat this as routinely and normal as possible under quite extraordinary circumstances?
[Cox:] The visibility and clouds are something that professional aviators deal with on a virtual daily basis. The weather conditions would be routine operation for the Northeast and, so, I anticipate that no significant issues for them.
[Whitfield:] Has this ever happened to you where you have been on a flight where for some reason, your co-pilot or flight crew in any way, shape or form has become incapacitated or even perhaps yourself become ill and first officers onboard relief pilots had to spring into action?
[Cox:] It is very rare. Pilots are medically examined and monitored quite carefully. It's every six months that you see a physician, an FAA-qualified physician. So, situations where you have a medical incapacitation are very, very rare. During my career, I can think of one occasion where I was acting as an instructor in one of the first officer was ill and, as a matter of choice, I ended up going into the seat. He was not incapacitated, but it didn't make sense for me as a qualified instructor not to give him some assistance. But that is the closest in 35 years of flying professionally that I've ever come to it.
[Whitfield:] Captain Cox, you mention that this, Continental Flight 61, the first officers are going to try to make this as normal, routine kind of landing as possible. Give me an idea about the passengers. Two hundred and forty-seven passengers onboard. Might they know about this or might they be kept in the dark?
[Cox:] I don't think that we will know that. I think the question of there will certainly have been some points where something unusual happened. You can tell by the flight attendant, the cabin staff how they were responding to things in first aid and so forth being administered. They may be aware that there was a problem with one of the pilots, but I'm sure that the senior first officer has made a public address announcement to them to let everybody know what is going on and to explain it to the maximum degree that they can.
[Whitfield:] All right, Captain Cox, if you can hold on the line for a minute. We're going to go to Josh Levs here in the NEWSROOM. He is monitoring the chatter, the social networking, particularly on Twitter because this caught the attention of a lot of people. Everyone routinely flies. When you hear of an emergency like this that is so rare, as Captain Cox just underscored, we know that airlines like Continental have a plan in place. What are they saying?
[Josh Levs, Cnn Correspondent:] We learned more and more that Twitter is one of the first places people go. So let's zoom right in. One of the hot topics already within the last few minutes that has already happened. I have a Twitter screen up here. We can click on Continental Airlines over here. More and more people talking about the fact that they're watching the coverage right now and talking about it being urgent and some people expressing concern for those on the flight. Obviously, we are hearing reassuring words as well about first officers being able to take action. I'm monitoring Continental Airlines, as well. We're taking a look to see when they update this page. This is the flight plan they have written published, I should say, because it is a design for the flight itself, which shows little bit of information about the plane itself. Here's what I want to show you, Fred. Underneath this, they talk about the type of aircraft we're talking about. I know you mentioned this earlier. I fly, you fly, one of the first things I wanted to see, what is this aircraft like? What are we talking about here? This is from Boeing's Web site. This is not the actual plane, this is an Aero Mexican plane, but this is the type of aircraft we're talking about. So, those people who fly regularly, a lot of us have been on planes very much like this. This is the kind of plane that we're talking about that's at issue here. We're also following the FAA Web site very closely, Fred. They often post things very soon after this, and we're monitoring this thing as well as your Twitter traffic at Twitter.com and you've got my page, JoshLevsCNN. We're certainly happy to hear from you and your thoughts and, Fred, we'll keep updating you on everything we're finding on the Web about this flight as the developments come every minute from here on out.
[Whitfield:] Many correspondents on this, as well. Jeanne Meserve, as well as Allan Chernoff, and you were just listening to the voice of Captain John Cox, who was once with US Air and he has great insight, too, about the preparedness of every airline, especially for transatlantic flights just like this. If you're just now joining us, we're looking at live pictures of Newark Airport. Why? Because somewhere within the next 30 minutes, an airline from Brussels making its way to Newark, New Jersey, has a declared emergency. What took place, according to Continental Airlines a 61-year-old pilot actually died of natural causes, so two first officers had to kick into action. They're very well trained, they're capable of landing this flight and they're coming into what Captain Cox is describing to us would be a routine landing. They're going to try as best they can, even given the weather situations there in Newark to make this a routine landing. Much more straight ahead right after this.