German Plane Crash; 150 Feared Dead In Plane Crash
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in Barcelona, 6:00 p.m. at Dusseldorf and 7:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BLITZER: And let's begin with the breaking news. We're getting new details about the crash of a Germanwings passenger plane in southeastern France. An official in the area where the plane went down says it was obliterated and describes a horrific crash scene. And according to Reuters, a French official says a black box from the plane has been recovered. The airline says there were 150 people onboard the plane, 144 passengers and six crew members. The French president, Francois Hollande, says it's unlikely anyone survived. There are 350 firefighters, more than 300 police taking part in the operation of the crash zone right now. But the terrain and the weather are making it extremely difficult. A mountain guide says helicopters are the only way to get there, at least right now. A French aviation official says it was air traffic control, yes, air traffic control, not the plane, that initiated the distress call after controllers lost radio contact. According to an online flight tracker, the plane dropped from 38,000 feet to 24,000 feet in just six minutes. But the CEO of the airline says the plane went into a steep descent for about eight minutes. The airline says this is a sad, tragic day for Germanwings, and Lufthansa, the parent company. Let's get the latest on the crash from our Correspondent -- our Senior International Correspondent Jim Bittermann who's joining us right now. Jim, you have new details about the crash site. What can you tell us?</s>JIM BITTERMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, for one thing, the interior minister has now confirmed that information about the black box. One of the two black boxes has been recovered. And it's not -- it's not clear what's happened to the other one. But when you see the still photos that we've been seeing in the last hour or so of this crash site, you can understand why it might take them some time to find it. Basically, this is a crash site where debris is scattered over about a five-acre area. And the area is full of ravines and very steep crevasses. Helicopters are the only way in there directly but then the helicopters can't land. They have to lower the investigators and rescuers and whatnot by rope. So, it's a very difficult area. The closest road comes to a halt about a 45-minute hike from this scene. And for the still photos we've seen, the debris is down to bits and pieces. One witness described one -- the largest debris piece as being no bigger than the size of a small car. And from one of the photos we can see a section of maybe three or four passenger windows, sections of the fuselage but no bigger than that. So, it looks as if the plane hit the peak and then disintegrated in the fall down the various ravines in the area. So, it's a horrendous scene. And the remains of the victims of course scattered over hundreds of yards. They're going to have to be very carefully searching for those victims over what probably will be the next few days. It will take some time for all this to take place. And as you mentioned, the weather is getting worse down there. There's a front moving through. They're expecting snow there tonight and snow tomorrow. So, it could be a really complicated mission, indeed, for the people that are involved in the investigation -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: And, very quickly, Jim, when you said they found one of the black boxes, there are usually two on board, as we know, a cockpit voice recorder, a flight data recorder. Do you know which one they found?</s>BITTERMAN: No, no word of which one they found. They're probably looking for the other one at the -- even at this hour. It's starting to get dark down there so they've probably got a very limited window. But I'm sure that they'll try to get both recovered as soon as possible.</s>BLITZER: I'm sure they are, that's a high priority right now. Thanks very much for that. Jim Bittermann, we'll get back to you. Just a little while ago, we learned that President Obama has been briefed about the crash of the German airliner. The White House issued this statement. I'll read it to you. U.S. officials have been in touch with French, German and Spanish authorities and have offered assistance. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and loves ones. We refer you to French authorities for an update on the investigation. There is no indication of a nexus to terrorism, at this time. That statement from the White House. The Germanwings plane was in the air for about an hour or so before it lost contact with controllers and crashed. Now, it's up to the investigators to try to figure out what went wrong. Let's bring in our Aviation Analyst Mary Schiavo. She's a former inspector general at the Department of Transportation here in Washington. And Les Abend is joining us, our CNN Aviation Analyst. He's a triple seven captain. Mary, the air traffic controllers, they were the ones who sent out that distress signal, not from the cockpit, not from the plane. What does that suggest?</s>MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: To me, I think that's a really important clue because the plane was descending and you just don't descend. As a pilot, you have to request the descent. You have to request to change altitudes. And since they -- we know they didn't do that, because air traffic control did not know and had not communicated with them. If they were talking to air traffic control, they could have told them about any problem they had on board. So, whatever caused this, caused the pilots to be unable to communicate or have no time to communicate. I suspect that, as time goes on, we'll find they were -- they were not able to communicate for one of many reasons. It could be equipment. It could be that they were incapacitated, et cetera. But I think they would have tried to communicate that they were descending in a mountainous region.</s>BLITZER: Unless -- the online flight tracker says the plane dropped, and we've been reporting this, from 38,000 to 24,000 feet in six minutes. The airline CEO says there was this steep descent that lasted about eight minutes. Explain what possibly could have happened as this plane begins this is descent in only a few minutes.</s>LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, you know, Wolf, I'd like to stay away from the terminology, drop, if possible, because it seemed to me -- I believe it was a six-minute period and correct me if I'm wrong. But, you know, that's about a 2,500 feet a minute rate of descent. And that's not a terrible lot. We do that just before we start to rival out of cruise altitude, if we have a crossing restriction. So, to me, it sounds like that's a controlled decent situation. But it was definitely an expedited situation, I think, that they realized they had some sort of problem. You know, to Mary's point, mechanical problem, something that consumed them enough that they were taken away from the aspect of communication. Why that happened, I don't know. That is a little disturbing to me from the standpoint of, did their communication equipment break down for the reason that they were starting the descent? In other words, was there a possible fire situation in their electronics bay? These are things to consider. But, once again, this is all speculation, at this point in time.</s>BLITZER: But, Les, they -- under normal circumstances, the pilot or the co-pilot would ask for permission to start a descent like that.</s>ABEND: Absolutely. But if it was a -- if it was a dire situation, whatever they had enunciated on their -- on their -- on their panels, they may not have had time to get it out or it was attempted and they weren't able to communicate because of the situation itself. Absolutely that is a great radar environment there. They have all the sophistication that we have here in the states. I've flown out of Barcelona. You're always in radar contact for the most part. And there should have been some ability to communicate with somebody on the ground.</s>BLITZER: All right. Les Abend, Mary Schiavo, I want you guys to stand by. We have much more coming up on the breaking news. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, it's very mountainous, this area. It's snow covered. It's extremely dangerous. That's what emergency crews now face as they make their way to the crash site. And later, Israel is accused of spying on those U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks. We're going to tell you what the Israeli response is, the allegations. We'll have a joint interview with the chairman of the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.