as my colleague tom costello in d.c. noted a short time ago there, is a chance, and in fact at this point it's our hope and prayer, that some of this could just be an accounting mishap. there might be some people reunited with their families or milling about the airport terminal. there might be some people who managed to get out of that place and get to their hotels that they haven't been able to track down. but at this point, they haven't tracked down five dozen people. we also heard from the fire chief a few moments ago as we look at, again, that is captain -- captain, i think we have established based on empirical evidence, what we're looking at right now, that's -- >> that's the tail. >> that is the tail? >> and there's the arrow. that arrow says don't land here. you're supposed to be further up the runway when you touch it. and there's the tail right there where the arrow says go further. so the tail came off and slowed down very quickly. it's very close to the seawall. and the plane itself is at the point where the

tom costello in washington starting us off tonight. tom, thanks. >>> we normally associate weather channel meteorologist mike seidel with extreme weather, and tonight, it happens to be heat. he is live not far from us here in new york's central park. mike, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we are not setting many records. what we will remember about this week is the persistence of the heat, as tom costello mentioned. today in central park, 97 on the thermometer, the hottest day so far this summer. and there's going to be more of this. take a look at the thursday high temperatures, again, mid-90s from boston to st. louis. heat index values once again around 100. these temperatures running 10, 12, 15 degrees above average. but again, few records set. then the cooldown begins friday afternoon. cold front through the twin cities, 10 degrees colder behind the front, but it is going to feel like a jungle for many of us, including a 99 in st. louis. that front will bring gusty thunderstorms saturday to the northeast and then the

again tonight, nbc's tom costello starting us off from the scene at sfo in san francisco. and tom, we also learned of a very close call for other members of this crew. >> reporter: that's right, two flight attendants on board were ejected out of the back of this plane as it crash landed. amazingly, they survived. the training captain, the captain who was training his colleague to fly the 777, he said that they thought they were coming in at 137 knots. that's the appropriate speed, but they realized they were in trouble when they saw the papi lights, the red lights at the end of the runway that were supposed to guide them in. they were not lined up properly. and from there something went terribly wrong. today, new pictures of the crash scene in san francisco. the top priority for investigators has been to interview all four pilots who were on board flight 214, including the veteran captain who was new to the 777 and was at the controls saturday. the teaching captain told investigators he realized at 200 feet they were coming in too slow and too low. >> he recognized that th

tom costello has that story for us. plus, a runaway train carrying crude oil exploding in the center of a small canadian town in quebec. the death count is expected to go much higher. much more on that story as well when "power lunch" comes back. weekdays are for rising to the challenge. they're the days to take care of business. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next. with fidelity's options platform, we've completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies... to get a list of equity options... evaluate them with our p&l calculator... and execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. i'm greg stevens, and i helped create fidelity's options platform. it's one mor

nbc's tom costello back east tonight is at dulles airport. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. we have learned late this evening that a third victim died. we only know that she was a child and she had critical injuries because of the crash. her family is requesting privacy, and we don't have any more information than that. and we've also learned from the fire department in san francisco that in fact one of its emergency vehicles did indeed hit one of those 16-year-old chinese girls who died. her name was ye mengtuan. her body was discovered in the foam that the firefighters were pouring onto the plane. when they tried to reposition one of their fire engines, they found her body in the foam, apparently underneath or near their engine and near their tires. so the coroner has yet to determine whether that contributed to her death. as for runway 28 left, they have now pretty much gotten done with clearing the wreckage, moving all of it off-site to a remote area of the air field there. they have already repaved the runway. they now still ne

tom costello remains at the scene tonight for us. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. the ntsb has just said it has plans to start cutting up the fuselage of this plane and removing it tonight. it hopes that by the morning the biggest pieces are out of here and headed to a warehouse. the preliminary data suggests that the autopilot, auto throttle, and flight director systems were all working properly at the time of the crash. the 911 calls you mentioned? chilling as passengers plead for medics and ambulances. >> our airplane just crashed. >> there are a bunch of people who still need help. we're more out on the field where planes are landing. >> reporter: the first calls to 911 from panicked passengers who just escaped their burning plane. >> we have people over here who weren't found and they are burned really badly. there is a woman out here on the street, on the runway, who is pretty much burned very severely on the head and we don't know what to do. she is severely burned, and she will probably die soon if we don't get help. >> reporter: as firefighters fought the

>> tom costello, suburban washington for us tonight. tom, thanks. >>> now to the event earlier today that brought us here to washington, the current president and first lady hosted a former president and first lady. george h. w. bush and barbara bush were both saluted for the points of light organization the president started. it's now the largest volunteer service organization in the world with four million people putting in 30 million hours of service every year. it was a gracious day, all about the volunteers and a tribute to 41, who, true to form, and in classic modesty, tried to cut off the thunderous ovation he received. he is 89 now. he survived a big health scare last year. and while his legs have quit on him and his voice isn't as strong, it was a familiar-sounding former president who took to the mic briefly. >> like coming home for barbara and me. the rest of you coming to this magnificent house and be greeted by this superb hospitality knows no bounds. thank you all very much. >> by the way, his son, neil, says they are call

our coverage begins tonight with tom costello. he is at sfo tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. good evening to you. back there behind me on runway 28, that is what remains of flight 214 sitting there on the runway. we now know there were three captains on board this flight. one captain at the controls, brand new to the 777. brands new to the 777. 10,000 hours of flying hours in total, but he was being checked out by another captain. so that's very routine. the question tonight, what went wrong? emergency chutes are seen deploying in this new video taken just after the the crash of flight 214. moments later, passengers are seen running away from the burning aircraft as fire rescue crews pour foam on the fire. and new individual wrote of the crash itself. after ripping off its tail on the seawall, the 777 seems to jump into the air and nearly flip over before slamming into the ground. >> i thought before i left the plane it might blow up and i might die. >> reporter: today we got a photo of the teenagers from china killed in the accident

tom costello covers for us tonight from san francisco. good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. good evening to you. i'll take you right to 28 left out there at sfo. and we have just been told by ntsb they hope to release the runway tonight. although it's going to take some time to clear all the debris from the runway. we also learned this afternoon as you mentioned, first the pilots did not order that an evacuation would be ordered. it took 90 seconds before they would begin evacuates. because at first they did not realize how bad the crash was. 12 flight attendants on board flight 214. rescuers credit their quick action with helping to save 307 lives. >> as the evacuation went on, the fire did continue and the flight attendants and flight crew were involved in trying to fight the fire on the inside. >> reporter: three flight attendants were ejected from the rear of the plane on impact. one sustained massive head injuries, the other a broken leg. a first officer in a 747 waiting to take off on the same runway after flight 214 landed described the crash and then two survivors st

. >> tom costello standing by as well. do we have any new information? >> clear as if this plane came down and hit runway 28 left very early. can you come out for just a minute to my camera position? we have a diagram here of runway 28 left. this is the entire san francisco airport. i'll ask my camera man to zoom in a little bit. this is runway 28 left right here. you can see the debris starts right here at the water's edge. right there. that would appear his tail slammed down right at the end of the runway. just at the very beginning, i should say. and then he quickly was in the grass after the runway, to the side of the runway. i can't tell from the video whether he is to the right or the left but it does appear that very quickly he got off this runway and was in the grass. this approach is the one he was trying to make. coming in on 28 left. something went wrong very, very early. and as you can see, debris right there at the beginning of the runway. the other important point i would make here is that in 2008, there was a 777. a british airways 777 on

nbc's tom costello starts us off. >> reporter: 'tis the season but boy, is it hot outside. add in the humidity and the heat indices are at or near 100. from the lakeshores of chicago to minneapolis. from the carolinas to new england. >> i come out thinking i'm going to run as far as i usually do, but then i hit the heat and think, let me scale that down a little bit. >> reporter: in new york two children and nine firefighters were taken to area hospitals after a fire in suffocating temperatures last night. >> it has vapor barriers that keep the heat in so we have to relieve quite often and make sure we hydrate them. >> we have this dome of high pressure which means this air is sinking. >> reporter: 45 states experiencing temperatures in the 90s or above, many cities five to ten degrees above average. new york city could see the longest stretch of 90-degree weather in 11 years. even hotter for the guys working the city food carts. >> terrible. really i sweat like a chicken, you know? >> we need to drink a lot of water. >> reporter: after three days of extreme heat in d.c., d

nbc's tom costello covers aviation and he's at dulles airport this morning. what are they telling you about the investigation? >> reporter: well, the ntsb go team is already on the scene and overnight in terrell morning hours in san francisco they were already going through the wreckage of flight 214. the good news, as john yang reported, they already recovered the flight data. the black boxes were critical. they were concerned whether they would survive the crash because they were in the tail of the plane, and they did. now they're going to be looking what exactly was on all of the flight data information, what does it say about the glide slope, the ride to ascent. what was going on insight the cockpit. what were the conversations between the pie let and co-pilot before the crash. if, in fact, this plane did come in far too low as it appears and slam its tail on the seawall barrier, a lot of questions why it would happen. was it because of pilots not paying attention? did they have bad da tarks faulty piece of electronics? were the engines working properly?

our coverage begins tonight with tom costello at sfo tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. good evening to you. behind me, that is asiana flight 213. we now know there were three captains on board this places. one captain at the controls, brand new to the 777. brands new to the 777. 10,000 hours of flying experience and only 43 hours on a 777. first landing attempt at sfo, with a captain checking him out. that's all standard. the question? what went wrong? emergency chutes deploying on this new video taken just after the crash of flight 214. passengers running away from the aircraft as firefighters pour foam on the fire. new video of the crash itself. after ripping off its tail on the seawall, the 777 jumps into the air and flips over before slamming into the ground. >> i thought before i left the plane it might blow up and i might die. >> reporter: we got a photo from the teenagers from china killed in the accident. they are wondering if one of them may have been hit by an arriving fire engine. ntsb have been walking the length of

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> tonight, hollywood is mourning the loss of a bright, young star. cory monteith, who rose to fame on "glee," the 31-year-old actor was found dead late yesterday. a cause of death has yet to be determined, though monteith had spoken openly about a long struggle with addiction. nbc's mike taibbi has our report. ♪ living in a lonely world >> reporter: cory monteith was a likeable star of a show so likeable that "glee" was a ratings hit for fox in its debut season in 2009. but when he didn't check out of his vancouver hotel room saturday, paramedics responded and confirmed the death of the canadian born actor. police found no evidence of foul play. >> video and fab key entries show him returning to his room by himself in the early morning hours and we believe he was alone when he died. >> reporter: monteith played finn on "glee," the quarterback turned singer who leads a chorus of put-upon high schoolers. ♪ you better shape up. >> reporter: including real life girlfriend lena michelle to unlikely star status. ♪ and she's watching him with those e

about 30 minutes from now tom costello flauk to flight experts that tell us the first thing you should dine plane crash. >> rocker jon bon jovi writing a $1 million check to governor chris christie's wife. >> is george clooney single again? the folks from access live joins us next. >> lots of blue skies it seems but severe weather may be coming ♪ [ male announcer ] do you love prime rib? get to your local subway for the delectable, new prime rib melt built fresh from the bread up! with hearty, savory cuts of tender prime rib in an au jus glaze and deliciously melty provolone, bite after bite is prime rib perfection. get it made just the way you say with all the veggies you want. the new prime rib melt. it's a taste you won't soon forget, so hurry into your local subway today! subway. eat fresh. >>> new developments on a pennsylvania girl who received a controversial lung transplant. >> reporter: tonight we're learning the 10-year-old girl has developed pneumonia. doctors say her condition is now stable but it is still a large setback. she has received two lung transplants and underwe

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> one other travel holiday note this weekend. gasoline prices on a summer slide. aaa says the average price of a gallon of gas is now $3.48. prices dropping for 21 straight days, but there they're still about 14 cents higher than they were this time last year. >>> we're back in a moment with an unbelievable new world record. ♪ oh say can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ >> it's not uncommon for members of the military to sing the national anthem at sports event, but it's news when the main performer is the chairman of the joint chiefs himself. general martin dempsey, who is known for his singing skills performed the anthem at a game between the washington nationals and the milwaukee brewers. >>> in pennsylvania today, memories of a true milestone in american history. the battle of gettysburg, fought 150 years ago. a re-enactment marked the anniversary. as many as 10,000 union and confederate soldiers died at gettysburg. today's reenabilitiment included stories of prisoners and those who were wounded in that turning point o

our report on it tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> hey luca, can you give us -- >> reporter: american astronaut chris cassidy and italian astronaut luca parmitano were only an hour into their space walk when luca reported an problem. water was leaking into his helmet. >> i feel a lot of water on the back of my head. but i don't think it's from my bag. >> are you sweating, are you working hard? >> i am sweating, but it feels like a lot of water. >> reporter: fellow astronaut cassidy took a look. sure enough, water was beading down parmitano's forehead. >> i see it now. >> reporter: at first, the astronauts thought parmitano's drinking water bag was leaking. but it seemed to be too much water for that to be the source. >> i don't know where it's coming from. it's too much. >> i don't know, it's a lot. >> reporter: as parmitano struggled to see and hear, mission control called off the space walk. >> water's in his eyes now, and it seems to be increasing. we think we're going to terminate e.v.a. case for e.v.a. 2. >> reporter: within minutes, parmitano was back in the space station, with

nbc's tom costello caught up with her this week in washington. >> reporter: she is the public face of an agency often associated with tragedy. >> our team has walked the full wreckage path. >> reporter: within hours of asiana 214's crash landing, ntsb investigators were on the runway in san francisco. the evidence, said chairman deborah hersman, suggested that the pilots had come in too low and too slow. >> i will tell you the speed was significantly below 137 knots. >> reporter: he first met hersman in 2005, just appointed to the ntsb by president bush, passionate about children's car seats. >> seat belts are not made for children. >> reporter: soon she'd earned a reputation as a quick study who asks tough questions. on display into the hearings of a regional crash in buffalo. >> i think this crew went from complacency to catastrophe in 30 seconds. >> asiana i think is closing it down today. >> reporter: chairman since 2009, hersman leads some of the best people in the world at investigating everything from plane crashes to battery fires to train derailments. at ntsb headquarters she

it being's tom costello has our report. >> reporter: it was the arrest of shannon guess-richardson that brought the postal service surveillance program out into the program. richardson was arrested charged with sending ricin laced letters to president obama and new york mayor michael bloomberg. richardson's mail was tracked through a tracking program which photographs and captures an image of every mail piece that is processed, every piece of mail. envelopes from bank and mortgage statements to medical test results to private letters and birthday cards. michael leiter was the director of the national counterterrorism center. >> this information of where mail is sent and who sent that mail is invaluable to law enforcement professionals. at the same time this information needs to be protected. >> reporter: in buffalo book store owner lesley james pickering is suing the postal service after a confidential memo showed up in his mailbox revealing his mail was getting more scrutiny. under a freedom of information request he received 33 pages, photocopies of his own envelopes. >> it's intimida

again tonight, nbc's tom costello starting us off from the scene at sfo in san francisco. and tom, we also learned of another very close call for members of this crew? >> that's right, two flight attendants on board were ejected out of the back of this plane as it crash landed. amazingly, they survived. the training captain, the captain who was training his colleague to fly the 777, he said he though they were coming in at 137 knots, that's the appropriate speed. they realized they were in trouble when they saw the red lights at the end of the runway that were supposed to guide them in, they were not lined up properly, and from there, something went terribly wrong. today new pictures of the crash scene in san francisco, the top priority has been to interview all four pilots who were on board flight 214, including the veteran captain who was new to the 777 and was at the controls saturday. the teaching captain told investigators he realized at 200 feet they were coming in too slow and too long. >> he recognized the auto throttles were not maintaining speed and he establishe

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> we are back in a moment with what's now being called the worst meal in america. >>> we're back in a moment with what's now being called the worst meal in america. 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. both of us actually. our pharmacist recommended it. and that makes me feel pretty good about it. and then i heard about a study looking at multivitamins and the long term health benefits. and what do you know? they used centrum silver in the study. makes me feel even better, that's what i take. sorry, we take. [ male announcer ] centrum. the most recommended. most preferred. most studied. centrum, always your most complete. what makes the sleep what makes the sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional m

tom costello, i understand, is standing by for us down in washington, d.c. tom, any new information? >> you covered it pretty extensively and well. we know that the ntsb's go team, of course, is en route, and they will look at a variety of things. they'll look at the air frame, the mechanics of the plane and how it was performing, the engine and the power systems, if you will. also airport operations. you know, infrastructure there. was there any particular construction or was all the navigational equipment working properly at the airport at that particular moment. atc issues they'll be talking about as well. do we still have greg with us? >> we do. i think we've got greg fife. oh, no, no, he's on the phone right now, tom. >> he's on the phone? i think that there was another crash in -- back in 1997. it was a -- i want to make sure i got my facts here because i'm trying to remember it, korean air flight 801. that particular plane crashed into a mountain in game. in -- in guam. and ultimately, they decided that the pilot was fatigued and had not been paying p

tom costello covers aviation for nbc news. he's got the latest on the tragic crash landing in san francisco that claimed the lives of two chinese citizens and sent 182 passengers to area hospitals. tom, as you have done some initial reporting, what is what they know tell us about what happened? >> reporter: this is asiana airlines flight 214 coming from seoul in south korea, 10 1/2-hour flight into san francisco airport, and on approach at about 11:27 yesterday morning on runway 28 left, apparently by all accounts this plaenl came in a little low and a little slow according to eyewitnesses and literally the tail slammed into the sea barrier wall just before runway 28 left begins. the plane then slammed down onto the runway and skidded down the runway before then going into a grassy area. immediately the emergency chutes deployed. there was an evacuation of all 300-plus people on board this plane. unfortunately, as you reported, there were a couple of fatalities. the investigation is now going to focus on why this happened, of

tom costello covers aviation for nbc news. he's got the latest on the tragic crash landing in san francisco that claimed the lives of two chinese citizens and sent 182 passengers to area hospitals. tom, as you have done some initial reporting, what is what they know tell us about what happened? >> reporter: this is asiana flight 214, coming from seoul in south korea. 10 1/2-hour flight into san francisco airport, and on approach at about 11:27 yesterday morning on runway 28 left, apparently by all accounts this plane came in a little low and a little slow according to eyewitnesses and literally the tail slammed into the sea barrier wall just before runway 28 left begins. the plane then slammed down onto the runway and skidded down the runway before then going into a grassy area. immediately the emergency chutes deployed. there was an evacuation of all 300-plus people on board this plane. unfortunately, as you reported, there were a couple of fatalities. the investigation is now going to focus on why this happened, of course. w

>> tom costello, suburban washington for us tonight. thanks. >>> now to the event earlier today that brought us here to washington. the current president and first lady hosted a former president and first lady. george h. w. bush and barbara bush were both saluted for the points of light organization that the president supported. it is now the largest volunteer service organization in the world, with 4 million people putting in 30 million hours of service every year. it was a gracious day, all about the volunteers and a tribute to 41, who, true to form, and in classic modesty, tried to cut off the thunderous ovation he received. he is 89 now. he survived a big health scare last year. and while his legs have quit on him and his voice isn't as strong, it was a familiar-sounding former president who took to the mic briefly. >> like coming home for barbara and me. the rest of you just coming to this magnificent house, to be greeted by this superb hospitality knows no bounds. thank you all very much. >> by the way, his son, neil, says they ar

again tonight, nbc's tom costello starting us off from the scene at sfo in san francisco, we also learned of a close call for other members of this crew? >> that's right, two flight attendants on board were ejected out of the back of this plane as it crash landed. amazingly, they survived. the training captain, the captain who was training his colleague, said he thought they were coming in at 137 knots, they realized they were in trouble when they saw the red lights at the end of the runway that were supposed to guide them in, they were not lined up properly, and from there, something went terribly wrong. today new pictures of the crash scene in san francisco, the top priority has been to interview all four pilots who were on board flight 214, including the veteran captain who was new to the 777 and at the controls saturday. he said he realized

tom costello is live in san francisco. tom, what about the possibility of pilot error? >> reporter: clearly that is going to be on the ntsb's radar here as they try to figure out what happened. the reason they are looking at that is because we know this plane was coming in very low and very slow at between 100 and 116 knots. generally when you come in to a landing here at san francisco international airport with a 777, you want to be at 137 knots, then add five knots for safety. out there on the runway behind me, you see the broken shelf flight 214 out on runway 28 left right now. investigators going through that wreckage, piece by piece, and they will do that for the next several days. this will be a long exhaustive process and you can imagine it is going to take some time but we do know that that pilot you were talking about, his name is captain cook, had he one had on hours in the 777. he'd flown it nine times and this was only his first approach to san francisco in the 777 but he had flown it in other airplanes. he had flown a 747 in here. this was an experienced pi

. >> that was nbc's tom costello reporting. >>> bill karins is here with more. >> reporter: the relief is on the way. right now it's up in canada, monday until it clears the east coast, wednesday was an amazing. miami was the one of the coolest spots in the entire country. 90s widespread yesterday. we'll do it all over again. today, it's already a warm morning. these heat waves as they progress, these nights tend to be warmer and warmer. we're in the 90s in boston on down. mid-atlantic should be in the mid-90s. anywhere with a hint of hitting 100 degrees it will be the washington, d.c. area. chicago, yesterday, you're at 94, we'll do that again today. this goes all of the way back to the rookies. the timing to the end of the heat wave, here's how we look today, this is the storm that will change things, cool things off, it starts friday in the northern plains, saturday it dips through the great lakes. mara, of course w that change, we're going to get some strong thunderstorms, too, and possibly some severe weather. >> all right, thanks so much, bill. >>> extreme heat out west is adding

nbc's tom costello recently visited the center about surviving a crash. >> reporter: investigators say that the fact that so many people survived this says a lot about how modern aircraft are built. seats are made to absorb much of a sudden impact so passengers aren't catapulted through the plane. interior carpeting and fabrics fire resistant to allow people more time to get out. it's working. everyone survived this american airlines plane crash in 2009, the continental crash in denver in 2008. and the crash landing in toronto in 2005. and no fatalities during the miracle on the hudson in 2009. getting out alive usually comes down to seconds. here in oklahoma city, they recreate plane crashes to study what it takes to survive. once the plane comes to a rest time is of the essence. at 30 seconds, smoke can start filling the body of the plane. as fire starts eating into the fuseolog. at 60 seconds, the burning plastics, fuel, fabrics, can all turn this smoke toxic. getting out is critical. at two minutes there's now a serious risk of a flashover and fire engulfing the entire cabin. getti

tom costello, thanks for that update. >>> the chaos continues to unfold in egypt. that tops the news cycle this monday. at least 51 are now confirmed dead after a weekend of clashes between the military and protesters angry about the removal of president morsi. the white house has been watching the events closely but has not yet laid out a specific plan to address the turmoil. >>> the u.k.'s guardian newspaper today released part two of its interview with nsa leaker edward snowden. remember, this interview was conducted before anyone ever knew who edward snowden even was, so it doesn't respond to the backlash, it merely predicts it. right now snowden is still believed to be holed up in the moscow airport searching for a place for asylum. >>> lawyers for bradley manning are asking a court martial judge to dismiss some of the charges against him, though it's unclear which charges are being argued. manning's trial is now in its sixth week. he's accused of aiding the enemy by is up -- supplying wikileaks. >>> we're going to continue coverage of the george zimmerman tri

one other thing, our colleague at nbc news, tom costello and bob hager, an aviation expert and i have talked many times and tom just did a story about more and more of these crashes are survivable. and so i think when you fly, it's very safe and it happens very rarely. in fact, the last time a commercial aviation accident killed people here in america was 2009. but i think it bears in mind, when you are in this situation, do what the flight attendants and pilots tell you to do, strap in, don't take your luggage when the accident happens. because that got in the way of the first responders and i just found that remarkable, that some people even in all of this wanted to take their luggage with them and that could have caused some lives. >> what i found was so telling is that the fire chief said, even with all this training -- he's been doing this for decades, he never expected to have to respond to a deadly plane crash. never expected to do this in his career and in fact that's what he was faced with and he was so proud of everyone involved. >> terrific point. they train for this on a y

>> tom costello, thanks. >>> from the investigation to the survivors, thankfully, many of them. we also hear from the first responders tonight. that part of the story from john yang in san francisco. >> reporter: when first responders arrived on the scene at runway 28 left, the threat was clear. >> jet fuel leaking out of the plane, and our firefighters entered the plane, began a primary search and began to distinguish the fire. >> christie emmonds ran up the evae evacuation chute and saw people trapped. >> it was clear. not a lot of smoke, not a lot of fire, but by the time we removed the final victim, the fire was banking down on us, heavy black smoke. >> reporter: police officer jim cunningham had no protective gear and still rushed in. >> clearing the baggage, over head bins and all of the luggage, debris and rubble all over the place. >> one of the last on the plane, a flight attendant attending to the remaining survivors. >> get down, get down. >> reporter: the first responders managed to get few stranded on board to safety. only a few, tharngs to passengers like ben levy

. >> tom costello leadingur coverage starting off tonight in san francisco. thanks. >>> those three young women held for a decade in a house in cleveland, ohio have broken their silence, two months since they were freed. they have made public video statements in which they talk about their brand new lives and the support they've received since their release. our report tonight from our national correspondent kate snow. >> reporter: we've known them only vaguely, the thumbs up from gina dejesus, the single photo of amanda berry, she was a 16-year-old girl when she was taken. she's now a 27-year-old mother. >> i want everyone to know how happy i am to be home with my family, my friends. it's unbelievable. i want to thank everyone who's helped me and my family through this entire ordeal. everyone who's been supportive. it's been an outpouring of kindness. >> i want everyone to know i'm doing just fine. >> reporter: her lawyers said her manner of speech was just nerves and had nothing to do with her time in captivity. none of the women mentioned aerial castro by

. >> tom costello starting us off this morning. thanks very much. the chairman of the ntsb, who is on the ground in san francisco, debby hersman joins me now. chairman, you've said this morning off lot of good information to start going through. describe what that is. >> well, we have a good number of survivors, and i think we're very thankful that the numbers were not worse when it came to fatalities and injuries. it could have been much worse. we have crew that survived that we can interview. and significantly, we have cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders that have been recovered, went back on a red eye last night under federal escort to d.c. we hope to audition those in our headquarters in the next 24 hours. >> i know you have an opportunity with investigators to actually go through that burned-out fuselage. those pictures are dramatic of you, also the aftermath of this flight. the bit of information that you do have, no distress calls reportedly from the flight crew, and as tom costello mentioned reports from the airline that there

>> tom costello, suburban washington for us tonight. thanks. >>> now to the event earlier today that brought us here to washington, the current president and first lady hosted a former president and first lady. george h. w. bush and barbara bush were both saluted for the points of light organization the president supported it is now the largest volunteer service organization in the world with 4 million people putting in 30 million hours of service every year. it was a gracious day, all about the volunteers and a tribute to 41, who, true to form, and in classic modesty, tried to cut off the thunderous ovation he received. he is 89 now. he survived a big health scare last year. and while his legs have quit on him and his voice isn't as strong, it was a familiar-sounding former president who took to the mic briefly. >> like coming home for barbara and me. the rest of you coming to this house to be greeted by this superb hospitality knows no bounds. thank you all very much. >> by the way, his son, neil, says they are calling dad gq instead

tom costello has been covering this story for us. he is live in san francisco. tom, good morning. >> hi, guys. good morning to you. this is all coming down to speed and to lining up properly on the right runway on runway 28 left. one of the pilots has now told investigators that they were struggling to line up properly on the right runway and he says they didn't notice that their speed had fallen. the wreckage of asiana flight 214 still sits on runway 28 left at sfo. passengers and crews on arriving and departing flights get an up close look at the disaster including passengers on other asiana flights. we now know the pilot was halfway through his 777 certification process with an instructor captain in the co-pilot's seat. that instructor told investigators the plane at first was coming in too high and not properly lined up for landing. >> the instructor captain stated that they were trying to make corrections during that portion of the flight between 500 feet and 200 feet to make some lateral corrections and also because they knew that they were low on the glid

tom costello reports. >> reporter: emergency chutes seen deploying in this new video taken after the crash of flight 214. passengers are seen running away from the burning aircraft as fire rescue crews pour foam on the fire. new video of the crashp. after ripping off its tail on the seawall the 777 seems to jump in the air and nearly flip over before slamming into the ground. >> i thought before i left the plane that it might blow up and i might die. >> reporter: a feeto of the teenagers from china killed in the accident. investigators are looking at whether one of them may have been hit by an arriving fire engine. on the ground, ntsb investigators have been walking the length of the runway inspecting a scattered trail of debris. the landing gear sheered from the fuselage and the interior of the plane itself, oxygen masks hanging, seats twisted and broken. >> the lower portion of the tail cone is in the rocks at the seawall. and there was a significant piece of the tail of this aircraft that was in the water. >> reporter: we learned that the pilot new to flying the 777 and his traini

tom costello, thank you very much. >> steve, what's your take, all these days later? >> the 90 second delay? >> when the dust settles op this you're going to see some great acts on the part of the crew in getting those people off the plane because they did eventually get them off safely and see some incredibly disorganized and confused and lack of observance of the protocols and procedures, both getting them off the plane but also just flying the plane. four pilots on that plane and they just seemed not to be able to communicate with each other or perform their duties the way -- >> one was in the cabin. only three in the cockpit. >> right. >> wow. >> all right. steve ratner and david gregory, david you're going to take off for the hill but steve stay with us if you can. andrea mitchell, thank you. see you at 1:00 on "andrea mitchell reports." why "time" magazine says egyptians are great at protesting but terrible at democracy. rick stengel reveals the new issue next. you want to stay for that. >> i can stay for that. >> i need help. dr. zbigniew brzezinski joins us he

joining me now from san francisco is nbc news correspondent tom costello. tom, what are we learning at this point about the plane's final moments and the latest on the injury totals? >> reporter: well, the latest on the investigation is that -- by the way, over my shoulder is where the plane rests just on the other side here of the water. you can see the burned-out shell sitting there. ntsb investigators are on the scene, along with fire an rescue personnel. what they are focusing really on here is why was this plane coming in so low and so slow. it was coming in well below 137 knots. ideally when you want to come in here and land a 777 at san francisco, you want to come in at 137, maybe plus 5 knots to be safe. they were well below that, 15 or more knots below 137 so this is a concern to investigators. this was an experienced crew but the guy who was actually at the controls who was piloting the plane had only 43 hours in the 777. he was 1 of 4 pilots on-board this plane and he had 10,000 hours total as a pilot, many of those in other planes. for example,

costello says it's been well over a decade, if i'm not mistaken. and considering the sheer number of planes that take off every day in this country, the sheer number of planes that land, every day in this country. it would seem to me that that's a bit surprising. and i don't know if that's a function of pilot training, if that's a function of advancing in technology aboard the aircraft or if it's a function of engineering of the aircraft itself, or is it, perhaps, captain bunn, a function of all three of the affirmations. >> all of these things, put together. sure. we've gotten much, much better airplanes when they built the 747, there was a meeting of the board of directors saying, gee, you know, people have gotten used to a crash with maybe a hundred people on. what happens if we crash an airplane with 400 people on it. and the engineers said, don't worry about it, we're going to build an uncrashable airplane. so they took the engineering to a new level and we've benefited from that since then and been able to benefit even more as microprocessors

tom costello in san francisco. thanks very much. >>> up next, in the wake of a very public fight, the husband of british nigella lawson says he is now seeking a divorce. and his reasons for the split may be a bit surprising to you. we'll tell you more about it, right after this. ♪ nothing says, "i'm happy to see you too," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. so do tire swings! this is our ocean spray cran-lemonade. it's good, old-fashioned lemonade. only better! whoa! [ splash! ] ocean spray cran-lemonade. a bold twist on an old favorite. enjoy the whole family at a homewood suites, schedule a 5 o'clock meeting at a hilton garden inn, or hit the links at a waldorf astoria. get great rates at our ten top hotel brands during the great getaway. book now at hiltongreatgetaways.com. ♪ ula ula ula ula al revés, ♪ hago que lo imposible sea posible, ♪ ♪ que todo lo increíble se vuelva visible, ♪ ♪ tres, dos, hola, ula... ♪ aplaudan en la luna. ♪ ula ula, hagamos ula ula, ♪ ula ula ula

tom costello in washington. thank you. >>> does edward snowden have more top secret information he is holding on to. tamron is in for natalie with details. >> that's the hot question this morning. the former nsa contractor has what he calls sensitive blueprints detailing how the nsa operates. glenn greenwald claims snowden has thousands of documents that would make it possible for someone to evade or even copy the nsa. greenwald says snowden has enough information to cause major damage to the u.s. government. >>> glee fans are mourning the death of actor cory monteith this morning. staff found his body in a vancouver hotel room saturday morning after he missed his check out time. an autopsy is expected today to determine the cause of death. he was just 31 years old. >> a man was arrested thursday near the boston home of secretary of state john kerry. the man was parked in a no parking zone taking photographs of kerry's home. he was arrested for having an open container of alcohol but a kerry spokesperson says a

that the point we know according to our own tom costello in washington, federal authorities have no reason to believe it was anything sinister. this was not terrorism. at this point it appears to be just an awful, awful accident. two people are dead. 123 uninjured. 181 taken to the hospital. one person is still unaccounted for. big jump there, we should note. just an hour ago there were 60 people unaccounted for. that the point again just one. we heard from the white house. we heard from the white house a few hours ago. this is from jay carney, white house press secretary. expressedent expressed gratitude for the first responders and directed the team to stay in contact with the federal, state and local responders as they investigate and respond to the event. thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones and all of those affected by the crash. my colleague and friend melissa rayberger has been keeping a close tab on the injured in the hospitals and where they are going. the extent of the injuries. take a quick moment and check in with melissa. what can you tell us? >> we

joining us now from san francisco, nbc's tom costello with that story. tom? >> hey, good morning, mika. i want to quickly take you out to runway 28 left. they have been working all night to get this plane picked up. the wreckage of it picked up off the runway. a short time ago they had a bit of a spot fire break out. the reason is they have been cutting this plane up into pieces using cutting torches. the fire department had to douse it quickly. the bottom line the challenge for them, they have to get the tiniest pieces of debris off the runway, repair the landing lights, patch the asphalt in order to get this airport back up and running to full throttle again. from the ntsb dramatic photos of the debris from flight 214 including rocks and boulders from the seawall and this photo showing the extensive fire damage in the economy section of the plane. had passengers not escaped as quickly as they did, the number of dead and injured would have surely been higher. in seoul, some of the flight attendants have now returned home. >> translator: we're lucky to come h