SEAL's first-hand account of bin Laden killing

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The carefully rehearsed plan was out the window before the first boot hit the ground. With one helicopter and half the SEALs crashing, the second helicopter abandoned the roof assault as too risky and the SEALs began to improvise. One thing was sure now. The people in the house knew they were coming.

The raid on bin Laden's house was supposed to be straightforward. Two helicopters, call signs Chalk One and Chalk Two, carried 24 members of SEAL Team 6. Each man hauling 60 pounds of gear. One group planned to slide down ropes onto the roof of the house. Mark Owen's group planned to rope down into the courtyard. But Owen's helicopter crashed and now everything was changing for the most important counterterrorism assault in U.S. history.

Scott Pelley: Tell me about the crash.

Mark Owen: The pilot mentioned, you know, I remember him mentioning in the rehearsals, like, "You know, if I have to ditch this thing, I'm gonna try and put it down in this courtyard." So that's exactly what he did. You can tell-- you could hear the helicopter winding up.

Scott Pelley: He was putting all the power on it he could, but it wasn't helping?

Mark Owen: No, nothing. Came in and impacted. Boom! Had the angle been more, the rotors would've hit the ground, snapped off, and caused us to roll. Had the tail rotor hit, obviously, it would've broke and caused us to break and roll. The load bearing section of the tail, landed precisely on the wall.

Scott Pelley: The strongest part of the tail just happened to land on the wall?

Mark Owen: Yep. And the angle happened to be perfect. It all came down to inches. Really, inches either way. We stopped. The main rotor blades are still turning. I don't think you could recreate that if you tried.

Scott Pelley: Lucky.

Mark Owen: Lucky, but again, huge props to these pilots. I mean, everybody wants to meet the guy who shot Bin Laden. I want to meet the pilot. I mean, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him.

Scott Pelley: If the pilot had not brought your helicopter down intact, would the mission have failed?

Mark Owen: No, I don't think so 'cause Chalk Two was on the ground. And as soon as they saw us crash land that Chalk Two helicopter pilot saw that happen, decided not to push the position to go to the roof. And that's one thing that Admiral McRaven said in one of our very last rehearsals, briefs, dry runs, right there in Afghanistan before we launched. He stood up and said, "Hey listen, don't try any fancy stuff. Just get the guys on the ground and they'll figure it out.

Scott Pelley: You mention in the book that one of the Army pilots that was flying your team looked to you to be about 50 years old?

Mark Owen: He was definitely a little older.

Scott Pelley: But I guess in this line of work, it's experience that matters.

Mark Owen: Yeah. Yeah. He's probably been flying longer than I've been alive. So there's nothing wrong with that.

They had planned to be on the ground 30 minutes, but now they were running late. Owen's team landed in this courtyard walled off from the house.

Scott Pelley: So, your team does what?

Mark Owen: I ran out here. I turn around and look. And I see the guys on the left side of the helicopter. They're sitting right at-- staring at the front door. So, they simply hop out and go right to the front door like nothing happened.

Scott Pelley: Go right to this door here?