All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Bob Orr is a correspondent for CBS News based in Washington.

---

You can pick your own word: bizarre … eerie … creepy. I settled on surreal.

There he was sitting about 50 feet from me: the man who claims he planned 9/11 from A to Z. But, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or KSM as the terror-crowd prefers, looked nothing like that almost comic image that’s been burned into my brain.

You know the one.

The pudgy disheveled man, who looks a little like John Belushi on a bad night, with a redneck white T-shirt and his hair sprouting all over the place.

No, the Mohammed who appeared today was dressed like a spiritual advisor with a long white tunic, neatly wrapped white turban, reading glasses, and a flowing gray beard that would have made Stonewall Jackson jealous.

Read full post…

Bob Orr is a correspondent for CBS News based in Washington.

---

If you’re like millions of Americans hooked on prime time crime dramas like CSI and Criminal Minds then you know that DNA is a cop’s best friend and a crook’s quickest ticket to the slammer.

Except that it isn’t. The DNA science is solid; the problem is labs across America can’t keep up with the forensic demand. The FBI’s own lab in Quantico, Virginia has a two year backlog of samples from convicted offenders just parked on shelves and waiting to be processed.

While that’s frustrating to the crime solvers, the DNA backlog takes a real human toll. There are new crimes happening every day because serial offenders, who’ve left DNA samples at multiple crime scenes, have yet to be caught. And there are victims, like Debbie Smith, who suffered six years of nightmares, because her attacker eluded the DNA system.

Tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric you’ll hear Debbie Smith’s story and we’ll take you inside the lab where DNA still isn’t the crime-fighting weapon it should be.

On Aug. 27, a Comair flight took off in the dark from a runway too short for a passenger jet. CBS News correspondent Bob Orr has more about the transcript of the cockpit recording released today.

---

Almost from the first moments, we've known WHAT happened — the pilots mistakenly turned on the wrong runway, a runway too short for the takeoff of their commuter jet.

But, five months after Comair flight 5191 crashed in a fireball in Lexington, Kentucky, we still don’t know WHY the pilots made a fatal and inexplicable mistake.

The newly released transcript of the pilots’ final cockpit conversation doesn’t help much. It reveals two experienced airmen doing what pilots do — running checklists, making last minute safety checks and a little small talk while waiting for their turn to fly.

It shows their conversations with the air traffic controller were business-like and by the book, with no horseplay or distractions. The Comair crew accurately "read-back" instructions to depart on runway 22, a 7,000 foot lighted strip regularly used by passenger planes. And the pilots apparently programmed the plane’s autopilot and their cockpit instruments for the correct course.

But, for some reason, they turned off the taxiway too early and lined up on a short, unlighted runway usually reserved for smaller private planes.

It's clear from the transcript that the pilots had no idea they were heading for disaster. Neither questioned the absence of runway lights before the plane started to roll. Neither apparently checked the plane's instrument heading which would have unmistakably told them they were 40 degrees off course. And neither one seemed to notice that their aircraft crossed over the correct lighted runway as it began racing toward destruction.

Seventeen seconds before the jet slammed into a fence the co-pilot finally seemed to suspect that something was wrong on their dark runway. He said to the captain, "dat is weird with no lights." The captain responded, "Yeah." But then the jet accelerated to one hundred miles an hour, before the captain uttered the final word from the cockpit, "Whoa."

Neither pilot ever said anything about trying to stop, and in fairness, there may not have been time. Forty-nine people of the 50 on board were killed by the impact and fire. Only one person survived, the co-pilot who was flying the plane at the time of the crash. But, he's never been interviewed by crash investigators and his family says he remembers nothing about that awful Sunday morning in Lexington.

So, sadly the biggest question in the crash remains unanswered.

Read full post…

Correspondent Bob Orr reports on merger madness in the airline industry. There could be yet another new one, he has learned.

---

Here's the way one veteran airline analyst puts it: "Everybody is talking to everybody!"

It sure seems that way. We learned today that Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines are the latest partners to take the floor at the great airline consolidation dance.

It's not a done deal. But, sources say Northwest and Delta, which both filed for bankruptcy on the same day sixteen months ago, have been talking for weeks about a possible deal.

It's not clear if the two struggling carriers are looking to hook up in a full-blown merger or some kind of strategic alliance that falls short of a corporate marriage. But, what is clear is that Delta is looking for just about any weapon it can find to fend off the unfriendly take-over bid by US Airways, which is now dangling $10 billion in front of Delta's hungry creditors.

While Delta publicly insists if would prefer to keep flying solo, it seems the airline would welcome Northwest to the co-pilot seat if that would leave US Airways back at the gate.

But, that's not the end of this high-flying merger madness. There continues to be speculation about a possible union of United and Continental. In addition, AirTran Airways, which took a run at Midwest Airlines last fall, is still looking for a date.

And analysts fear we may just be seeing the opening bids in a wholesale aviation auction that reduces the numbers of airlines, routes, and passenger seats, and raises the frustrations and ticket prices for the 600-million plus Americans who fly every year.

Read full post…

Lately, it seems the national pastime has been being afraid. Very afraid. Terror has seeped so deeply into our psyche, we can't help but cringe every time a train derails or a small plane veers tragically off course. We were reminded of that yesterday, when word circulated of a vague -- but ominous-sounding -- threat against NFL stadiums. Over at Public Eye, Correspondent Bob Orr has been pondering how we in the media covered that threat, and sums it up in three words: "We blew it."

Check it out.

Read full post…

As far as I can tell the revised rules are good for drug stores and slightly better for air travelers. But, it’s hard to determine whether it does anything to change our vulnerabilities to liquid explosives one way or the other. Better? Worse? Who knows?

After Scotland Yard busted the UK liquid bomb plot in August, US officials moved immediately to crack down on mascara, mouthwash, and shampoo.

It was prudent, security analysts argued, because terrorists could use carry-on liquids to construct bombs on board. Since explosive components could be hidden inside shampoo bottles or hair gel tubs, and considering some common cosmetics, like nail polish remover, can actually be used themselves in a bomb making recipe ALL liquids and gels were banned.

Passengers threw away perfume, liquor, and their double lattes or they jammed all of their toiletries in CHECKED bags. Checkpoint lines moved smoothly as passengers carried far fewer bags, but explosive scanners in airport basements were quickly overwhelmed by a whopping 20 percent increase in checked luggage.

But, somehow the system and its two million passengers a day got used to the ban. And now it’s changing...

Read full post…

This has been strange from the start. First, Atlantis just couldn't get off the ground and now it's having trouble coming home.

This mission was supposed to happen in 2003 and then Columbia disintegrated and the Atlantis flight to the space station was put on hold. Three years passed, and then when Atlantis was finally given a green light an unbelievable series of events kept it grounded for two more weeks.

Let's recount the problems. To start with, a lightning bolt hit the launch pad. Then an approaching Hurricane Ernesto pushed NASA into a Keystone Kops caper. Atlantis was hustled, well slowly moved, off the pad and then when the hurricane turned, the shuttle itself did a U-turn.

Once the weather cleared, the technical glitches began. A pump on one of the fuel cells failed and a squirreley fuel sensor acted up. But, Atlantis finally lifted off and the mission itself went beautifully. Space walking astronauts installed a 17 and a half ton truss and solar panels on the international space station. The work was done ahead of time, and only a couple of bolts were lost in the process.

So, the crew and NASA were feeling good about a job well done and Atlantis began its trek home.

And that's precisely when the mystery objects began to appear. First there was one, then another, and now three more -- little specks of space debris or tiny UFOs, which are causing NASA some big headaches.

Engineers were worried the debris may be pieces of the shuttle's heat shield needed for a safe re-entry, but now those fears have eased. Experts studying the strange images think the mystery objects may be small bits of material which simply floated out of the shuttle's cargo bay, perhaps even pieces of lint or small twists tie used to secure cables.

In any case, the objects appear to be more of a nuisance than a threat and NASA is increasingly optimistic the shuttle will come home tomorrow.
And when it lands, there will be a collective sigh of relief that one very strange trip has finally ended.

Read full post…

Bob Orr has been covering the FAA and the air industry for years. This afternoon, he takes a hard look at the Comair crash two and half weeks ago outside Lexington, Kentucky -- and raises some serious questions about what happened then, and what's happened since. - Ed.

There’s something about the crash of Comair flight 5191 that really bugs me.

I’ve covered more than a dozen major air disasters in the past decade or so and each one has been awful – emotionally distressing and physically exhausting – and a personal tragedy for the families involved.

We usually find some comfort in the fact that safety lessons are learned: The US Air accident in Pittsburgh revealed a design flaw in the Boeing 737, the explosion of TWA 800 underscored the dangers of sparks and fuel vapors, and the crash of an American Airlines jet in Queens reminded us that even big planes can break if pushed beyond their limits.

But, that’s what makes the Comair crash so sad...

Read full post…