part of a hawaii air national guard exercise. the former navy f-18 pilot was flying as a civilian contract pilot. the military often hires contractors to simulate enemy fighters in these exercises. martha raddatz with us from our washington bureau tonight. and martha, what do we know about the pilot s condition tonight? reporter: well, pothier s scheduled to have surgery for non-life threatening injuries, but he is in great spirits, and the family thankful no one else was injured. david? that is good news. martha, thank you. next tonight, to the joyful scene in clear creek, west virginia, after the rescue from that abandoned coal mine. three people were reunited with their families overnight after nearly five days with no food, only mine water to drink. they allegedly went in looking for copper to then sell themselves. but they admitted they came out with regrets. this is the biggest lesson i ve ever learned in my life, this is a life-changing experience for me. definitely.
they know how important it is. a key achievement of this administration has been to rebuild the military after years of budget cuts and caps, this year s defense budget is $716 billion. the chairman of the house armed services committee says that number is too high and to prepare for cuts. dana: and the u.s. military has ended the search for five missing marines off the coast of japan? that s correct. it appears the hornet came in too fast and collided with the tanker. the pilot would have been wearing night vision goggles. the crook took place 200 miles off the coast of japan. shinzo abe sent his condolences to president trump. the pilot from the f-18 was able
the u.s. marine corps officially ending their search today after making, quote, every possible effort to recover the servicemen following a deadly midair collision. lucas tomlinson live at the pentagon this morning. do you know what caused the crash? sandra, officials say it appears the marine f-18 came in too fast and collided with the k c-130 refueling plane. 28 service members have been killed in aviation accidents this year. midair refueling is dangerous especially so because this one took place at 2:00 in the morning. the pilot would have been wearing night vision goggles. it took place 200 miles off the coast of japan thursday. the japanese prime minister sent his condolences to president trump. two were able to eject but the pilot later died. his back seater survived with broken bones. all five marines aboard the k
eric: it s astounding, i have been on aircraft carrier, f-18 s come in and hit the trip wire, it s incredible awe-inspiring experience to go through that if anyone can do that, the floating cities, if you will of 5,000 men and women out there. this is not indictment of young men and women, are we supporting as they should be supported eric: how do we make it fairer for them and support them further, what should the president, what should general mattis do at the dod and what should congress do to try and support those men and women as much as possible. right. sequestration was intended to be horrifically bad that the parties would end up $1.3 trillion in savings but what was intended never to
to rest today. it is past 9:00 a.m. in japan. it has been more than four hours and five u.s. marines remain lost at sea in the western pacific. after that marine f18 collided with the refueling plane on a routine training mission, leaving one marine dad, a second was pulled from the icy waters and is expected to survive. the accident took place in the middle of the night, 200 miles off the coast of japan. both marines recovered were aboard the f-18 hornet, the five on board the hercules refuel or remain missing. japanese forces are assisting in the search efforts, it is the latest in a series of training accidents. the hornet crashed enough taki, both pilots were rescued. 50,000 troops are based in japan. yesterday s crash occurred just