congresswoman jane harman and cia veteran, paul pillar, about what we don t know about libya s embattled leader. plus, the president is back in washington. can he now quiet the congressional revolt over the libya mission? we ll talk to newsweek columnist and msnbc political analyst, jonathan alter. and asleep at the switch. was the control tower at reagan national caught napping? you ll hear from a passenger who was on one of those flights trying to land. we ll see you in 15 minutes. we re seeing a big boom in the number of hispanic families across the united states. in a couple of hours, the u.s. census bureau will release the final 2010 figures and they ll show hispanics counted for more than half of the nation s growth the last decade. latinos are on track to reach 50 million from coast to coast. that means about one in six americans is hispanic. and among u.s. children, one in four. galena espinosa is co-president of latina magazine. which states are getting the
to land themselves when no one answered in air traffic control. for more on this, we go to nbc s pete williams at reagan national airport. reporter: it happened as two planes prepared to land, just minutes apart, asking for their final instructions from the air traffic control tower here at reagan national airport. but they never got an answer, and the government believes the only controller on duty may have fallen asleep. wednesday morning just after midnight, a american airlines 737 coming from miami with 97 people on board contacts the control power. but instead of getting the usual instructions, the pilot gets no answer at all. washington tower, american 1012. washington tower, american 1012. reporter: so the pilot circles the airport, seeking guidance from a nearby air traffic operations facility in virginia and is told they couldn t get a response either, even on the phone. american 1012, we called a couple times on landline and tried to call on the commercial
reporter: wednesday morning, just after midnight, an american airlines 737 coming from miami with 97 people on board contacts the control tower. but instead of getting the usual instructions, the pilot gets no answer at all. washington tower, american 1012. washington tower, american 1012. reporter: so the pilot circles the airport, seeking guidance from a nearby air traffic operations facility in virginia and is told they couldn t get a response either, even on the phone. american 1012, uh, we called a couple times on landline and tried to call on the commercial line and there s no answer. reporter: a man on board the flight says the pilot keeps passengers informed. the pilot gets over the loud speaker and says, sorry, folks, we can t land right now, i can t get in contact with air traffic control tower. we re going to keep circling until i get response. reporter: the plane lands safely a few minutes later following procedures for unmanned airports, making frequent radio