>> yeah, we all do now. bret: thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for "special report," fair, balanced, and unafraid. shepard: so, how do you overshoot a u.s. airport by 150 miles? pilots arguing? asleep? tonight, they are grounded and an investigation begins. plus, punting a little -- hunting a little girl's murderer. i'm shepard smith. this is fox news. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] >> shepard: she disappeared on the way home from school and never again seen alive. >> there is a child killer on the loose. that's why we are going to catch this person. shepard: tonight a heart-broken community and furious search for whoever put this little girl in the garbage. plus, finding the way forward in afghanistan. >> president obama now seems afraid to make a decision. >> shepard: now the criticism from the former vice president sparking a white house response. >> pretty safe to say that the vice president was for seven years not focused on afghanistan. shepard: but beyond the back and forth exists the larger issue. what do we do now? captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- shepard: first, developing now, accusations of nap time at 37,000 feet. the feds are investigating are investigating whether overshot their airport. the plane headed from san diego to minneapolis. flight controllers say they lost contact with the cockpit and the pilots had to circle back after flying all that way out of the way past the airport. the plane eventually did land safely. it's not yet clear whether the pilots were actually asleep. they claim they weren't. instead, that they got distracted, had an argument about company policies. but they were out of touch for more than an hour. steve brown live on the story. steve, we're learning this incident had the military on alert. >> it did. the f.a.a., when it lost communication with this northwest jet got ahold of north come, the northern command which essentially put jets in two locations on alert. now, the location of these jets have not been disclosed, but we are told that on alert means that these fighter jets in these two locations were on the ground, engines running, fueled up, pilots in the cockpit waiting further instruction when communication was reestablished, the jets were ordered to stand down. shepard: what's the commercial airline doing about this? >> the commercial airline has released a statement and it says that essentially it is cooperating with f.a.a. and ntsb investigations into this as well as conducting their own internal investigation. the airline also says delta, which delta northwest says the pilots have been relieved of active flying pending the completion of these investigations. it's worth noting that the cockpit air voice recorders from that particular plane have been sent to washington for examination as part of that ntsb investigation. shepard: you know, this does raise some pretty serious questions about safety. for starters, does this happen a lot? >> well, pilots, and pilots unions have stated for a long time that airlines have been pushing pilots to the edge of exhaustion. but there have been some investigations about this, not necessarily out and out confirmation. you may recall in 2004 there was a red eye flight from baltimore to denver in which on a web site a pilot reported that his co-pilot and first officer was asleep during the landing, which is obviously a much critical time. just last year, an interisland plane from go airlines overshot its hawaii destination by 15 miles. immediately red flags was one or both of the pilots asleep? that, as we understand, it is still under investigation. shepard: steve brown live for us tonight. we spoke to some experts. what would a worse case scenario be if they were asleep? eventually the jet would run out of fuel and fall from the air. now pay cuts are coming at the companies that got billions of taxpayer dollars and have not repaid that money. we reported on this last night, that it was in the works. now the obama administration has revealed new details about the salary cuts that it is ordering at these seven companies. their top executives could see their paychecks slashed by an average of 90%. the president says he has nothing against people getting rich, at least in most cases. >> but it does offend our values when executives of big financial firms, firms that are struggling pay themselves huge bonuses, even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat. shepard: now the obama special master for compensation kenneth fineberg says the salary cuts will start next month. because they are happening at the end of the year executive bonuses would take a hit as well. major garrett our senior white house correspondent with us now. you spoke to fine burg today. he says the goal is to get the bailout money back. >> correct. >> that's right. ken fineberg told me the number one goal for his part in executive regulation in seven companies is to get the hundreds of billions of dollars owed to the taxpayers back in the treasury covers as soon as possible. he believes this executive exhibition schedule he has put forward is basically shoving down the throat to these seven companies can achieve that goal. here is how he put it? >> the primary objective of this whole program is to get these companies on their feet so they can repay the american taxpayer. one way to do that is by providing compensation that will make sure that will maximize the likelihood that that objective will be achieved. >> shepard, when these seven companies brought their original compensation plans to fineberg he ruled them all out of order saying they were excessive and argued them down quite excessively. shepard: delaying bonus and linking salary to company stock. >> that's right. feinberg says what wall street needs but what these seven companies must do is link any bonuses to long-term stock that can only be paid out, shepard, once all loans from the government have been paid back to the treasury and if you are going to have some of your salary devoted to stock which is common on wall street, you can't begin to pay that out in 2011 and only in one third inscrements over the next three years that will focus executives on the long-term benefits and profit to their company and not short-term reckless risk taking gain. shepard: feinberg is referred to as the pay czar but he is rejecting that title, right. >> i asked him why. he says czar suggests i have imperial powers and can could doo all of this by dictation or telling these companies what they can do. this was a collaborative process negotiated over months and months, countless meetings, in the end, shepard, his rulings are final. they can be appealed for 30 days but the appeal goes to ken feinberg and he is not going to change his mind. shepard: i spoke with our senior judicial analyst judge napolitano about this today on "studio b." he said the cutting of all of this cuttings of pay by a government people who work for a private company after the fact unconstitutional that they can't do it. if they appeal it, says judge napolitano, they would win. accusations are flying between past and present administrations when it comes to the war in afghanistan. this latest round began with a former vice president dick cheney responding to comments from the white house chief of staff rahm emanuel who said the current administration is starting from scratch in afghanistan. the former v.p. says that's not true and argues the obama administration adopted a bush administration that had not been made public. >> the new strargt that they eminem raced in march with counter insurgency and increase in number of troops bear as striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them. shepard: time for the white house as he put it stop dithering when it comes to figuring out the way forward in afghanistan. >> what vice president cheney calls dithering, president obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the american public. i think we have all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously. shepard: putting aside all the politicking, the insults, and the accusations, tonight, the administration says it's moving closer to figuring out its next move in afghanistan and to deciding whether to send thousands more american troops to that war. our national correspondent steve centanni with that part of the story at the pentagon tonight. steve, the defense secretary says he plans to soon give the president his recommendation. >> well, that's right. secretary robert gates saying that he is in the decision-making phase. so apparently is he close to making a decision on where he stands on whether or not we should have a new strategy and whether or not we should send more troops. he is at a nato meeting in slovac i can't right now. he is going to be there tomorrow. he is there now. the meeting is tomorrow. he is going to be asking the nato members for more help in afghanistan. he is not going to be talking about u.s. troop strength or any additional troops we might be sending because we don't know that yet. but there is other stuff he could be talking with them about and that's what he says he will do. especially helping train afghan troops and provide civilian assistance on the ground in afghanistan. shep? shepard: steve, last night we reported that the president may be making that decision before the results of next month's run off election in afghanistan are known. does that seem likely still? >> that is a possibility. robert gibbs, the white house press secretary was asked that today. said he might make a decision before the results are known. he might make a decision after the results are known. in any case, a decision is a few weeks away or we'll know in the coming weeks. so we don't know exactly what the time frame is and robert gibbs would not give that. we do know that this is a sensitive issue because, if he makes a decision that could influence the election, that wouldn't be good. by the same token, if there is a lot of fraud or long delayed results from the election that could influence the president. it's a very delicate situation. shepard: delicate, indeed. steve centanni at the pentagon. a strong earthquake iraqed afghanistan and next door pakistan yesterday. measured the quake at 6.1 imagine study tuesday. reports indicate it didn't appear strong enough to cause any significant damage. the quake's rumble did shake buildings in afghan capital of kabul and islamabad. crews in afghanistan will not know the extent of damages or injuries until daylight, hours away. the quake's center in the very region where pakistani troops are fighting the taliban. and there are new images tonight of the bloody offensive against the militants. the pakistani army reports it shot this video during an air and ground operation. video has been limited since the media are not allowed in the war zone and we can't confirm any of these video pieces. according to pakistan, troops have killed nearly 130 insurgents in the six days since the fighting began. pakistan is attempting to destroy the militant strongholds in south waziristan. that's this region here, roughly the size of delaware. investigators found somer tompson's little body in a landfill. 7 years old. we are told she was thrown out with the trash. tonight detectives are treating this case very differently. we will explain that. and check in to see how the family is doing. that's coming up on the evening news from fox nunel. -- fox news channel.ge pounds and a smidge. a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. cool. you know this scale is off by a good 7, 8 pounds. maybe five. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. shepard: police in a small town in north florida say somebody killed a 7-year-old girl there and then threw her remains into the trash. investigators tonight have confirmed the body they found in a landfill across the border in georgia is that of somer thompson. she is the girl who disappeared on monday. the landfill where her body ended up in folkston georgia. a home apparently surrounded by convicted sex offenders. that's what those blue dots represent. 161 registered sex offenders within a five mile radius of the little girl's home. so, tonight, cops say they are investigating somer's death as a homicide. phil keating is live in that small north florida town for us tonight. phil, what do we know about this investigation? >> shep, as far as a suspect goes, none yet. in fact, the sheriff's department says there is no one they can even classify at this point as a person of interest. in the meantime, more than 100 people have gathered here tonight for this candlelight vigil at this tree, this makeshift memorial this tribute to little somer. of those sex offender's, all but five, according to investigators, have been contacted and interviewed and up in georgia, investigators spent the day combing through more than 200 tons of trash looking for additional clues. back here in somer's neighborhood, state forensic investigators are also combing through an abandoned house, a vacant house, 500 yards from her school. the sheriff's office says in that area, around that house, last place on monday witnesses can place seeing little somer. apparently no one saw a stranger. shep? shepard: we heard from her family today. >> yes. and, as you can imagine, they expressed incredible yat tuesday for all of, this not only after the little girl was discovered dead but also during the search but also, as you can imagine, they expressed extreme anger. here is deed bra thompson, somer's mom late today. >> and you don't do this to a little baby and put my baby in the trash like she is nothing. it's not ok. not ok. >> shep, i also asked her what her theory is here. she believes little somer got upset at the group she was walking with, walked off by herself and there in wait was an opportunistic predator and she said what's killing her the most right now is not being able to remember if she told somer that she loved her on monday before she walked to school. shepard: phil keating at that candlelight vigil tonight. 130 leads in the case of a virginia tech student who disappeared during metallica concert. still no sign of the 20-year-old named morgan harrington. she disappeared on saturday after getting separated from her friends at the concert at charlottesville, north carolina. she left the concert hall in search of a bathroom and called her friends to tell her she had gotten locked out of the place. the next day somebody found her cell phone and a purse in a parking lot. as for harrington she has blonde hair and blue eyes, 5'6", weighs 120. cops say she was last seen wearing a black pan terra t-shirt, black miniskirt and tights and boots. fox news is tracking h1n1. while americans are having pretty easy time getting seasonal flu shot. that h1n1 vaccine is still pretty hard to come by. wait until you hear what health officials are blaming. plus, john travolta, he had to rehash the details of his own son's death in the trial of those accused of trying to blackmail him after that tragedy. now it turns out he have to do it all over again. another tragedy in the baumes and the details are next. sfx: coin drop, can shaking when you own a business, saving sounds good. so hear this: regions makes it simple to save money and time with lifegreen checking and savings for business, free convenient e-services and regions quick deposit, so you can deposit checks right from your desk. so switch to regions and start saving. plus, get a business financial review through a regions cashcor analysis. it's how business gets into the rhythm of saving. regions - it's time to expect more. shepard: john travolta and his family has spent entire year embroiled in a blackmail trial in the bahamas. it's a trial centered around the death of his 16-year-old son. they may have to go through it all again. a senior justice in the case has declared a mistrial. remember, john travolta's son jet died in january after he had a seizure in his family's home in the bahamas. prosecutors say two weeks later one of the paramedics who worked on the boy that day, along with a former ba hammian senator threatened to release a legal document a document releasing medics from liability should the family refuse an ambulance. now, prosecutors say the two threatened to use that document to suggest that john travolta was somehow at fault in his son's death. of course, they wouldn't use it if he paid them $25 million. "the fox report's" chief correspondent is with us now. jonathan, what are the details of what led to this mistrial? >> well, shep, it may have been just been an innocent mistake. it may have been something much more sinister. but the result is that john travolta will have to go through it all again. the agony of losing a child will now be exacerbated by having to testify once more against those who allegedly tried to profit from the act of pain: as the jurors in the travolta case filed out of the supreme court of the bahamas, justice anita alan said she had no proof of jury misconduct but was declaring a mistrial to be absolutely sure justice is done. i appear airing on the side of caution, she said. justice must be transparent. the dramatic court seems unfolded after politician announced at its party's convention that one of the defendants, a member of the same party, had been acquitted. but the jury was still deliberating at the time, raising the concern that there had been a leak from the jury room. the defendant in question was pleasant bridge water who until she was charged with trying to blackmail john travolta had been a member of the senate in the bahamas. yesterday at her party's convention, as you can hear in this clip, a member told the audience their colleague was free. >> bridgewater as a free woman. >> the party later apologized but the judge had little choice but to declare a mistrial. >> somebody committed a crime by leaking what happened in that jury room. probably in an effort to influence what else would happen in that jury room. that crime cannot be permitted to succeed. >> for john travolta, it will mean having to once again return to the scene of his son jet's death. once again having to testify go about that fateful day when 16-year-old jet had a seizure at the family vacation home. once again, reliving the details of the alleged extortion plot. >> and late today the judge ordered the politician who caused the mistrial to come to court to explain himself. that won't change the fact that there now has to be a retrial. john travolta's attorney, meantime, says the actor will do whatever is necessary to, quote, see this through. so, shep, the travolta's ordeal goes on and on. shepard: seems to. jonathan hunt, thanks very much. millions of dollars hang in the balance tonight because a freshman basketball player at the university of central florida is refusing to wear his team-issued basketball shoes. not just any player. his name is marcus jordan. he is the son of his heirness michael jordan. the school school told him yes you can wear your father's nike brand name shoes even though ucf has a $3 million shoe deal with adidas. when i was being recruited we talked about it and they said they had the adidas people and it wasn't going to be the problem. adidas seems to disagree. a spokesperson for the company says there is no compromise and the contract is currently under review. the school reports it's working with adidas to try to resolve all of this. well, it's been perhaps the most divisive issue in all of the health care debate. the idea of this government-run health insurance