Good evening. Shortly before we came on the air tonight, members of the crew of that Asiana Airlines wide bodied 777 talked about what happened and what they did in the moments after the crash in San Francisco where the tail hit the seawall and the jet spun and skidded to a halt, eventually bursting into flames. The flight deck to the crew at first said not to evacuate immediately. We know the imminent danger called for an immediate evacuation. Tom costello covers for us tonight from San Francisco. Good evening. Reporter hi, brian. Good evening to you. Ill take you right to 28 left out there at sfo. And we have just been told by ntsb they hope to release the runway tonight. Although its going to take some time to clear all the debris from the runway. We also learned this afternoon as you mentioned, first the pilots did not order that an evacuation would be ordered. It took 90 seconds before they would begin evacuates. Because at first they did not realize how bad the crash was. 12 flight attendants on board flight 214. Rescuers credit their quick action with helping to save 307 lives. As the evacuation went on, the fire did continue and the flight attendants and flight crew were involved in trying to fight the fire on the inside. Reporter three flight attendants were ejected from the rear of the plane on impact. One sustained massive head injuries, the other a broken leg. A first officer in a 747 waiting to take off on the same runway after flight 214 landed described the crash and then two survivors stumbling but moving. I saw one survivor stand up, walk a few feet, then appear to squat down. The other appeared to be a woman and was walking and then fell off to her side and remained on the ground until rescue personnel arrived. Today, some of the flight attendants left for seoul, and talked briefly to reporters. Translator Asiana Airlines and all the flight attendants and related personnel are working as hard as possible to recover from this accident. Reporter meanwhile, three pilots in the cockpit told investigators they struggled to line up properly for a visual landing. Then realized too late their autothrottle had not maintained minimum speed. Investigators have not found any evidence of the auto throttle malfunctions. Tom casey, retired 777 captain, says autothrottle isnt designed to kick in when a plane is already set up for a landing. If the airplane thinks its landing, it will not come in. It just says, well, captain is landing the airplane. Kwef to go to there is automation there to support the pilots but the pilots also have to fly the airplane. They have to monitor and fly. Reporter back on runway 28 left today, a haunting image as asiana flight 214 again arrived from seoul passing the burned out remains of saturdays flight 214. One more interesting fact. We heard just now from the ntsb the pilot reports at 500 feet he had a flash of blinding light. The ntsb isnt sure what that was and whether it contributed to the crash. And tom, there was another bit of news in the Aviation Business today. This goes back to the crash of a crash of a commuter airliner outside of buffalo, new york, in bad weather a few years back. Reporter the faa is raising requirements for pilots. Captains have to have at least 1,000 hours as a copilot. Copilots have to have 1,500 hours total in the cockpit first. This comes after the crash where 50 people died. At the time, many people believed and the investigation showed the crew didnt have sufficient experience. Tom costello covering all things aviation tonight starting us off from San Francisco. Tom, thanks. The defense has rested in the highprofile, highly charged trial of George Zimmerman. Charged with Second Degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman told the judge today he does not wish to testify on his own behalf. Nbcs ron motte is covering in sanford, florida. Good evening. Reporter good evening to you. The defense rested after another extraordinary day at the courthouse, including a Tense Exchange about whether or not George Zimmerman would take the stand. Today, George Zimmerman made up his mind. What is your decision, sir . After consulting with counsel, not to testify, your honor. Reporter earlier, as the defense wound up its case with witnesses yet to call, things got testy. I am asking your client questions. Please, mr. West. I object to the court inquiring of mr. Zimmerman as to testify your objection is overruled. Mr. Zimmerman, i will give you more time, sir to discuss this with your attorneys. Thank you very much. Reporter the tension between defense attorney don west and judge debra nelson seems leftover from an afterhours Court Session last night. I cant keep up this pace. Its 10 00 at night, weve started this morning, had full days every day. Weekends, depositions at night. Reporter most of the final day in the defense case focused on the testimony on an expert in the use of force. If you havent been able to successfully win the event in the first 30 seconds, you need to change tactics. Reporter who says zimmerman had no other option but to shoot Trayvon Martin because he wasnt adept at fighting and felt his life was threatened by the teen. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to Second Degree murder, saying he fired in selfdefense. I dont know what else he could have done based on his abilities. Because no offense to mr. Zimmerman, he doesnt seem to have any. Reporter john guy used a foam dummy to determine where the gun was located when he pulled it. If this mannequin were carrying a firearm on their waist, where would the gun be right now in relation to me . Would be at your left inner thigh. Right here, right . Yes. Reporter later, defense attorney mark omara also got physical. George zimmerman, Trayvon Martin. Reporter refocusing attention on zimmermans face and head injuries and whether they are consistent with an attack. How about this . How about somebody resisting the attempt, the two lacerations, could that have come from cement . If somebody was resisting me pushing down like this . I believe so. Reporter late today, the state asked the judge to consider adding the lesser charge of manslaughter. The judge will rule tomorrow on that before closing arguments get under way. Ron mott today. Thanks. In boston today, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing made his first appearance in front of a packed federal courtroom with dozens of survivors looking on. As Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pled not guilty to the 30odd charges against him. His hair has grown long. Hand in a cast, shackles and appears to have nerve damage to his face. Outside court, nearly two dozen m. I. T. Police officers stood honoring a fallen officer who was allegedly shot bizary tsarn and his brother. Not far from there we interviewed jeff bauman. The man who was shown in a gripping and graphic photo after the bombing. Hes 27, he worked at costco. Hes now devoting his efforts to recovering with a lot of help. Hes the one who saw one of the suspected bombers, the tsarnaev brother who was since killed. Jeff bowman told us certain things bring back that day. I remember everything. You know, i i remember a little bit more sometimes. Reporter yeah. Does anything trigger it . I mean, if i were you, ive been thinking about this. I probably want want to see media, pictures, videotape. I cant google my name. I love the articles, but i scroll down and i see the images and gives me like an instant flashback. That pool of blood i was laying in. Reporter you saw the guy, and all of us have used the expression in our lives, in your case its more serious than others. He didnt look right . No. I mean, he just you could tell people that were there for the marathon, because everyone was watching the marathon, and everyone was having fun, like, you know, talking. Reporter beautiful day. Beautiful day, yelling, screaming, clapping and everyones clapping and cheering. Its like a fun atmosphere. It was great. And he was just like that. Just holding his backpack. Not talking to anybody, not with anybody, and standing right next to me. So i was like, who is he with . Whats he doing . Hes kind of weird. Out of place. Reporter and so much security around there, right where you were . Yes. Reporter and we now know a ton of cameras. And you were so crucial in the investigation. As soon as you came to. Yeah. Even in the ambulance ride i was trying to say something, trying to say like i knew who did it, i knew what went on. I think they were kind of thrown back by that. They were like, what . You knee what went on . You knew what happened . I said, yeah, i saw the guy i think. Thats what i said, i saw the guy. I just wanted to get a face out there and just to help. I just wanted to help. Reporter you know, if there is something to feel good about, feel good about the fact that you sped this investigation along. Man, you were the break. I think about that, i do. And im just glad they couldnt hurt i know they shot that officer. They snuck up on him, and thats horrible. Thats but im glad they didnt go down i know they had plans for new york, thats what i heard. And they would have injured a lot more people. Reporter how do you keep mentally strong, from replaying decisions you made, crazy, little tiny things you made that day that ended up affecting everything . I mean, that does happen. I do do it. Being active and being out and doing stuff takes my mind off of everything. And you cant think you cant think of what happened. What would have happened if i ate something for breakfast that took a little bit longer or did something else. You cant replay it. Its in the past. You have to move forward. Reporter where do you see yourself in five years . I really want to do something great. I want to be out there. I want to help people. I want to just help people. Thats what i want to do. We also witnessed the reunion of jeff bowman and karl sarandando, the man in the cowboy hat that is credited for saving his life. They talk every day. They say theyll be friends for the rest of their lives. More on that tomorrow morning on today in addition to our website. As the u. S. Winds down its military presence in afghanistan, we are learning about what appears to be an enormous waste of taxpayer money. A massive Headquarters Building that may never be used. Our pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski has more tonight. Reporter defense officials call it the big White Elephant nobody wants. Located at camp leatherneck in southern afghanistan, a brand new state of the art military headquarters, but pentagon general john sopko calls it a total waste of taxpayer money. The building will probably never be used and may actually be destroyed. Reporter at a cost of 34 million and 64,000 square feet, its larger than a football field. Complete with a war room, theater, and enough office space to accommodate 1,500 workers. But long before it was built, an officer said he didnt need the building and didnt want it. And there will soon be no one to use it. In americas drawdown from afghanistan, the number of forces at cap leatherneck has already fallen from 20,000 to 7,000. Since it was too expensive to operate, not even the Afghan Military wants it. As a taxpayer, im outraged. Reporter two investigations are underway to figure out what went wrong. But a senior official here says while it appears no laws have been broken, it was still a bone headed decision. Jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. Still ahead for us tonight, a staggering look at the state of Americas Health. Specifically this. Where you live may determine a lot about how long you live. As we mentioned, back tonight with a somewhat discouraging new report on health in america. Its not improving as fast as it is in a lot of other countries, and increasingly here in our country, how long you live may depend in large part on where you live. Our report from chief medical editor dr. Nancy snyderman. Reporter the report out today is a snapshot of how Americas Health compares to other developed nations. And just as important, its a look at whats happening in our own communities. While we are living longer, we are falling behind. Things are Getting Better over the past two decades, but the pace of improvement is slower than in other highincome countries. Reporter on average, Life Expectancy for men in the United States is 76 years, up from 67 40 years ago. For women, its now 81, up from 76. But that varies dramatically by region. Men living in fairfax county, virginia, are expected to live the longest. About 81 years. But travel 350 miles and men in mcdowell county, west virginia, live on average to just 64 years. Thats similar to the Life Expectancy in gambia, west africa. One of the worlds poorest countries. Women fair better with the highest Life Expectancy in marin, krals at 85. And lowest, 72 years in perry, kentucky. On par with vietnam, a nation plagued by poverty. The biggest risk of death . What and how much we eat. The most dramatic change in the u. S. In the past 20 years is the extraordinary obesity epidemic. If you look at how much we eat that trumps the fact that we seem to do be doing a little bit more exercise. Reporter People Living in certain areas of the south have the highest body mass index. Men in owsley county, kentucky, is the highest rates of obesity. So do women living in mississippi. And thinnest community . San francisco for men, falls church city, virginia, for women. How we die hasnt changed much since 1990. The top three causes of premature death . Heart disease, lung cancer and stroke. The number one disability in this country affecting millions . Back pain. But insidious in all of this . Poverty. Access to good health care. Its fair to say because poverty is such a huge part of this, its in plain sight for most of us. A huge impact of socioeconomics. Thank you. Nancy, we want to let the folks at home know we put the full report on our website. Where you live can impact Life Expectancy. Thats at nbcnightlynews. Com. Another break. We are back in a moment with a big anniversary that got off to a rocky start today. Look at em. Living on cloud nine with that uverse wireless receiver. You see in my day, when my mom was repainting the house, you couldnt just set up a tv in the basement. I mean, come on nope. We could only watch tv in the rooms that had a tv outlet. Yeah if we wanted to watch tv someplace else, wed have to go to my aunt sallys. Have you ever sat on a plastic covered couch . [ kids cheering ] youre missing a good game over here. Those kids wouldnt have lasted one day in our shoes. [ male announcer ] add a wireless receiver. Call to get uverse tv for just 19 a month with qualifying bundles. Rethink possible. Bad news out of the midwest tonight. Indiana amongst several states hit by powerful storms. Caused some major damage. Cut power to more than a quarter million customers, a lot of them in ohio. And about what was Tropical Storm chantal in the atlantic, its thankfully been downgraded. Though florida is still likely to receive heavy rain from the remnants. Secretary of state john kerry became emotional today when he thanked state Department Employees for the outpouring of good wishes for his wife, teresa, who was air lifted to the hospital in boston this weekend in Critical Condition at the time after a seizure. Her condition since upgraded. Teresa is doing better, under evaluation and we hope improving. I want to thank everybody for the remarkable outpouring of good wishes. Its been really very special. Later in the day, secretary kerry left washington to return to his wifes side at the hospital. Teresa heinz kerry is 74. Big anniversary at apple, was ruined somewhat by other news. This was the day five years ago the app store made its debut. Since then, over 50 billion apps downloaded. However, this was also the day a federal judge found after l violated antitrust laws in helping raise ebooks in a conspiracy with publishers that apped helped to orchestrate to cut amazons dominance in ebook sales. Up next tonight, a view of a president like weve never seen before. Finally tonight, were getting a glimpse of American History we havent seen before. Its a short piece of film, grainy in black and white, believed to be the first moving pictures ever seen of fdr in his wheelchair. While his paralysis wasnt entirely a secret, it wasnt shown in pictures back then at the time, thanks in large part to a cooperative press corps and a very different time. The story tonight from nbcs andrea mitchell. Reporter its only eight seconds of grainy black and white film. Fdr is recognizable only by his signature hat. His wheelchair is not visible, but the 62 president is clearly seated. Rolling past sailors standing at attention on uss baltimore at pearl harbor, 1944. Just renominated for a fourth term, fdr is also seen that day with General Macarthur and admiral nimitz. Theres even a cameo by his beloved scottish terrier. The raw footage, discovered by a professor, researching a different subject at the national archives. I saw something that was pretty remarkable and looked to me like president roosevelt being pushed in his wheelchair. Reporter why so rare . It was well known that fdr contradicted polio in 1921, but in public he was seen standing, leaning on a podium. Like when he nominated al smith for president in 1928. Or on the arm of a son. While family pictures show him in a wheelchair, there was a conspiracy of silence, a gentlemans agreement that included a willing White House Press corps. The white house made it very clear to members of the press for the president to be depicted in public in a wheelchair, that was something thatever see. Reporter this became an issue again in 1997 when the fdr memori