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Administrators Grapple with Plans to Reopen Schools; Close-up of a Passenger Jet`s Flight Deck; Examination of a Helicopter that`s Headed to Mars

Aired May 01, 2020 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: When Friday, you`re in high school, they want to senior superlative for mostly likely to be awesome. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN

10. Thank you for spending part of your Friday with us. School is actually the first subject we have for you today. When is it going to

reopen? It`s a simple question with complicated answers across the United States. There are so many different plans in different places and they

could all change. Even though at least 31 states say they`ll partially reopen over the next few days, this doesn`t include their schools. Most

school buildings in America have been shutdown for the rest of the 2019- 2020 academic year. Classes may still be in session, they`re just online.

In some states with fewer corona virus cases, places like Montana and Wyoming, schools will be allowed to reopen this month but they may choose

to stay closed to help prevent the spread of the disease. And what will school look like this fall? Can students and teachers expect a more normal

looking campus then? It will most likely depend on how widespread COVID-19 is in different areas. The governments of Maryland and Washington, which

have each seen thousands of corona virus cases have told school districts it`s possible their doors won`t reopen in the fall and that they should be

prepared for online learning beyond this summer.

But contrast that with colleges in Alabama, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas, dozens of campuses across these states say they`re gearing up

for the return of students and teachers this fall. Things may not look the same thing though. School officials across the country are trying to

figure out ways to keep students spread out and classrooms from getting too crowded. Masks may be required on some campuses. Officials plan to keep

closer tabs on who`s been infected with corona virus and where those people went before they got sick. And sports events bring up new questions

entirely. Will football games still be played in front of 80,000 screaming fans? So even as some businesses start to reopen across America, there`s

still a lot of uncertainty hanging over the country`s schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven`t heard anything what school`s really going to look like. All summer classes are online and that`s (inaudible) makes

sense of what we know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The university I`m attending hasn`t really said much about reopening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was most looking forward to hanging out in a dorm and - - and all the shared spaces. And unfortunately I don`t think that will

be a possibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harvard will be open for the fall semester but some or all classes may be online. Harvard`s provost says, by the fall the school

cannot be certain that it will be safe to resume all usual activities on campus. The head of Purdue University is more optimistic. He told ABC

News, the school is working on plans to reopen Purdue`s campus this fall.

MITCH DANIELS PRESIDENT OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY: Our students in overwhelming numbers are saying they want to be here. We think we can do it but we

don`t pretend to have all the answers. We`re working on it very hard right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the measures Daniels is proposing, spreading out classes across days and times to reduce their size. Pre-testing

students and staff for infection. Tracing contacts for those who test positive and asking contacts to self-quarantine for 14 days. The president

of Brown University says reopening college campuses this fall should be a national priority.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we`re doing is making a plan, we don`t know if we`re going to be able to implement it. It depends on how the pandemic

spreads to just apply very basic public health principles as we think about reopening the campus and bringing students back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still, some students may decide not to return to school this year regardless of whether their campus reopens. The American Counsel

on Education predicts enrollment nationwide will drop 15 percent costing institutions $23 billion in revenue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s testing. It`s tracing and it`s separating or quarantining and isolating people who are sick or might have been exposed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. An aircraft`s primary control system includes what? Stick, rudder and throttle, pilot and auto-pilot, ailerons, elevator

and rudder, or elevator and wing flaps. According to the U.S. Aviation Administration, a plane`s primary controls include ailerons, elevator and

rudder.

And aircraft have gotten a lot more complicated and computerized since these were the only planes in the sky. The World War I fighters we showed

you a couple weeks ago. The ailerons, elevator, rudder and throttle were pretty much the only things you could control in these aircraft. In our

ongoing partnership with CNN Travel, we`ve taken you to a number of fascinating places around the world, virtually at least. Today we`re

taking you inside one of the modern passenger planes that can get you there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name`s Gavin (ph) (inaudible). I`m chief pilot at airBaltic. We`re currently on an Airbus 220 in the 300 version. So the

longer version of the Airbus 220. The aircraft takes about 150 passengers. We fly at an altitude of about 41,000 feet and we`ve got a range of more

than 3,500 nautical miles. And so the flight deck itself is state of the art. It`s a full glass cockpit, no (inaudible) instruments anymore. All

of the data is projected onto these screens. So available for our routine and for the performance of the aircraft is the - - the FMS, the Flight

Management System. The Flight Management System feeds the aircraft with the data, where to go and how to do all of that when it comes to engine

performance and so forth.

So we`ve got a curser wondering around on the screens. I`ve got different pages where I can implement the data and this will then feed the autopilot

into what its rudder needs to do at certain stages of the flight. You`ve got flight stick technology. So we don`t have any you - - taking away your

view anymore from our instruments. It`s got moveable roller (ph) throttles which means that the throttles get the think back on the current power

sending. The pedals down here are to move the rudder and on the ground you could move the nose wheel to steer it. This panel up here operates all of

the systems. It`s basically meant to be set before the flight. Actually it`s designed to have a dark cockpit so there should be no lights on and if

you don`t have any non-normals then there should be no necessity really to switch anything in flight.

If we would go for a take off now, we would have made sure that all of the panels are set accordingly. Then we would have set up FMS, then we would

have our maps set accordingly here just in front of us I`ve got an airport moving map here so that I can see exactly where to taxi. On the take off

run itself, we would put the power into a certain position, check that the engine values are stable and then the auto-throttle system would be taking

over from there. Then with my science (ph) stick at a certain speed I would rotate the aircraft into a certain pitch value and then continue the

take off and at some point although I`d love to do the entire flight manually. I would switch the autopilot on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Our last report today is about perseverance and ingenuity. Perseverance is the name of NASA`s Mars 2020 rover that`s scheduled to

launch this summer and Ingenuity is the name of the drone helicopter it will be carrying. It`s about two and a half feet tall and it weighs four

pounds. It costs $23 million to develop and it won`t be carrying any scientific instruments. Ingenuity is mainly going along to demonstrate the

technology and while scientists built it, an Alabama high school student named it.

It was like a stroke "ingeniousness". Hey, helicopter naming takes a true "fan". There`s nothing they`d "rudder" be doing. They`re not afraid to

give it a "whirl", take it for a "spin", make your "pitch". "Rock and roll" because hey when it comes to naming aircraft the sky`s the limit.

We`re reaching new heights today. Columbia Heights High School is in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. Great to have you watching even if my puns

"crash and burn". I`m Carl Azuz for CNN.

END