"60 Minutes" on May 6, 2012

The three stories:  F-22 Fighter; Sheriff Hodge investigated; Michael Phelps of the Beijing Olympics.

Lesley Stahl talked about the F-22 Raptor, the most expensive fighter jet ever.  There is an issue with "lack of oxygen."  Two pilots risked their careers to talk with Lesley, without permission from the Air Force.  The elite jet jockeys.  There are 200 pilots qualified to fly the F-22.  Josh and Jeremy were the pilots interviewed.  Major Gordon got the distinguished flying cross.  Captain Wilson was the other.  Hypoxia, oxygen deprivation.  Josh went to a hypobaric chamber after an issue.  The Raptor cough.  Dizziness, vertigo.  Pilots are taking out additional life insurance policies.  In May 2011, the entire F-22 fleet was grounded.  Two theories:  not enough oxygen, or something bad (poison).  Norton Schwartz explained they did not find problem.  Major General Charles Lyon discussed an oxygen measuring device, and a charcoal filter.   In October, 2011, Jeremy had an incident.   Most expensive group of lab monkeys ever assembled.  The count is eleven incidents since flights resumed after the grounding.  18% of the pilots have reported an incident.  Media event at Langley Air Force Base.  General Michael Hostage.  Some pilots:  coughing up black sputum (from charcoal).  The filters have now been removed.  Jeremy was called in:  fly or your out.  Josh was reprimanded for not flying.   Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill).


Sheriff Lawrence Hodge of Whitley County, Kentucky.  The Corbin Times-Tribune employed Adam.  Samantha was Adam's boss.  People hopped up on oxys.  The good old boy system.  Population 35,000, the county is on the border with Tennessee.  Sanders Cafe is the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
This stretch of I-75 is called the pill pipeline.  From 2004 there were issues with the Sheriff.  Editor Samantha Schindler noted nothing was going into the evidence log.  Defense attorney Ron Reynolds is a friend of Lawrence Hodge.  A perp, Rick Benson, had a lot of money, paid Ron Reynolds $150,000 and 10,000 went to the Sheriff.  Adam and Samantha interviewed Lawrence Hodge.   Open Records request filed asking "where" Benson's guns stored.  In May 2010, Hodge voted out of office.  Then, two thugs approached Adams.  Last May, Hodge pleaded guilty.  Samantha went to Oregon.  Adam remains in Whitley County.  


CNN's Anderson Cooper on assignment for 60 Minutes interviews Michael Phelps.  Meadowbrook in Baltimore.  Bob Bowman is Michael's coach.  Fear:  we had so far to come, we would never get back.  Debbie Phelps.  Come on, Michael, get with the program here.  In March 2009, Phelps came to a decision about the 2012 London Olympics.  In the summer of 2010, Bowman had a major practice and Phelps was in Las Vegas.  At home, a bubble/room that simulates 8,000 or 9,000 feet of altitude.