Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Flight 370 Passengers Cleared by Malaysian Police; Malaysia Air Steps Up Cockpit Security; Lessons to be Learned from Flight 370; 8.2 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Chile; Search for Flight 370; GM CEO Faces More Questions on Delayed Recall

Aired April 02, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I love these compliments when you throw them to my show, Chris. I'll take them. Thanks so much. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Breaking overnight. New cockpit security rules.

CNN learning about strict new guidelines. Malaysia Airlines issuing internal memos to its employees as investigators refocus their attention on the flight crews.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're going to go back and walk through this.

COSTELLO: In Hawaii and talking to CNN about the search.

HAGEL: What could have been done, maybe what should have been done, what needs to be done better.

COSTELLO: As Australian ships race to the search zone.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We really wanted to tell the story of the Ocean Shield as it moves out into the Indian Ocean.

COSTELLO: A special edition of NEWSROOM starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

New this morning, a breakthrough headline. All 227 passengers from Malaysia Flight 370 have been cleared of any wrongdoing. That's according to the Malaysia police chief. So far 170 people have been interviewed as part of their criminal investigation and more interviews are expected. Still, 26 days into the search there are no clear suspects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHALID ABU BAKAR, INSPECTOR GENERAL, ROYAL MALAYSIAN POLICE FORCE: As we have sit here, only the passengers has been cleared. The rest, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The focus of the investigation remains on those pilots and those who had access to Flight 370 before it disappeared.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us now with more from Kuala Lumpur.

Hi, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol. Well, what we're beginning to see emerge is certainly a correlation between the actions that have been taken by Malaysian Airlines to improve security on board their aircraft which is one of the key things, that is when one of the two pilots leaves the cockpit, another senior member of staff must go into the cockpit to keep that remaining pilot company.

A single pilot not allowed to be inside the cockpit. And that comes as the police chief here has said all 227 passengers have now been ruled out of their four areas of investigation. Of course we've already been told that they've checked all the -- all their backgrounds to see if there's any link to terrorism, that all passengers have been cleared of that.

Now we know that they've been cleared of the four other areas of investigation being involved in the hijack, sabotage, having a personality issue on board the flight or psychological type of issue. So that just leaves the 12 crew who described this, if you will, as sort of a triangle of suspicion. At the top is the captain, at the bottom are all the passengers. They've been removed.

And now we're seeing Malaysian Airlines focus very specifically increased security around the two pilots. We don't know more than that, but we certainly can make some very intelligent analysis of where this investigation is focusing right now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I also understand that family members met with Malaysian investigators, Australian investigators. Tell us more about that -- Nic.

ROBERTSON: Yes, this is something that the family members have been waiting a long time to get. Many came from Beijing to Malaysia to meet with officials here. They finally got this -- what was described as a high-level delegation meeting today. They were told they were going to be given data, that they were going to be shown sort of information that's been collected, have it explained to them. They were told that this was complex information. They were able to ask questions.

Now the head of Civil Aviation after that meeting, and we have to stress that this is a closed door meeting, that we're not allowed in, it's the families and government officials. The head of Civil Aviation here said that the families were able to ask all the questions they wanted.

Well, guess what? When we talked to the families they said, yes, this was better. Yes, there was progress. Yes, we were able to ask some questions but the families still have more questions they want to ask. They're not entirely satisfied. But we do have to say, they did say, you know, positively that this was an improvement -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nic Robertson reporting live from Kuala Lumpur.

As Nic mentioned, we also learned today that Malaysia Airlines is stepping up security to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. A source telling CNN new rules have been put into place making sure no pilot or first captain is ever alone inside the cockpit. And the airline is stepping up security measures surrounding that cockpit area, too.

To talk about this I'm joined by CNN aviation and government regulation correspondent Rene Marsh and CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo. Mary is also an attorney who represents victims and families after airline disasters.

Rene, I want to start with you. Tell us more about these new rules that Malaysia is putting into place on its flights.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, under the new security measures, as you mentioned, no pilot or first officer will be allowed to be alone in the cockpit for obvious reasons. Let's just say one of the pilot has a health issue, you always want an able bodied person in the cockpit to fly the plane or if a pilot had sinister intentions, you wouldn't want that person in the cockpit and at the controls alone.

So now if a Malaysia Airlines pilot leaves the cockpit, a senior cabin steward is to remain inside of the cockpit until that pilot or first officer returns -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And what are they talking about when they say added security around the cockpit?

MARSH: Well, also, you know, when this pilot is going to leave the cockpit, they have to get clearance or visual clearance. They also have to get verification that, yes, they are -- they're clear to leave or clear to come out of the cockpit. That may come by way of a stewardess. They just want to make sure that not only the cockpit itself is secure, however, that area outside of the cockpit as well. So we do know that when a pilot comes out of the cockpit, the door is blocked, for example.

So that's an example of around the cockpit there. You just want to make sure that entire area, there are no holes as far as security goes -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. So, Mary, it seems odd Malaysia would suddenly come up with these -- it seems odd that Malaysia would suddenly come up with these new rules. Should we read anything into them as far as the investigation is concerned?

MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Well, I think it's precautionary on their part at this juncture in the investigation, and those rules, for example, U.S. carriers already have those rules in place. They were contained in an operations specification, an ops spec, back in -- you know, after 9/11 in the United States and explaining why, both for security and just for practical measures.

If there is -- if one pilot steps out, and the other one is in the cockpit in various stages of the flight they're required to have oxygen on. Now with locking cockpit doors, what are they supposed to do, get out of the pilot's seat and go let the other pilot back in?

A lot of this is just common sense that was already practiced by U.S. carriers. However, I think that they're in the process of elimination. I mean, they don't have -- it's clear they don't have evidence of what occurred so they're going through the best they can item by item and ruling it out. So they have no clear evidence of what happened. They can at least rule out what did not. And I think that's what they're doing. Just trying to be very cautious.

COSTELLO: Rene, just so everybody is clear, can you take us through the rules in place when we fly on an American-based airline?

MARSH: Right. So here in the United States a pilot, again, is never left alone in the cockpit and before the pilot leaves the cockpit they must receive some sort of verification that it is clear to come out. When they do come out, again, the cockpit doors, they are blocked. The pilot does make that visual contact, again, before opening the cockpit door.

Pilots also here in the United States, they don't get served the same meal. In the event the food is tainted or food poisoning, something to that effect. So if one pilot gets beef, the other gets chicken. And if there's a third in the cockpit, that one is going to get fish. They're all not going to get the same meal. That is a part of the program here in the United States.

And things have been pretty robust as it relates to security since 9/11. I mean, in addition to all of those cockpit procedures, you have additional procedures in which crew members, they receive self- defense training. We also have what's called the Federal Flight Deck officers which are essentially pilots which are armed. It's a voluntary program, but we also have that in place as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. Well, let's talk a little bit more about that, Mary. Trained pilots can take guns into the cockpit on American flights. Are Malaysian pilots allowed to do -- allowed to do the same?

SCHIAVO: Not to my knowledge, and when that was put in place in the United States, there was a tremendous amount of debate either way. You know, and right now I think the United States is actually cutting back on that program, but it's certainly -- many pilots, and I know many who did do that training, feel much better with the ability to defend themselves, but it was not without its criticism.

COSTELLO: And maybe a last question. There's also talk of putting cameras in the cockpits.

And, Rene, I know that some pilots are uncomfortable with that.

MARSH: Absolutely, because then it -- because the privacy issue and it just becomes an issue of continuously being watched. That big brother issue. So there has been some pushback on that. It's unclear if perhaps when we revisit this issue following what has happened here, if anyone who wants to oppose it may change their mind. But there definitely has been pushback on that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, pushback or not, Mary, is it possible that we'll soon see cameras in all cockpits required?

SCHIAVO: Well, and we can and we should. I mean, look, every clerk at a 7-Eleven is scanned with cameras and they don't have 239 lives for which they're responsible for. Realistically under U.S. law you do not have a privacy right in a flight deck. You know, you have a privacy right in the bathroom but not in the flight deck. And I think that is really just a disingenuous argument. It will be shot down.

However, there is a practical argument in that airlines will never, ever do this unless the Federal Aviation Administration makes it mandatory both for some kind of video or other monitoring in the cockpit and most importantly for streaming data. Unless it's the law or regulation, they will never do it. So we have to put more pressure on our own government more than the airlines.

COSTELLO: Mary Schiavo, Pamela -- I'm sorry, Rene Marsh, thank you very much.

Malaysian officials will have a chance to directly ask Chuck Hagel for more U.S. military assets today. The Defense secretary is in Hawaii to host a meeting of Southeast Asian Defense ministers. The group will look at how nations in the region can better coordinate disaster responses or search missions like Flight 370.

CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with more on this.

Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. When the ministers' meeting was originally scheduled months ago, nobody anticipated that this would be a major topic at this ministerial in Hawaii. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel arriving in Hawaii overnight. The Malaysian minister also there. He says he will ask the U.S. secretary for more help in deep sea search and recovery.

But it's unclear exactly what he plans to ask for. But on the plane on the way over Hagel met with reporters and talked about the need to take a look at this entire situation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAGEL: Like any of these tragedies, we don't yet know what happened. There's always lessons to be learned. What could have been done, maybe what should have been done, what needs to be done better, but coordination is a key part of this. How do we bring all the compliment of full assets of nations together to cooperate and connect when you have these disasters?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: The compliment of all nations' assets. And in fact today we know that still more assets arriving in the region. A British military submarine in the Southern Indian Ocean doing what it can to help with the search.

You know, it's worth remembering, this region of Asia just a few years ago saw the massive disaster from the tsunami. A lot of nations came together to help. Also nations coming together to help after that massive earthquake in Japan, but still in this situation, a lot of discussion about what has not worked as well and how to get better coordination the next time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon.

Now to Chile, where at least five people are dead after an earthquake struck off the coast of Chile last night.

There was the warning. It sound the 8.2 magnitude quake triggered landslides, knocked out power and caused extensive damage. It also set up a tsunami warning. Seven-foot waves crashing on to shore and forcing mass evacuations.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): The ground began shaking just before 9:00 local time. Terrified Chileans rushed out of homes and buildings, an earthquake alarm started blaring.

The epicenter of the 8.2 magnitude earthquake was located off the coast of northern Chile, some 60 miles northwest of Iquique. Tsunami fears prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders.

MAHMUD ALEUY, CHILEAN INTERIOR UNDERSECRETARY (Through Translator): What we have asked citizens throughout the country is to evacuate the coastal zones 100 percent. That's what we're working on and the emergency committee is working on it.

ROMO: The earthquake was blamed for at least three massive fires in Iquique. People fleeing from coastal areas spent the night anywhere they could find higher ground. President Michelle Bachelet, who has been in office for less than a month, declared three provinces in northern Chile disaster areas. MICHELLE BACHELET, CHILEAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): The country has been able to face these first few hours of emergency in a good way, and I would like to call on people who live in the affected regions to remain calm and to follow instructions by authorities so that we can ensure their safety.

ROMO: Chile is in the so-called ring of fire. An arc of volcanoes and fault lines circling the Pacific basin. The area is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We expect about another 8.8, 8.9 earthquake here sometime in the future. Could be tomorrow, could be in 50 years. We do not know when it's going to occur. But the key point here is that this magnitude 8.2 is not the large earthquake that we were expecting for this area.

ROMO: Some 500 people died in 2010 when an 8.8 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that toppled many buildings in coastal areas.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, planes and ships are badly needed in the Indian Ocean as the search for Flight 370 moves on. Now new hope is in the air thanks to movie director Peter Jackson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now assisting search crews in the Indian Ocean is a private plane used by filmmaker Peter Jackson. The director of "The Lord of the Rings" films and "The Hobbit" sent a Gulfstream 650 to aid in the search for that missing plane. According to media reports, the plane is not helping search for parts of the plane or debris but instead it's helping relay communications for military aircraft in the search area.

Saturday is when the plane's black box batteries to expire. The ship that may have the best tools to locate those devices, the Ocean Shield, is now one day away from the target zone. Australia's Ocean Shield is steaming towards the suspected debris field. The search zone shifted eastward toward the Australian coast but it is still an 1100 mile journey. The ship is about one day away from the target zone.

Paula Newton is live in Perth, Australia, with more details on that.

Hi, Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. As you said, that ship will be on site tomorrow. Why is it significant? Well, we've been talking about that expert equipment on board to be able to really detect that ping -- that ping signal if, in fact, that signal is still standing.

You know, they talk all the time about these batteries lasting 30 days. But that's what they're guaranteed to last by the manufacturer, what they're licensed to last. They could be lasting much longer and, Carol, of course, that's what searchers out there are hoping for.

I want to, though, try and clarify something about what they're doing in the meantime. When the Ocean Shield gets on site they say, look, if we still haven't refined the search zone enough to do what we're there to do, we will look for debris like every other ship -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Have they been able at all to narrow the search zone, you know, to increase the effectiveness of this technology that they have on board?

NEWTON: I know, we were hoping to hear more about that every day, unfortunately, Carol, I asked for some clarification on that today. When the search zone moved closer to coast and a little bit further east.

And no, they are refusing to say whether or not they've been able to narrow it, but it certainly doesn't sound like they have. In fact, they said that the search zone that they originally had outlined last week, they had searched it between March 28th and April 1st. They found nothing. And now they are in the waters adjoining that initial area.

What does that mean, Carol? It means that they think they've done a pretty good job exhausting that search in those waters. They are moving into some peripheral areas just hoping that they find something -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Newton reporting live from Australia this morning.

Still to come, Mary Barra faces day number two in the hot seat. The GM CEO taking tough questions about why her company failed to act on a deadly design flaw for more than a decade.

Poppy Harlow is on the story. Good morning.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That is right. Less than three months into her job at the helm of this huge American company, Mary Barra taking really tough questions from the House yesterday. Today she faces the Senate. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We'll return to our coverage of Flight 370, but first I have a major recall to tell you about. And this one has to do with Chrysler. Chrysler will recall nearly 900,000 SUVs including some models of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Dodge Durango due to brake problems.

The automaker launched an investigation after customers complained about brake pedals being too firm. Owners of those vehicles will be contacted to schedule inspections of brake boosters and the automaker plans to install shields to protect those devices.

Chrysler says it has a report of one account, no injuries linked to that brake problem.

The CEO of General Motors back on Capitol Hill today. Just one hour from now Mary Barra will face a second round of questioning about why it took her company more than a decade to recall millions of cars over a deadly ignition design flaw.

Yesterday Barra held firm in her answers and offered apologies to the victims and their families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY BARRA, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: Today's GM will do the right thing. That begins with my sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall, especially the families and friends who lost their lives or were injured. I am deeply sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Barra also announced GM has hired Ken Feinberg to oversee the recall response. Feinberg is best known for handling recovery payouts after disasters like 9/11 and the Boston marathon bombings.

Joining me now Ken and Jayne Rimer who lost their daughter in 2006 after the faulty switch prevented her airbag from deploying.

Welcome to both of you.

JAYNE RIMER, LOST DAUGHTER IN 2006 GM CRASH: Thank you.

KEN RIMER, LOST DAUGHTER IN 2006 GM CRASH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Jane, listening to yesterday's hearings, did you -- did you get any satisfaction at all?

J. RIMER: No, I did not. I felt that she was very scripted in what she was saying to us who had lost our children, and it's under investigation. We've heard that many, many times yesterday. And we as family members found that was very frustrating.

COSTELLO: Ken, what do you want to hear from her?

K. RIMER: What we'd like to -- you know, hear from them, GM, is take ownership of what happened. Whether it's new GM, old GM, it's still GM. And we want to make sure that this doesn't happen, no one else gets hurt in these vehicles but more so GM needs to say, man, we really messed up. This was our fault. We'll fix everything that's out there and we'll take care of those that were hurt or injured and those that lost loved ones. It was our problem. It was our fault and we accept the ownership of that.

COSTELLO: In a scathing op-ed that was published in the "Huffington Post", movie director -- documentary director Michael Moore wrote, quote, "I am opposed to the death penalty but to every rule there is usually an exception. And in this case, I hope the criminals at General Motors will be arrested and made to pay for their premeditated decision to take human lives for a lousy 10 bucks." Jayne, does he have a point?

J. RIMER: I do agree with that. Yes, he does have a very valid point.

COSTELLO: Are the people who are responsible for this at GM, could they be considered criminals, Ken?

K. RIMER: I don't know. I mean, we haven't proposed any laws that would maybe say that they were negligent. But I mean, obviously if they were, you know, someone in corporate made the decision that it was better to put this part out as opposed to -- you know, they were less involved with them financially than it was to put the correct part out or something that fell within their specifications.

So negligence, yes. Criminal negligence? I guess if people were hurt, injured, killed, it could be. Again, like I said, it's a fine line we're treading there. And hopefully just in there -- you know, just knowing that someone did this, and we'll find out who those people were. But, you know, it involves more than just one person I believe.

COSTELLO: Yes. Jayne, General Motors has hired Ken Feinberg who is best known for victims -- setting up victims' compensation funds. Would that be something you think victims and their families would be interested in?

J. RIMER: I do, but there is no amount of money that can replace our children or the ones that we have lost.

COSTELLO: Ken and Jayne Rimer, thanks so much for joining me this morning. I do appreciate it.

K. RIMER: Thanks for telling our story.

J. RIMER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Absolutely.