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Airline Confirms Debris Found were From Downed Plane; GOP Rep. Grimm Announces Resignation

Aired December 30, 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: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you for joining me this morning.

Darkness falls and the last glimmer of hope fades. AirAsia confirming that debris found overnight off the coast of Borneo is indeed the wreckage of Flight 8501. Crews have recovered at least one body but hospitals are bracing for the grim task of identifying the remains of the 162 people on board.

The "Jakarta Post" detailing the final communication the captain asking permission to climb to 38,000 to escape a storm. Two full minutes passed as the controller assesses air traffic in the area. When the controller approves the ascend Flight 8501 does not respond.

Last hour we learned the Navy destroyer, the USS Samson, has arrived in the Java Sea. But what had been its original mission, searching for rescue and possible survivors, now turns to recovery.

Indonesia's president says search teams are now concentrating on finding the bodies of the passengers and crew and AirAsia CEO was quick to reach out to the heartbroken families. Tony Fernandes tweeting, quote, "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."

Let's head to the Indonesian city of Surabaya right now. That's where the flight originated and where distraught family members have been huddling these last agonizing days.

CNN's senior producer David Molko is there with more for you.

Hi, David.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Hi, Carol. Well, it's just past 8:00 in the evening -- 9:00, I'm sorry, here in Surabaya, Indonesia. We're a few hundred miles away from where most of the activity is taking place now. That's offshore off the island of Borneo in the Java Sea.

We're seeing an all-out search effort. In fact, things are being ramped up. The president of Indonesia, you mentioned, Joko Widodo, known by his nickname Jokowi, was here a short time ago. He said there were at least three ships in that search area and he was requesting that all other assets -- ships, planes and rescue teams on land -- make their way to that search area.

What we know is it's off the island of Borneo. The waters are relatively shallow there somewhere in the 100-foot range, we think, and that may help search teams in recovering. Again, the priority right now, as you mentioned, is to find and recover any human remains that are out there, a rather grim task at this moment, and of course parts of the airplane.

Interesting from Jokowi, President Jokowi, also Tony Fernandes, no one is really using the word bodies or recovery at this point. They're still saying rescue. But if you talk to family members here on the ground it's very clear that hope has faded -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Where are they waiting, David?

MOLKO: Carol, just behind me is the crisis center here at Surabaya Airport, just down from the terminal entrance. This is where family members are receiving briefings and where they first found out officially about the news that the plane had gone down. Some are staying in a hotel. You got about 80 people from the city of Surabaya, so some of those had gone home now.

It's been a long three days, one family said. In fact, I talked to one grandfather and father of people on board the plane, his name is Rudy Teodoros, a grandfather, two grandchildren, son, daughter-in-law, all on the aircraft going for a holiday in Singapore, and he said when they were in -- he was in that room with his wife and they saw the images on local television on TV come up showing the bodies, they were devastated. They broke down.

Interesting, though, that amidst that grief and the sense of loss, a sense also of strength. Rudy told me, you know, "I have to be strong. I'm the leader of this family. I need to be strong for my wife." It's quite difficult, though, when you also hear things like them say, you know, we're just waiting and waiting for news and the best we can hope for at this point is that the remains come back to us, and that we can give our relatives proper burial -- Carol.

COSTELLO: David Molko reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

The search now embraces a dual mission, both equally important, respectfully recovering the bodies of the 162 passengers and crew, and retrieving the wreckage.

To help explain what doomed the flight, CNN's Paula Hancocks boarded a boat with some local civilians who desperately wanted to help in the search efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a little choppy, but the visibility was quite significant. There was only a little bit of rain, really nothing to talk about, so visibility would have been good as well from the air, and clearly as you can see the aircraft did spot parts of the -- of the debris. So it was -- the weather did hold and that was very conducive to the search and rescue operation certainly. Now as soon as we did hear the reports that in fact the location had

been identified, the fishing boat we were on turned around and came back to harbor. It was just a local fishing boat who had offered to help, just showing the community here, wanting to be part of this and wanting to do everything that they could, and as you can imagine, the mood coming back to the harbor was very somber.

These fishermen were not only trying to help with the search and rescue operation, but they are fellow Indonesians, and certainly most of these passengers and crew on board this flight were Indonesian as well. One man who was part of the fisheries ministry, he was on board to try and look for some of the debris, said that he was extremely sad. He was relieved that it had been found but very sad that there was no sign of survivors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Paula Hancocks reporting, thanks so much.

Now the area of the sea where this debris has been found is only 80 to 100 feet deep in some places. It's a shallow area but that along with the weather conditions as you heard Paula mentioned may not help in the recovery effort.

Chad Myers is here to tell us what the weather conditions are now.

Hi, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol. You know, when you get out in the deep ocean it's called a roller, the ocean kind of does this. When you get into shallow water the ocean does this, it's more of a chop. It's a steeper wave, and that's what they saw yesterday. They called it two to three meters which is almost 10 feet in some spots.

But I'm going to back you up 24 hours here, the skies are fairly good. I know it looks like there's a lot of cloud cover but these are high clouds, not getting in any way of the surface or of the search at all. And then all of a sudden last night about 6:00 a.m. their time, about the same time, 48 hours before that, that the plane had its trouble, more storms popped up right here.

Now the last known position is right there at that dot, right there where that plane is, but where they found the debris is back in here in this yellow box. Now we know that to be the case because the debris field has moved a little bit at least because of current and because of wind. This is the current. There is the debris field. There's where it was last spotted on radar and that current would have moved that debris to that angle right there.

Something else that's happened. The wind has also moved that debris. It has been blowing in from the west at about 25 to 30 miles per hour, so that's why it's not over -- I know people were talking earlier why it wasn't -- why it was behind where it was. It's behind because that's how the debris has been moved by weather and by the current.

Now I'll take you to the area a little bit closer on our Google earth and we'll zoom in to that area, about 125 miles off the shore here, at about 100 to 140 feet deep. If you get in here a little bit closer, you're at that 80-foot margin, a little bit closer and out in here, you're looking at about 140. Notice how all this is the same color.

That means it is very shallow but it also means that it could be very turbid which means that all of this rain that they received over parts of Malaysia and Indonesia, and all -- that's all washing mud into this area. It's not a clean ocean like you might expect in the Gulf of Mexico or the gulf stream out in the Atlantic. So 140 feet deep, 100 feet deep and that's good news.

They'll be able to find the black boxes, but in that turbid, in that muddy water that you see there because of the runoff, it may be a little bit more difficult visibility in the water, probably about five to 10 feet. Not if you're a diver you'd want to see 100 feet, that's just not going to happen there.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much.

So as you heard the recovery effort is perilous. We know some bodies have been recovered by helicopter, others by boat. It's time- consuming and emotionally training.

With me now former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz and CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general at the Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo.

Welcome to both of you.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Thank you.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning, and thank you for being here.

Of course, Peter, the first priority is to recover these victims. How difficult will that be?

GOELZ: Well, it's going to be challenging and it's going to be heart- wrenching. Some of the victims, of course, you know, will be found on the surface of the water, others, however, are going to be trapped in the wreckage at the bottom at 100 to 140 feet. That's really kind of at the outer reaches of free divers. You're going to have to have a pretty massive diving operation that would include, you know, recovery chambers.

It's going to take some time and first they're going to have to find the actual debris field, which is going to take a week or 10 days. So we're still in this -- in the very intensive search period.

COSTELLO: So, Mary, of course the black boxes are also a priority. One of the searchers said he could see the shadow of a plane through the water. So might it be easier to locate those black boxes?

SCHIAVO: Yes, particularly if it's true that somebody has seen the shadow of the plane. They will be able to go to the plane and they probably will do this. They will go to the area of the plane where the black box are -- black boxes are in the tail and they could actually get those out and remove those before they do anything more to the wreckage, to the rest of the plane.

Of course they will, you know, look for the bodies and try to remove the bodies, but it's going to take a lot more to get the plane up than just to get the black boxes out and send those off for analysis. So I would assume that's what they have done and they've done that in other crashes.

COSTELLO: And also you could see the emergency door and life jackets floating on the surface of the water, none of the bodies that have been recovered were wearing life jackets.

So, Peter, does this tell you anything about how the plane came down?

GOELZ: Well, it indicates that whatever happened, it happened quickly, and that the passengers were not wearing life jackets apparently the bodies floating so far reveal that, but you know the mystery is going to be there. We've only got a short period of time before we start to be able to analyze the wreckage, and to get to the black boxes, as Mary said. We won't know, but we're going to know, and that's the reality.

We'll know what caused this accident and we'll be able to take steps so that it doesn't happen again.

COSTELLO: And, Mary, I want to talk a little bit about this two- minute window. So the pilot asked air traffic controllers to ascend a full two minutes went by and then air traffic control again contacted the plane but by that time the plane was gone.

Is a two-minute window a long period of time? Is that unusual?

SCHIAVO: Well, not if the air traffic controller was dealing with a lot of traffic, I mean, trying to clear open some space to get the one plane out of trouble, you couldn't send them into the path of another. Not only would it risk a midair, but then their collision avoidance equipment would have gone off and then the planes would have taken action to deviate and so then the air traffic controller would have had to sort that out as well.

So, you know, it could have been obviated had the pilot declared an emergency then the air traffic controller would have had to direct his or her attention to that flight immediately, and given that pilot whatever that pilot needed. But I think whatever happened, happened very quickly, and there just wasn't time after that. I suspect the pilots were already fighting to save the plane at that point.

COSTELLO: Yes. And let's talk a little bit about the pilot, Peter, because he was very experienced. He's a former F-16 fighter pilot. He had more than 20,000 hours of flight time, he's got more than 6,000 hours of flight time for AirAsia. At the controls of an Airbus 320. He was 53 years old, he was married with two children, but the skies were really crowded that day as we know. We know air travel is growing at such a rapid pace in Asia that there

are not enough experienced air traffic controllers to go around. Will that be part of the investigation?

GOELZ: Well, certainly human factors are always an integral part of any investigation but as you -- as you've mentioned, this is precisely the kind of individual you want in the front of the plane, sitting in the left seat, an experienced pilot who has been trained by the military, who has got, you know, more than the requisite number of hours in the type of aircraft. You couldn't look for a more qualified individual.

So -- but human factors, how the two crew members faced the challenges, how they responded to it that will be all part of the investigation, and it in part be revealed by the voice recorder once that's recovered.

COSTELLO: The other twist in this, Mary, and I was just curious, the plane took off two hours early. It was scheduled to take -- I think it was scheduled to take off at 7:30 in the morning but it took off at 5:30 in the morning. We know a lot of people on board that plane were going to Singapore to celebrate the New Year's. Is that unusual?

SCHIAVO: Oh, yes. I mean, to have a flight leave early other than if it was a -- you know, a charter flight, but to have a flight leave early is something that just doesn't happen. You know, for example in the United States, so many people would miss the plane, et cetera, but you know, it's a different part of the world and it seems very unusual. The question I would have, if I was doing the investigation is, why did it take off early?

Were they trying to beat the weather? And you know, sometimes you just can't beat a thunderstorm. They can move very quickly but I think that would be one of the questions that the investigators will have for the airline as to why.

COSTELLO: Mary Schiavo, Peter Goelz, thanks so much.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The third ranking Republican in the House of Representatives is denying ties to white supremacists, a group but he admits he did talk to the group in 2002. Majority Whip Steve Scalise admits he addressed a group formed by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke back when he served in the Louisiana state house. Scalise now said he detests any hate group he says and a spokesperson says Scalise did not know the group held racist views and he was trying to drum up support for his policies.

Well, the other shoe has dropped for Michael Grimm. The New York Republican congressman pled guilty to felony tax evasion last week. Earlier in the year, he also made negative headlines when he threatened a reporter who asked about an investigation into his campaign finances. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL GRIMM (R), NEW YORK: Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) balcony.

MICHAEL SCOTTO, NY1 REPORTER: Why? I just wanted to ask you --

(CROSSTALK)

GRIMM: If you ever do that to me again --

SCOTTO: Why? Why? It's a valid question.

(CROSSTALK)

GRIMM: No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, many have been calling for the congressman to step down and after praying, Congressman Grimm finally decided it was time.

CNN's Athena Jones has more for you.

Good morning, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

That's right. Representative Grimm said he's going to resign on Monday. That's January 5th.

This is a change of heart after he entered that guilty plea for felony tax evasion just last week, he rejected calls to resign saying he would serve as long as he could. But now, after speaking with John Boehner, Representative Grimm that he will be bowing out.

Of course, you know, that Republicans are preparing to take control of the new Congress and they would like to do that with a clean slate. And so, having Grimm bow out now will certainly be seen as a good thing -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live from Washington this morning, thank you.

President Obama called a couple on their wedding day to apologize. The newly weds were supposed to get married at a golf course in Hawaii. But at the last-minute, their wedding was moved to another location when the president scheduled a round of golf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The location was beautiful, overlooked the golf course. Before the ceremony began everyone was looking on the golf course to see if we could find the president there somewhere golfing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The president says he did not know there was a wedding scheduled at the golf course and would have changed his plans, had he known.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: who were the people aboard flight 8501? We'll hear from those who loved them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: AirAsia confirming the debris spotted in the Java Sea is indeed that from missing Flight 8501. As the search goes on, we're also learning about some of the 162 passengers on board that flight. Most are Indonesians, but there are citizens from other countries, as well.

British national Choi Chi Man was traveling with his 2-year-old daughter. Jayden Ardhi was traveling with four other members of his family. They had planned to celebrate the New Year in Singapore.

CNN's Rosa Flores joins me now with more on the families.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, you know, this is such a devastating blow for these families and I think that a lot of us can identify with waiting for a family member at the airport. And a lot of us take for granted for fact we meet our family member at the airport and we walk away with our family member and we go home.

That's not the case for these families. Hear this, some of them saw bodies floating in the ocean on television. And so, this is the difficult blow that these families are receiving at the airport as they hear more about this ill-fated flight.

Now, CNN talked to a family member. And, you know, for some pain, you just don't need translation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): But my brother never flew with AirAsia, so I kept calm, then someone told me that they saw his name on TV, then I saw it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And I also talked to the principal of three of the students on board. Now, this principal knew five people on board because she also knew the parents of these students. She describes one of her students. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's a very cheerful girl and always have fun and jokes with her friends. We are really so shocked with horror of this news in the airplane incident and we are waiting for good news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: We are also learning more about the crew. We're learning more about the pilot.

Now, we looked closely at the pilot's Facebook page. And I want you to take a look at this, because as we look at those photos, we learn a lot about this man. Three things very important in his life -- planes, motorcycles and family.

And talking about family we have a tweet from his daughter, and I'm going to quote here. She says, "Dad, please come home. I still need you. Please return, dad. Dad, come home. Dad, you have to come home." Now, another one of those tweets she refers to her father as a hero.

Now, one last thing, because a lot of people are counting their blessings this morning, Carol, because some of those people didn't make the flight. Some of those were no-shows. We also saw some posts on Facebook regarding this, some people saying, quote, "The Lord is good to me." So, it's very difficult to read these posts then to learn about these people who have families just like all of us and to know that their family members are receiving this news.

COSTELLO: Those people that didn't make the flight, the flight was supposed to take off at 7:30 and they moved it up two hours to 5:30 in the morning. Some people didn't get the e-mail from AirAsia.

FLORES: And they were upset because they didn't get the e-mail and now they're counting their blessings because of it.

COSTELLO: It's funny how life is, right? Sad.

FLORES: We never know, Carol.

COSTELLO: Rosa Flores, thanks so much.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: the international recovery efforts begin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We have a destroyer, the USS Sampson. She's actually on station now as of this morning and she will be prepared to assist in any of the surface recovery efforts that are going on right now, the debris field, that kind of thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Coming up next, we'll talk about how the destroyer and U.S. troops will be assisting in Indonesia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)