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Weather Hinders Search; Family Loses Seven in Disaster; Mother Shot in Walmart; Black Box Secrets

Aired December 31, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Ana Cabrera starts right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera. And happy New Year's Eve. This is a CNN special live coverage of the deadly AirAsia plane disaster.

And as each piece of wreckage and each body is pulled from the sea, investigators are learning more about what may have happened in the minutes just before Flight 8501 hit the water.

But I want to start with this video. Simple wooden boxes. You can see they have bleak numbers there, 001 and 002. These are the victims, seven of them. Local reports saying a teenage boy and a woman, believed to be a flight attendant, are among the first of the 162 people recovered from the Java Sea. A task that is becoming more and more difficult as monsoonal conditions slam the sea grounding planes and preventing divers from reaching more bodies, most of which are believed to be still strapped to their seats.

The head of AirAsia playing down the initial reports that sonar had detected the plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY FERNANDES, AIRASIA CEO: Search and rescue team is doing a fantastic job and they are narrowing the search. They are feeling comfortable, more comfortable that they are beginning to know where it is, but they have -- there is no confirmation of them. No sonar. Nothing. Some visual identification, but nothing confirmed.

The weather, unfortunately, is not looking good for the next two or three days and that is slowing us down. But they did inform me that the ships are looking to operate 24 hours, which is very encouraging. And they're moving all the assets to the two spots which they think the aircraft could be -- where the aircraft could be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now, CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.

Tom, it's monsoon season there in Indonesia. Give us an idea of what these crews are up against.

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Ana, they're seeing thunderstorms that we typically don't see. For us, a two to three-inch downpour is a big storm. They're seeing rainfall that is eight, 10, 12 inches. It's ongoing.

They're focusing in section five here, moving into section four, and that makes sense because the currents have been generally west to east. But, again, it's the thunderstorm activity during the day. Yesterday, the most intense thunderstorms we've seen since the disappearance of this plane. I still think that thunderstorm was stronger than yesterday's. But it's the nighttime hours that they're going to have to really start to concentrate on.

When these downpours come down, they are creating such an intense weight down on the surface of the ocean, it's a sloshing effect. These are not the storms that we're typically used to that come blowing at us from one direction with an incredible gust front. They don't pass right on through. The vessels are not fighting waves in one direction. But because the intensity is different in the area, it sloshes.

Now, the divers that have to go from a larger vessel to a smaller one are even a life raft are having some problems, of course, getting into the water. But once they're down about 20 feet, the water is calm for them.

Another thing to think about is if they're going to start to use the pull pinger indicators or the side scan sonars, they're going to have to do that at night as well because the waters are calm and they won't have that drag and that pull on the cables. I remember that during the Malaysian 370 search, when we had the Australian tanker pulling the Bluefin 21, they broke a couple of cables. Now, there's a safety cable, but they're going to have to do this at

night. This is going to continue to be the problem.

Quickly, for you, we had a tropical storm across the Philippines that I do believe, instead of moving toward Vietnam in about five days, is going to be making its way into our region. It's not going to be a tropical storm in nature, but enough circulation with this could intensify the heavy downpours even more. We'll be watching that closely, Ana.

CABRERA: Sounds tricky. Tom Sater, thank you.

And search efforts, as they are hampered by bad weather, and it doesn't seem to be going away any time soon, it's the same kind of weather that's believed to have been at least a factor, if not the primary cause, in Flight 8501's disappearance. But already there's a lot we can learn given what has been pulled from the sea.

So let's talk about that with Alan Diehl, former accident investigator for the NTSB, the FAA and the Air Force. He's also the author, by the way, of "Air Safety Investigators: Using Science to Save Lives One Crash At a Time."

Alan, a lot to talk about. AirAsia's CEO said despite this bad weather that Tom just outlined for us, the ships are working 24 hours around the clock. Does weather impact what's happening below the surface in terms of using sonar for example? ALAN DIEHL, FORMER ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR FOR NTSB, FAA AND AIR FORCE:

Well, as was pointed out, there's a danger of breaking a cable in heavy weather. And, obviously, it's a threat for the divers. They've got to get eyeballs on the submerged wreckage before anybody's going to conclude that is the main wreckage. And it may -- there are indications from the bodies that this may also have been an in-flight breakup, which means there may be several wreckage fields down there.

CABRERA: Now, we learned there were some changes to where the debris was found yesterday. We were here reporting six miles from where the airline or the airplane was last located. And now we know it's actually - this debris is being found about 60 miles. So how does that change the analysis of what may have happened?

DIEHL: Well, it says that they're going to be looking at a much larger area. Ana, the fact that reportedly two of the bodies were naked suggests an in-flight breakup. And that's very significant. The one flight attendant was clothed and other passengers' bodies that they recovered were clothed, which say there may well be people strapped into various pieces of wreckage.

The fact that the flight attendant did not have a life vest on is very significant. She probably didn't have time to prepare the cabin. But the in-flight breakup is very significant because remember, Ana, the recorders are in the tail of the aircraft. These aircraft, when they break up in flight, often lose their tails and so that means, particularly in a thunderstorm, the tail, with the recorders, may be many miles from where we think the wreckage is and where we're recovering the debris. It conceivably also could even be on land, which would mean no pingers, at least no pingers of any value because they only go off when they're in the water, as you know, Ana.

CABRERA: But what would make you think that they're on land if the debris has all come from the sea so far?

DIEHL: Well, I'm not saying they are on land. I'm just saying that's one possibility as to why they haven't heard anything. And, of course, as they pointed out earlier, they will be doing this search in the next several days, particularly once the weather subsides a little bit and at night, they're going to have the pingers out there looking, OK.

I'm not suggesting that they're on land. I'm just simply saying that's one possibility that we can't eliminate. You know, when you've done this for several decades or 40 years, like I have, you never make any assumptions about where the wreckage has to be, especially in an in- flight breakup in a very stormy weather condition.

CABRERA: Now, you already touched on this next question I want to ask you, so I want to dig just a little deeper. We do know there are local reports suggesting a couple of the bodies have already been identified. You mentioned the flight attendant. There's also believed to be a teenage boy among the victims, which, hopefully, is providing some closure to the families. But the fact that officials are already able to identify people, and that's happening so quickly, does that tell us anything about the crash itself? DIEHL: Well, you know, the medical examiners are, of course, going to

look very closely at the type of trauma that these individuals suffered, you know, their - but to see if there's any evidence of burns. But, in fact, it's probably pretty certain they died of blunt force trauma and mercifully they'll look and see if they were unconscious, they can do that by looking for water in the lungs and so on, Ana. So this is a grizzly business.

I'm a psychologist, not a medical examiner, but I've certainly been involved with enough of these to know they're going to do very thorough job and they will -- they certainly should be able to identify the bodies, the names of the victims, with the DNA and other evidence that we will have shortly.

CABRERA: All right. Alan Diehl, thank you for your insight.

Up next, I'll speak live with someone who lost his father in a plane crash and he has a unique perspective about surviving these first few days and why finding a suitcase, for example, or knowing where a relative was sitting is important to some of these family members, but maybe not to others.

Plus, the secrets of the so-called black boxes. We examine several crashes and what the information told investigators about the last moments.

And then, horrifying and tragic moments inside a Walmart. A toddler grabs a loaded gun from his mother's purse and accidentally kills her. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Two families planned to board AirAsia Flight 8501 and now they are thankful to be alive. An Indonesian woman and her husband were excited to take their three children to SeaWorld in Singapore. Their suitcases were packed, they were ready to go, and suddenly the phone rang. The woman's father had been diagnosed with Hepatitis. The woman wanted to be by her father's side so she canceled the trip just one day before Flight 8501 took off. She says it is truly a miracle.

And an aversion (ph) to checking messages may have spared another family, including two infants. They forgot to check phone messages and e-mails from AirAsia saying that the flight was leaving two hours before the originally scheduled departure time. A family member apparently posted the flight itinerary online and called the message mix-up a blessing in disguise. Wow.

So many others were not as fortunate. One grieving family had seven loved ones onboard flight 8501 and they are struggling with unspeakable loss. Our Gary Tuchman spoke with them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Indonesian family going through an unfathomable experience. They lost many people they loved on AirAsia Flight 8501. SUYONO THAJAKUSUMA, RELATIVES WERE ON AIRASIA FLIGHT 8501 (through translator): My mother and then my sister and my brother-in-law and his whole family and my in-law to be. So in total, seven people.

TUCHMAN: And now Suyono Thajakusuma and other family members get ready to drive to where the AirAsia flight started, the Surabaya Airport, to join other families waiting to hear about the status of their loved ones bodies. Suyono's mother, 81-year-old Jo Injry (ph), the matriarch of the family.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How does a man cope in this situation?

THAJAKUSUMA: I am very sad. Of course, I am devastated.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): And Jo Injry is this young man's grandmother. As Eric drove to the airport, he thought about opportunities he missed out on with his grandma.

ERIC, RELATIVES WERE ON AIRASIA FLIGHT 8501: I basically regret all the time that I was supposed to spend time with her. Now I can't do it anymore.

THAJAKUSUMA: When we had the information, first we, of course, we hoped our family members were safe and thought of nothing. Until yesterday morning and afternoon, we still hoped we would get a miracle, that our families are still alive because my mother, my sister, we were very close.

TUCHMAN: And this is Suyono's other sister, The Le Hoa.

THE LE HOA, HER MOTHER, SISTER, 5 OTHERS ON AIRASIA FLIGHT 8501 (through translator): I ask God why he is testing us this way, by taking them away without giving us the chance to say good-bye.

TUCHMAN: But this family knows a miracle is most unlikely.

THAJAKUSUMA: My wife said, why is it always the best that leave first?

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Surabaya, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: So, as the AirAsia search goes on, investigators are still racing to get the crucial information that is stored in those so- called black boxes of the AirAsia plane. We'll take a look at some of the final moments investigators have uncovered from past crashes.

And then more heartbreak. A young mother shot and killed in Walmart by her two-year-old son. I'll speak with an investigator about what happened, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Just an unthinkable tragedy in Idaho inside a Walmart in the small town of Hayden, home to fewer than 14,000 people. It's a suburb of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. A young mother shopping with her children while visiting from out of town is shot and killed by her two-year-old son. The bullet came from the mother's gun, which she kept hidden inside her purse. Now Lieutenant Stuart Miller is joining me from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. He is on the phone from Coeur d'Alene.

Lieutenant Miller, this is horrible. Describe for us what happened.

LT. STUART MILLER, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Well, you pretty much described it very well. An unfortunate tragedy. Veronica and her family - or some extended family were in the Walmart shopping when the child, her child, a two year old, was in the cart. And seated next to her in the cart was her purse, which carried her concealed firearm. And at some point, which we still have to investigate and the circumstances of how he obtained it or how he defeated any kind of a safety or what type of a gun it was, accessed the weapon and fired a shot and -- striking his mother and killing her.

CABRERA: Wow. How is the family doing, especially that little boy?

MILLER: You know, I haven't had contact with the family since yesterday. I know that yesterday when we spoke, it was -- they were very grief stricken, obviously. You know, this is one of those unfortunate, senseless incidents that you just don't have any control over a lot of times. And it's just not something out of the norm anyway that you're accustomed to seeing or hearing about. And so, yes, it kind of reminds everybody, you know, that does carry a gun or believe that, you know, in their right to carry a gun that they should keep it safe and keep their family safe.

CABRERA: Can you tell us more about this area? I actually worked in Spokane, Washington, for a number of years, so I'm somewhat familiar with Hayden. I know it's rural.

MILLER: Yes.

CABRERA: But how commonplace are guns and would it be unusual for someone to carry a concealed gun into a store there?

MILLER: It's very commonplace. You know, our county has a total of about 16,000 conceal weapon permits that are issued throughout our county and some other folks that have come into our county that have got their conceal weapons permit. So I think it's very common. You know, the city of Hayden, like I said, is between 14,000 to 16,000 residents. Very close to the city of Coeur d'Alene, it's a suburb of. And so the fact is, is that we're a rural community but north Idaho itself has a very pro-gun community. So very common for folks to be carrying a concealed weapon and going into stores and such.

CABRERA: So sorry for that family, so sorry for that community there. Lieutenant Stuart Miller, thank you for joining us.

MILLER: Appreciate it. Thank you.

CABRERA: Coming up next --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling 3407 Buffalo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling 3407, approaching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delta 1998, look off your right side about five miles for a dash eight, should be 2300. Do you see anything there?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Moments later, this plane would crash near Buffalo. And CNN's taking a look at several different plane accidents and what the so- called black boxes reveal about each plane's final moments. This is CNN's special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Bottom of the hour. Thanks for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera.

And we are getting some new pictures as more bodies from AirAsia Flight 8501 arrive back on land. Searchers have now recovered seven bodies. The first two arrived in simple wooden caskets with the number 001 and 002. Now, the head of the search operation says one of the seven bodies was that of a flight attendant, while local media reports the other was a teenage boy.

As for the search for the wreckage, it has been slowed by the monsoonal weather conditions there. There's also conflicting information about whether wreckage from the plane has been spotted under water. Now, a search official told CNN, he believes sonar equipment detected the wreckage at the bottom of the sea, but the CEO of AirAsia now says that has not been confirmed.

As crews search for victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, investigators are focused on finding those so-called black boxes. These devices, located in the tail section of the aircraft, contain vital cockpit voice and flight data recorder information. More importantly, they can reveal the answers to most of the questions about what happened during a crash and why. CNN's Randi Kaye looks back at some other recent cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, the Concord jet, takes off from Paris. This terrifying video shows the plane on fire as it leaves the runway. The control tower radios the pilots. "4590, you have strong flames behind you." Moments later, they crash into a hotel killing all 109 onboard. The plane's black boxes are recovered.

FRANCOIS BROUSSE, AIR FRANCE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR (through translator): Both boxes are in good state to be decrypted. We have to understand what the data mean.

KAYE: The cockpit voice recorder unveils the pilot's last words. The co-pilot tells the captain to land at a nearby airport. His response, "too late." The black boxes also reveal a catastrophic fire in one engine and a loss of power in another. Air France Flight 447, caught in a powerful storm and rolling to the right. It is June, 2009. A flight from Rio to Paris, 228 people onboard. The plane begins to fall 10,000 feet per minute and crashes into the Atlantic, belly first, killing everyone.

PAUL-LOUIS ARSLANIAN, FORMER HEAD OF FRANCE'S ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION AGENCY: This is (INAUDIBLE). This is what we are looking for. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

KAYE: Two years later, they find the black boxes deep in the ocean. Before the recovery, it was thought the plane's speed sensors were to blame. But the black box reveal the pilots were at fault. A transcript from the cockpit voice record shows confusion in the cockpit. "We still have engines. What the hell is happening," one co-pilot asks. Another co-pilot says, "climb, climb, climb." Then the captain, "no, no, no. Don't climb." In February, 2009, Colgan Air Flight 3407 also stalls and disappears off radar.

CONTROLLER (voice-over): Colgan 3407, Buffalo.

PILOT: Colgan 3407 now approaching.

CONTROLLER: Delta 1998, look off your right side about five miles for a dash eight. It should be 2300 (ph). Do you see anything there?

KAYE: The plane's speed drops dangerously low. It begins to dive in heavy snow. The pilot overcorrects. A fatal mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously the initial reaction to the stall warning was incorrect.

KAYE: The jet crashes into a home in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people onboard.

MARGIE BRANDQUIST, PLANE CRASH VICTIM'S SISTER: We put our lives in the hands of people that we assume that the FAA is -- and the airlines are properly training.

KAYE: Both black box, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder divulge panic in the cockpit as the plane tumbles toward the ground. Pilot Marvin Renslow blurts out, "Jesus Christ" and "we're down." First Officer Rebecca Shaw starts to say something but is cut short by her own scream.

KAYE (on camera): The black boxes also reveal the airplane pitched and rolled. And this horrifying fact, the pilots were joking around as the plane slowed in the final minutes before tragedy struck.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: So now you have a better idea why flight data recorders or these black boxes are so important. So in the case of AirAsia 8501, what will they reveal about this crash? Let's bring in CNN's aviation analyst Les Abend.

And, Les, you know, we look at these devices. In the case of AirAsia Flight 8501, what might these devices provide in terms of physical evidence that some of the other evidence collected would not provide? What gaps can they fill in?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, if you start with the digital flight data recorder, the FDR, that's going to record - that records thousands and thousands of perimeters almost per second depending upon what perimeter it does. It records altitude, air speed, flight control movement. All of these are numbers that can be crunched and determine what the flight state of the airplane was. The cockpit voice recorder, the CVR, records not only communication between air traffic control and the pilots, it also communicate - also communications between - internally in the airplane, between flight attendants, the pilots themselves, and it also records ambient noise.