Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Crash of AirAsia Flight 8501; Seven-Year-Old Girl Survives Plane Crash; Fifteen Foot Waves Slow Plane Recovery; Indonesia: Four Large Objects Found In Java Sea; NYPD Commissioner: Show Respect At Funeral; First Storm Of 2015: Hail, Snow And Tornados Possible; United States Slaps New Sanctions On North Korea

Aired January 03, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again. Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, four large pieces of debris found believed to be from the AirAsia plane. And new questions about why Flight 8501 was flying an unauthorized route.

Also New York Police Commissioner William Bratton tells his finest, show respect at funeral of the fallen officer Wenjian Liu and don't turn your backs to the mayor.

Plus:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is just really a miracle.

LARRY WILKINS, HELPED SEVEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL: I went to the door and there was a little girl about seven years old, crying. Not bad. Lips quivering pretty good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A seven-year-old girl is the only survivor of a horrifying plane crash. How she walked nearly a mile to get help.

The NEWSROOM starts right now.

Hello everyone I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

Four large objects that could belong to AirAsia Flight 8501 have been found in the Java Sea. Searchers detected the metal objects under water after finding on oil slick. One object is almost 60 feet long but bad weather posed a major problem once again and crews were not able to recover anymore bodies. So far 30 bodies have been found. A U.S. ship is now part of the recovery effort. U.S.S. Fort Worth arrived in the search area today.

Two more victims were also identified on Saturday -- a 44-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man. That means six bodies have now been identified and as more are pulled out of the water the process of putting names to victims gets even harder.

David Molko is live for us in Surabaya monitoring the search efforts. So David, first, four large objects found today. Does that mean crews are getting closer to the main portions of the wreckage?

DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, that is certainly what they are hoping here.

An important clarification though about those four large objects -- they have been found but not recovered. The reason for that, conditions out in the search zone are just too difficult; waves up to 16 feet.

Initially the search and rescue chief when they started finding these, they basically found them over the last 24 hours. So they wanted to put an underwater robot, what is called a remote operated vehicle in the water to dive down some 30-40 meters -- that's about 100-150 feet to take a closer look. They weren't able to do that.

But the search and rescue chief said this evening here maybe about three hours ago is that tomorrow the weather is expected to be much better. Smaller waves, better conditions, hopefully better visibility and they hope to take a closer look at those objects on the sea floor. They are relatively close together. What I can also tell you that largest one is 60 feet in length. Just for context the length of an Airbus A320, approximately the fuselage about 120 feet; the wingspan there also 120 feet -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then David, help us understand the issue and the discrepancies about the route. That this flight apparently or these pilots did not have authorization to take the route that they did. Help us understand why there are certain days designated to this flight plan and what possibly could have happened here.

MOLKO: Fred, it has to do with the license from AirAsia to fly certain routes. It has to do with regulation and government permissions and all of that. To make it simple AirAsia had permission to fly between Surabaya and Singapore but they didn't have permission to fly the route on Sundays. So they are licensed specifically for that route that you're able to operate these flights but there were four other days of the week, not on Sunday.

The transportation ministry here calling this a serious violation, they've launched an investigation into how this came about. They're not only looking at this route but all of AirAsia's routes and actually other Indonesian airlines as well.

We're trying to get in touch with the head of AirAsia, Indonesia. He hasn't returned CNN's phone calls. He did tell a local police station though they are cooperating with the investigation. Fred, we're told that investigation will take about a week's time before it gets some conclusion -- the results of that up in the air. But penalties could range from suspending AirAsia on that route altogether to things that we may not know about. We'll just have to wait and see -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Molko, thanks so much from Surabaya.

All right let's talk more now about that route with our aviation experts. I'm joined now by CNN aviation analyst and pilot Les Abend; and I'm also joined on the phone by former pilot Alastair Rosenschein. All right. So Les, to you first, what do you make of this news that there was the improper permission of flying this route for this airline that day.

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I think it is a peripheral issue at this point. The fact that they were in violation of this particular marketing agreement is not indicative of what caused the -- you know, the accident, the crash necessarily. They were cleared appropriately by air traffic control to fly the specific routing between way points. Air traffic control made room for them.

The only small minute effect that this would have is that apparently this -- Singapore is a slot-controlled airport. So did AirAsia violate that particular part of the marketing agreement and add a little more crowdedness to the skies by not being, you know, allowed to -- or not being cleared to a specific altitude that we've been talking about for the last few days? I find that it is a fairly minimal cause. I think this is a separate issue and not anything do with the accident.

WHITFIELD: So Alastair, does this speak to the confusion perhaps on that day? A stormy day of flight.

ALASTAIR ROSENSCHEIN, FORMER PILOT (via telephone): I'm very surprised that this aircraft was operating without a flight plan which would be, you know, the implication here in which case it couldn't have been in controlled air space. So I'm sure it would have had a flight plan and therefore would have been expected there and routed in conjunction with other aircraft.

There may of course be insurance implications to being in breach of their air operators' license but that is not something which I can comment on further. Except that, you know, it might have an impact down the road to AirAsia operating from that base. It is an affiliate of the Malaysia Airlines, of course, so this is a company with fairly vast assets. So that may be looked into in the coming days. But it would not have in my opinion had any impact on whether or not this aircraft had an accident.

WHITFIELD: Ok. So both of you are in concert with this having little to do with the likelihood of what took this plane down and why. So I wonder Les you could help us better understand if it's too early at this juncture to even better understand the request for the pilot to ascend and not getting that kind of approval but doing that anyway. At some point is it just going to be at the discretion of a pilot when they are in danger whether it's weather-related or whether there is a mechanical problem with the plane that they are going to make some modifications, judgment calls on the fly? And that would be reasonable, wouldn't it?

ABEND: Well, it's a great question. But honestly, this is -- going to an altitude on your own volition without a clearance is pretty verboten unless you have an emergency situation. And if you really need that in an emergency you are going to declare that emergency.

And it is very, very unusual for a pilot, especially a captain with 20,000 hours to request a higher altitude to avoid thunderstorms. That is kind of a last resort ditch effort. We tend to want to go left or right of course. So there is a lot of factors to me that indicate there was something more going on. And besides the fact we're not sure we've really verified the information that air traffic control has as far as how high that airplane did actually climb.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's shift gears a little bit. Alastair, I wonder if I can ask you about these four new objects that have been located. They have not been retrieved. Weather is certainly in the way of being able to do that. We understand one object is almost 60 feet long. Any indication to you -- or what kind of indication would come from the examination of these pieces that they are large pieces, if indeed they are large pieces, what might that be able to tell investigators about the impact that this plane had, the cause of it going down?

ROSENSCHEIN: The fact that it is in pieces is relevant because that would indicate an impact -- high impact with the sea. You know, with an incredibly high impact the aircraft is likely to fragment into many small pieces. But it doesn't mean that you can't have, you know, one or two pieces that are technically potentially 60 feet long. That is effectively -- it is a single wing that goes from one tip to the other. But that would be the length from one wing tip to the fuselage of the aircraft or it could be a section of fuselage. But it would seem to me that this aircraft had impacted the sea with some reasonable energy to break it up in that way.

WHITFIELD: All right. Les and Alastair -- thank you so much. We'll check back with you all later on as, of course, we receive more details about the ongoing investigation of Flight 8501.

And don't forget, if you have questions about this crash, ask them at #8501QS, and we'll get some of those questions answered for you later on this hour.

Meanwhile, U.S. embassy in Jakarta issuing a security alert after learning of a potential threat against U.S. interests in Surabaya.

Erin McPike joining us now from the White House with more on this. Erin -- explain.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we're starting to get some more information from the State Department. But very first let me read to you the security alert that we got from the U.S. embassy in Jakarta that reads, "The U.S. Embassy has been made aware of a potential threat against U.S. associated hotels and banks in Surabaya, Indonesia. The U.S. Embassy recommends heightened vigilance and awareness of one's surroundings when visiting such facilities."

Now we just heard from the State Department official, who tells us that whenever the U.S. government receives credible specific non (inaudible) flight information they have a obligation to share that information with U.S. citizens in accordance with their no double standard policy they say. They also say they have no knowledge of any direct connection to the AirAsia flight. Now, what we have not heard yet from the State Department is how serious this threat is. We don't know where it's coming from or what the specific threat is -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And what about people being discouraged from traveling to that region? Is the U.S. State Department going as far as doing that?

MCPIKE: They are not discouraging travel to the region or within the region, as you know there is a large contingent of American media there covering the AirAsia flight. What they are saying is to enroll in State Department programs to get automatic warnings when any new warnings arise.

And as for a little bit extra context, as recently as October 2014 there were security alerts for U.S. citizens in the region due to some al Qaeda linked groups that were in the region. Although we have learned that the Indonesian government has had some success in cracking down on those threats -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Erin McPike at the White House. Thanks so much from Washington.

All right. Coming up, how do you find evidence from an airliner crash when it is underwater? We'll show you the dangers that are involved.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the outside this blue box looks like a port-a-potty but inside it is one of the high-tech ways that could be saving divers' lives in the Java Seas. I'll show you how -- coming up.

WHITFIELD: Plus if you have questions about the AirAsia crash, ask them at #8501QS. Our experts will answer them later on this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. 15-foot waves are hindering the search for AirAsia Flight 8501. I want to bring in meteorologist Karen Maginnis. These are some pretty nasty conditions. When they say conditions are just not right for their search, this is a exactly what they are talking about. But tomorrow apparently there is a window of opportunity?

KAREN MAGINNIS: Yes. It looks like from our correspondents all week long who have talked about the wretched conditions that we've seen in the Java Sea -- there is a chance for a break. We're looking at later on today showers to the north and to the south. Even in the search area look for some squally weather.

This is monsoon season. They are in the ITCZ, the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Meaning for the next few months, we're going to see these squally conditions. Heavy amounts of rainfall that come down and these and enormous thunderstorm clusters.

Here we go. Sunday then into Monday it is not going to be perfectly clear. You will hardly get that during this time of year. But look at this. By Monday, where they are searching, if they already haven't made some progress, which by some description maybe they have, it looks like maybe more sunshine so they can see further down in the water. It is only about 100 feet deep. You get sunshine, you get the waves that are a little bit calmer and you get lighter wind, and Fredricka, this is the best that we can hope for -- hope for monsoon season.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And let's hope they are able to accomplish a lot in that very narrow window of opportunity.

MAGINNIS: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: All right. Karen Maginnis, appreciate that. Thank you.

All right. So the search and recovery of Flight 8501 will cost millions of dollars as well. It's a very difficult process made even worse by those rough seas and the weather. CNN's Alina Machado talked to an expert diver about the strains of underwater searches.

MACHADO: Fredricka, the search and recovery effort for AirAsia Flight 8501 may be going on some 11,000 miles from here in South Florida, but we spoke with one commercial diver who tells us he knows exactly what that process is like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: The number of crews from around the world helping search for the AirAsia Flight 8501 continues to grow. And if anyone knows the job that lies ahead especially for the dozens of divers involved -- it is Gino Gargulo.

GINO GARGULO, DIVER: It's a very somber situation.

MACHADO: The 51-year-old is an experienced commercial diver who says he's helped after recent catastrophes, including the Japan tsunami and the Haiti earthquake. In AirAsia's case, parts of the Airbus A320 have already been recovered so have dozens of bodies. But rough conditions with waves as high as 14 feet have hampered search efforts.

GARGULO: One thing you don't want to do is add more tragedy to tragedy. So you don't want any loss of life. You want to take your time, you want to plan it correctly, wait for (inaudible) conditions to go in there.

MACHADO: The plane is believed to be at the sea, in water that is, on average, about 130 feet deep. At that depth, Gargulo says divers will need to use special gear.

GARGULO: A dry suit is totally sealed at the wrists, the boots are incorporated in and has a seal that zippers close and it closes at the neck. That way no water gets in there. Then what you have is you have a helmet. This is a 17 super light.

MACHADO: This is considered a lighter one.

GARGULO: Yes.

MACHADO: But it's incredibly heavy.

GARGULO: 37 pounds.

MACHADO: Divers will also be hooked up to a command center like this one.

GARGULO: These instruments right here are telling us what the depths of the divers are at. And this is the pressure of the air going through them. The main air, stand by air, emergency air, diver one, diver two, diver three -- which is your safety diver.

MACHADO: Gargulo says the divers will probably be under water for up to 80 minutes at a time after which they'll end up inside a decompression chamber to recover.

GARGULO: You can get down there. And this thing will have jagged edges, torn fuselage -- things hanging all over the place it's going to be dark inside. There are a lot of things for a diver to get snagged on, for his umbilical to get caught up on. To get disoriented -- it is not going to look like a textbook situation.

MACHADO: And then there's the emotional component -- right. I mean you know, there's going to be bodies down there.

GARGULO: There is nothing worse than bumping into a bloated dead body in the water.

MACHUDO: Gargulo is still haunted by the victims he has helped recover especially the children. Emotions divers in the Java Sea will also have to come to terms with.

GARGULO: The way you get past is you say I'm helping the families, I'm helping somebody. I'm putting this to rest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Gargulo tells us it could take weeks maybe even months for divers to finish the job in the Java Sea -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alina Machado thanks so much.

Also still ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILKINS: I went to the door and there was a little girl about seven years old, crying, not bad. Lips were quivering pretty good, and she's pretty bloody. Had a bloody nose and her arms and here legs were scratched up real bad. And she told me that her mom and dad was dead.

WHITFIELD: Amazing -- that seven-year-old little girl miraculously surviving a plane crash in Kentucky. The rest of her amazing story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Checking other top stories this morning.

According to a 911 tape the police chief of a city near Atlanta says he accidentally shot his wife while he was sleeping with a gun in the bed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the chief of police. The gun is on the dresser.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. You are the chief of police in Peach Tree City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes unfortunately yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said it was an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was shot twice accidental.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who shot her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you shoot her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was -- the gun was in the bed. I went to move it to put it to the side and it went off. And I've got the door open for them. Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your name sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did the hell did this happen? Will McCollom (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you asleep also, sir when it happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: William McCollom's wife is in critical hospital in the hospital. The chief has not been charged but is on administrative leave while the shooting is being investigated.

And a man accused by U.S. authorities of being an al Qaeda operative has died in a hospital. His family said he had suffered health problems. Abu Anas al Libi was captured in Libya in 2013 and brought to the U.S. He was accused of being involved in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He had pleaded not guilty was and was awaiting trial.

And the music world is remembering country hall of famer Jimmy Dickens.

(MUSIC)

WHITFIELD: Dickens died of a heart attack Friday in Nashville. He was known for his colorful rhinestone set of jackets like that one and self-deprecating humor, often making fun of his own short stature. The 94-year-old coal miner's son got his start in radio before joining the Grand Ol' Opry in 1948.

And this incredible story out of Kentucky today: a seven-year-old girl is the lone survivor of a plane crash that killed her parent, sister and cousin. Also amazing that same girl who survived walked nearly a mile for help. Nick Valencia has the rest of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: at home in rural Kentucky Larry Wilkins finished watching the local news when his dog started barking.

WILKINS: I went to the door and there was a little girl about seven years old, crying. Not bad. Lips quivering pretty good. She's pretty bloody -- had a bloody nose and the arms and legs were scratched up really bad and she told me that her mom and dad was dead.

VALENCIA: The seven-year-old is the only survivor from a Friday night plane crash. Her mom, dad, sister and cousin dead after their small twin-engine Piper traveling from Florida, crashed in the woods of Western Kentucky. The fact the little girl survived is all the more incredible Wilkins says when considering what she had to do to do get help.

WILKINS: She had just walked three quarters of a mile through very, very rough territory and she was barefooted. She had one sock on her foot and that was all. And she was dressed for Florida, wearing shorts and the like. Just a blouse. No coat.

VALENCIA: Wilkins said the seven-year-old likely spotted a light on at his house and made her way towards it. A Kentucky state police officer who also helped the little girl seemed to speak for most when he said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean it's just really a miracle.

WILKINS: If you could see the terrain you would realize how incredible it really was. She a terribly brave little girl. I'll tell you that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Valencia joining me now -- brave indeed. Amazing this seven-year-old would have the wherewithal. You know it's darkness, crash, you lose everybody.

VALENCIA: It's cold.

WHITFIELD: In cold and then she walks for help. What more do we know about her condition right now? What happened.

VALENCIA: Well, according to investigators she was released from the hospital this morning. She had non life threatening injuries. I spoke to Larry Wilkins earlier today and he said that when he saw her she was banged up. But it was nothing too serious.

Another heartbreaking element to this story Fred, she asked him to go to the hospital with her but because he is not a family member he couldn't go. She was in such shock. Right now, he's trying to get in touch with that family. He's calling her the bravest person that he's ever met.

WHITFIELD: Wow. She is. An amazing source of inspiration --

VALENCIA: Amazing, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much Nick. And of course we wish her --

VALENCIA: A good recovery.

WHITFIELD: Yes and other family members the best. Thanks so much.

VALENCIA: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about this overseas. Waves as high as 15 feet -- monsoon conditions. In a few moments I'll talk with a salvage expert about how AirAsia recovery teams work in this kind of dangerous weather.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, good morning again, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're following the latest development on the crash of Airasia Flight 8501.

Four large objects were found in the search air today using sonar. One of those pieces is almost 60 feet long and another 40 feet long. Indonesian officials say they found the objects after they saw an oil slick.

But bad weather whipped up high waves and strong currents keeping divers out of the water and the search has been suspended until tomorrow. Two more victims, by the way, have been identified in addition to the four that had already been named.

So far 30 bodies have been recovered in all. And search crews will now have help from the USS Fort Worth. It arrived in the area today. Some of those waves in the Java Sea are 15 feet high and while the water is not particularly deep, the storms in the area have created dangerous searching conditions.

Captain John Noble joins us now via Skype from South Hampton, England. He is an oceanographer and marine salvage expert and knows what it takes to recover wreckage in conditions like this. So talk to me, John, about how really debilitating this kind of weather is for the search efforts.

CAPTAIN JOHN NOBLE, OCEANOGRAPHER: Good morning, yes, I'm afraid the weather will be the controlling factor. I've checked the weather forecast for the area. There is a lot of rain around at the moment and indeed there is a lot of bad weather in the area.

Not helped by the rough seas that you mentioned and the conditions are as you say 15 feet waves. That may not sound a lot. But when you are trying to get divers in the water, it just makes it virtually impossible. So everything is governed by the weather.

It does appear that they have now found the debris field for the aircraft so one has to hope that having found it they will get down there and go on with recovering the victims and indeed looking for the flight data recorders commonly known as the black boxes.

But this will just, as I say, depend on the weather. The paramount factor in all this is the safety of those divers that are going down to the seabed. It's just mentioned there was enough life lost already and we do not need anymore.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So safety is paramount. But given the weather conditions too, we understand these four large objects pay have been spotted by sonar because of the nearby ships. But tell me, Captain, about your concerns with the weather.

We don't know whether those items are at the surface. They are somewhere midway between the depths of surface and that sea or if they are at the bottom.

Does it concern you at all this kind of weather will shift/move those items spotted today and that perhaps tomorrow if weather breaks they may not be able to relocate those items?

NOBLE: I would have thought that all the debris would be on the seabed. The site scan sonar they are using will see that. If there is any floating debris then, yes, it will move with the currents.

But having found them initially, they know what the currents are and they can calculate where it is more likely to have gone if it i still partially buoyant. But my own feeling is that most of the aircraft will now be on the seabed.

WHITFIELD: And that the USS Fort Worth has joined now other sea vessels in the air. The USS Sampson is also in the area. How would these U.S. warships be able to assist in a search of this magnitude?

NOBLE: Well, they will be equipped with some fairly sophisticated underwater detection equipment. That will at least will able to scan the seabed and confirm the presence of the pieces of debris, combined that with any remote operated vehicles, whose operational capability is very much less of course, they should be able to follow, detect and recover the aircraft pieces.

WHITFIELD: And now the issue of the black boxes, just over 20 days of battery life, you know, believed to be in these black boxes, in the pingers. Does it concern you that doesn't seem like much time when searching for parts of a plane under water or is it helpful because we're talking about the shallower depths than, say, the Malaysia flight that went missing last year?

NOBLE: Well, when we're talking about shallow depths, therefore there should not be any constraints on the signals. The range is fairly limited. The location however is in the tail part of the plane and one would hope that the tail part has remained relatively intact.

If that is so, then they will find the black boxes without need to report to the pings. But hopefully a combination of both will allow them to get the black boxes back fairly rapt rapidly.

WHITFIELD: All right, Captain John Noble, thanks so much. Stick around with us. We have a lot of questions that have come in from our viewers and we want to pose some of those questions to you so that perhaps you can, you know, settle that with a lot of our viewers as well. Appreciate it.

All right, so even though more bodies and wreckage have been recovered over the past few days, the Airasia crash, there are so many questions that remain. Your questions have been coming in via #8501qs and Captain Noble will answer some of those questions right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, more now on that Airasia Flight 8501 and the questions that you have sent now. Remember to tweet us using the #8501qs.

So joining me right now, CNN aviation analyst and Boeing 77 captain, Les Abend, a marine salvage expert and oceanographer, Captain John Noble, both back with us. Thanks so much.

So Captain, let me begin with you with this question saying, quote, "Where the closest areas searched to see if anyone may have made to it shore?

NOBLE: It's quite simple. In the sense that there may well have been bits of the aircraft fuselage landed in an area nearer to land. So I would imagine that local fisherman would most certainly have been in the area.

And had anyone survived, I would feel that they would have been found by now. I know it is a very sad thing to say. But yes, they would have been on the lookout, but it is now a little bit too late I fear.

WHITFIELD: Yes, OK. And then Les, this is a question that has been asked a lot. What happens if they don't locate the data recorder in time?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I don't know if it's a question of in time. I think the data recorders will be located, period, whether they locate it by virtue of finding the pingers and locating it that way or the wreckage itself. So I don't think it is an issue. We're dealing with much shallower water than with Malaysia Flight 370. And worst case scenario, even if they did not find those data and the black boxes there are still ways to piece together almost literally what happened with the airplane just by virtue of analyzing the wreckage itself.

WHITFIELD: OK, and then, Captain, this is one of you, could the body of the flight attendant and emergency door and shoot, et cetera, mean possibly she opened the door during ditching attempt? No coincidence?

NOBLE: It is difficult to say because we haven't really seen the evidence close too. It is possible. Nothing is impossible. But I suspect the investigators will look at that once they got as much of the plane back as they can because then they can look at the fuselage as a whole. But we really cannot speculate on that action I don't think.

WHITFIELD: And Les, this question from a viewer, if they can track the planes in live time, why don't say send data into the cloud for easier retrieval?

NOBLE: That is a very good question.

ABEND: It is a good question. It is probably an issue with band width, the security of that information, so on and so forth. A little bit beyond my technological pilot brain, but that would probably be my first impression.

WHITFIELD: OK, and then, Captain, since you had some thoughts on that, what would you be your response?

NOBLE: Well, it seems to me as a mariner very surprising that aircraft do not carry equipment that identifies their location. All ships over a certain tonnage do have to have this and they cannot hide. So I think this is an issue for future discussion and possibly action.

WHITFIELD: All right, Captain John Noble and Les Abend, thanks so much, Gentlemen. Appreciate it.

NOBLE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And thanks at home for your questions as well. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories, a private wake is being held today for NYPD Detective Wenjian Liu. Liu is one of two police officers ambushed and gunned down two weeks ago in their squad car in Brooklyn.

His partner, Rafael Ramos, was laid to rest last week. It was during that service that some police officers turned their backs on the Mayor Bill De Blasio, a silent symbol of anger and frustration toward the mayor's handling of recent community tensions with police. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton issued this internal memo to the force asking officers to show respect at Liu's funeral, which will be held tomorrow.

Writing in part, quote, "I understand that emotions are high. I issue no mandates and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you dawn the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor, and decency that go with it," end quote.

And a ship with no crew, no power, and hundreds Syrian refugees on board is now docked safely at an Italian port. The Esodine was towed after a distress call and all the migrant passengers on board are said to be in good health.

Italian officials worry they are seeing a new trend in which smugglers abandon ship once they get into the save and rescue waters off Italy's coast.

And John Hinckley will not face new charges in the death of former President Ronald Reagan's press secretary. James Brady's death last summer was ruled a homicide three decades after he was shot with Hinckley tried to assassinate President Reagan. Hinckley had faced charges related to Brady's shooting during his 1982 trial, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

And just in time for the trip hope after the holidays. The first major storm of 2015 will hit tomorrow stretching from Chicago to Boston. Karen Maginnis is live for us now in the CNN Weather Center. What's up?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right, Fred, stay with me for this because I think you will find this really interesting. In Chicago I look back over the last few months, about November 18th, the temperature there maxed out at 19, all right that is pretty cold.

And the end of December, the temperature in Chicago was 18 degrees. It is going to be about 36 degrees this afternoon. Going into tomorrow, it is going to be a little cooler, temperatures right around freezing.

But look at Kansas City, this is going to be the coldest arctic/polar outbreak of air that we have seen in a long time, at least since last winter, and then the high temperature of Chicago for Monday is expected to be around 11 degrees.

Everybody is going to be sharply colder all the way from the great lakes into the Deep South, into the northeast in New England, the central plains. We are going to see dangerously cold temperatures.

We are going to see extreme windchill factors, 20 to 25 degrees windchill factor across the upper great lakes, the northern tier states and a very complex weather system just kind of pushing off towards the east.

Now temperatures will be fairly mild for places like Atlanta and Charlotte. That is in the warm sector of the system where we've seen pretty heavy rainfall already in Louisiana and Arkansas, Eastern Texas, through the Mississippi River Valley.

But now we're seeing some of that rain transition to some ice and especially for the upper Great Lakes region, but move on towards Pittsburgh and they're seeing dozens of crashes there, and also West Virginia. It's been so icy.

But look at what happened yesterday, in Ashland, New Hampshire. There were 36 cars on Interstate 93. There was a semi and the ice, and the snow and reduced visibility on the roads made this crash happen, 12 people were transported.

One is still in serious condition and they were saying that the snow burst happened just out of the blue, reduced visibility and people were slamming on their brakes. Lubbock, Texas, this is West Texas. Take a look at what happened here in the last 12 to 24 hours.

Snow was coming down, snow, more snow. Things were covered in ice. There were downed trees and downed power lines. There was a lot of damage to trees in the area, very dangerous conditions, Fred. And this is what you have to look forward to as you travel home.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, well, folks are going to have to take it easy, go slow, right?

MAGINNIS: Right.

WHITFIELD: Or stay put if it's just too treacherous out there. All right, thanks so much, Karen Maginnis, appreciate it. Happy New Year.

MAGINNIS: Happy New Year.

WHITFIELD: OK, the United States is hitting North Korea with new strict economic sanctions. Happy New Year to them? It's in the alleged role in the Sony cyberattack.

Gordon Chang joins us now via Skype from Toronto. He is a columnist for forbes.com and the author of the book "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World."

Gordon, even if the sanctions are aimed at the North Korean government, aren't the people actually be the ones continuing to pay a price?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN": I don't think so. Largely because these sanctions are indeed aimed at those three organizations that have been -- one of them involved in the hacking. Two others involved in the sales of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons technology.

And also those ten individuals are essentially outside of North Korea, many of them. This is not type of sanctions that is going to affect the North Korean people. It will affect the regime.

Though I think it's not going to have much of an effect because they were designed not to be effective, just to be symbolic shot across the bow. WHITFIELD: So then how deeply in your view affecting the regime?

CHANG: Well, the only way it will really affect the regime is to cut off the money flow and we know how to do that. We did that in 2005 when the Bush administration went after the North Korean regime and was actually quite effective.

At that time, North Korean diplomats actually were carrying cash around in suit cases because the regime couldn't use the global financial system. We intentionally decided not to do that this time.

And I think the reason is because the White House does not want to trigger a reaction from the North Koreans. In their calculus, they feel that mild sanctions will be effective enough to do this.

WHITFIELD: You know, the president of the United States still refusing to call the Sony cyberattack an act of war. And at the same time, North Korea digging in its heels saying we're not responsible. And then there are some conversations that are being generated and continue to go in circles.

As to whether it was a Sony insider that is responsible for this cyberattack. So, what kind of leverage, if any, does North Korea have in that conversation?

CHANG: Well, North Korea has leverage because it can retaliate and it probably will. It's almost certainly going to retaliate against South Korea if Seoul allows the activists to put DVDs "The Interview," which is the film in question into balloons that are lofted over the de- militarized zone, which separates the two Koreas.

So that North Korean citizens can pick them up and probably there will be more actions against Sony and perhaps the United States itself. Just because a Sony insider was involved in this hacking, which I believe is true, doesn't mean North Korea wasn't also involved.

Because there is some evidence of coordination among the Sony hacker, hacking groups like "Lizard Squad" and "Guardians Of Peace" as well as the North Korean state. And of course, the Chinese state as well which hosted the North Korean cyberwarriors.

WHITFIELD: All right, Gordon Chang, thanks so much for your time and expertise today. Appreciate it. Happy New Year.

CHANG: Happy New Year and thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you. All right, still ahead, crews are finding more debris from Flight 8501, but locating both of the wreckage means scouring the ocean floor and that is a daunting task. We'll take a look at the major challenges next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The search for Flight 8501 covers a 2,000-square-mile stretch of the Java Sea, but that effort will ultimately lead to the ocean floor. As we've learned scouring the depth is a very daunting task. CNN's Tom Foreman is in Washington with a look at how this effort compares to deep water searches in the past.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The search area has been narrowed down considerably to a box about 45 miles by 45 miles. And the water here is considerably more shallow than some others searches in the past. That should make things easier.

Let's look at a comparison here. This is where they're searching right now, just 80 to 100 feet under the water. Compare this to the world's tallest building here. We took it upside down from the surface. That's the tallest building in Dubai.

There's the Statue of Liberty. There's the Eiffel Tower. Let's look at some other searches in the past what they found, the Lusitania in World War I was about three times as they deep and they were able to lee locate that.

The space shuttle "Challenger" in the 1980s, part of that was found at around 1,200 feet that took a lot of searching there. But then you go much, much deeper, down to where there's no light at all, the "Titanic" at 12,500 feet would be way down here.

If you go beyond that to the Air France crash over the Atlantic, they found wreckage on the surface there in five days, but it took two years to locate the bulk of the wreckage way down here.

And now of course, when we talk about Malaysia Air, the plane they've been looking for, they are looking down here around 16,000 feet among canyons and mountains and complete darkness and very severe cold.

So by comparison, much easier, what they're trying to do right now. But because of the weather and the always-present uncertainty under water, easier doesn't mean easy.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tom Foreman, thanks so much.