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Radar Indicates Plane Turned Around; New Blood Test Can Predict Alzheimer's Disease; Putin Calls British, German Leaders; Journalists Attacked In Crimea; Ukrainian TV Stations Shut Down In Crimea; Putin Calls British, German Leaders; New Info About American On Missing Jumbo Jet; Drones Are The Big Thing At SXSW

Aired March 09, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: New clues, including a floating object spotted in the Gulf of Thailand. Search boats are on the way to that site right now.

Meantime, Malaysian military officials say radar data indicates the plane turned around before vanishing. Because of that they are asking crews from Thailand to refocus their search on the Andaman Sea. That's a smaller circled area right there on the left.

We're also learning more about the tickets bought by two passengers on board that flight who were traveling on stolen passports. The passports were stolen in Thailand. And the tickets were apparently bought together.

The FBI says it's ready to send atmosphere to Asia to help with the investigation. And a team from the NTSB and the FAA are already on their way to the region.

So, joining us now by Skype from Charleston, South Carolina, Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general with the U.S. Department of Transportation, joining us right now. She's also an aviation attorney who works for a law firm that sues airlines.

So, Mary, describe exactly what this team, this U.S. team now, including NTSB and FAA personnel would actually do once they get there.

MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. DOT: If it's true they have begun to find parts of the wreckage, I think one report was a door. If that's true, the most important thing that the FAA and the NTSB will be doing is getting that wreckage in coordination, in cooperation with the other countries that are investigating. And just from the pieces of wreckage, even a small piece, they can see if there's telltale fittings, if there was an explosion, explosive residue left on the plane, what that wreckage looks like, or if it looks like it was torn apart when the plane had fallen into the ocean. That's going to be very telling.

And, of course, the FBI was also detached to work on the case, because whenever there's a threat of criminal activity, such as terrorism, and certainly there was criminal activity with passports, we have a protocol the FBI takes precedence, because you want to catch the criminals first, you want to stop any copycat criminal activity, et cetera. So, they all have special jobs. But that piece of wreckage could hold clues, very important.

WHITFIELD: So, you're saying, even though it's unclear whether two passengers that may have had these stolen passports, there isn't a direct link being made to the disappearance of this plane and the fact they were on it, just the notion of these stolen passports involved is enough to get the FBI involved?

SCHIAVO: Oh, absolutely, because when you're using stolen passports, you know, the whole world is now on alert for things such as this, because in the past people remember the Bojinka plot, which was a precursor to 9/11 attacks in United States of America. And in that case, the terrorists did a trial run on Philippine airliner, and they planted a bomb there, they used fake passports because they didn't want to be discovered yet, because the Bojinka plot was to take 12 airliners out of the sky simultaneously.

So, the FBI is certainly concerned, as are other law enforcement agencies around the world to see if this is a precursor to an even larger plot because they used fake passport and also using face recognition and other software to see if the people, you know, just who boarded. Did they actually board and that's very important to determine.

WHITFIELD: All right. You talk about these U.S. agencies and all they might do, we're talking about planes from 40 different countries. And two dozen ships from several countries are all involved. How do all these countries and this arsenal, how do they all communicate and work together?

SCHIAVO: Well, for example, when they search the sea, they work off a grid. The coast guard developed it years ago. It's a grid that takes into consideration the waves, the currents, the air, any information they get and they coordinate. And you take blocks, those squares, several square miles each and you search in those square mile areas, square mile areas and you systematically literally check off the box. You search the ocean through this grid and it's coordinated, closely coordinated because you want to make sure you don't miss anything.

And then also the navy, particularly the submersibles, will be looking for and listening for the pingers from the black box, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, they give off audible sound. They're powered by a battery. The battery lasts for about a month. So, they want to get it before the seawater takes its toll.

And so, everyone has a different job. But it's very systematic in how they map out the ocean square by square on the grid.

WHITFIELD: And you talk about looking for that black box, the ping can last about a month. But you have to know exactly where to search. Do you feel like these several agencies have had enough to try and pinpoint that they saw some floating debris, that there has been reported oil slick, is that enough to zero in on an area? SCHIAVO: Yes, because what they do, they backtrack. They see where they find it, they can track the currents and the weather condition, the ocean conditions over the last 48 hours. And they will have a pretty good idea from there.

But, unfortunately, the debris field will spread that far. The point of impact will have wreckage right there but then spread out literally across the ocean floor and across the ocean. If this was an event that occurred in the sky, which is an in-flight breakup, loss of a structural member like a wing or a tail or an explosion either from a bomb or a fuel tank, et cetera, that would disperse the wreckage widely over the ocean and it could have traveled even further.

WHITFIELD: And that Malaysian official said the plane may have turned back around, not long after takeoff. If that's the case, what does that tell you?

SCHIAVO: Well, it tells a couple things. The plane was having problems, very serious problems, because this is 777. It's a very --

WHITFIELD: But no distress call.

SCHIAVO: Right. No distress call. But also the plane itself sends out radio messages. They're called system status reports. Those reports go right from the plane right back to Malaysia Air base. It gives the base the information about the condition plane. And the pilot doesn't even have to do that. The plane does it by itself. Just like Airbus 340 when AirTran 446 went down a few years ago, the plane itself sent out messages and distress messages.

So, we knew what was happening before we found the black boxes. We don't apparently have those here. And so, it says whatever was wrong was very bad.

WHITFIELD: Wow, incredible. Again, 40 planes and two dozen ships from several different countries all being -- all playing a significant role in the search for this mysterious plane disappearance.

Mary Schiavo, thank you so much. Appreciate your expertise.

All right. Meantime, among those apparatus joining in this, U.S. Navy now searching for that missing plane as well. This is a surveillance plane taking off from the U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan. It has specialized radar equipment with long range search capabilities used in this search and U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter, rather, left this morning to help in the search. USS Pinckney, a U.S. destroyer is also assisting in this massive, very important search.

Malaysia Airlines is now speaking out about the investigation. Andrew Stevens joining us now live from Beijing where family members there are awaiting any kind of news as to what happened to their loved ones. Andrew, more than half the passengers on that plane are Chinese nationals. The families apparently have been staying at a nearby total complex in Beijing.

What are authorities telling them and what are they saying?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very, very frustrating for the people who are standing by to get any sort of news for loved ones. Malaysia Airlines has been very, very cautious about saying too much at all. So, in the past 24 hours, it's been incremental movements, as we've just heard that there may be suggestions now that the plane could have turned around. There are reports that the Vietnamese air force has seen a new piece of what they describe as debris but weren't able to identify it before (INAUDIBLE).

So, at this stage, there's still not much more clarity than we know already. The Malaysians have been holding news briefings. The most recent one, listen to what the acting transport minister had to say, because he's still keeping a very wide net on it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASTRO AWANI, ACTING MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION, MALAYSIA: I said from the beginning that we are looking at all possibilities. That's because not yet does not mean we are (INAUDIBLE) we are not discounting anything when it comes to lives of innocent people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: Not discounting anything. Clearly, everything is still on the table. As far as specific information is concerned, we're just not getting at the moment. And neither are the family members of the people who are on board that plane. So that's the frustration. Obviously for them first and foremost, but also for the authorities just trying to narrow this down, narrow the search down, when, in fact, it seems to be expanding ever more and search area is getting bigger and bigger.

WHITFIELD: And, Andrew, Interpol released a statement about these stolen passports. What did it say and what are we learning about these mysterious passengers who accompanied these passports?

STEVENS: Yes, this is a very interesting development what we've heard over the past 12 hours or so. These two passports were stolen two years ago and they were used to buy airline tickets in Thailand by two imposters who got off of that plane, we understand, on the way to Beijing.

Now, the question is how can two stolen passports still be used when they were very clearly on Interpol's database as having been stolen. And Interpol was out today, the actual secretary-general of Interpol came out today expressing his real concerns that this actually happened.

I should point out it's not just Malaysia where this has been happening. Interpol says only a handful of countries regularly check their database to see what the latest is on stolen passports.

So, this is a glaring security error. It certainly looks like at this stage. Interpol, as I said, concerned. They did also -- I should point out -- that it's way too early to make any sort of connection between stolen passports and the actual what may have happened to the plane, the plane coming down, which is what appears to have happened -- too early to make that connection. But, certainly, this is an angle which is going to be looked at very, very closely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating. Thank you so much. Andrew Stevens in Beijing.

All right. Now onto health matters affecting millions of families, maybe even yours. Now, to a significant breakthrough in the research for predicting if you or a loved one could get Alzheimer's disease. An estimated 5.2 million Americans have Alzheimer's, the disease that causes memory loss. Moments ago, a new study was released on the first blood test that can predict if someone is on the brink of getting it.

I want to bring in senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

This is pretty phenomenal.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. The whole concept is amazing that you can take a healthy person and predict if they're likely to get Alzheimer's. So, these are researchers at Georgetown University and the University of Rochester published in a very prominent journal. So, let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): There's no way to predict who will get Alzheimer's disease, whose brains will get the plaques and tangles that destroy memory and concentration and who will be spared. But in a first of its kind study, a simple blood test was able to predict who will get Alzheimer's.

DR. HOWARD FEDEROFF, NEUROLOGIST, GEORGETOWN UNIV. MEDICAL CENTER: This is a really wonderful piece of science. It's the most significant observation that we've been able to report in my entire scientific career.

COHEN: The researchers looked at the blood of healthy elderly people, checking for 10 fatty molecules called lipids. Those who had lower levels of lipids, were more likely to develop Alzheimer's or the memory problems that precede Alzheimer's.

On average, the change from healthy to sick took two years. And the test was 90 percent accurate. The researchers and the Alzheimer's Association point out more studies need to be done to check and see if this test works. Even if all goes well, the test won't be in doctor's offices for several years.

So who would want a test to predict Alzheimer's? After all, there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Dr. Howard Federoff, a researcher in the study said he would want to know?

FEDEROFF: I would want to plan. I would want to work with my family to make sure I attend to issues that are important to us.

COHEN: But some people might not want to know they are destined for a devastating disease.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Whoa. So, detecting it is one thing and a potential breakthrough. But then, does it also lead to a possible treatment?

COHEN: Well, that's what they are hoping. And this is what researchers are so excited about. If you can put together a group of people who you pretty much know are destined to get Alzheimer's, you can test out prevention on them. You can say, hey, let's try this pill, that treatment, does that work. If you've got a bunch of people you don't know if they are bound to get it, that's not a great testing group.

WHITFIELD: So, how are you going to find out who is the best candidate, or who, you know, should take advantage of this?

COHEN: Well, if it does come out on the market, if you can walk into your doctor's office, which is still a big if, and even if it does happen years away, you'll have to make a decision, do I want to know this? Do I want to know I'm pretty much destined to get Alzheimer's?

And like the doctor in the story said, hey, I want to know. Sign me up for planning. Other people might say, no, how depressing. I wouldn't be able to live my life to its fullest.

WHITFIELD: Interesting.

COHEN: And so, I think different people would have very different answers.

WHITFIELD: OK. Glass half full or empty depending on your perspective.

COHEN: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nonetheless, fascinating information. Thanks for bringing that to us, Elizabeth.

All right. Don't miss "Weed 2: Cannabis Madness." Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on this health phenomenon. It appears 10:00 Eastern on Tuesday.

All right. World leaders are pulling out all the stops trying to settle down the situation in Ukraine. Is the key figuring out what President Putin is really up to?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Ukraine's interim prime minister will meet with President Obama in the U.S. this week as his country scrambles to hold onto Crimea. The White House says the two leaders will talk on Wednesday. The prime minister has called the upcoming Crimean vote on a referendum to join Russia, an illegitimate decision. It's a vote that is deeply dividing Crimea. Pro-Russian supporters packed the capital city today for a huge rally. But pro-Ukrainian supporters are also demonstrating, telling Russian forces to get out of Crimea.

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin called British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And according to the Russian government, the leaders have a different assessment on what's happening on the ground in Ukraine. They do agree the situation needs to be deescalated.

But with Russia denying it has a military presence in Crimea, can that really happen?

I'm joined now by Christopher Dickey, "The Daily Beast" Paris bureau chief and Middle East editor.

Good to see you.

So, you have written that Putin seems to have taken a pause this week on the situation in Crimea. So what's the psychology here?

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, part to show when he pushes the pause button, he's the guy with the remote control, he is actually controlling the situation. And I think there really is no doubt about that.

He's setting the pace of the confrontation. He can step it up or he can pull it back. And we, or the West, anyway, is pretty much dancing to his tune at this point.

WHITFIELD: So, Putin is describing this new leadership, the interim leadership as, you know, lab rats. And even though he supported former Ukrainian president, he even said that he has no political future left.

So, you know, is Putin trying to come across as the leader looking out for everyone's interest in the region, or, you know, is this more a reflection of kind of a diabolical mind games played by a former KGB and FSB man?

DICKEY: Well, it's definitely a mind game. And the purpose of it is so slowly reconstitute a larger Russian empire, which, of course, was lost with the breakup of the Soviet Union. And he wants to see a lot of that brought back for both strategic reasons and nationalistic, even egotistical reasons. He wants to see that expanded.

So, he's moved into Georgia, in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. He has now moved into Ukraine. We will see if he starts to make feints toward Baltic States, especially Latvia, which has a very big Russian population, and we'll see how far he's going to go in Ukraine. But he's calculating everything carefully.

And when Angela Merkel says he's living in a world of his own, that's a little misleading. WHITFIELD: What does she mean by that in your view?

DICKEY: Well, she means that the narrative that he is giving of the events in Ukraine and in the Crimea, there's no relation to reality as she understands it. But he doesn't care. He's consciously creating his own reality, his own narrative to sell it to some people in the international community but mainly to sell it to the Russian people as part of his whole nationalist buildup.

And he really doesn't care if Angela Merkel thinks he's in touch with reality or not. He wants that story of Crimeans desperate to rejoin Russia, people in the Ukraine desperate to rejoin Russia. He wants that to be the message that the Russian people are hearing and, in fact, those Russian speakers in Ukraine are hearing.

WHITFIELD: So, meantime, the interim Ukrainian president meeting with President Obama. What can come out of that?

DICKEY: Not much. I think the question is if people are really afraid -- and I think they are -- that at some point, Putin might try to take big chunks of eastern Ukraine. And if he did that, maybe even roll further along into the center of the country, maybe all the way across it. But that's doubtful. This is all going to be from the foreseeable future, this is going to be carefully modulated.

I mean, remember, we have not seen a shot fired, at least not a shot that hit anybody, fired in this so-called war, so-called invasions.

WHITFIELD: It's just threats.

DICKEY: It's all threaten. It's all power game. It's all psyching out the opposition. And so far, Putin has done a pretty good job of it.

WHITFIELD: Christopher Dickey, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

DICKEY: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Meantime also overseas, the mystery deepens what happens to that missing Malaysian jumbo jet. Coming up, why nothing is being ruled out, including terrorism.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New information now on that missing Malaysia Airlines jet. Vietnam Navy plane spotted an object floating in the China Sea southwest of Vietnam. They are sending boats to check it out closer. Plus, Malaysia has asked that Thailand navy to search near its border to see if the jumbo jet went down in the water there.

And data shows the missing plane may have turned back before vanishing from radar. Equally disturbing, according to China's e-ticket verifying system, two people on that plane using stolen passports, appear to have bought their ticket together. And now, the big question remains, what happened to Malaysian Air Flight 370. And then there are other questions. Could it have malfunctioned? Pilot error? Could it be an act of terrorism?

National security analyst Peter Bergen joining us now.

So, Peter, you know, we don't know exactly what happened yet. But among the things that is alarming about the missing airliner case is that these two passengers may have boarded with lost or stolen passports and that those two plane tickets were purchased together.

So, in your view was this perhaps just an opportunity for a couple of folks who are using fake passports, or do you think it's much more disturbing, more sinister than that?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: We don't know, Fredricka. I mean, there are three ways basically that a plane can go down like this. One is mechanical failure we saw that with TWA-800 in 1996 crashing into the Atlantic. There was some discussion at that time about whether terrorist brought it down with missiles. National Transportation Safety Board did an exhaustive investigation, determined it was mechanical failure.

Another way a plane can go down like this is suicide of the pilot. We saw that with Egypt Air Flight 990 in 1999. Again, exhaustive investigation, some are controversial in Egypt, with the conclusion that the pilot had committed suicide.

And finally, of course, is terrorism. We saw that with Pan-Am 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing everybody on board and a number of people on the ground.

Those are the three things, you know, the three ways a plane can just mysteriously drop out of the air. Right now, you know, stolen passports may be in the air of coincidence. It's not really clear why, say, a jihadi terrorist group would target a Malaysian plane. After all, Malaysia is a country with majority Muslim population. And so, you know, there's no obvious motive here if it was terrorism.

WHITFIELD: And if terrorism -- it is among things that are investigated. We know the FBI is on their way there in large fact because of the stolen passports that were used to board this plane.

But while we're on the subject of the terror groups, describe for me what are the terror groups in that region even though on the surface it doesn't seem to be there's real motivation to down this kind of jetliner. But who or what groups are in that area that you can speak of?

BERGEN: Well, in Kuala Lumpur where this flight took off, al Qaeda had a sort of major summit in the pre-9/11 time period. In fact, it was really a planning summit for the 9/11 attack. So, al Qaeda kept going through this region and al Qaeda affiliated with a larger group called Jemaah Islamiyah which operates in Indonesia, in Philippines, in Malaysia, in Singapore. That group of late, Fredricka, it has actually been -- there's been a huge amount of law enforcement pressure in the country I just named against this group and they are pretty dormant. So, again, that would also sort of suggest that terrorism is unlikely, because the biggest terrorist group in the region, which has conducted operations against embassies, Western embassies, Western hotels, you know, is really largely out of business. So you know that would kind of also mitigate terrorism being involved.

WHITFIELD: All right, Peter Bergen, thank you so much. Again, we still don't know why this plane may have gone down. We don't know really know the endpoint of this plane, but we know that this is one of the scenarios that investigators are looking into. Thanks so much, Peter Bergen. Appreciate it.

All right, meantime, new trouble flaring up in Ukraine in the middle of a growing political standoff. Now journalists in some regions are facing attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Today Russian President Vladimir Putin made two calls on crisis in Ukraine to Britain's prime minister and Germany's chancellor. The Russian government says the three leaders have a different assessment what's happening in Ukraine, but they all agree the situation needs to deescalate. That comes as a standoff over Crimea gets more tense by the minute and as Anna Coren reports journalists and media outlets are also facing attacks?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the street in the heart of Simferopol, masked paramilitaries confiscate equipment from a TV station. Filming across the road a Bulgarian journalist suddenly being spotted. Within seconds he's pushed to the ground, a gun aimed at his head, his assistant is then targeted. The militia take their phones and cameras before fleeing in a van.

The brazen attack caught on surveillance camera, but there won't be any investigation. These faceless men are now the law in Crimea. The self-appointed pro-Russian government here apparently working in concert with Russian forces is cracking down on opposition and dissent.

Having taken control just a week ago, it shut down two Ukrainian TV stations broadcasting in Crimea. Russian state TV has now replaced one of them. As it tries to tighten its grip on the media, the new Crimean authority is of grave concern to these people. Braving miserable conditions, 200 pro-Ukrainian supporters voice their opposition to the referendum vote that could decide if Crimea breaks away and joins Russia.

It's illegal what they are doing, this woman tells me, we are part of Ukraine and the international community is not protecting us. Leaders in Kiev along with those in the U.S. and Europe also consider the referendum illegal. The Crimean government says international observers have been invited to oversee the vote, but not surprisingly the majority will come from Russia.

But these observers arriving at a Crimean checkpoint certainly were not welcome. Observers for the organization for security and cooperation in Europe were blocked from entering Crimea. The Ukrainian government wants them to investigate Russian troops occupying the region. But for now at least it doesn't look like they will be going anywhere. Anna Coren, CNN, Simferopol on the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Those military observers were blocked yesterday from entering Crimea for the third day in a row. I'm joined now by CNN analyst and Russian journalist, Vladimir Pozner, joining us from Moscow. Good to see you. So are these crackdowns on journalists more of the same in your view or is there something uniquely different here?

VLADIMIR POZNER, CNN ANALYST: I really don't know whether it's different. I think it's not a good idea to crack down on journalists. I would ask the journalist who made that report to ask not only pro- Kiev people what they think, but pro-Russian people. There are a lot of more of those in the Crimea than they are pro-Ukraine because 60 percent of the population is Russian.

But I would hope for some kind of balanced reporting, which I don't see quite frankly on either side of the fence. In Russia, it's not very objective and it doesn't seem to be very objective in the west. Basically cracking down on journalists is something I would not support in any way.

WHITFIELD: So is it your view that Russia is trying to control the message or even pro-Russian supporters trying to control the message coming out of Crimea?

POZNER: I don't think so. I think the message is very clear. I think the overwhelming majority of the population of Crimea, as I said, 60 percent of them are ethnic Russian want to be part of the Russian federation. Now, what I hope doesn't happen is that after the referendum, which certainly will show that, Russia will say, OK, fine, we're taking you in. I think that would be a very bad idea. I think it's dangerous.

I think it's a precedent that shouldn't be set, but that is going to be the message very clearly. I also think what people seem to forget is that Russia is very worried about NATO appearing in Ukraine. You know, if Ukraine goes west, and if it becomes a member of NATO, and that's a realistic possibility, then you'll have NATO troops on a long part of Russia's border.

I think one of the ways of avoiding the crisis would be to somehow get an agreement that Ukraine would not become a member of NATO. That's one thing. The second thing, that in the Ukrainian constitution of this new government, the Russian language would be also admitted as a second official language. I think those two steps would probably defuse the entire situation. WHITFIELD: It's not already the case that most are bilingual knowing both the Ukrainian and Russian?

POZNER: Well, you know, it's like in Canada. You have the majority, the vast majorities are English speaking, yet it's bilingual because you have a French population. In Finland, where the majority are Fins and yet the official language is Swedish. It's important for the local people to know that their language is not a second class language.

Sure they are bilingual, but there's a moral and if you will an important psychological role to be played here. It's important for Russians to know that their language in Ukraine is accepted as an official language.

WHITFIELD: What's the message you interpret from this conversation between Putin and Britain's prime minister and Germany's chancellor today, hopeful?

POZNER: I think it shows that President Putin is very worried by the situation. I think speculation that he's trying to rebuild the Soviet empire are way off base. I think he understands all too well the necessity of Russia having an international relationship with the west.

WHITFIELD: That he doesn't want to be isolated. So that Russia does not want to be isolated?

POZNER: No, he does not. No way. No way at all. Certainly not. I think he's trying. My hope is that with all the escalations that's going on, I still think that there's a real chance of finding some kind of way out of this very dangerous situation actually?

WHITFIELD: All right, very fascinating point of view. Vladimir Pozner in Moscow. Thank you so much.

Back here in the states, in some portions you go outside and you're going to think it's springtime. But another, guess what, winter blast is on the way for some parts. First, a perfect time to hit the slopes, perhaps, in Breckenridge, Colorado. There are other things to do besides skiing. Go inside Breck with a former snowboard instructor right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN POLLITCH, FORMER SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR: I'm Kevin Pollitch here in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado. I'm a former snowboard instructor, current business owner and I've called Breckenridge my home for 24 years. So when my friends come to town, a must-stop, is the Gold Pan Saloon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 1879, the Gold Pan was built and we've had drinks here ever since even during prohibition. Mining was a very big thing back in the late 1800s and this was actually a home away from home for the old miners. This is the original bar. The lights and the decor, we tried to keep it as authentic as possible. The Gold Pan Saloon is like stepping back in the Wild West.

POLLITCH: Breckenridge is one of only three places in the U.S. where you can see a real ice castle. It's about three quarters of an acre, 100 million pounds of ice. To build it, we start with an icicle farm. We harvest our icicle, spray water on top of them. Kids absolutely love it. They come out here smiling. Parents love it because the kids have so much fun. It's like nowhere else on the planet. There you have it. Insider travel tips from my hometown, Breckenridge, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, it's already starting to feel like spring in some parts of the U.S. Folks here in Atlanta can attest to that. It's in the mid-60s. But guess what, another winter storm is on the way this week. Our Jennifer Gray shows us where it's headed.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Fred, we're in store for a huge temperature swing as we go through the next couple of days. Yes, the south has been warm, but so has the north. Look at this, Rapid City on Sunday in the 70s. Today we reached 70 degrees in Rapid City. Close to that in North Platte. Look at these temperatures back in the 30s by Tuesday. Yes, another storm system moving in.

It will make its way to the north east as we go through the middle part of the week. So Detroit even hitting 43 on Monday, 40 in Syracuse. Back look, back in the 30s by Wednesday. Those 30s will make their way to the east coast by Thursday. So we're still in the 60s, though. D.C., a nice start to the week for you. Atlanta, Monday, 73, 75 on Tuesday, 64 on Wednesday.

But you can see that colder air making its way even into the south, by the middle part of the week. It reaches Memphis on Wednesday. It will be in Atlanta and even the panhandle by Thursday and Friday. So that cool down it is going to make its way across the country.

Here we go, that low is going to set up and move to the east coast. It will be to the northeast by Thursday and push offshore. Yes, we could see even more snow as we go through the middle to end of the week all across the country. So Fred, we'll be looking for that very closely during the next couple of days.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jennifer.

All right, a heart stopping moment right here, a terrifying collision caught on camera. Take a look. Still images showing a small aircraft right there slamming into a sky diver and then throwing him roughly 75 feet to the ground. Guess what, the sky diver and the pilot were not seriously injured. Amazing.

And an Oklahoma man searched for his lost money landed him in an unpleasant and kind of smelly situation. It started when he dropped a $20 in a storm drain. He decided I'm going after it and he did. He couldn't find his way out and he got stuck underground for two days. Finally some teens actually heard his cries for help. They called police and rescued him. He was very dehydrated and dazed. Even worse, he never did get his $20 back.

All right, coming up next, we'll take a closer look at what we know about some of the passengers on that missing jet as the search for that plane continues. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have some friends (inaudible)?

KIM CLUSTERS, THREE-TIME U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: There are some girls that -- that, you know, like you once in a while we text or we get a Twitter message or something, but I'm more in touch with some of the players that are retired as well or that retired before me like Jennifer (Gravioti), Lindsay Davenport.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you setting yourself a deadline of like how long you want to keep you career going or are you just going to take it like a year at a time and just see how each season goes?

CLUSTERS: Yes, because I still feel like there's so much I can achieve. I want to have lots of kids on my own one day and you know, tennis is a big part of my life, but it's not my whole life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is your family doing?

CLUSTERS: They are doing very good. A little bit tiring. Sleeping a little better. Hopefully, he can keep it up and we'll get more rest at night. Plays a little bit. She enjoys it and I don't want to push it. Everybody around her is, do you want to be like your mommy. I feel bad for her already.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Search crews are still trying to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It vanished more than 48 hours ago with 239 people on board including at least three Americans. Investigators from the U.S., Europe and Asia are working together to piece together clues including a floating object spotted in the Gulf of Thailand. Nick Valencia is gathering the information on at least one of the Americans believed to be on that plane.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Two hundred thirty nine as you said, 14 nationalities, 14 different countries, but Phil Wood, was 14 different countries. But Phil Wood was from right here in the United States, Northeast Oklahoma. He was known for his kindness and humility according to his friends. A globe trotter, love to travel the world, a passion sparked by his family's move to Germany when he was younger.

Earlier, our affiliate from Oklahoma City, KOCO, caught up with a close family friend and also the vice president of the university where he went to school, Oklahoma Christian University. Let's hear what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GOAD, EXECUTIVE VP, OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: His job at IBM took him multiple places around the world. He was in the process of being transferred from Beijing to Malaysia. He loved the world. He loved everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Phil Wood got his degree in computer science and math. He was very well liked person, God-centered person, and every one of his close friends and family praying for his safe return -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Indeed, all right, thank you so much. Again, still quite the mystery what happened to that plane. So many countries and their arsenal now involved in searching for that.

VALENCIA: Even a crew from Atlanta going to look for the wreckage.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right, meantime drones are turning into the next big thing for fighting wars and crimes. Now they can be used to fire an 80,000 volt charge into a human. Who would want this kind of technology?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we are covering South by Southwest Interactive Film and Music Festival. And one thing that has everyone there talking is the stun gun drone, which can fire a massive electric charge at people. Our money tech correspondent, Laurie Segall, was there for the demonstration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Tell me what's about to go down behind this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we're about to do a live demonstration here at South by Southwest of our Project Cupid, which is our chaotic unmanned personal intercept drone.

SEGALL: Does that mean the drone is going to stun the (inaudible) behind him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's exactly what's going to happen. It's going to stun him with about 80,000 volts.

SEGALL: You're about to get stunned by a drone.

JACKSON SHEEHAN, CHAOTIC MOON STUDIOS INTERN: Yes, so I think it would be really cool to kind of be at the forefront of some emerging technologies.

SEGALL: It's about to happen. He's about to get stunned. You were down for a couple of minutes, but you're good.

SHEEHAN: Feeling great. A little bit of discomfort but it was all right.

SEGALL: You fell down.

SHEEHAN: Fell down. Yes, it didn't have too much choice in the matter on that. Everything just locks up.

WHURLEY, CO-FOUNDER OF CHAOTIC MOON STUDIOS: The reality is there's a lot of work that's being done in this type of area that maybe isn't being managed properly, so we wanted to do this as an awareness on what capabilities aare technically as well as something to show how it can be done responsibly at the same time. Small unmanned vehicles have a lot of potential applications. Not just the stun.

Imagine the system delivering an early EMS package, imagine it finding a lost child using camera vision. There is a ton of things these things can be used for in the commercial space and with public safety space, but also in the personal space.

(END VIDEOTAPE)