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New Developments Emerge In The Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Aired March 16, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

An expanded search area now involving the search for flight 370. A refocused investigation in new clues now into the disappearance of the Malaysian airline jet.

Here's what we know right now. Pakistan's foreign ministry says the missing Malaysian Airlines plane did not show up on its radars. It says if it had, it would have scrambled its military in response. And a top military official in India says that country has temporarily now ended its search for the plane while Malaysia refuse to flame on (ph). And France is joining own the ground in Malaysia. It is sending a team to Kuala Lumpur right now to help in the review of evidence.

The search area now covers large areas of land including extremely remote regions. Crews are looking along two corridors. One to the south, the other to the north reaching all the way up to Kazakhstan.

Satellite signals picked up for flight 370 for seven hours after the last contact with the pilots also being re-examined. But Malaysian officials announced today it is possible the last satellite contact could have come from the plane on the ground.

A U.S. official intelligence is leading toward the theory they the pilots are responsible. Authorities are examining a flight simulator taken from the home of the pilot.

Let's talk more into the investigation into the jets disappearance. CNN's Andrew Stevens is in Kuala Lumpur, CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo is back with us from Charleston, South Carolina, and Shawn Pruchnicki joins us now. He is an air safety expert. Also rejoining us is Jack Barker, a former spokesman for the FAA.

So Andrew, let's begin with you. Bring us up-to-date on the new information that is being gathered as they continue to look for the plane or at least look for clues as to how this happened in the first place.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE), now we have the investigation ongoing here in Malaysia into the crew and the passengers onboard that flight and also the latest on the search.

Let's start here in Malaysia. Police are still looking at the flight simulator that was actually taken from the home of the captain of this flight. At this stage in the last two hours, we have been talked to Malaysian police. They are telling us that they don't yet know what is on that and they certainly won't releasing what they have found so far. Reuters is reporting that there were program switch showed how to fly in various weather situation. So that is not uncommon program to find though, on a flight simulator.

Now, the other passengers and crews are also being investigated. No clues there. Malaysians are saying we have to wait for the background checks on some of the passengers. Obviously, there were 50 nationalities involved.

So it is moving but slowly. This all comes from 24 hours ago. The prime minister say that we do have enough evidence to say that someone deliberately diverted the plane. Tell on deliberately turned off those communications equipment. And if you look at the timeline it is now clear that the last known contact with the pilot and the ground from where the pilot said, all right, good night, all has been out nearing, perhaps he said OK, roger, good day, whatever. That happened after the transponders have been turned off.

Now, Fred, very quickly, Fred, on the search as you say, (INAUDIBLE). This is all applies to some 11 countries. This is what the Malaysians had to say about search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search was already a highly complex and multi effort that is now become even more difficult. The search area has been significantly expanded, and the nature of the search has changed from focusing merely on shadow seas, we're now looking at large tracks of land crossing 11 countries as well as deep and remote oceans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: That's the Malaysian defense minister. And all these date to get information, relevant information, on the tracking of any plane like the 777 they are looking for. They are going to have to get sensitive information from (INAUDIBLE) or perhaps 11 countries. That is going to be difficult. They are asking for satellite information, they are asking for radar information. At this hour we don't know how much cooperation they are getting the most. But certainly that cooperation is going to be crucial by the determining some sensitive information. It will exchange heads between governments. And this and many passengers, Asia particularly China, are sensitive areas, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, cooperation is very important. But we also know that India has now said that it is kind of pull back on its assistance of any kind of ground search. Those that don't involve themselves, I guess it is just as important as those who have committed to continue in this search.

Andrew, thanks.

Let's bring a few other people to kind of roundup this conversation. Jack Barker whose back with me now here in Atlanta. Just as we are hearing a real admission from the defense minister saying the search is now even more difficult. And the nature of the surgery has changed. In your view based on the information that we are getting and that in concert with the gaping call, you say it is still important at this point to really rule out as much as possible. Among what things would you say you need to be ruled out of this investigation in order to, I guess make some real traction and make some real ground here?

JACK BARKER, FORMER FAA SPOKESMAN: Well, the three things could have occurred. The plane crashed in the ocean, it crashed on the land or landed somewhere on land. And the idea is to try to rule out as many of those -- one or two of those. The aircraft is obviously down somewhere because it has run out of fuel, so it is down somewhere. And the question is, we are going to find out where it is. And the whoever did this, a hijacker, pilot, or whatever, they were smart enough to turn off the transponder so they would lose any knowledge of where the plane is.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Further compounding the matter.

So Shawn, in your view, that you would hear the defense minister say that now they want to look more at land. How critical is that in your view?

SHAWN PRUCHNICKI, AIR SAFETY EXPERT: Well, I think that is extremely critical. And the reason being is time is even more of the essence. If this airplane has been taken to used as a weapon as been discussed already in past days, then, the time that has been taken to defer the aircraft for whatever deed is the plan, obviously, you know, (INAUDIBLE), it is all about time, right? It is all about how quickly can we find this aircraft? Either in the water to help uncover what might have happened if there was like fire or explosion that we need that wreckage. But yes, fighting it on land, absolutely, I almost -- I would say that, you know, the time urgency has certainly increased several fold now if that's what happened.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And of course, we are talking about theories now. We don't know definitively anything about the whereabouts of this plane.

So Mary, when you hear that, you know, this sense of urgency, we are talking about day ten now in the search of the plane, and the sense of urgency not just for the mere fact to finding out what is the conclusion with this mystery, where did it go, but we are talking about if it were to land on land, as we are hearing in one of these theories, the urgency to get to, perhaps, the nearly 250 people -- the 239 people onboard or the urgency to find out what else may have been planned for this plane if indeed it did land safely on land somewhere?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. Well, and again, if it landed safely on land somewhere, you know, there are just a certain number of airstrips or airports or places to land, and then the second problem is getting 45,000 gallons of jet fuels to fill a backup. Because when it land, we now know it would be empty after seven hours. So, I think there's more than one way track where it may be and one is, you know, provisioning. One is if you're going to land it and use it again, there are certain things you have to have to take it off again, including whatever the (INAUDIBLE) within the electronics bay if that even happened. It has to be fixed. And it has to make sure that when they take it off again, you know, the airplane has a lot of computers and sometimes computers reset themselves once that it has been shutdown.

So, what I am more worried about is the this is not a criminal investigation. Two days ago, the prime minister said it is criminal. And in any criminal investigation the most important analysis is to say, what is the motive. Motive and opportunity are two things that prosecutor always looks for. And as a prosecutor for 14 years, then there are criminal cases for 14 years and you always have to find the mot motive. And I think right now, they have to look for that and they have to rule it out if they can with their own pilot so they can start looking for motive elsewhere.

WHITFIELD: And so, Andrew, you are there on the ground. You have heard these press conferences, you know. You have been there. And I'm wondering whether the defense minister or anybody representing the Malaysian authorities, are they revealing any more as to why they want the search to be focused more on land and in what region, because that arc is pretty fast. OK, I'm sorry, it looks like we lost our Andrew there.

So I wonder, you know, Shawn, what kind of information would we be looking from Malaysian authorities? Would they reveal a little bit more as to the justification is to why they now want to focus more on land. That arc is fairly huge.

PRUCHNICKI: Yes. I agree. And I think the reason being is that because if the aircraft is -- if it did land successfully somewhere, then, as Mary had suggested, then it is all about motive, right? It is all about understanding, not only what has been done but what could happen next. And I think that the information we are hearing from the Malaysian authorities about the flight simulator being taken out of the captain's house, I understand it. I think it is potentially a significant piece of this puzzle. I think what's really going to be interesting is to see what kind of flight profiles he had been flying on that simulator prior to this. And I think it would be real quite insightful that if we see a similar profile with the data points that we have now capture on that flight simulator that might go a long way in understanding where the narrow the search. The fact that we have a match up and what we see on the simulator versus --.

We are still a long way from that. We are still waiting to see what the Malaysian authorities released that type of information and I think that is going to be quite insightful for all of us.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. All right, Shawn Pruchnicki, thanks so much. Mary Schiavo and of course jack barker and our Andrew Stevens in Kuala Lumpur. Thanks to all you. Appreciate it.

All right, the search for flight 370 now covering thousands of miles and more than two dozen countries are involve. In just a minute, we will show you just how that an area we are talking about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The search for flight 370 is now so big that more than two dozen countries are taking part in the search.

Chad Myers is here to give us a sense of just how big this operation has become. It just as ((INAUDIBLE). And really, it has grabbed the attention of the globe. Everyone wants to know what happened here.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's because the GPS that's in the airplane is not sent back to the earth. It is not sent back in the air traffic control. It could be. The technology is there. Right now we just use radar to track planes, we don't use GPS. So last hour, we talked about this potential path or this potential path. This is not where the plane would have thrown.

Let me tell you how they got to this path thing in first place or how they got to that circle with all those arcs. There was a satellite out in space. It came at 8:11 a.m. local time in satellite inside telling receiver inside of that plane, inside of 370. It pinged back we know the speed of light, we know the speed of sound. This speed of light and angle of this light coming back, that satellite said, it must be in this circle. Can't be here, that is too close. It would have take a longer for the beam to go over here. What can't be here have to be right here. So that's what that means. We have a circle now.

WHITFIELD: That's some 23,000 miles away.

MYERS: The plane has to be on this circle some way. Some were around here and has to be inside of that circle. On that line right there at 8:11 a.m. Now, we start eliminating things (INAUDIBLE). What can we eliminate? We can eliminate this side all the way over to here because the plane couldn't get there. It is not fast enough to get there so it couldn't be over here and have it forget. It couldn't be in Egypt or Saudi Arabia because it didn't have time to get there, probably, didn't have fuel either.

So now, we eliminated this side of the circle. What else can we eliminate? Well, counties over here say hey, our radar is working. Our radar is working, let's get rid of that. We know it couldn't be there. We would have seen it. But what do we have left? A northern arc and a southern arc. That's where we are now.

If we had another satellite in space, to see it we would have pinged another spot and we would known where it could be. We would known that this thing had to be somewhere -- go get it for me, will you? Will we would have known that if we have another satellite, space would have been there or some space else. That's some place one more spot with another satellite with a third on one, we would have known that the cross happens right there. And that is where the plane would have been exactly. We don't have the other two. We only have one. So we have a ring. We are still looking for one, but for now, we just have one. WHITFIELD: So, this is a like colossal search. It is a huge challenge for the many countries that are involve and a challenge for a technology. Has there even been a search of this magnitude given the kinds of tools that we have in this day and age like this?

MYERS: You know, if Amelia Earhart disease was lost today, we would have found her likely, right?

WHITFIELD: Sure.

MYERS: This is the most amazing technology that we know off yet we are still not finding it because those pilots knew how to turn things off or someone knew how to turn things off. Had the transponders not been turned off and those pingers and those e-card (ph) have not been turned off, we would know where this plane is.

Now, I do believe in the heart of my heart that the company that immorset (ph) that got us this red ring in the first place probably has other pings from hours asked. This would have been let's say, 3:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning, 5:00 in the morning, 6:00 in the morning, and here is your 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning. And they can induce from how that circle was moving, which way the plane was moving. And I'm certain they are working on that right now.

WHITFIELD: How long does that take, you would think? After ten days, you would think that they were the access of that kind of information.

MYERS: All right, of these -- think about the number of planes in the sky, the number of times pings happen. They have to find the plane itself and the plane has turned itself off. So, it is still is for them. The cops still need to look for the needle in the hay stack. What was the right ping? We don't want to get the wrong ping. We haven't find the right one.

WHITFIELD: Incredible investigation, widespread. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us like that, Chad. Appreciate that.

All right, meantime, let's talk about another big story overseas. We are keeping a close watch on the vote to change the future of Ukraine. The polls are now closed in Crimea. So what we are expecting to see is straight ahead. And once the preliminary results come in officially as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A critical vote in Crimea on the referendum to join Russia is now over. The polls just closed and we are waiting now on preliminary results. We were expected to get them about an hour ago, but now officials say they will come later on today.

Senior international correspondent Nick Payton Walsh is live for us now in Crimea's capital city of Simferopol, and CNN analyst and Russian journalist Vladimir Posner is live for us in Moscow.

So Nick, let me go to you first. It is very noisy there. People are rather victorious. What are they hopes for this vote? NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it is every loud amongst the crowd and certainly where the Russian flag is predominant already. Anything else you can see behind me and of course sort of raise before the start on this day. Because of this pretty uncontroversial exit poll you just talked about, but this will take them into the Russian federation.

Nearly two things that can stand in their way, a shocker result that actually mean they voted for independence or Vladimir Putin accepting the west diplomatic pressure against him accepting the off-ramp they are providing which would mean him not in deciding to endorse the idea of Crimea becoming part of Russia.

That's all pretty far-fetched at this point. I should point out, Fredricka, I'm standing in this display of jubilation and celebration around me. Very well organized, well orchestrated, very polite. But I should point out, it is only be possible, this vote is only be possible because there are 21,500 Russian troops on the Crimean peninsula, some pressuring the Ukrainian troops to surrender, some having taken over initially to parts of Ukrainian government here that made this functionality possible.

So, a severely strange climate here for a democratic process. And of course, also, today and in the past week, as you points out, we simply haven't heard the other side of the story. We should point out that we have not heard the other side of the story. You normally hear two opinions battling the supremacy that has won here. And that's must be the pro-Russian idea, the idea of this about coming in still wet.

Majority of the people are ethnically Russian and many of them are very glad to fill that part of the Russian federation. We only heard that's side of the story. Those who want to remain part of Ukraine, not really getting a chance to have their opinion heard at all. And that a minority, the Tar Tar might cause an election entirely and being deeply worried about wanting at what increase Russian control of the Crimea means for them as an ethnic minority, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Vladimir Posner in Moscow, if indeed Crimea has voted to join with Russia, what does this mean for Vladimir Putin and the world stage? Especially in light of the fact that the U.S. and European leaders are saying they are considering this vote to be illegitimate, illegal?

VLADIMIR POSNER, CNN ANALYST: As far as Russia is concerned, it is certainly going to increase his popularity. The problem is I'm getting a huge echo.

WHITFIELD: OK. You can take the earpiece out because you know my question and then go ahead and answer the question.

POSNER: OK, that's what I'll I do. So, as I was saying, Putin will be even more popular than he is today as a result of this. The vast majority of Russians consider Crimea to be theirs, always theirs, the fact that it was kind of slow down the river as they say, but and then Yeltsin was not popular. So it really is going to strengthen Putin's popularity in this country. Obviously, on the other side of the equation, the rest of the world is not going to be happy about this. There probably will be sanctions.

The attitude I found here to those sanctions is pretty much indifference, you know. So, what can they do? And they better just leave us alone. This is our business. So it's not like a lot of people are frightened by what may happened. Although yesterday in Moscow, there was a large demonstration between 50,000 and 80,000 people demonstrated against Russia's taking in Crimea, but still that's a very small minority.

WHITFIELD: All right, Vladimir Posner, thank you so much. Sorry for the audio complications there from Moscow. Appreciate your insight. And that of Nick Paton Walsh, also thanks so much.

All right, meantime, we are going to talk more about the mysterious disappearance of a flight. More scrutiny for the men actually who were flying flight 370. The latest on what investigators have found as they look at the pilots of that missing plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, now back to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. It is now day ten since the plane vanished with 239 people on board. Their families and loved ones are outraged today with the investigation and the lack of answers. Some of them, in fact, are calling Malaysian officials liars, but no country seems to have a lead on where this plane is. There are, however, a lot of theories out there, like the pilots being to blame. A U.S. official tells CNN that U.S. intelligence is leaning towards that theory. And a short time ago Congressman Peter King said the pilots should have been the focus from the start.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: The fact that the FBI was not asked in, and these pilots, they should have been, the pilot and co-pilot should have been the focus from the start. That would be the ordinary law enforcement investigatory procedures. The FBI could have been called to help with that. Interpol could have been called in on agencies. But my understanding is that Malaysia is not really cooperating at all. They are very reluctant to lay what they have out on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So could the pilots have been behind this plane's disappearance? CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo is back with us and John Magaw is the former undersecretary of TSA and Tom Fuentes is CNN's law enforcement analyst.

All right, so Tom to you first. You know, is that the case that so much time has been lost now in this search that perhaps investigators have really fallen behind in getting to the bottom of this?

THOMAS FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Fredricka. That information frankly is inaccurate. The FBI did not have to be called in to go work this case because the agents that work full-time in Kuala Lumpur were brought in to the command post the very first night this plane went missing. They have been working closely with the Royal Malaysian police department. Now, they were not in position to tell you what the radar said and the pings and the handshakes and the technical information about the direction of that plane took, but they are in a position to say that a senior Malaysian official contacted me today for Kuala Lumpur to say that they have looked at the pilots, the other crew members, the passengers, the ground crew, technicians, they have looked at everybody very closely from day one. That they have had this on the table and have never have taken it off the table.

What's happened in the last couple of days is that the technicians based on the reporting from the people reviewing the radars and scanners and satellite information are saying that the maneuvers the plane made in turning off the communications devices had to be the work of the people. The plane was being flown by a person. So the bleep is that, yes, a pilot flew the plane, but not necessarily the pilot.

WHITFIELD: And so, Tom, in your view, is this investigation being mishandled?

FUENTES: No, I think that a great deal of the reporting isn't being handled very smoothly. And in terms of, again, the technical aspect of the investigation, I can't speak to that, I can speak to the law enforcement side of it, it is extensive and intensive from day one. And all of these possible thoughts were on the table from the very beginning and were never taken off the table.

So the idea that this investigation has been somehow by the police, conducted in a sequential manner, that first they are looking at this and now they are looking at that, and then the next step is here, isn't completely true. That most of the investigation, as much as possible, was being done concurrently so all the various leads were in progress together.

And as far as searching the pilot's home, they needed to have additional justification in their legal system to do it. So part of this is the mischaracterization on their part. That now we have a reason to go in. When we look at that, you had a reason early on. They really may now, we have the legal justification to take that stuff.

WHITFIELD: All right. And John, what is your view on this? Is this being mishandled or is this just simply the way it goes given it is a colossal event, huge investigation?

JOHN MAGAW, FORMER TSA UNDERSECRETARY: Well, as Tom said, you have to take all of these in rotation. But the whole thing from the beginning, they haven't had a command center. And a command center is so necessary to coordinate everything that's being done. And if they haven't done it now, the families, see how that uproar in those rooms, it causes them to try to bring information and sometimes it's given too soon.

So, what I think this should be done is three quick things, if I might. Number one, get grief counselors to every one of those family members. Now, if there's a group of three or four, one counselor, and get it to them from their nationality, not Chinese counseling or Malaysian. Get those together. We have to think about the family, because now if it's -- if it was in the water, that can stand path because the big emergency now is if they landed on land, then we need to really concentrate on that if that possibility is there, so it isn't launched and cause catastrophe somewhere else. And so that's hugely important. And the families would understand that if they had a counselor there. And then they get briefings every day from that particular crisis management.

The other thing is, the command and control center. You have to have a command and control center, clear a hotel, put your people from each country who have the expertise, set up a ballroom that can be done very, very easily, and then you are not going off in the wrong direction there. So those are so important. And this land mass that is out there that it could have landed on, I think that's the first thing you have to look at because if they are in the water, it's a very sad thing. But if they are in the water, they are all gone. So look at that land so we don't have another accident or intentional thing.

WHITFIELD: OK. And that third item, we're going to get to that after a short break. I'm going to ask you, John, Tom and Mary to stick around. We'll take a short break for now and have much more on the mystery surrounding this flight disappearance, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Investigators are saying they are focusing on the investigation involving the mystery of flight 370 on the pilots. In fact, the simulator has already been removed from the pilot's home. Now, they are going to be trying to extrapolate as much information they can to find out whether that pilot may have been doing a rehearsal, if there was a rehearsal kind of flight plan, if there's a real investigation into flying into different kind of elements, what would this all mean.

Back with us, a panel of guests, the CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo and John Magaw, former undersecretary of TSA and Tom Fuentes is CNN law enforcement analyst.

So before the break, John Magaw, you were talking about there are three things that are kind of missing thus far, especially to help ease the grieving loved ones. You say there needs to be grief counselors, there needs to be a command and control center. And then the third item would be what that is missing thus far?

MAGAW: Well, the search of the land, Fredericka. It's with as much sympathy as I can say, if they are in the water, they are gone. So concentrate on the land. And each area that has responsibility for that land. Take their ministers or whoever their lead people are and let them exclude that part of their country or that part of the land. So that you get it down to where it might be just a small area that you can then search so that you're not sitting on a possibility of it being on the land and not doing something very immediate about it.

WHITFIELD: And now today, in fact, the Malaysian defense minister said that they will concentrate more now on land searches.

So I wonder, Mary, now with day ten of this search, you are trying to get to the bottom of this missing aircraft, in a case like this, who typically pays for this? We are talking about resources dumped in from some 25 nations to assist in this, whether it is at land or at sea, but it seems as though the bill is going up and the money might mean why certain countries kind of remove themselves from the investigation.

SCHIAVO: Exactly. As far as search and rescue or search and recovery goes, the nations who perform it pay for, you know for example, in our country, when the coast guard or Navy goes out to do that, their budget pays for it. Then from around the world, they have been called in to help, they are not usually having a credit card attached to that. So each nation pays their own and it's understandable. Typically if India and Pakistan thought they have nothing more to add, they searched, they don't have it. They don't have any radar pings, they probably feel very helpless to do anything more to help.

WHITFIELD: And then Tom, this is unprecedented. Is it not to see these kinds of resources being poured into the mystery of this one plane of this magnitude. I mean, there's a global interest.

FUENTES: No, that's true. And the problem is that without a more specific location to even look for the plane, and then the information that will come from finding the plane and the flight recorders, you know, it really -- beyond looking at every person that had anything to do with that aircraft and all of their backgrounds, there's not a lot of other things that can be done. There is no crime scene investigation that can be done, there is no recovery operation. And you know, all of that kind of is on hold until and if, I guess, the plane is actually located and the flight recorders. And even then, the concern is that the flight recorders, especially the cockpit voice recorder, if that's a two-hour recording loop and then re-records over itself, then you have the possibility that id the plane did stay in the air four, five, six hours more, the part of the flight where the actual turn of direction happened, the turning off of the transponder and the other system happened, there won't be voice coverage of that. You won't know what happened in the cockpit or who said it or if the plane goes up or down or sideways, you know, who cause that. So that's another possibility.

You know, there's another possible set of victims in this is that, you know, the comments on the pilots and the captain who are very, you know, considered very elite members of their society, you know, were worried, as we should be, about the families of the victims of the passengers and the flight attendants and those people being affected. But with the pilots, you have the accusation that not only are they dead and their families would be mourning their death, you have the accusation that potentially they are mass murderers and killed 240 people.

WHITFIELD: Great point. All right, Tom, John, Mary, thank you so much. Stick around, we are going to take a short break. We are going to continue this conversation. And let's talk about the process of elimination. What needs to be ruled out as we continue to look into the search for this missing plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: 65-years-old, Mark "the snake" Jones has competed in the wheelchair 9-ball championships. He never planned to become a championship pool player, but it helped him overcome something that happened 40 years ago.

MARK JONES, WHEELCHAIR 9-BALL CHAMPION: I was asleep on the passenger side in a little Volks wagon beetle, and the real wheel came completely off the car and the impact, my door flew open, I didn't have on a seat belt, and I flew out of the car at probably 50 miles an hour. And ended up breaking my neck, my back and bones all over.

GUPTA: He was paralyzed, no longer able to walk.

JONES: (INAUDIBLE) as my friends said, let's play some pool. I just sat there and watched them play and I said, this can't be that difficult.

GUPTA: Friendly pickup games turned into tournaments.

JONES: It's pretty much indescribable, you know. I just love it. I just love the competition.

GUPTA: It's a feeling he wanted to share with others like himself which is why he began working with the national wheelchair players association.

JONES: It's not easy. I know exactly what they're going through. That's what our organization is about, getting people back into society again and out doing this.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll have much more on the investigation of this search for that missing aircraft right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back authorities say they will focus their search now on land. This as Pakistan now said it has checked it's radar and it doesn't see any evidence of that plane, that missing plane in its air space.

To talk more about the scenarios, CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo is back with us And John John Magaw is former undersecretary of TSA back with us and Tom Fuentes is CNN's law enforcement analyst. So Mary, to you first. If a country says we don't see a plane activity on our radar, and Malaysia is now saying they want to search more on land, how will they make a determination as to what land to search?

SCHIAVO: Well, other than the pings that we have from the satellite and hopefully more of these data has have been pouring in from other countries and they have been able to smooth out the data, in other words get rid of all the miss leading parts of the data and zero in on the data. That's the best way to go.

The other ways are the ways to examine who and what are behind the hijacking or sabotage or whatever we want to call it at this point behind the criminal activity. And that is what is so strange about this case. Maybe that is why the world is riveted to this case. And that is because there is an eerie silence.

And investigation, this late into the investigation, the eerie silence bothers me. In the 9/11 investigation, by this time we have clues, we have witnesses, scores of witnesses, people were coming forward in rows. We had intelligence. People had seen something. People had reports things. People were racing to report things and here it is silent. It is very odd. And that leaves you with very few clues to go on other than some pings.

WHITFIELD: Does that silence then lead you to start thinking more of some catastrophic accident or does it simply say that this is such a plan that has everyone so baffled in what an immaculate plan it turns out to be, potentially.

SCHIAVO: Well, I have never simply ruled out the mechanical. I think I was the might have been the hold out on that one. I still don't think we can rule that out entirely. But I think what has people largely, you know, very afraid is that the plan is so good that no information is leaking out. I think that is what people are very worried about. Yes, I have never, I still wonder about mechanical.

WHITFIELD: And so John Magaw, this silence that Mary is speaking to, does it say to you that this is a masterful plan? Does the silence say to you that there are gaping holes in the investigation or does it say that indeed it was just a catastrophic accident?

MAGAW: Well, it says to me that one or the two in the cockpit, the pilot and co-pilot would have considered everything, my gut tells me it is one of those. And the other is either incapacitated or locked out of the cabin when this was going on.

The key for me now is if it is a possibility that it is on land somewhere, we got to think about the people on the plane. They could still be alive. And/or if they are not, then at least we know where that plane is and it is not going to commit some kind of terrorist act. And then have those at sea kind of stand down. They are very, very weary at this point in looking. Stand down until that command center can get the experts of the world in there and then kind of tell them better where to look. WHITFIELD: And Tom, are you at the point of ruling out anything, ruling out that this could be a catastrophic accident especially given the fact that deliberately, officials are saying, the transponder was turned off, that can't be a coincidence?

FUENTES: I don't think I'm at the point of ruling anything out simply because, you know, the reliance of this not being mechanical is based on the technicians and the experts who have looked at the radar data and the satellite data and concluded that plane flew for six hours. It flew at a problem that it could stay in the air. Not allow anyone on the plane to communicate with anyone on the ground.

So, you know, from that stand point, but again, you know, one of the things for the investigators, at least on the law enforcement intelligence side is that they need more accurate information from the technicians about the direction and distance that that plane took. And right now, that is the one thing we are relying on it. And I would say, let's wait until there are more experts there. But I don't know how many more and I don't think there is anybody out there in the world that is any better than the U.S.'s NTSB and FAA investigators that have looked at this data and helped come to that conclusion that that plane was out there and the satellite was reaching it for several hours in flight.

So again, you know, that arc and the distance that plane it went over, certainly it went over land and it could have, you know in my mind, it could have gone down over land from the very beginning in Malaysia or in Indonesia. You have thick jungles that could have gone through the triple canopy of the jungle down into the ground. It maybe not even been visible from the air.

So, you know, that is always a possibility. What is driving the fact that that is probably not what happened is again, the technician saying that the plane stayed into the air on into the Indian Ocean and then went north or south.

WHITFIELD: Tom Fuentes, John Magaw, Mary Schiavo, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

We'll have much more on the Malaysia missing plane right after a short break. And then we also have new information that we want to share with you.

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