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Striking New Developments on Missing Malaysian Flight 370; 25 Nations Part of Search; Crimea Now Under Russia's Federation

Aired March 16, 2014 - 17:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Jim Sciutto in New York, in today for Don Lemon. Thanks very much for joining us.

And we are following two very important stories for you now. A controversial vote today pits Russia against much of the world. People in Ukraine's Crimea region voted on whether to join Russia or become an independent state. The White House is slamming the vote calling it illegal. Sanctions could start as early as tomorrow.

Plus, we continue to track every angle of the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia airlines flight 370. New clues are emerging today.

Right now, 25 nations are searching for the missing plane. And coming up short, the airlines disappeared ten days ago triggering an aviation mystery that has baffled the world. Let me give you the latest developments here.

Pakistan says no trace of the missing plane ever showed up on its radar. And Pakistan says the plane would have been treated as (INAUDIBLE), has that happened. Right now police are examining a flight simulator taken from the pilot's home. Harsh new scrutiny is bearing down on both the pilot and the co-pilot.

Plus, the search for the missing jet airliner is getting even bigger. Now authorities are scow wearing ocean and land. You will hear why believe that plane may have landed before it left satellite contact.

We are bringing in all our experts to track the unsolved mystery of Malaysia flight 370. But first, I want to go to Kuala Lumpur as daylight breaks there. It is another day without concrete answers.

But we have CNN's Andrew Stevens live on the ground there.

Andrew, as we look at these developments today, authorities looking at the flight simulator of the pilot, the expansion of the search area also word that there are going to be cooperating, a number of nations to piece together their satellite data. Can you tell our viewers what is the most significant development today?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think Jim, the most significant development there is here in Kuala Lumpur. It is the investigation into the pilot. And the reason I say that, it is because 24 hours ago, we were getting information that the transponders, the communications in the plane, in the cockpit, were switched off before the captain or whoever said his final words by radio -- all right, good night. And that has been confirmed to us today.

So whatever was happening on flight 370, was happening before that final contact. So today, the Malaysian police continue to look at the background of both the pilot and the co-pilot. There is a flight simulator at the pilot's home which has been taken down the place. Police saying this has been put back together again. They are looking at what data was stored on the simulator.

Reuters is reporting that there were programs teaching how to fly through various types of weather. That though, we should point out, that is a fairly normal program to have on a flight simulator. So, that is about the only news we have about what they are looking into with the captain of pilot.

But a significant that they are refocusing on the captain, the co- pilot as well. The co-pilot, you will remember, has a history. There was an accident three years ago when he let two strangers into the cockpit. They share the cockpit for an entire flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. Add to that, there is another ten crew members, there is another 227 passengers on that plane. There is an awful lot of leg work to get through now. There are still lot of cooperation with other jurisdiction to get background checks on all the passengers and crew before they can be eliminated from the investigation.

SCIUTTO: I'm glad you mentioned that, Andrew. Because we should caution our viewers that nothing has been established linking the pilot or co-pilot to what happened in that plane. But we do know that officials are looking at them as well as the entire manifest as they tried to figure out what happened here.

I wonder if I can talk about the search area it begins. There has been enormous frustration from some of the countries taking part in the search that the Malaysians appeared to have this radar data indicating that left turn, taking it west while they were still focusing the search with this 25 countries involve to the east. How much has that hampered the search efforts in addition to the frustrating in these countries that are taking part, voting so many resources?

STEVENS: Yes, significantly on both counts. The Indonesian deputy ambassador here to Malaysia today pointed out to the Indonesians which only about 300 miles across the Strait of Malacca as heads the west had not been searching for eight days because they were being told that primary search area was focusing on the South China Sea. That is eight days lost and the Indonesian supporting that out. We know the Chinese have been very unhappy.

And yes, it is significant that given just how difficult it was always going to be to find this plane. Let alone now, ten days on, if it had gone, for example, down south turn into (INAUDIBLE), the vast anti expansions of the ocean, any wreckage could now be hundreds, literally hundreds of miles away from where the plane went down. So, there is a concern. The Malaysians are telling us today that they have to get the radar information, the satellite information from these 11 countries that the plane may have over thrown. And that many other countries where they can't rule out at the moment.

They have to get that information still, Jim. That is going to require some delicate political maneuvering because a lot of this information obviously going to be military sensitive. And it certainly not being held by what is being perceived by the miss step by Malaysians as long the way so far.

SCIUTTO: No question. Well, let's hope that the cooperation gets better on all that data. Hope it is not too late. Thanks very much, Andrew Stevens live from Kuala Lumpur.

Joining me now to discuss the latest developments, we have David Soucie, CNN safety analyst, author as well of "why planes crash," Tom Fuentes, CNN law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director, and her nest to me in New York, Arthur Rosenberg, aviation lawyer, engineer and pilot who has investigated a number of crashes, as you were telling me, and all of the major crashes in the last 20, 30-some on years.

If I can ask you in light of that experience. Looking at this development today, as they begin to focus their investigation on the pilots of this plane, and as U.S. officials are telling us, if that is the focus, nothing concluded yet, but that's the focus, how important is looking at this flight simulator and do you think that is really an unusual thing for a pilot to have in his home?

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, AVIATION LAWYER: Yes. Well, I actually spoke a little about that this morning. I think the flight simulator is very important. It could be as an iniquitous as an aviation enthusiast pilots do have simulators at home or it could have been an instrument used in preparation for what happened? Why do I say that?

The route that this pilot flew from the time he took off from Kuala Lumpur to the time the ACARS system was turned off, the transponder system has been turned off. The last communication, the turn basically 180 degree turn, follows by the flight across the Malaysian peninsula. Military radar actually had primary hits of this airplane. But this airplane was able to traverse with impunity with an air force has FATs, FRIs, that could have intercepted this plane.

SCIUTTO: There has been some good reporting in "the New York Times" today saying it crossed three military radar or range during that time period. So, it wasn't just one that missed it but three. It is incredible.

ROSENBERG: Flew with impunity. To me, that sounds like something that was very practiced and possibly even rehearsed. And what better tool than to practice and rehearse than to have a flight simulation.

SCIUTTO: Yes, definitely a clue. And we know they are pouring over it right now. David, if I could ask you because another of the big developments today is just how big this search area has become as it expands to the west, you know, extending from the Indian ocean all the way up to land and North Asia, and land and sea invest gators are telling us, that they are looking both on land and sea. I mean, where do you even begin to look? How do you greed out am area that big with the resources you have just to cover that amount of ground?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, in any accident investigation, it really becomes a game of manage and resources. So, you have to go with the most probable and likely scenario first before you just start sending people out looking. And so, I wanted to say that first about the search rescues and the criticism about how long and where they are searching.

The most important piece of information right now to me would be gathering the satellite information from the various countries. This pinging that was going on, you have to understand the pings that are getting could be anywhere within a specific satellite's reception area. Now, the important thing is to get as many of those as they can, many satellite so that they can begin to triangulate and see where those circles overlap because that is where you focus as when those overlaps. If this satellite gets ping and this satellite gets a ping and they only overlap in this material. Now you have a real serious place that you need to focus.

But currently right now, I don't think that they have enough of that information. They are focusing on the 16 satellites that they use to monitor the 400 frequency or the megahertz frequency that they use for lost ships and lost airplanes from the ELT's. But that, those satellites are designed not to triangulate. So. It is important that they get all that information from these cooperating countries, put those together, overlap and then see where those pings try to narrow down where those pings came from, then a concentrated search can sue.

SCIUTTO: Well, Tom, let's talk about that cooperation, 25 countries has been mentioned before. A lot of information and he capabilities of these countries is sensitive. How far do your radars go? How sensitive are they ? How far do your satellites go? That that cooperation -- are you confident that cooperation will work? You have to get countries like Pakistan, China the U.S., all of the kinds of countries that have resources there. How do they share that freely to find this plane without giving up things that are not willing to give up?

THOMAS FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Jim, that is extremely difficult. I have run a number of multinational task force cases like that. But, you know, usually, you want to be working with partners that you have worked with in the past or that you practiced with or rehearsed with, prearranged, had agreements with, now suddenly, you have countries that have never worked together on specific incident trying to come together and when they come in with their own ways of doing business, let's say, or if they come in with a great deal of information individually so that you can over whelm invest gators with, you know, like drinking through a fire hose as it crash and goes, in some ways make it more difficult. It may not be a blessing to have so many countries suddenly jump in. If you didn't have them, and if you had an already stable the protocols, the management of the command post, the crisis center, how the agencies are aligned, who is going to be the spokesperson, who is going to do what, you know. That is all much more easily done if you planned in advance to do it. During the middle of a crisis is a very difficult proposition.

SCIUTTO: No question. As you said, it is very unusual alliance of countries that don't normally work together. (INAUDIBLE) will be an interesting task really experiment to see how well they work together.

David, Tom, and Arthur, I want you to stay with us. We are going to chat more with you in just a few minutes. And I want our viewers to tweet in questions. We did this yesterday. I want to do it again today because you think of some things we don't think of. And if you just tweet them to @JimSciutto, we'll try to answer as many as we can on the air.

And there are a lot of theories about what happened in the flight 370.

Up next, we are going to break down some of those possibilities including what if the plane did not crash?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

For a moment we are going to presume Malaysia Airlines flight 370 did not crash. And it somewhat deliberately took control and landed that airplane. Some pilots say that's a long shot. But without any other information it has not been ruled out.

For that conversation, Tom Fuentes is here. He is our law enforcement analyst and the former assistant director of the FBI. Also, David Soucie, CNN's safety analyst also author of the book on plane crashes. And next to be here New York, Arthur Rosenberg, pilot and aviation engineer.

Arthur, I'm going to give you the chance to answer the first question again. If someone tried to take this out of sight in effect, make the plane in visible from radar, from satellites as best they could, how possible is that and what kind of skill level would a pilot need to do that successfully?

ROSENBERG: Yes. Well, first of all, a very high level of skill. But I think the interesting question is what would be the route that this plane would have taken if somebody wanted to basically steal an airplane and use it for a various purpose. If you look at the north corridor which defines the location of the airplane at a point in time, it really doesn't take you over India or Pakistan. Now, the Indian government and Pakistan government reported today that they have no radar data which would have been consistent with 370 all coming through their air space. But if you went up the eastern border of India towards the southern region of China, and over the (INAUDIBLE), that area from what I have been told is an area of weak radar coverage. That would seem to me, based on what I have been told to the one group that is playing for the pagan and then you are free to travel another 7,000 miles.

SCIUTTO: That would be an enormous embarrassing to the Chinese, right, to reveal a vulnerability to that side. But that must be difficult flight, fly over the (INAUDIBLE) as we are talking 25,000 feet.

ROSENBERG: Well, we know the plane at least has to dip at 45,000 feet. I don't give a lot o credence to that because the flawed you get away from the radar source. But let's ask where the altitude is. But even if the plane was at 40,000 feet or 35,000, it is funny if clearance to get over the (INAUDIBLE) which would seem to me if you are going to do that, it would be the refer route.

SCIUTTO: Right.

David, I want to bring you in. Just the idea then, OK, so that is avoiding the radar. That's the first step. Then you have to get this plane on the ground somewhere presumably. And again, as we talk to our viewers here. This is a theory. It is one of the theories that we know that investigators are looking into. But they certainly don't know for sure.

But David, would that be doable? How skilled that the pilot have to be to land to plane to this sides and wait not on a regular air field on some sort of, you know, dusty air field or unused air field or old military base? I mean, how doable is that?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, the forthcoming on that, I would like to step back in the process a little bit and the sophistication it takes to turn off the equipment in the order and the type of systems that they shutdown. When they did and how they shut them down.

The only thing that concerns me so much to is that ACARS system is what keeps tracking the information on the aircraft. It is 10,000 data points. That's the first thing that we shut off. So, not a lot of people would know that is what I have to shut off first. Then I have t shut off the altimeters, then I'm going to have to shut off the transponders. So the sophistication, this is an advanced commercial aircraft. This isn't something that someone just jumps in and says hey, I think I will turn this and that off. This to me shows a lot of preplanning, a lot of sophistication. This took years and years to put together from what I can tell. So, I don't under estimate anything as far as where that aircraft could be, whether it has landed, whether it hasn't. But I find it difficult to believe that after that level of sophistication, after all of that planning, that now, at the last minute, they would just let the aircraft go crash into the ocean because it ran out of fuel or something.

SCIUTTO: So, you say in that level of skill to turn off all those systems and have the knowledge just quickly to turn off the systems and would allow the pilots to do other things including the possibility of landing that plane?

SOUCIE: Well, you know, I would think that it would. That if they had it is more than just the fact that they turned off which items, is that they had to turn the ACARS off first, because have they not, that they do turned off the transponders first or any other systems first, the information would have been sent back to the air rink and Inmarsat which at that point that information would have been disseminated to the airlines and there wouldn't have a clue right off the bat that, that aircraft had been commandeered. But the way that they did it --

SCIUTTO: I want to bring Tom in just very quickly to give him a chance. I want t ask a question that came through twitter. And Tom, if you give in a relatively quick answer on this. He asked, can, this Jim Smith who asked, can we use spy satellite to track and find this aircraft? I know they been looking at civilian satellite, weather satellite, et cetera. Would spy satellite be brought in to the game here?

FUENTES: Well, I think that could be. But one of the problems we have had is that those satellites have a pretty narrow focus because often times, they are in a geo-synchronize orbit meaning they stay in the same spot over the planet, heart fell over missile faces or, you know, adversarial location that might be a problem if they want to keep track of. And you know, it suddenly bee trying to look over such a huge area with that kind of precision equipment and they might be problematic. But I am not an expert in actual operation of satellite.

SCIUTTO: OK. Well, thanks to all of you, David Soucie, Tom Fuentes, Arthur Rosenberg. I know we are going to have another chance to talk to you.

And as we continue here, we know that flight 370 was picked up as an unidentified object on Malaysian military radar. But, why did the radar in other countries detect it. Up next, new information from one of Malaysia's neighbors on why that didn't happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: There is new information today on the search for flight 370 out of Pakistan. Officials there claim they didn't see the jumbo jet on their radars or they would have scrambled the military to respond.

Meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now from Atlanta.

Chad, we talk about how large the area that is being searched. You know, with this news from Pakistan and granted if we take that fact for face value, right, because there would be, you know, incentive here for countries to say they didn't see it, you know, even if they did right? But looking at the map, why would it be important that Pakistan was not on the path of the plane? Please tell us.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, there is a chance, at least there was that the plane may have sneaked south of India into Pakistan. Now, this is a little bit longer than the field load that they had. But on a very efficient flight path maybe something like that could have happened.

We don't think now that that could have happen because of what they are telling us. So the most likely chance of this line being the correct possible area of landing now, because the Malaysian government did say that these lines may indicate that the plane was on the ground, the only that that is up to the bay of Bengal, probably. That's the shortest distance to get there. Otherwise they run out of fuel.

We all know about these arcs. One is way down to the south. How did they get here? This is another question.

This is one arc of a GPS ping. But we don't have the GPS. We only have G. It only happened in one ping. In order to get GPS, Global positioning satellite, you need three at least and those three will cross at one point and that on point would have it been right there. We don't have three. We have one satellite. It is called the Inmarsat. That Inmarsat was out here 22,000 miles in space. It pinged the place. It squawk back and they know the time that took to do that. They know the angle that took to do that and they also know the signal strength to get back to that satellite.

Now, they don't know if it is here, here or here along that line because that is the same distance. Now, this isn't possible because it would have taken less time to get there in fact. So that is how we know it is a circle.

Now, this is a circle looking flat at it. And this is where the arcs come from. If you think about this circle here, the plane couldn't get there. Not fast enough and not enough fuel to get any of this. So let's get rid of that, gone.

Now, the Malaysian government says, you know what, guys we have really good radar systems right through here. It is probably not here. We would have seen it. So now, we have two arcs. There is one arc there and there is one arc there. And if we fly up to the northern arc, there is a lot of territory up here. It might be hard to get to it. Doesn't mean that the plane flew along this line and just means at 8:11 am it was on that line somewhere or on the bottom of the line down here, on the line down here somewhere.

If it is down here, Jim, there is really not any land that I see within landing distance within fuel distance to get to, you know. It is all a matter of how much gas was really in that plane. It could been flying for many, many more hours. But Inmarsat says the last ping they had was 8:11.

When (INAUDIBLE), the government says it may have been on the ground. That tells me that the 7:11 ping, 7:00 a.m. 11 minutes after, may not have been very far from the 11 ping and the plane may not have been moving and that is why they think it is on the ground.

SCIUTTO: Chad, that was a great tutorial. It helped me. And I'm sure it helped out viewers.

And also, just a reminder, as you reminded people that that arc is a guide, but it doesn't mean it is confine to the red lines that are it was a point on the map. That it could have gone left or right at that arc.

MYERS: Absolutely. SCIUTTO: But that is the best guide that they have at this point.

Thanks very much, Chad Myers. He knows the satellite very well.

MYERS: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Airline safety change big time after 9/11. Up next, we look at the lessons that we learned back then that may help us find flight 370 today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

We never imagined a week ago that we would still be reporting today that a commercial airliner was missing and nobody still has an idea where that plane is. But amazingly, that is exactly where we stand.

What an enormous task to search this much of the planet now with urgency for something as relatively small as a passenger jet. Airplanes, boats and satellites representing some 25 countries are now looking for it considering every plausible theory about what happened to that Malaysia Airlines 777. It could literally be anywhere on the earth right now.

The United States Navy is helping the search. American authorities are putting the most weight on the scenario that the plane crashed into the ocean, outside the reach of radar somewhere south of India.

Airline security chief graphically after 9/11. But now nearly 13 years later, what lesson have we really learned. And can this missing MH 370 tell us about those lessons?

We have California congressman Adam Schiff joining us now. He is the member of the House intelligence committee..

Thank you very much for joining us, Congressman.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: You bet.

SCIUTTO: I think a point I want to get to with that thinking maybe it concern of our viewers. I know it is concern of mine, at least a question of mine. If 13 years after 9/11, a plane can, and this is the presumption, it has not been proven yet, can be commandeered, despite all the security measures that have been put in place since 9/11, does that mean that there is a vulnerability here in the U.S. for something similar to happen or who are the many Americans who travel abroad on airlines like Malaysian airlines and other foreign carriers? Is that a concern? Is it something that it is exposed of vulnerability?

SCHIFF: Well, I think it certainly exposed a vulnerability in terms of the fact that many countries don't checks their manifest, don't check the identification of the passengers against the stolen passport database. So that is a huge vulnerability because it mean you don't know who is flying on your plane. But I think that their vulnerabilities are much more for Americans traveling on overseas than they are at home or on international flights tour from the United States. We put in to process a whole set of overlapping protections in of our cockpit doors, in terms of air marshals, the federal screening of not only passengers getting on the planes, but their luggage as well.

There is a multilayered approach to our security at home, but not everyone else uses around the world. And we are seeing some of that vulnerability. Not that it had nothing to do with the disappearance of this plane. That may have more to do with the pilots or the crew. But even there, I think we scrutinize our pilots and crew to an extraordinary degree to make sure that we are safe as possible. And I think relative to other methods of transportation, airline flights in United States are a pretty safe way to go.

SCIUTTO: Well, that is good to hear. That is comforting to hear.

You know, when -- and you and I talk about this periodically when there is a new warning, a new bid of intelligence, or chatter about another threat to planes. Couple of months ago, we were talking about bombs brought onboard in a newly design shoe bomb or in toothpaste to this kind of thing.

When that happens sometimes you will see changes to U.S. security at U.S. airports. They might ban liquids in certain size things -- these kinds of things. There were some new security in advances at the Sochi Olympics because there were concerns about attacks related there.

Is this the kind of event that would lead to changes in security here? That passengers would notice longer lines, you know, more rigorous checks of passport data, et cetera?

SCHIFF: It is possible that it could lead us to even greater scrutiny, the crew of our aircraft if it turns out that that was the problem. But most vulnerability that we have seen thus far are things that we have already taken action to correct in terms of making sure that people are not traveling with stolen documents.

So, I don't think we are likely to see a lot of changes here at home. The hope maybe that we see improved airline security around the world, as well as perhaps a better way of tracking aircraft. We will be looking at some of those systems like the black box and trying to determine whether we need better safeguard so that pilots can't turn off the communications. So that perhaps the black box is -- can transmit signals rather than having their find them under an ocean.

So those kinds of changes are possible but I don't think you will see them manifest in longer lines in the airport.

SCIUTTO: And I am glad you brought up that point because I have been getting a lot of questions over twitter. Why is it that pilot are allowed to switch off those communication systems? And it is interesting you mentioned that as possible change. Maybe that, you are saying, might change down the line. SCHIFF: There could be, I think technological changes that airlines and corporate with the feedback of the NTSB. That will make it easier to get information about what happened in the last minutes in a cockpit without having to try to retrieve a black box from 50,000 feet under the water. So, those kinds of changes, if could happen overtime.

SCIUTTO: OK. Well, thanks very much Representative Adam Schiff. How this flight might affect us here at home. We appreciate your help today.

Several U.S. agencies are now investigating the disappearance of flight 370. After this break, we head to Washington for the latest on what investigators are focusing on, by then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We want to turn now to what U.S. investigators are doing to find the missing airliner. And joining us from Washington, justice reporter Evan Perez.

Evan, great to have you on. As we look at what U.S. investigators are focusing on. We know that U.S. officials been telling us over the last 24 or 48 hours that they are beginning to turn their attention to the pilot. Is it correct to say that's where they focusing their efforts now?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: That is right, Jim. I think it is fair to say that, you know, from the beginning they have been looking at everybody on the plane. From the passengers to the crew. But, you know, given the fact that they have come forward in the last couple of days, especially from Malaysian officials that they kind of basically guided them towards looking more closely at the two men that are in the cockpit, the captain and the co-pilot.

And so now, U.S. investigators are going back and just take another look at what information that they have on them. The Malaysians have turned over a lot of information since last week. And I'm told that they have been going through that information and trying to figuring out if there is anything that they can find, anything that indicates any affiliation within any groups. Whether or not there is any online communications with anybody, any people that they know, that could raise a concern. And so, that is what they are looking at right now.

Mostly because there are so few facts that they have. There is no plane that has been found. And so, right now, that is what they are looking at, Jim.

SCIUTTO: I want to get at that point. You have covered justice for a long time. And I guess to the point just mentioned you made to our viewers here. It is one thing to be a person of interest or person they are looking into it another thing to be a suspect. From the source that you are speaking to now, there is no evidence that is suspicious yet, it is just a line of inquiry at this point is that right? PEREZ: Yes, that's right. I mean, it is just because, you know, there are so few things for them to go on. And you know, at this point, they are still again building some profiles of anybody on the plane that could be of interest. You know, they even looking at any individuals who had contact with the plane. From the caters to the grounds crew, people who had any kind of ability to do something to the airplane before he took off.

And as we said, there is nobody is saying that the pilots are the ones that suspected here. It is just that, you know, based n the dirt of path that they do have. They do feel like it is imperative to reexamine those folks. Because you know, it took some skill to be able to move this plane from its scheduled course and take it off his on this arc that they are searching for. So that is what they are looking at right now.

SCIUTTO: Understood, yes. So no suspicions but signs that lead them. There are no hard facts but science to lead them in that direction. Seriously mentioned, just the skill required to do that.

Our Evan Perez in Washington. Thanks very much for coming on.

We are also following another big story today. That is the referendum in Crimea. The votes are in and the counting is underway. Coming up the early results right after this break.

But first Mark Jones has never let anything get in the way of a championship, not even an almost car accident. He shares his never give up attitude with CNN's Sanjay Gupta.

(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)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: There is still much more ahead on missing flight 370. But first a major development in the Ukraine.

The Russian national anthem playing in the heart of Ukraine's Crimea region after today's referendum overwhelmingly favored joining the Russian federation. With about half of ballot counted , Crimean officials say 95 percent voted to leave Ukraine.

Crimea's prime minister told the packed square, we are going home. Crimea is in Russia.

So, how will the west respond? With us from Moscow now is CNN contributor Vladimir Posner. Also on the phone, former U.S. ambassador Christopher Hill.

If I can begin with you first, Mr. Posner. We are told that President Obama spoke today with president Putin. We can assume that was not offer congratulations. I would like your reaction to today's vote and just this big picture question, is this the beginning of the retreat from Russia from its relations, its warmer relations following the fall of the Berlin Wall with the west.

VLADIMIR POSNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think it change since the beginning of a retreat. I think that the relationship has been going downhill.

Clearly, what has happened today on Crimea as seen in Russia as a great victory. Actually cars driving s around with Russian flag waiving. The Russian in their vast majority see Crimea as being part of Russia historically for joining 50 years after Katherine the great (ph) took it. And basically, when it was given away by Khrushchev it didn't really matter. That was the Soviet Union, so it could have been given to the 15 other republics. But when the Soviet Union disappeared, then it just so happened that Crimea remained in Ukraine. And that's been seen by most people as unfair.

Now, if anyone doubts that 95 percent of the people who -- of the 50 percent of the votes that have been counted are for joining Russia, they shouldn't. This is pretty much what most people in Crimea want. Sixty percent of them are ethnic Russians. They want to be part of Russia. This is not a staged vote when you look at the celebrations. You can't doubt that these people really are very happy. Maybe six or seven percent voted to stay with Ukraine. They had that choice on the ballot, but they're a small minority. Now, will this lead to worse relations with the west? There's no doubt about it. But I think you have to be careful when you talk about the west. Is it the United States or is it the United States and Europe? Because Europe in that sense is much more dependent on Russia, it has much more closer independent ties than the United States.

So, if Europe decides to employ sanctions, there's going to be retaliation on the part of Russia. How far is Europe prepare to go? It is a complex situation, not a good one. But it has to be seen the way it is. And I do hope the reporting is going to be objective, not change by presidents by saying think the reporting is going to be objective, not tinged by prejudice by saying that that referendum was done under Russian guns and things like that because you get the wrong picture, as if the majority of the people in the Crimea didn't want to be part of Russia. That just isn't the case.

SCIUTTO: Thank you, Mr. Posner. I want to ask Ambassador Hill, because you do have those cultural ties between the Russians in Crimea and Russia. But there is the matter of national borders here which the U.S. says have been violated. The U.S. could move to impose sanctions as soon as tomorrow, but Moscow seems to have figured that into the calculations. Are these sanctions going to make any different is there hope that Russia would reverse? I mean, there are hope that Russia the move it is taking today and in the weeks leading up to this?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR (via phone): I don't think the sanctions are going to make any difference at this point. I think Vladimir Putin is basically making a decision to in effect annex Crimea. And I'd be very careful with the notion that somehow this has happened before. That this is akin to the Kosovo voting. This is quite different. This is a neighboring state, annexing a part of its neighbor.

There's no question there's been an enormous amount of history. I mean, Crimea is not something new to Russia at all. But time who have given some thought to that, it was 20 years ago when the Russian leadership gladly participated in a process that kept Crimea in the Ukraine.

So I think it's a very dark day especially a dark day for those of us who worked very hard to include Russia in international issues, such as North Korea or Bosnia. I think a very dark day. But I think Putin has left our president with no choice. He needs to impose sanctions. I know Putin will impose his own. It will be a real sort of sense of spite and, you know, kind of hard line approach. And we'll have no choice but to do more.

In fact, I think the end of this is going to be to cast Russia out into the cold and the problem is I don't think Putin really cares. I think this is where he wants to take Russia. So I think it's kind of a bad day for east-west relations but maybe an even worse day for the Russian people.

And by the way, taking Crimea out of the Ukraine will make Ukraine a much more western oriented country. So if Russia was looking to kind of keep Ukraine as a friend, neighbor, ally, they have done something quite to the contrary of that interest.

SCIUTTO: Well, two very different views there. As you say, a sobering day for east-west relationships, but celebrations we are watching there. Fireworks in some (INAUDIBLE) Crimea as the ethnic as the Russian, been celebrate today's vote for sobering region,.

Ambassador, thanks very much. And Vladimir Posner joining us from Moscow as well as the ethnic Russians celebrate the vote for the sobering Reith from the former ambassador.

Thanks very much to Vladimir Posner joining us Moscow as well.

Social media is abuzz over the other major story we are following, flight 370. After the break, we take a look at what is being said and how the missing jet liner is trending online, right after this.

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SCIUTTO: You'd be hard pressed to find a facebook or twitter page that doesn't mention the missing airliner.

Our Nick Valencia has been looking at how it's trending worldwide.

Nick, what are you finding out there on the web, when it comes to this, you know, this mystery that's captivating all of us?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the appropriate word is captivating. It is not just those that have a personal story or connection with the Malaysian Airlines flight 370. It's millions of people all throughout the world. Number one story on CNN's digital platform since it broke on March 8th. And you can see it's still here, the top story.

It is also one of the most visited weeks in the history of CNN.com. I mentioned the story broke on March 8th, and it's one of the most popular stories all time. And that is right up there with the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

On social media, sites like twitter, we are seeing it's not really trending anymore more here in the United States as it was for days, but on social media sights in Malaysia, you can see here it's still the number two story. People are using the #mh 370. Number two story here on Malaysia and India twitter.

Also, heavy traffic on Google news here. You will see this is also one of the top stories, the second most read story here on Google news and when you visit Yahoo!, it is more of the same. Lots of interest again, Jim, in the story as people are trying to figure out the mystery of Malaysian airline 370. People all over the world have taken a very strong interest in this story, the missing plane and where it could be -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we are going to get that too because we got the questions on twitter and they are coming in by the hundreds. Thanks very much to Nick Valencia, following this story on the web.

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