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Mystery of Flight 370; Flight 370 Search Back Under Way; Russian Troops Took Over Bases in Crimea; AUVs to be Deployed

Aired March 22, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York, in for Don Lemon. And we'd like to welcome the viewers watching around the world this world on CNN international.

Just moments ago, a U.S. Navy search plane took off in the hunt for missing Malaysia flight 370. The high tech Poseidon aircraft can search the skies and look under the water at the same time. The U.S. plane, highly advance, left from Perth, Australia, tracking several new clues in the search for the missing jet.

A spotter on an Australian plane reported seeing several small objects yesterday, including a wooden pallet floating in that search area. And there's this a potential piece of the jumbo jet -- a Chinese satellite spotted this object floating in the search area Tuesday. The object appears to be very large, 74 feet long by 43 feet wide.

Now, this new object was spotted roughly 75 miles from possible debris that appeared early on Australian satellite images.

Meanwhile, families of the missing 239 people on board are frazzled, frustrated, exhausted and demanding more from Malaysian authorities.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SCIUTTO: Responding to that emotion, that anger, Malaysian officials promised to try to do a better job at keeping those desperate families informed, and we can't forget the search for the missing plane on land as well.

Right now, Malaysia authorities are waiting for permission from Kazakhstan's government in north Asia to use the country as a staging area for searching the northern search corridor.

We have teams of reporters covering every angle of the global hunt for the missing jumbo jet, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in Beijing, and down in Perth, Australia.

(AUDIO GAP) in the ground, we have CNN's Kyung Lah live in Perth, Australia.

I can see the light behind you now. We had news of that P8 taking off or scheduled to take off for the search area. Talk us through the assets that are up in the air today, and how are they zeroing in on the Japanese satellite image, to see if what that image showed could be part of the plane.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) the target area that they want to fly over, and look at it, and what they are doing today is that the Australians are coordinating all of this, adding more air assets -- not just Australia, not just the U.S. which is rejoining after a couple of days on the ground, also having New Zealand and China, and there is a lot of intriguing news out of China, specifically, that satellite image that you were talking about, Jim.

And joining me now is Geoffrey Thomas, your local aviation expert, the editor of the "Airline Ratings."

You've seen this image. You are in touch with all the experts here on the ground. What do you think of this image?

GEOFFREY THOMAS, AIRLINE RATINGS: Look, we believe this image is another piece of debris possibly from this flight. There's strong indications this could be part of a wing or the horizontal stabilizer of the airplane. It does not have any markings on it, but that's consistent with the horizontal stabilizer and/or part of the wing.

LAH: Is the sense that this is it, that this may be the same image that the Australians picked up?

THOMAS: No, the sense is this is a different -- this is a different piece of debris. This is the feedback that I'm getting, that they're not the same dimensions. This one is 22.5 meters by 13 meters and the other one was a different dimension to this. So, the indication is that it's different.

LAH: And you're in touch with all the people who are going up in the air, all experts there, what is the sense of how the search is going?

THOMAS: Look, the feeling is that it's going well. It's very frustrating. It's very difficult out there, very difficult out there. But they feel as though they are on to something.

I mean, look, we would all love to find this airplane somewhere else, in a jungle runway if you'd like, some better outcome, but if it is out there, this is not a good outcome.

LAH: But the sense is that maybe this is it.

THOMAS: Maybe.

LAH: And as far as the conditions, there is a storm coming out here, and tell me about that.

THOMAS: Well, look, there is a remnant of a cyclone in American parlance, a hurricane -- remnants of a hurricane, coming down to join up with a cold front and a maelstrom out there, like a wild storm if you like. And it's already difficult out, there and the normal sea state is 20 to 30-foot swells, that's sort of (AUDIO GAP). This is going to make it more difficult, and rain and low cloud. It's tough.

LAH: Are they even going to be able to fly? THOMAS: Well, the first -- good question. The first aircraft have gone out, and they will get out there to assess the situation. After that assessment, they may postpone launching more aircraft today.

LAH: All right. Geoffrey Thomas, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us.

THOMAS: Pleasure.

LAH: So, they are going to fly right now, but it's certainly is going to get tougher as that weather moves in -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thanks to Kyung Lah, right there at the epicenter really of the search area with the assets going up to take a closer look at these satellite photos.

Joining me now to discuss these new clues, we have Tom Fuentes, CNN law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director, Jim Tilmon, CNN aviation analyst, also retired pilot himself, and our own CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien.

Miles, I wonder if I could start with you, because just for the viewers, to help them, I suppose put their expectations into context here. You know, this is the third satellite photo that we have had and treated as a clue, and the first one was really a disastrous mistake, it was a Chinese satellite as well, put the search area way up there in the South China Sea. Now, we've had this Australian photo, and we have this Chinese photo today, the Australians made a point of saying there were a lot of planes in the air yesterday, in the same area, and saw nothing.

You know, how significant of a development is this or does it show just how little progress is made in the investigation that, you know, what they have to latch on to clues like this, because they don't have anything else?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, what you said there at the end is the most accurate statement that we can say. In the absence of anything else to look for, you check it out. But we don't even know that it went in that direction, and you know, when you look at that piece, not only is the piece an odd and large shape and it would be very, I'm trying to come up with the circumstances that would allow a piece of aluminum wing to still be floating two weeks later, and possibly, because strange things do happen.

Having said all of that, if it was in fact, a piece of debris from the aircraft, surely there would be other flotsam nearby, and I don't see that in the image. Again, that image is very grainy, I'm sure that they're -- in the classified world, there is a much better view of what we're seeing there. So, perhaps there's more to this than meets our eyes, but this is -- this is the only thing that anybody has at this point.

And to just start searching those big arcs north and south randomly, that's a commitment that is even hard for even us to comprehend, the amount of space involved. I do wonder why we don't think about deploying some drones. Why not deploy a Global Hawk, which has a 15 to 20-hour range, and have it fly the flight path as we know it, and perhaps interrogate, and go along those broad swathes to see if there is anything there. That might be a good use of that particular craft.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's a good question, and I might put that to Tom Fuentes, because there is a number of very sensitive, capable assets involved in the search. And the P8 Poseidon, for instance, the most advanced surveillance aircraft that the U.S. has now. The Chinese putting many of their most sensitive ships, destroyers on the search effort.

Is there any reason why the Global Hawk wouldn't become involved, particularly when we keep in mind, as Miles said, it's got a greater range?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think the only thing I can think of is the classified nature of using that, and the possibility of not wanting other people to actually see how it works up close or get their hands on one of them if one goes down, or if something else happens with it. That's the only thing I can think of and the question should be posed to the Pentagon and ask them, and you may get the same answer as you get when you ask about the submarines that we're just not going to tell you.

SCIUTTO: Jim, let me put that question to you. Miles brought this point up, imagining a piece this large that would still be floating on the surface 16 days after the loss of an airplane, other experts have brought up the idea that it could be a collection of debris that's kind of tangled together.

When you look at those places, you know planes very well, experienced pilot, do you see something there that looks like part of an airplane?

JIM TILMON, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: No, I don't. I'm afraid I have to join the chorus of those who have a lot of skepticism about it, because I don't see any definition that is going to give me a feeling like, hey, this really looks like part of an airplane. It just looks like a thing that's out there, and the measurements are still a little bit off from my view.

No, I just feel like we've got more to see.

SCIUTTO: Well, it is just the beginning really. The 16 days later.

Thanks very much to Jim Tilmon, Tom Fuentes, and Miles O'Brien. We'll get a chance to talk to you again.

A large object floating in the southern Indian Ocean raises hopes for some, it could narrow the search at least for Flight 370. If search planes can find the object or anything else, our Richard Quest joins us after the break with a frustrating hunt for that Boeing 777.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Bad weather could hamper search efforts today in the South Indian Ocean, where the sun is just coming up, and the planes are just taking off. A new satellite image released by China appears to show a large object about the size of a tennis court floating in the South Indian Ocean.

We have CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest here to join us. I think it would help our viewers if we bring together some of the developments today to say where we stand, and first on the search and the investigation. Let's talk about the search.

So, you've got this new Chinese satellite photo, looks a little bit like the Australian photo, 75 miles away. You've got more planes in the air looking at the same area. How much of a step forward to that?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: In the sense that it's the best we've got and the Australian prime minister said initially on Thursday night, it's the only lead that they've got. So, they're going to follow this all the way down. And that --

SCIUTTO: That's what he said early on Thursday. He said it was very promising, and then he backed off.

QUEST: Credible and identifiable, and then he backed off late in the day when he said it may be a container.

SCIUTTO: Right.

QUEST: But it is still the best they have got. And that's why, I have to quote the prime minister again, they are throwing everything they've got at it, and they will continue to do so.

SCIUTTO: And more is coming, too. So, every day, there is a new tool, the new airplane, the new ship.

QUEST: So, let's look at who's there. You've obviously got the Australians, you've got the New Zealand authority, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, you've got the U.S., you've got the Chinese that now arrived.

SCIUTTO: Nine Chinese ships.

QUEST: And aircraft on the ground. You've got the Brits about to arrive. You've got the Malaysians are also coming as well, and all being coordinated by the Australians out of Perth.

So, you've got lots of assets now there, because it is still the best hope that they've got.

If you look at the northern corridor, countries like Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Thailand.

SCIUTTO: Even Laos, I mean, every country in Southeast Asia, the Malaysians have said are looking in deploying some assets.

QUEST: Well, they have said that there is no evidence, they've all looked at their radar track, and there's no evidence of any Malaysian or 370 going over their air space.

SCIUTTO: So, why do they keep the northern corridor open as a search area if that's the case?

QUEST: They dare to keep open, what I would say, dare I say, just in case. They are keeping it open, and they're keeping assets, and they're still flying out from there, because also if you look at the map again, I'm going to bring the map up again, you not only got where the plane might have been down at the bottom of the southern corridor, but there's still the potential of finding debris where it might be in the further north -- in the upper part of that southern corridor.

SCIUTTO: Of the southern corridor, yes.

QUEST: But the general view is, despite those analysts, despite those pundits that believe it landed somewhere in the northern corridor, the main prevailing view remains that it is the southern corridor that is where it is going to be found.

SCIUTTO: So, that's where the search stands. It's their best guess with all of the available information, and because of that, they've got to deploy their best assets there.

Where do we stand in the investigation? The investigation is as to what caused this? I mean, we have the transcript for instance of the last communications released 24 hours ago. It doesn't seem to be a lot there. Are we any closer to figuring out what happened to this plane, and even in the process of elimination?

QUEST: No, is the short and the simple answer. The Malaysian defense minister of the daily briefing on the transcript said specifically, there was nothing abnormal about what is in the transcript, and then he went one further, and he said that the transcript was not accurate.

But of course, the Malaysians haven't released the transcript, because that is against the rules of the ICAO treaty, so they have not released the transcript so we can't know what is not accurate about it. The FBI has been searching the computer, to see what was deleted. And we now understand from the law enforcement officials that there is nothing particularly untoward --

SCIUTTO: So far, yes.

QUEST: -- so far n the background of the pilots or the computer.

SCIUTTO: Sure, yes.

QUEST: And we know from the Malaysian officials, themselves, they can see nothing untoward.

So, to pull the strands until we look at what the search site is, to pull the strands together on the investigation side, we are still absolutely nowhere closer to knowing what happened.

SCIUTTO: It's enormously frustrating, and what it shows because two strands come back together, because the next big clue in what brought this plane down will be finding the wreckage, because the wreckage, assuming you find enough of it could give indications, right, of an explosion, the way the plane came apart, et cetera. QUEST: I've always said, this is not a question of -- at this moment, it's not a question of why. It's a question of where? And on both of those issues, we still have no evidence or certainty of which we can move forward.

And the truth is, Jim, no matter what anybody says, we don't know. And in that environment, they are still going to have the search on the only place they've got, the south Indian Ocean.

SCIUTTO: Well, frustrating as we know.

QUEST: The planes are in the air now. The planes are on their way.

SCIUTTO: They just went up about 20, 30 minutes ago.

QUEST: Four hours there, two hours searching, four hours back.

SCIUTTO: And the story could change quickly. And in three hours from now, if they spot something from the air, or this could be another frustrating day, and, of course, frustrating most of all for the families.

QUEST: Awful.

SCIUTTO: Thanks very much, Richard Quest, as always.

We're always following another big story today, and that, of course, is the crisis in Ukraine. The country's military bases in Crimea are slipping from its control as Russian troops roll through their gates. We'll have more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

There are new developments today in the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. We will come back to the coverage in a moment.

But we want to bring you an important update on what's happening in Ukraine. Russian troops today rolled up to the gates of Ukrainian air base in Crimea, and smashed their way right through the door. Armored vehicles and armed soldiers on foot forced their way into the base, took control and then raised the Russian flag over the headquarters. It's just one day since Russia formally annexed the Crimean peninsula, and it appears Russian troops are doing whatever they want against the wishes of Ukraine's interim government.

CNN's Ivan Watson is in Kiev.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russian military continues to take over Ukrainian military bases on the Crimean peninsula one by one. There were dramatic scenes at the Ukrainian air base where an armored personnel carrier who battered down the gates of that base after the Ukrainian commander vowed to follow his oath to his country and stand his post.

It was basically and fortunately a nonlethal assault by the Russian military that forced the Ukrainian officers there to give a humiliating surrender to the Russian military. And this is a scene that has played out again and again at one base after another across the Crimean peninsula, which has prompted some Ukrainians to really ask their government, what are you doing about these thousands of Ukrainian troops on the ground that have been left encircled by the Russian military.

The Ukrainian minister of defense came out in response to say to that saying, hey, I'm waiting for a response from the civilian authorities for some kind of a plan, I can't take these orders or issue them unilaterally. And at this point, the Ukrainian government here in Kiev has announce that it has prepared accommodation for up to 25,000 evacuees from the Crimean peninsula, but it clearly hasn't issued any unilateral order for all of the troops on what they should do.

So, that's left commanders basically encircled to have to make their own decisions, their own surrenders if you will. And in one case, Ukrainian submarine commander was forced to hand over his submarine to the Russian military. This is humiliating. This is embarrassing to the servicemen, but that is the trend that we've seen on the Crimean peninsula over the course of the last week.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Kiev.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Today, new clues and new theories of what may have happened to Flight 370. Next, we head to Beijing where families are watching and waiting, and frustrations are boiling over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: A high-tech U.S. Navy search plane is back in the air right now, heading to the remote part of the southern Indian Ocean, and that's where Chinese officials say that their satellite picked up this image, and a strong suggestion that it's piece of that missing passenger jet.

The news is getting a mixed reaction, though, from frustrated families of the 239 people who are on that (AUDIO GAP). They have endured now more than two weeks with no answers about the fate of their loved ones.

The intense search for any sign of Flight 370 will resume for another day. Just a short time ago, search planes hope to spot any floating debris, such as the mysterious object seen in the latest Chinese satellite image. It's not much to go on, and so far, the search planes have found nothing in that area.

Our David McKenzie is live now in Beijing.

David, I have to imagine, we have talked about this before, that each bit of news is frustrating for the families, particularly as they've often been followed or usually been followed by disappointment. How are they reacting now to this latest satellite photo?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPNDENT: Well, Jim, that's a good point. It is frustrating. And it is much worse than that in fact, because -- I mean, look at it this way, every time a little bit of evidence comes out that suggests that the plane might be found, it is evidence of indicating that the plane would have crashed.

So, yes, for the families, they want closure in this matter, but when they see photographs like this Chinese satellite image, and they would have been alerted about this straight of way, for them, they don't want it to be true in a way, because then it will extinguish all hope. I have spoken to counselors over the last few days and families of course, and they say that people will hold out on to hope for as long as they can, and until there's conclusive evidence that this plane went down, they will not believe it.

And so, yes, frustration, anger, and often just sadness in this hotel here in Beijing, where people have been stuck for more than two weeks, as you say, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And it is truly heartbreaking just to imagine that. Now we know that China, the bulk of the passengers on board were Chinese and devoting an enormous amount of resources now, and you say that you have new details of what China is sending there, I believe, they already have nine ships taking part in the search. What other help, what other assets are they deploying?

MCKENZIE: Well, it is a huge asset deployment by China and very rare, in fact, in that part of the world and to have those ships as you say. They also have enormous transport plane landing in Perth to give assistance. Interestingly, they have sent an icebreaker, the "Snow Queen" to the area, that now has a skeleton crew, according to state media. They have rapidly deployed it, but given the distances, we're talking about, It could take up to three days to reach that area where that satellite image was taken and it's also worth remembering like we have been talking about.

This image was taken several days ago, so with the currents and other factors like the sea condition, those objects might have moved on and they might have sank, and so really, it seems like, you know, it is always one step behind the curve in the search, but certainly China is showing with its increased might in this region that it wants to do everything that it can to help the intelligence gathering and just the asset deployment to try to find this plane, because as you say, that the consequences for China are, in a way, the worst, because of all of the 153 passengers on board from here. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, you make a great point too, David Mckenzie, and this is such a rare deployment far away, half a world away, unusual for the Chinese Navy to be operating so far, but of course, they have a lot of interest there among the population of so many Chinese on board that flight. Thanks very much to David McKenzie in Beijing.

Now, as each day passes, the search for Flight 370 gets more complicated. Search teams are stretched thin, scouring both sea and land. I'm joined now by Steve Wallace. He is CNN's aviation analyst, and also a former FAA investigator who has been involved in crash investigations in the past, and so now we have this new lead, this satellite image released by the Chinese, and as you look at that, how much of a lead, how much of a step forward in the hunt for this plane do you see in that somewhat grainy black-and-white satellite photo?

STEVE WALLACE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, Jim, that is a powerful discussion that you had with David McKenzie, and of course, you know, when people in this dire circumstances are clinging to their last hope, we don't want to take that away from them, so as far as this floating debris, I would just say that I'm just slightly less skeptical that this could be the airplane as compared to the first Chinese satellite photograph that we saw earlier in the investigation for two reasons.

One is that if the airplane were at a point where the fuel was completely exhausted the wing would be more buoyant and if it was under a auto pilot control or a pilot control where it might make a fairly stabilize impact with the water, perhaps it is more likely that this piece is part of the airplane than that first image, but I'm still fairly skeptical that it is part of the airplane.

SCIUTTO: Fair point. We have heard it from others. And you are not alone in that skepticism. I wonder, you know, that you will hear this from a lot of people that the governments involved in the search know more and I will get this question all the time, that they are hiding some sort of information or better satellite photos or radar data, and my response always is, listen, they are doing their best or they would not deploy so many assets down there at great expense if they were not operating on the best information that they have, but as you look at this, I mean, we also know that there are a lot of tensions in this area about sharing capabilities and so on, and are you concerned that all the countries are not sharing with each other, the best information, the best clues they have?

WALLACE: Yes, I'm very much concerned. I would link that to the - my concern that we seem to have abandoned the northern arc. I mean, this (INAUDIBLE) data seems to be among the most accepted and reliable, but the fact that we seem to have shifted away from the northern arc on the basis of reports that, of countries that don't particularly have good relationships among them, many of them, and would be, I assume extremely reluctant to expose any weakness in their radar systems, so when these countries say it did not come over our country, we would have seen it.

So I am concerned here that we have suddenly moved some things off of the table, and the northern arc in particular that perhaps it is premature to do that.

SCIUTTO: Fair point. As you say, the tensions between the U.S. and China and China and the southeast Asian countries and Malaysia, Indonesia, other countries involved in the search. I want, if I can, Steve, just ask you a question that I came across twitter because it is also a frequent one that comes up even with the discuss with our experts. It comes from Bill Jeckel (ph) and he says why does it take three or four days to read the satellite photo? In each case, the same was true with the Australians. The photo taken on a certain date released three or four days later and the same with this Chinese photo. Why that delay?

WALLACE: Well, this is not exactly squarely in my area of expertise, but I believe it is just a massive amount of data that comes down, and it has to be sifted through. So I think that, you know, for me, I think that some of the more interesting points, and I mean, we are trying to solve the accident, but I am thinking about the going forward lessons here. How difficult would it be to simply have a capability that the position and altitude of the aircraft is continuously reported, and it cannot be, that capability cannot be disabled.

SCIUTTO: And that is, I'm glad you brought up that topic, because that's another question that I am getting frequently over twitter which is what can airlines do to prevent a giant airliner from disappearing under such mysterious circumstances. Keep the data stream flowing and what kind of measures could they take that are reasonable to prevent this from happening down the line. Here's that question. This came from ziyadmatti earlier in the day.

WALLACE: Right. Well, I think that - I would seek two basic approaches to this problem. One could be that you utilize the capability that is already on the airplane and you simply make a modification to it so it cannot be disabled and this airplane was perfectly capable with acars and data link and of course, it knows its position to absolute certainty level of precision. So you could modify the onboard systems that are currently on the airplane so it could not be disabled. Or you could add something else.

I mean, a backpacker can go buy a satellite tracking system for $150 and of course, as I think Richard Quest may have described earlier, getting anything on an airplane approved is extremely costly, and they focus very much on the noninterference with other systems or that it cannot pose a risk to the airplane, and certainly, I think that you could have some new technology or you could utilize the existing technology to solve that problem.

SCIUTTO: It's a good point, the things that are missing here it's not complicated information, one it's simply the location via satellite which as you say is not a complicated technology, and the other is just simple data like speed, direction, that kind of thing. So it seems as you say very much within reach.

WALLACE: Right. I think ultimately, telemetry of all of the flight data will be where we end up. It is just that it is costly. There are bandwidth issues, but we have had telemetry on the space shuttle that has been flying since 1981. So the technology is there. I have to say that rulemaking in the area of flight data recorders is always difficult, because there are simply federal requirements that you do show a positive cost benefit, and we have virtually never had an unsolved accident involving a transport airplane, and this could be the first one.

SCIUTTO: That's a sobering prospect. Thanks very much, Steve Wallace. He is a former FAA investigator here in the U.S.. Right now a special U.S. Navy plane is looking for any sign of that missing jet. We will take you behind the scenes and you will hear from American crews inside taking part in that global hunt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Right now a U.S. Navy plane is in the sky seeking any sign of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and new clues may transform today's search. A spotter on an Australian plane reported seeing several small objects yesterday including a wooden pallet floating in the search area. Plus a Chinese satellite spotted another mystery object a large one floating in that same area Tuesday.

Correspondent Will Ripley did a ride along with a U.S. crew earlier and learned about the brutal challenges in this global hunt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The American crew of this P-3 Orion is facing another grueling day searching the massive Indian Ocean for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Plane commander Lt. Erica Ross has to stay motivated even as mission after mission turns up nothing.

LT. ERICA ROSS, PLANE COMMANDER: We have cleared that are of the ocean, so we know it is not there, we can look somewhere else and focus our efforts on trying to find it somewhere else.

RIPLEY: This plane is their home for up to 12 hours a day. Living conditions are less luxurious.

(on camera): So the first thing that you notice when you get on the plane is just how hot it is in here, about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and 35 or so Celsius.

(voice-over): The AC finally comes on when the doors close, and soon the P3 is ready for takeoff. The Malaysian coastline disappears in minutes, and 10-hour flight will take us south of Kuala Lumpur over the Indian Ocean, and we will cover 25,000 square nautical miles.

(on camera): That sounds like a lot, but put it in context of the size of the search area.

ROSS: Well, honestly on the scale, it is a small percentage, but that is what we can do.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Even getting to our search area will take three and a half long hours, the 11-member crew takes turns sleeping in cramped quarters or even on the floor so everyone is ready to tackle the tedious task ahead. We shut down one of the engines to conserve fuel and then descend to as low as 300 feet or just 91 meters above the water, and the search begins. Some look out the windows, others watch the radar, and it is sensitive enough to pick up dolphins, schools of fish or anything that emits heat.

ROSS: You know, sometimes you see the debris and you want to think it is something significant and we come down the look at it, and you're just like Oh, that is trash, but you'd like it to be something else.

RIPLEY: Look out the window, and this is what you will see.

(on camera): One of the things that you will notice as you do it for a while, you look out the window, and your mind starts to play tricks on you, and so you think that you might see debris, and then you realized it just a white cap on a wave, and honestly, it is pretty disappointing, because there is that part of the mind that hopes that you're going to find something, and you just look out there, and it is nothing.

(voice-over): Low clouds cast a gray shadow on this endless ocean, and you can't help but think about the plane and those 239 people. They are out there, somewhere, just not here.

PETTY OFFICER BRANDON BRONEC, FLIGHT ENGINEER: It is about getting those people back and still maintaining hope.

RIPLEY: That hope and passion for the people on Flight 370 is what drives Flight Engineer Petty Officer Brandon Bronec and even as the sun fades away, and it is time to go home again empty-handed.

BRONEC: Well, it is pretty stressful. We were all hoping that we would find something.

RIPLEY: Another long grueling search is over for today. A new mission begins tomorrow.

Will Ripley, CNN, over the Indian Ocean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: It is a difficult thought especially for families, but the missing plane might be found deep on the ocean floor.

Next, I will show you some deep sea technology that could be key to finding it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The global hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could come down to one very small sound, the ping from the flight data recorder. The ping may start to fade away about 14 days from now so crews are frantically racing to find it before it's too late.

Here's what that ping sounds like.

So quiet, so simple, surprisingly simple. Correspondent Rosa Flores joins me to explain the frantic hunt for that sound, which as we've said before, doesn't really sound the way we thought it would sound.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like much. I know. I talked to a company that uses equipment that specifically listens for this. They told me something called a TPL, or a tode pinger locater, and it does exactly what the name suggests, it looks for that ping. It's a piece of equipment that has listening gear. And so you put experts on the other end of that information and they're able to distinguish what this ping exactly sounds like.

And they narrow an area which is what we've been talking about all along. This area needs to be narrowed. And within that narrow area, then you'd have a debris field. And that's when you bring something called an AUV, an autonomous unmanned vehicle. Here is what this vehicle looks like and what it does.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): Unmanned probes like this have searched the ocean for plane wreckage before. It took years of sweeping the ocean bottom, but it found a downed plane carrying Italian fashion designer Vittorio Missoni, his wife and four others off the coast of Venezuela last year. It helped find Air France Flight 447, after it went missing, locating the wreckage and hundreds of bodies on board. It has found ships that sunk decades ago like the Arc Royal (ph). These probes even allowed for detailed imaging of the "Titanic."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The smaller ones are only going to go down to 5,000 feet. The next classes are much more expensive, much larger device, it's 15 by 25 feet, it's very large. It adds a lot of battery, capability, and a lot of hydraulics capability.

FLORES: The autonomous underwater vehicles, AUVs, as they're called, can go as deep as 20,000 feet, sending acoustic pulses to the sea floor to find debris. Then maps are drawn to guide search teams. They can even find things up to 300 feet under the sea floor. The search zone needs to be narrowed down first. This AUV can only search eight square miles a day. It would take four days to search an area as big as Manhattan. The equipment works around obstacles so it doesn't get damaged. And maps them so divers don't get hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Underwater obstructions are always a concern. We tend to fly the AU at about a 45-meter altitude above the bottom. Keeps us usually out of the way of any obstructions.

FLORES: These types of searches can take months or years. But the payoff is high. Wreckage that gives clues about what happened, data recorders, and the thing that matters most, the fate of the people on board.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: So once you find that debris field, then you step it up with something called an ROV. A remote operating vehicle. What those are, these are underwater robots that use high-definition cameras and robotic arms or claws to retrieve critical pieces of information and critical pieces of this wreckage, in this case, those data recorders.

SCIUTTO: And at this point they've got to get a lot closer to the general area where that plane is even before I imagine these come into play.

FLORES: Absolutely. And because these robots have high definition cameras, they'd be able to see if there is charred wreckage, of course, that's a huge clue. So investigators are going to be looking very closely.

SCIUTTO: All right. Thanks very much, Rosa Flores. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is one of the biggest aviation mysteries of our time.

Next, we'll show you how the world has been captivated by headlines offering new clues and theories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: No large passenger plane has ever disappeared without a trace in the modern digital age. We've always known within a short time what likely happened and where, even if it took time to find the plane. Flight 370, however, is in a category all its own. Here's CNN's Nick Valencia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This story has captured the attention of millions worldwide. The interest just isn't high here in the United States but in countries like France and China that had passengers on the still-missing plane.

(voice-over): From the human drama --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On our broadcast tonight, is it the plane?

VALENCIA: To the incredible mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a frightening new conspiracy theory emerging about the plane that vanished into thin air.

VALENCIA: To the intense speculation that has fueled theory after theory. The story of missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 which vanished more than two weeks ago has led to nonstop coverage in the media worldwide.

CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter says the event is unprecedented and unlike any plane story the world has ever seen.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This story is one of a kind because it gets bigger every day. By virtue of the fact that the plane still hasn't been found. It becomes a bigger mystery as it goes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

THOMAS MISRACHI, TV ANCHOR: The mysteries behind that disappearance are so mind-boggling that no matter what your nationality, everybody's interested in what happened to that plane.

VALENCIA: With four missing French passengers on board MH 370, the sorry has been front-page news in France said French anchor Thomas Misrachi. The interest undoubtedly fueled by parallels to the disappearance of Air France Flight 447 that crashed off the coast of Brazil on its way to Paris nearly five years ago. Although some debris from that flight was spotted early on in the search, it took almost two years to recover the voice and flight data recorders.

MISRACHI: Obviously for any news organization it's a big problem to talk about a story with so little information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll begin on the latest for the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight -

VALENCIA: With 153 Chinese nationals on board, the lack of information has been especially difficult for CNN China affiliate CCTV.

STELTER: The Chinese media has been intensely focused on this story and especially on the feelings and on the struggle of the family members.

VALENCIA (on camera): There's been no shortage of criticism by media critics for the worldwide coverage. While some have called it a sideshow for a boost in ratings, others say the over coverage is too much with too few facts.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. Our live coverage of the mystery of flight 370 continues right now with Don Lemon.