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Australian Ship Races to New Search Area; Flight 370 Flying at 12,000 Feet; Deadly Landslide in Washington State; Malaysian Prime Minister to Hold News Conference; Families Await News in Hotel in Beijing; Why A Plane Would Drop 12000 Feet

Aired March 24, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM breaking overnight, dramatic new leads emerge in the search for Flight 370.

HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: New objects approximate one meter in length and white colored drum were sighted by search aircraft.

COSTELLO: New objects found in the search area and new details about the flight path. Why did the plane drop to 12,000 feet?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That plane came down to 12,000 feet and we're wasting a lot of time picking up trash in the South Indian Ocean because it couldn't have flown that far.

COSTELLO: New satellite photos and new details on the plane's cargo and just how many of those lithium batteries the plane was carrying.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, EARLY START: Four hundred and forty pounds of lithium batteries in the cargo hold of this flight. We know sometimes they can catch fire. Is that a lot?

COSTELLO: CNN on the ground and taking you to the skies.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: While much of the focus has been in Kuala Lumpur, the heart of the search effort has moved here to the Pearce Air Force Base.

COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Right now a Royal Australian Navy ship is racing to a new spot in the Indian Ocean. It's on the hunt for two objects that could be part of Malaysian Flight 370. Both of those objects spotted by air by an Australian Air Force plane today. Now the reason these objects are so important, not just because of their shape but because of their color. The circular object is gray or green. The rectangular object is orange. Investigators say those colors are important and they are intrigued by them. We'll talk about that in a moment.

Now this development comes as a Chinese plane located even more potential debris. In addition we're awaiting more satellite images to be released this time by France. Search teams still have not found debris detected in two other satellite photos, though, the first on your left, 78 feet long, on your right, 16 feet long, and they haven't found this debris either. This too taken by a Chinese satellite.

CNN's Andrew Spencer is in Perth, Australia where the search may be gaining new momentum.

Take it away.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it, Carol. This search is indeed gaining new momentum. In fact we're being told that the Malaysian prime minister may be making a press statement in the next hour or two. So I don't think he's going to be making a press statement just to reframe what we already know. So that is going to be a very, very closely watched affair.

But you're right, the search is ramping up and as more planes go up, more debris is being discovered. Two distinct areas today but not that far from each other and that's critical. The Chinese spotting what they describe as relatively large objects surrounded by some smaller white objects in a radius of a few -- a few miles.

And then the Australian as couple of hours later saying that they found these two -- or they've seen, I should say. Found and seen two very, very different things in this search, seen these two objects. So now gray, obviously the fuselage, the wings of a plane are gray and the orange card, Malaysian Airlines livery does have orange-red markings on it.

So there is an Australian war ship already there, Carol. Night has fallen in the last hour or so. They were on station for about four hours but they didn't see any of these objects which the air force had identified. There's 200 sailors on that Australian naval ship. They have been looking and looking hard.

I mean, as explained to me that everyone who could was up on deck searching just before night fell. But at this stage we don't have any information. We've heard from the crash or the Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur saying that the Australian prime minister spoke to his Malaysian counterpart and told him that they could expect to find these objects within hours. Well, they haven't yet.

The search will go on at night. Obviously, it won't be as effective as during the daytime. But many more assets now converging on that area both at sea and in the air. So the next 24 hours or so could be absolutely crucial.

COSTELLO: Oh, gosh. Finally some hope. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Andrew, thanks so much.

Another intriguing clue about what happened after Flight 370 took that sharp westward turn over the Strait of Malacca. It dropped 12,000 feet. Curious, right? More specifics for you.

A source tells CNN it would have taken a full two minutes to turn that plane around, make that westward turn, and then sometime between 1:19 a.m. and 2:40 a.m. the plane descended 23,000 feet. That means at some point within that time period the plane was flying at 12,000 feet. Not below radar but extremely low for such a large plane.

Joining me now is CNN's Martin Savidge and pilot Mitchell Casado.

Welcome back, gentlemen.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about that drop of 12,000 feet, Martin. You just take it away. You're great with this.

SAVIDGE: Right. Well, all I will say first, we're going to show you two scenarios. And it's basically the very same thing. Because it seems that this latest information is being interpreted in two different camps in two different ways. The first one is that it would support some kind of emergency in the cabin, the turn and descent. So let's demonstrate how that would work.

And basically I would tell Mitchell, OK, here's what happened you've had a massive explosive decompression inside the airplane. A bulk head has given away, maybe something exploded out back that you were at altitude, and now you've had this decompression. So what would you do?

MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER, 777 COCKPIT SIMULATOR: You out the speed brake, push forward, reduce the thrust, you want to get down as fast as possible. We'd be putting out our oxygen mask and talking on the radio. Of course communicating and running the checklist as well.

SAVIDGE: Because this is kind of an emergency and it definitely would be, then you want to get the plane down low because the passengers would not be breathing or breathing on those emergency masks that come down. You need to get them down to a point where they can breathe on their own. Because that air isn't going to last forever. Same with our oxygen.

The other thing is the turn. The turn would imply that maybe you're going back to Kuala Lumpur, the airport you left a short time ago, or maybe you're turning to the west to get to a nearby airport where you can set this plane on the ground and have everyone treated for this emergency. So that is scenario number one. How the drop and turn would support an emergency.

Level us off, if you will, Mitchell. But let me show you how this data actually is being told CNN by a Malaysian official. And you noted it first. It was that two-minute turn. It's not a real sharp turn as they describe it, a two-minute turn and we'll try to emulate what it might feel like here. You can do it on automatic pilot.

In fact, you almost have to, it's so subtle. It's very gentle. And this is a turn roughly that would take you about two minutes. I don't know if you can see relative to the horizon. This is very gentle. Very smooth. There's nothing sharp, there's nothing frightening, there's nothing disturbing if you're a passenger. This is very, very subtle.

And then we talk about that descent. Yes, to go from 35,000 to 12,000 is a lot but this was recorded. The radar information over an hour and 20 minutes. It doesn't mean they dropped all at once. It too could have been gradual, slow and steady, which is why Malaysian officials say this actually indicates to them there could have been criminal intent. Some path to get this aircraft down to a point where it could disappear. They don't say who, they just say it doesn't necessarily mean emergency -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Another question. How long can this plane fly at 12,000 feet because we know the last ping picked up by satellite happens some, what, five or six hours later.

SAVIDGE: Right. Right. And that's another key factor to hang on to. Remember this plane if it was an emergency still flu for a very long time apparently.

So, Mitchell, any idea how long they could fly at 12,000 with the fuel load?

CASADO: Fuel load that they had you might even cut the ring as much as half.

SAVIDGE: And there are other factors, too. We have to know, what was their fuel load. We don't know that exactly. You have to know the winds.

CASADO: You have to know the winds. All these factors, this is pure speculation, but rough estimate, very rough, maybe half a little more than half.

SAVIDGE: The aircraft would not have made it down to the area where they are searching if it remained at the 12,000 foot level. So another head scratcher -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, it could have gained in altitude after that, we just don't know, right?

SAVIDGE: That's exactly right. And there were reports, you know, that it fluctuated in altitude but it would have lost fuel in all of that. You know, it still would have cost them something and climbing back up to altitude would again have used fuel as well. So regardless, it would have had an impact on the abilities and the longevity of the aircraft to fly.

COSTELLO: Martin Savidge and Pilot Mitchell Casado, thanks as always. Let's talk more about this. With me now, Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, and Steve Wallace is also a CNN aviation analysis and former director of the FAA Office of Investigation.

Welcome to both of you.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Thank you.

STEVE WALLACE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Mary, first question to you. If this plane dipped to 12,000 feet does that give more credence to these fishermen off of Kotabaru. They said they saw a plane flying low northeast of Malaysia.

SCHIAVO: Well, it could, but 12,000 feet we have to look at what the significance would be at 12,000 feet. It's certainly not disappear from radar. You're plainly visible at 12,000 feet, you're visible at 5,000 feet. So it wouldn't be -- to be a nefarious disappearing act. And the reason that is usually given for descending to 12,000 feet is because you have a decompression and you need to have everybody breathe.

And the fisherman said that the plane was very, very low, 12,000 feet, you know, that's two miles up. It probably is not the kind of sighting they were reporting. But most definitely it would be, you know, lower than what they were used to for large commercial planes but it wouldn't be the kind of sighting where they could see the windows.

I think they reported they could see the windows and the doors and the trim on the plane. Not at 12,000 feet.

COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, so, Steve, a question for you. So if this plane did drop to 12,000 feet we know from Martin and Mitchell's report that it couldn't have flown for as long as it would take to get out, you know, south of -- off the coast of Australia, so in your mind could this information be wrong? Is it right?

WALLACE: It could be wrong. We heard about this 12,000 feet several days ago. And suddenly it seems to have taken on a new life. I really don't know why because we have not, with so much of the evidence here, we have not really pinned that down.

I mean, I would liken flying a 777 at 12,000 feet to your jogging on the beach and then going out and jogging in water that's nearly up to your waist. And in just -- the air is too thick down there. The airplane is very inefficient, which you made an estimate it might be half the range. It could stay there a long time but all of those calculations and the Inmarsat pings which drew the northern and southern arcs, some of what I thought was the most reliable evidence, well, they are predicated on that error, demonstrated that that airplane was basically operating at cruise speed.

It cannot operate at cruise speed at those low altitudes. I mean, the 12,000 feet as Mary said, that's consistent with where you would take a plane in the event of decompression and it's also below where all pressurized aircraft are flying and kind of above where most unpressurized aircraft would be flying. So it's kind of an empty altitude down there.

COSTELLO: That's very curious. OK. Well, let's talk about the debris because an Australian ship is racing towards this debris. They think that -- investigators think this debris is critical because of the color. One object is gray. The other is orange.

What might that tell us, Mary?

SCHIAVO: Well, the orange, everybody immediately thinks of the emergency evacuation slides or the life rafts, or the life vests. Most likely of that sides it would be a life raft or a slide that detaches to become a life raft and the white object that they describe as a trunk. Could be several things. It truly could be a trunk, it could be a food cart. It could be a cargo container in the hold. And so there are several things that make that promising as well. And then the gray, of course, the gray-green is sort of the classic color of the inside of most planes.

COSTELLO: So, Steve, does this sound hopeful to you?

WALLACE: Well, hopeful. I mean, you know, I think the families who are suffering terribly in this situation, if they found wreckage that could clearly be attached to the airplane, it might bring them closure. Might also, you know, they are clinging to a last possible hope that this aircraft could have landed safely some place.

I would just add that, you know, the experts here really have the best inside information are tremendously focused on this recovery effort based in Perth, Australia which would suggest to me that we need to look again at this 12,000-foot estimate off of a military radar designed to look for intruders, really not very accurate. I understand at the end of its range, I think that Barbara Starr, your Pentagon correspondent, raised serious questions about its accuracy as well.

COSTELLO: Yes, we're going to get to her in a little bit.

Steve Wallace, Mary Schiavo, many thanks to you.

We do understand that the Malaysian prime minister will hold a live news conference at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, about 45 minutes from now. Of course when that happens we'll carry it live for you. Maybe they'll have new breaking information.

Gosh, I hope so.

Also happening today and we have to get this in. In the United States emergency crews are actively searching for survivors after a deadly landslide northeast of Seattle. So far eight bodies have been recovered. But responders are struggling to reach more people because the area remains unstable.

CNN's George Howell is outside of Seattle to tell us more.

Good morning.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. And you mentioned that unstable land. So unstable that rescuers had to go in by helicopter. That's the best option, going in by ground is just not a good option. Simply because of that land. It's what you call glacial tills. So it's a combination of boulders, of small rocks. And the sediment, powdery sediment, that it can become very, very unstable when you get a lot of rainfall.

That's what happened here in the last case. Near record rainfall in that area and reportedly a wall of mud that came down within a matter of three or four seconds.

And what we know, the search did continue through the night, and officials are saying that this is an active rescue. It is not a recovery operation. They are adamant about that. They want families to know, and the governor has made this point very clear, that all available resources are out there doing their best to scan that area with infrared cameras to see what they can find, Carol, in that mud.

COSTELLO: All right, George Howell, I know you're gonna stick with this story. Thanks so much.

As I mentioned before, the Malaysian prime minister expected to hold a news conference at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. When he begins speaking, of course, we'll take to you Malaysia, to Kuala Lumpur live.

We'll also continue overall coverage of the mystery of flight 370. A hi-tech listening device could help find the plane's recorders heading to Australia, but cannot be used yet. We'll tell you how the United States is stepping in to help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, I have a little more about this intriguing news conference that's about to take place, 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The Malaysian prime minister says he will come out, and he will possibly give us new developments.

Now the thing that makes it extra interesting is that two Chinese families who lost loved ones aboard that flight said that Malaysian officials are going to hold a special news conference just for them at a hotel. And they're gonna fill them in on some information. Now, we don't know if the two things are connected, but it sure sounds like it.

Let's bring back Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation.

I know from listening to this morning's press conference, Mary, that the Malaysian authorities were somewhat excited about this news of this debris that was found by those Australian pilots that this Australian ship is racing towards right now. Might this news conference have something to do with that? MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it might. I wouldn't think they would call a press conference to announce the news that everyone has already talked about, about the plane turning around, about the coordinates for the turn-around not being pre-programmed and all that.

However, they simply might be trying to get ahead of the news and properly brief the families if, in fact, they are holding this briefing for at least to some of the Chinese families that's pretty typical operation for the NTSB. They hold those daily family briefings in the United States when they work something.

But I would think it would be a significant development if they're gonna call a press conference, and perhaps they have been able to identify one of those pieces of wreckage. You certainly wouldn't call a press conference to say you haven't identified anything.

COSTELLO: You know, you never know in this case, Mary, though. But I hope you're absolutely right. The other bit of news that was talked about in the press conference this morning was the plane dropping to 12,000 feet. That would possibly mean some sort of criminal activity was taking place in the cockpit. The Malaysian investigators this morning also talked about how they interviewed 100 witnesses in regards to the pilot and co-pilot. They didn't say they found anything, but who knows?

SCHIAVO: Right. And plus on the altitude, again earlier on a week ago, we had reports that the aircraft had climbed 45,000 or 43,000 and then descended down to 5,000. So the altitude of this plane has been somewhat of a mystery. I mean, it has pretty much been all over the flight levels, up and down, et cetera.

There have been cases where airplanes have porpoised, I'll call that for a lack of a better term, when they've had mechanical problems, and there have been cases where the airplanes have porpoised because a very bad pilot in terms of, you know, being a hijacker has taken control, for example the 9/11 hijackers, hijacker pilots were not good pilots. They were very bad. The plane was, you know, up and down, pretty much all over the place, didn't have a good ride. And they hit their targets because they had GPS.

So, you know, bad piloting, you know, can sometimes be the hallmark of a hijacker or it can be -- being all over the sky, you're trying to get control of a disabled plane. So I'm not too confident in the altitude information, and maybe they're gonna clear that up. That would be very helpful.

COSTELLO: Yes it would. Mary Schiavo, I hope is you stick around. Because as I said, this press conference is about to take place in 40 minutes from now. The Malaysian prime minister is going to announce new developments. That's the information that we're getting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.

Let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr right now and talk more about that plane dropping to 12,000 feet because you have added information about that. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I would only endorse what Mary has said, which is it's a big mystery because the reporting has certainly been all over the place about the altitude, Carol. But as we anticipate this press conference from the Malaysians, there was a very interesting development last night that may, in fact, coincidentally be quite timely.

Because the U.S. Navy is shipping a piece of vital equipment out to Australia today. It's essentially a device that is put in the water, towed by a ship and listens for the pings, if you will, from the data recorders.

And here's -- this has been the big dilemma. This is what we're anticipating. If they can find debris, and they know where to begin to look for the data recorders, they have to find debris first then calculate where the data recorders might be based on ocean current, ocean movement, elapsed time since the incident, then they can put this kind of high-tech equipment in the water and seriously begin to hone in on the area. They might be able to listen for the data recorders.

And of course, every day counts on that. And I think it's one of the reasons, just one of the reasons, the notion that they might have found, might have found verified debris is so important to taking these next steps.

COSTELLO: Absolutely, but this is a pain-staking task. Because you hook these things onto a ship. The ship has to move very, very slowly and hope it's in the right place.

STARR: Well, that's right. And that's why it's been so difficult. This is U.S. Navy device that's specifically designed, by the way, to listen for a data recorder from a downed aircraft, either military or a civilian commercial airliner, designed specifically for that, and it can listen, if you will, to a depth of 20,000 feet. If the data recorder was 20,000 feet under the surface of the ocean, this equipment should be able to hear it. But it is very pain staking.

And a lot of people wonder, so, you know, why in the last couple of weeks haven't they been out there listening for the data recorder? And it's simply that they have no idea where to begin. You find a debris field. You verify it. You bring in the oceanographers to work backwards, look at the ocean currents, the time elapsed, where did this debris have flown -- flowed from, where has it come across the ocean. You work your way back, and that's where you start to look for the data recorder.

COSTELLO: All right, Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon. Many thanks. And again, the Malaysian prime minister expected to hold a news conference to announce new developments 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Developing news to tell you about right now. The Malaysian defense minister via Twitter announced there will be a news conference in Kuala Lumpur in just about a half hour. The prime minister supposedly is going to announce new developments.

Let's head out to Kuala Lumpur and check in with Jim Clancy. These news conferences that Malaysian authorities have been holding have been pretty steady. They are usually in the morning, so how unusual it this?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the only time that we really got a lot of news was from the prime minister himself.