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Plane Didn't Fly As Far, Search Area Moved, Planes Spot Debris; Elite Eight Finalized Tonight; Mudslide Death Toll Expected to Rise; Russia Preparing for Invasion or Bluffing?; CNN Hero Audrey Guth Provides Childcare to Mothers with Cancer

Aired March 28, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You're watching special CNN coverage here of this missing plane, you know, eight days of scouring a patch of the southern Indian Ocean searching for this plane, the wreckage.

We have learned this today, that they have been looking in the wrong spot. The search zone today shifting by hundreds of miles, and in fewer than 24 hours here in this new search zone, you know what here? A virtual goldmine of visual sighting here.

You see this? We don't know what we're looking at here. This is a photo shared from CCTV, Chinese state TV, and it shows what's described as a suspicious object spotted by a New Zealand military plane.

Another plane heading back to the same area to relocate that item, the second plane spotting two blue rectangular objects.

Another three planes, each spotting what could be debris from Flight 370 in the waters below.

So this is a first, actually having this visual and not just satellite imagery.

And in less than four hours here, the sun rises on a new day for searchers.

So just what challenges does this new search area bring? No doubt the latest search technology has learned from past successes and past mistakes.

Joining me now, CNN's Tom Foreman, back in our Virtual Room with some answers here.

Tom, show me.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you talk about the challenges. The first challenge from the beginning has been getting to the right place. Think of all the search areas that we have seen since this thing began and how, day by day, it's changed. And we've been told, now this is the right place, now that's the right place.

Big challenge right now as the sun comes up there will be to get to the spot, find this stuff to figure out if it's the right stuff. And there are no guarantees on any of that based on what we have seen over the past 20 days or so.

Perth is over here. The search zone they were so interested in yesterday because of all the satellite information out there was right down in here. That was 47,000 square miles in this area, and we heard a lot of confidence about this area for a while.

But now, we're 700 miles up north of this, to the northeast a little bit. It's closer to Perth, so you cut down some of the travel time to get there, and we're hearing a lot of confidence about this.

But this is all based on analysis of data they've had, maybe getting a little bit more. There is every reason to remain, at best, cautious about this in terms of whether or not it really makes a difference.

And here's one of the reasons why. If you think about this, Brooke, they're trying to search over an incredibly huge area compared to what we saw when the Air France plane went down.

The Air France plane went down. They had debris almost immediately in about a three-mile swath, not hundreds of miles, three-mile swath. And when they actually found the wreckage, this is side-scan sonar of the wreckage they found in the middle of the Atlantic there.

That area where they actually found the plane only covered a few football fields. It was a very, very small target.

So, now, Brooke, think about these hundreds and thousands of linear miles and even more in terms of the square miles overall that we've seen in this process, and you get an idea of how hard it would be to find something like that and particularly when you think about the time that passed and this.

We bring in the map. We've been talking about it, over and over again. The currents there where the Indian Ocean collides with the Southern Ocean are quite dramatic.

As we move past Australia here down into that area and we animate this, this from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, look at all this turbulence down in here.

Tell me how, over 20 days, you find something on the surface of that and you come up with the correct algorithm, the correct formula to lead me back to where it was 20 days ago.

Can they come up with something? Might it work? Yes, but it's an immense challenge, because again, that area right there, those are the satellite objects from yesterday, Brooke. Look where they were located. Now, we're further north here. The whole equation would change anyway. It is a step today, yes. Is it really a step in the right direction? We're not going to know that until we get something in hand and figure out if the first step in this mystery has been solved.

BALDWIN: So frustrating for these families because so many experts looking at previous satellite imagery, saying, my goodness, that looked a lot -- eerily similar to the satellite imagery you pointed out from Air France 447, and now, apparently, we're tossing that out the window.

Tom Foreman, I'll leave you there, but thank you so much for that visual.

FOREMAN: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: This new search area is based upon -- we keep going back to it's just pure math, and so it concluded that this plane was flying faster, burning more fuel in the earlier part of its flight, so the plane would have less fuel left for this desolate flight, sort of those final hours over the Indian Ocean.

Rejoining me now to discuss CNN aviation analyst, 777 pilot Les Abend, and sea operations specialist Tim Taylor.

So, gentlemen, Tim, I actually want to begin with you. We were talking in commercial break. We were talking about this new debris field, and you were saying -- because the question is, are they looking for the actual wreckage itself, the plane, the black box or are they just looking for anything, any kind of debris to lead them there?

And you say they should be doing both.

TIMOTHY TAYLOR, SEA OPERATIONS SPECIALITY: Yes, I -- the clock is ticking on the black box and we have limited time and they have the assets on location, which in this case, the asset is an acoustic hydrophone to listen, they should be looking where the math says it went down and start to listen, and also for the debris which will help them narrow down the search even more.

But they should be on both courses.

BALDWIN: How do they do that? They don't know where the haystack is.

TAYLOR: It's different.

BALDWIN: Maybe they do.

TAYLOR: It's different, but you've got to go with the data they have, less -- maybe there's two search areas, one where they burn more fuel, one where they burn less.

But you have to narrow it down somewhere and take a shot. This is getting down to the last hours of possibilities for that pinger, and if you don't make some assumptions, even if you make three smaller search areas - BALDWIN: OK.

TAYLOR: -- with different algorithms and go start listening, it has to -- you have to look at the impact.

BALDWIN: One question to you, off the search areas, I know you wanted to make the point, because there has been so much speculation and questions about the cockpit or the crew. And you say stop it.

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I say stop it from the standpoint let's not make it public scrutiny. Let's look -- do the investigation the proper way, look into their backgrounds. That's absolutely true.

So, let's see. Did the captain have the proper rest before this flight? Was the captain doing some other -- did the captain have some other issue that might have been affecting his decision-making process? Did he have family problems?

Those things should be discussed in addition to what they're investigating, but let's not throw it out to the public at this point in time.

Conduct the investigation, let it be quiet and let's protect the families of those crew members, because they are suffering as much or more than the passengers.

BALDWIN: We finally heard from the son a couple of days ago of the pilot saying, you know, this is enough.

He is trying not to read the speculation, everything else. I just can't imagine how tough it would be on their own family members, let alone the family members of these passengers here.

Tim and Les, thank you both very much, and we've talked so much here about the plane's speed, so coming up next, we'll actually take you inside this flight simulator to show you maybe what could have happened.

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BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching our special coverage of the disappearance of Flight 370.

We are discussing today all kinds of new developments, that this plane may have run out of fuel earlier, perhaps because it flew faster than first thought, a lot of questions about altitude here, as well.

If so, it would reduce the possible distance the plane traveled south into the Indian ocean.

So, here he is with me, our aviation correspondent Richard Quest, and CNN's Martin Savidge inside our Boeing 777 cockpit simulator with the pilot trainer Mitch Casado.

So, Martin, I'm going to you guys first here. Tell me -- listen, this is just obviously we don't know the facts, but given the data we have today, what could have been happening in the cockpit?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, and I'm glad you've got Richard Quest standing by because we need his brilliance to be shed upon this, as we look at --

BALDWIN: His brilliance is standing by.

SAVIDGE: -- first of all -- OK, what we've done is we've set the aircraft up to fly at typical cruise altitude, typical cruise speed.

And right now we are at 35,000 feet, and if you look over here at this indicator, there a lot of ways to determine the speed of an aircraft, which is why this could be a bit confusing.

There is the speed -- Mitchell, help me -- relative air speed.

MITCH CASADO, PILOT TRAINER: The indicated air speed.

SAVIDGE: Indicated air speed, I'm sorry, 287 knots, or we're going point-84 percent of the speed of sound.

Or, if you look over here, this is the ground speed, in other words, how fast we are going, presumably over the ground, which is 475 knots or close to 500 miles an hour.

So, Ashleigh, we would be flying faster than according to this new data, and yet, this is a typical kind of cruise speed.

To slow us down slightly and yet extend -- apparently reduce the range of this search, it's -- we need to know so much more, Brooke.

We need to know the altitude at which they were flying, how long they flew at that altitude, the headwinds, so much more than just the speed of the plane and which speed is it? The speed over the ground or the speed in the air?

So, Richard, please, your help.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, we don't know. All we know is from the chart from the ANSA that they said that the speed on the new track was 400 knots. That's what they've worked it out.

So, Mitchell, what's your best guess of what they're talking about?

CASADO: Well, Richard, at this altitude, if we're assume it was at 35,000 feet, the normal cruising speed for this airplane is point-84 mach, point-85 mach, which equates to about 474 knots, true air speed.

If they're talking about true air speed, that means the plane was flying slower than it would normally fly. So if they said it sped up or it was flying faster than --

QUEST: No.

CASADO: -- my guess would be -- QUEST: Right. Right, let me jump in here. No, what we -- what they say -- what they're saying, Mitchell, is that it was flying faster in the early part of the flight over -- the part that went from the south China Sea, the turn, back across Malaysia to the Straits of Malacca.

That's the part they compute was faster, therefore less fuel, but we still know, of course, Mitchell, that the flight down the southern corridor had to take about six, six-and-a-half hours.

BALDWIN: Let me -- can I just jump in here? Following both of you and my question then to you, Richard Quest, would be, so given this, what you just sort of tried to explain, does that change anything about what we might know or not know as far as what happened in the cockpit?

QUEST: No. No, not at all. And I think that's the really important point. I can make an argument that leads more mechanical. I can give an argument that it leads more nefarious.

It is a very dangerous strategy. Guys in the cockpit, unless you please feel free to agree to disagree, but I can make an argument either way. I don't believe moving the search zone further up, come in with a slower speed actually indicates one way or the other what might have happened.

What do you think?

SAVIDGE: Right. I agree with you, Richard. I don't think there is any way we can read what was going on, whether it's criminal or whether it's accidental.

And the other thing is altitude would play into this, because, if you're going faster at a lower altitudes, yes, you're going to burn a lot more fuel.

If you are going faster at a higher altitude, you are burning more fuel, but you're also going to go further faster.

So, there is still more needed to make this equation that apparently the experts have done to change the area in which they are now focusing the search effort.

BALDWIN: OK, that's the theme here, need more. Need more.

QUEST: I'm going to put it in one -- one way, Brooke, finally, this -

BALDWIN: Go.

QUEST: You know the old -- it's not funny, but you know the old joke in the car, I'm running out of gas, I better drive fast to get to the gas station.

BALDWIN: That doesn't work, does it?

QUEST: That's the sort of thing we are talking about here. The plane used more gas in the early part of the flight. Therefore, it went -- to get to the various points, it had to have been going slower, but that's the point. We now have a much better idea where the field is.

BALDWIN: OK, Richard Quest, thank you. Still coming back to the just tell us more about what happened, it doesn't.

We will have much more on this special coverage. Our other developing story her today, the Pentagon now believes Russia has moved enough troops into position to invade its neighbor Ukraine.

This comes as President Obama issues a stern warning to Vladimir Putin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Quick reminder, college hoops tonight, Elite 8 will be finalized this evening, NCAA March Madness tournament games tip off in just a couple of hours.

So, keep in mind, four games on tap tonight. Make sure you're tuning in to our sister network TBS, broadcasting two of them.

You see on your screen, Connecticut versus Iowa State, tip off, 7:25 p.m. on TBS, and then Michigan State and Virginia after that.

More news after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Nearly a week after a mudslide took a gouge out of a mountain side of Washington state, officials say the death toll is still rising. They are to give the most accurate count yet at a news conference at 9:00 Eastern tonight.

Video here from King County sheriff air support shows the before and then the after of the Oso, Washington, landslide.

What were green and lush valleys are now, as you see, just drowned in mud.

Thus far, here's the number we have, 17, at least 17 confirmed dead, seven other unidentified bodies have been found, but not recovered. and dozens are still unaccounted for.

And the rain continues to work against these efforts to find survivors, but officials say some progress was made today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM COOPER, DEPUTY CHIEF, ARLINGTON FIRE DEPARTMENT: The water is starting to recede in the flooded areas now, so we're now able to get into new areas that we have not been able to search and to get out into.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Again, watch for that news conference as we certainly will be, tonight 9:00 Eastern here on CNN.

The Pentagon now believes Russia has moved enough troops into position to invade its neighbor Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces digging in now on their side of the border as the Russian buildup along the frontier has climbed to as many as 40,000 troops. This is according to the United States.

From where they are now, the Russians could charge west toward Moldova, they could attempt to seize the capital there of Kiev in Ukraine, or try to create a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow, as you know, recently annexed.

In an interview today, President Obama said the Russian's plans are a mystery, but their actions, suspicious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've seen troops massing along that borders under the guise of military exercises, but these are not what Russia would normally be doing, and, you know, it may simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine or it may be that they've got additional plans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me add this here. Russia's defense minister reportedly told the Pentagon there will not be any invasion, but it's unclear whether he gets a vote when Vladimir Putin calls the shots.

Coming up, we profile a CNN Hero who is helping mothers with cancer. We'll share this remarkable woman's story, next.

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BALDWIN: In Canada, cancer is the leading cause of death for women. If you're a mother with young children, a cancer diagnosis often raises fears that have more to do with your own kids than your own life.

This week's CNN Hero is there to offer peace of mind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's coming 7:00. Let's go. Brush your teeth.

I'm a pretty independent, strong woman.

It's very cold outside.

But being a single mom is a full-time job.

Good morning.

You're tired.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, the first thing that came to my mind was my son, thinking about one day he gets up and I'm not there. It's the saddest thing for me.

AUDREY GUTH, CNN HERO: Mothers who are diagnosed with cancer are caregivers who suddenly find themselves in need of care.

In 2008, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As I was undergoing treatment, I saw so many mothers with really young children sitting on their laps.

These mothers couldn't dream of having nannies and yet they were the ones who needed them the most.

We provide free, relief childcare to moms undergoing cancer treatment. Some of our volunteers are even cancer survivors themselves.

How do you rest with a two-year-old running around?

Our program allows mothers the freedom to take a rest because that's what they need the most to get better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What Audrey has done for moms with cancer is to give us hope.

How much do you love mother?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to win this battle.

GUTH: What we do won't take away their illness, but it will certainly make their journey a lot easier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How awesome is that?

Each and every week, we'll be honoring a CNN Hero, just an ordinary person who lives this extraordinary life.

If you want to nominate someone, you can. Go to CNNHeroes.com to nominate someone you know.

And that is it for me, here in New York today. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for joining me.

Make sure you tune in to CNN all weekend for the latest developments here on this mystery plane.

Jim Sciutto, once again sitting in for Jake Tapper, "THE LEAD" starts now.