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Search for Malaysia Air Flight Ramps Up As Chinese Detect New Signal In Indian Ocean

Aired April 05, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. We are tracking missing plane Flight 370. Let's get you up to speed on what happened today. Chinese state agency reports a Chinese patrol ship detected a pulse signal with the same signal as a black box. It reportedly lasted for about a minute and 30 seconds, but the Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia says that signal has not been verified and there's no confirmation yet that this is connected to the missing plane.

And China's state news agency also said a Chinese Air Force plane spotted white floating objects near the search area today. It's not clear yet if those objects are connected to the plane either.

So we have reporters around the world covering this story. Will Ripley is live for us in Perth, Australia, Rene Marsh is live for us in Washington, and Richard Quest in New York.

All right, so let me begin with you, Will, and what Australian authorities are saying about how they'll go about trying to verify what the Chinese news agency is saying.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's 1:00 a.m. here in Perth, but at this hour there are attempts being made to try to get more information from China.

Let me just read you this quote from Angus Houston who is overseeing this search effort with the Joint Coordination Center. He says, "I've been advised that a series of sounds have been detected by a Chinese ship in the search area. The characteristics reported are consistent with the aircraft black box. A number of white objects were also sighted on the surface about 90 kilometers from the detection area. However, there is no confirmation at this stage that the signals and the objects are related to the missing aircraft."

So essentially what this says is that the people who are overseeing this search effort essentially have the same information that's being reported to the rest of the world by the Chinese state-run media. Nothing more. They haven't been able to establish a direct link with the ship that made this sighting as far as we know and so, you know, before they even make a decision about deploying aircraft in this area, they need more specifics. Specifics that they're not getting from Beijing right now.

WHITFIELD: So, Will, what's the explanation as to why Australian authorities acknowledge that they have this kind information, what, 10, maybe even 12 hours ago, but just now this kind of statement is being released?

RIPLEY: Yes. You know, the information came in around lunchtime and at that point they were trying to establish a connection with the Haixun, the ship that supposedly detected these underwater pings consistent with what would be coming from an aircraft data recorder, but they haven't been able to establish a direct connection with the ship.

Chinese ships do not communicate directly with the command center in Australia unlike all of the other countries involved in this search effort. They communicate with Beijing, Beijing then decides what is released to Malaysia and to Australia. And so the fact that there was a news conference earlier on Saturday, no mention at all of any detection of any sort of ping, then we hear about it because of a news report, then we're hearing from Australia, OK, we heard something around lunchtime but certainly not enough to put out to the world, it raises a lot of questions and a lot of skepticism about the validity of the, you know, validity of this information, how reliable it is, and more importantly, you know, what are the specifics?

What do we need to know to make a decision that's worth sending out aircraft, it's worth moving shifts in that direction, and I don't think the command center here has those answers yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, and a couple of things here. Rene Marsh, I want to bring you into the equation here. And so we talked about, according to the Chinese news agency, this sonar, this ping may have been detected for about a minute and a half, that kind of raised a red flag right there, does it not, that this ping, you know, this pulse should last much longer than that? And is it true that military ships might share that same kind of frequency and perhaps that could help promote this kind of confusion?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, Fred, it does -- it is curious. It does make you ask some questions as to why is it that they were only able to pick up this pinging sound for about a minute and a half as they've reported on Chinese TV.

You know, you've had the manufacturer of the pingers on our air. I spoke with him at length today and he says if they are working, they are continuously pinging. Even if we're past the 30-day mark, it may not be at full strength. It may be -- think of it as a knob on your radio and you slowly, as the battery dies, it just gets lower and lower. It's still working, but it's lower and it's more faint.

That being said, he says it should be a continuous pinging sound. So it does raise the question why is it that they were only able to hear it within that minute and a half? Some possible explanations, perhaps the ship was moving away and out of the range of the pinger at that point. That could be an explanation. We also know that silt and debris has the ability to disrupt that signal.

So that could be an explanation, as well, but again, no doubt, it raises a lot of questions and also why is it that they only heard one ping? We do know that both the cockpit voice recorder as well as the data recorder both have their own beacons and they do not ping at the same time. They ping independently so that's a question, as well. That too could be explained if the two recorders were separated or perhaps if one was damaged -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And, Richard, the Chinese know more than anyone what's at stake and talking about raising more hopes for people is just, you know, seemingly cruel and painful. The majority of the people on that plane were Chinese nationals.

Is there a feeling that the Chinese are operating independently, not necessarily wanting to report all of their information to Malaysian authorities or Australian authorities because the Chinese feel it has a greater obligation on which to report what it believes it finds directly to the people and that may explain what's happening here?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly would be justifiable in the sense that the Chinese did have the largest number of nationals and citizens on board the aircraft, so they have a huge interest, responsibility, duty, to their own people in this regard, but they are also part of the international search group. They are a part of the JACC and they also have a duty to ensure that everything is reported properly through the correct channels.

Now what is -- this is -- this whole story of the pingers is starting to look a little bit troubling on a variety of grounds. Firstly, where the Chinese were searching -- excuse me, where they were searching, not in the immediate search area, but in the general locality of which had been designated by the JAC. It wasn't in the shaded boxes. It was just to the south of it.

Secondly, the way they found this, using -- or the way they said to have found this using the hydrophone, how it was deployed, the boat it was deployed from, we don't know too many details about it, but early suggestions suggest that -- why were they there and why were they looking for this in that particular place since it wasn't in the designated area?

And then finally, the mechanism by which it has been reported. Yes, by Beijing, and we know that the Australians were told about it, we don't know how, and then it's released in the Xinhua News Agency. So put those pieces together and at best you have to be skeptical and at worst there has to be disbelief.

WHITFIELD: All right, Richard and Rene, thank you so much, and Will.

Let's open it up to our panel now. I'm joined now by CNN aviation analyst and 777 captain, Les Abend, and CNN law enforcement Tom Fuentes, former assistant director, and CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, now an aviation attorney who represents families suing airlines in crashes and disasters.

So, Mary, to you first. There are a number of things that Richard pointed out which are troubling about the sequence of event as it pertains to this ping that has been detected or perhaps even a Chinese air flight which believes it saw some debris.

What's most troubling to you? Is it the way in which this information has been disseminated by way of the news agency? Is it that Australian authorities say they haven't been able to make direct contact with the Chinese ship or is it the fact that it's a minute and a half of hearing this pulse as opposed to a continuum? What is it that is most troublesome to you?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. I can put up with all of the other stuff. I understand a Chinese reporter wanting to get the jump on things and the Chinese wanting to find the black box and the aircraft first. I get all that.

What troubles me are the cold, hard facts that we've only got a minute and a half. I don't want a minute and a half. I want this thing to keep going, I want us to find it. The minute and a half suggested two things to me. One, maybe this isn't it, but obviously like all others, I hope this is it, or -- I mean, it would be just unbelievable coincidence that, you know, the ship didn't stop or it faded away or something like that.

I can't imagine if you're on this ship and you get this ping, you don't put the thing -- put the ship immediately, you know, engines even reversed and stopped and make sure you've got the sound. So the troubling thing to me is that it's just a short burst. Hopefully they can replicate it and go back and find it again.

WHITFIELD: And so, Les, do -- does that kind of mimic your thinking, as well, or do you feel like perhaps this ship was in transit and as it was making its way to their primary search area it came across this sound and it just wasn't able to anchor or reverse or do any further investigations?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, this, of course, isn't my area of expertise, but my understanding is that there are various things that can block that signal. There could be ridges down below the ocean floor. It's hard to say. I mean, where I go, all this information where it came from and so I think is water under the bridge. You know, I think it was irresponsible of the Chinese government to have to release it publicly, but let's move on.

Let's verify this information, let's find out exactly what occurred and what we've got and the fact -- it doesn't disturb me so much if this is indeed true, that there was a short burst of signal. It might be because the batteries are slowly dwindling in their supply and it might also be that -- with only one ping, it might only mean that one of the recorders is sending the signal where the battery may have totally diminished on the other recorder.

WHITFIELD: And so I wonder, what can be done at this juncture with something like maybe four or five hours before daybreak or at least close to daybreak there in that region, what can be done in this time period to try and verify that sound without actually moving other assets to the area? What can be asked of that Chinese ship to help better disseminate information or better help other authorities verify the information, Les? ABEND: I mean, you know, the best thing is to work with the -- with the joint task force, to use all their expertise to try to -- to try to verify this information. It's extremely important to these families and to the rest of the world at this point. WHITFIELD: Tom, in your view, is this investigation -- is it making ground or is this yet another setback or is it at a standstill?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, frankly, we don't know, Fredricka. You know, my area of expertise is rounding a critical incident, setting up crisis management, the command post, the manner in which information was disseminated. What's troubling the most to me is that we have the Chinese apparently are not part of the task force.

If that ship is not in communication with the task force leaders in Perth, and if their airplanes are not in communication and if they're searching in areas that aren't part of the designated pattern, just searching areas that they decided to search for whatever reason, we don't know, but it's their decision, that's troubling to me.

So you don't have every country operating as a task force under coordinated manner. You have one that's doing what they please.

WHITFIELD: I guess it's of no surprise, though, that perhaps the Chinese government would want to remain secretive, but voluntary services say that it wants to be involved, but perhaps be a little less collaborative. Wouldn't that be your expectation, Mary?

SCHIAVO: It would, and also because they have so much at stake. I mean, we've seen the pictures for a month of these families in anguish in China and the Chinese authorities trying to keep them from protesting before the Malaysia embassy and they are dealing with an awful lot at home so I can also understand, while I don't agree that it should have been done, I can understand why it was done -- you know, maybe they had a hunch in this area.

They raced out if they could confirm it and then they released the information to show their -- you know, their citizens that they are on top of it and out front rather than saying, well, we're just deferring to the joint task force. I understand it, I don't agree with it, but I can see how that would happen.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mary, Les, Tom, thank you so much to all of you, I appreciate that.

Let's talk about what searchers are up against. This is a region where the weather can be rather unpredictable and we understand right now as a tropical cyclone is forming near that search, and will it impact or disrupt in any way the continuing search efforts.

CNN's Jennifer Gray joining me now with more on this. Any new activity on that map that shows that it would be a threat?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not really. I mean, this is still well away from the search area and it's actually good news. You have this tropical cyclone that's a couple hundred miles away from the search area and it's just pulling a lot of the energy around it towards its center and so it's actually getting better weather for the search area than we could be dealing with.

You're right. This area is very unpredictable. We've had some really rocky weather in this part of the Indian Ocean but this storm is going to just slide to the south and then off to the east and basically just curve around that search area. It's going to plow right through the old search area. It is going to increase the cloud cover just a tad. We may see a slight increase in winds especially in the southern section of that box, but the weather for the next couple of days all in all is actually going to be pretty decent.

We're not going have huge swells. We'll have a slight swell increase because of that storm but we'll see it slide down to the south and the winds will stay right around that center, so we could see anywhere from maybe 10 to 20 mile per hour, maybe peaking later today or tomorrow at maybe 25-mile-per-hour winds but we've been seeing winds right at about 40, 45 miles per hour, you know, over the past couple of weeks so seeing winds down a little bit is actually really great news.

WHITFIELD: OK. That is good. Very encouraging. We like that. Thanks so much, Jennifer. Appreciate that.

All right, we've been talking about the Chinese ship that believes it detected a pulse that might be connected to the black boxes somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Well, coming up next, I'm going to talk to a man who helped engineer the beacons on those black boxes and the questions that he has about the Chinese news agency's report today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're following major developments today in the hunt for Flight 370. A Chinese state news agency says a Chinese patrol ship detected a pulse signal with the same frequency as a black box, but the Joint Agency Coordination Center says that signal has not been verified.

I want to bring in Anish Patel, president at Dukane Seacom. He believes -- his company actually manufactured the pingers on the black box that went into Flight 370.

So, Anish, we actually have a flight data recorder here on the set and we have also -- we can kind of point out this beacon which is in the front of this recorder here, the actual device that your company manufacturers, and on the end of this beacon is kind of this little -- this little indicator here.

When this black box were to hit the water, this beacon would have -- this sensor would go off, correct? This sensor would go off in the water and the beacon would continue with this, you know, continuous kind of pulsing noise that is unlike any kind of human sound, but it would be an underwater detector that could actually pick up this sound. And the Chinese news agency is reporting today that one of its Chinese patrol ships actually has that kind of device and was able to pick up a pulse. They say they were able to hear this pulse for about a minute and a half.

So, Anish, based on that kind of information, does that tell you anything about what they may have heard and that indeed that frequency is that of a pulse of a black box?

ANISH PATEL, PRESIDENT, DUKANE SEACOM: Well, the 37.5 kilohertz with a one-second pulse train is the correct duration. We need verification, continuous listening to hear a longer pulse strain. The fact that it was only a minute and a half leads to some doubt and that's why I think everyone's been stressing let's get additional equipment and verify. How you hear these things you're exactly right, it's a hydrophone in the water. Once that water switch you were pointed to is activated by immersion in water.

The device should be emitting a continuous signal until the battery is depleted which is going to be in a little excess of 30 days and then it depletes slowly. It's not going to be an immediate cutoff. It gradually tapers off.

WHITFIELD: So would the intensity of that sound be any different if the battery life were at its end? Because we've been reporting it is common knowledge now that the battery life is something like 30 days and, you know, today or tomorrow might be the last day if it were an exact 30-day life expectancy of this battery.

So would the intensity of that sound change in any way toward the end of the battery life?

PATEL: (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: OK. Anish, we're unable to hear you clearly. If you can hear me, if you can move, you know, your cell phone to a different physical location so that perhaps we can pick up a better signal, but we weren't -- able to understand anything. Let's try that again.

PATEL: (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're going to try and reconnect. Once we get a better signal with Anish Patel who can give us a better explanation about the beacon, the life expectancy of the beacons on these flight data and voice recorders.

Again, the Chinese news agency reporting today that a Chinese vessel was able to pick up a pulse that matches the same frequency that is usually detected on these beacons, on these flight data recorders, and that frequency as you heard from Anish Patel which said is very distinctive. It is something that we cannot be detected from human ears, but instead you have to have special sonar and acoustic locating equipment and that Chinese vessel claims that it had that kind of equipment in which to detect the kind of frequency, 37.5 kilohertz per second, from somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean there.

We're going to have much more on this Chinese news agency report and we're going to try to reconnect with Anish Patel to give us a better explanation. Again, you're looking at a flight data recorder and that beacon, that very important beacon with the battery life, the life expectancy of some 30 days, and that would be this weekend. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Here's the latest on the search for Flight 370.

Time is running out to identify a pulse signal reportedly picked up by a Chinese patrol ship in the Indian Ocean. The pinger batteries on the black boxes are designed to last 30 days and we are entering day 30 of the search. So far, according to Australian authorities, no confirmation that the pulse that the Chinese news agency is reporting the Chinese ship detected is in any way related to the missing airliner.

CNN analyst David Gallo joins me now by phone from Boston. He's the director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

All right. So, David, what are your thoughts? You have said that, you know, we're at a very critical phase right now and to hear this report from the Chinese news agency that they believe they picked up the pulse signals from what could be the pinger of any data recorders, what are your thoughts on that?

DAVID GALLO, CO-LED SEARCH FOR AIR FRANCE FLIGHT 447: Well, let's ask, Fredricka, I mean, in one sense this could be the break everyone's been hoping for that we finally have a chance to get some idea of what happened to that aircraft, and the other -- on the other hand, it can be very disruptive the way this has been put out there to the rest of the investigators, to all the teams in the air and on the water that have been working day and night because now the focus, whether you like it or not is going to go to this spot and trying to find out, is that really the ping from the aircraft or not?

WHITFIELD: And, David, right now, if you're looking at a screen, what we're showing on the screen now is a flight data recorder, and you can see, you know, this is the sensor and this is actually the beacon that would be emitting the sound.

GALLO: Sure.

WHITFIELD: And the Chinese agency claiming that its sonar equipment did pick up this 37.5 kilohertz frequency, which would be characteristic of this device here on any kind of data recorder, the voice or the flight data recorder.

GALLO: Right. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Is there anything else in the ocean that would mimic or that would emit that kind of frequency, in your view?

GALLO: Yes. I believe you could get some biological noise. Well, you know, it's designed, in fact, the frequency was picked and also there's a rep-rate that goes with it. That -- you know, it was once a second or something like that, so it's really designed to -- so you can pick it out from the background noise. But, you know, the oceans can play all sorts of games with sound, thermal layers, density, salty layers, less salty layers, mountains, valleys, you know, there's actually rivers and storms that blow through the ocean. There's all these things that can play games with sound.

So you could easily get a false alarm and that's happened in the past, more than once it's happened in the past, so it's just hard to know.

My understanding is they picked up a signal, they listened to it for a short while, then they lost it which is problematic because you still have to get out there and find out, is it still there or, you know, what is -- what made that noise?

WHITFIELD: For a minute and a half, reportedly, it was able to detect that sound, in fact, we have some sound of what that pulse would sound like if heard correctly and this is it.

GALLO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: So, David, it's very simple but it is very distinctive and it's continuous. And we've heard every expert say --

GALLO: Yes --

WHITFIELD: It is continuous sound.

GALLO: Yes. Yes. It is distinctive, Fredricka, but it actually sounds very different under water than that. And in fact some people with an iPad, iPhone, there's apps that can produce the tone generator so you can actually do this on your own, make that tone and hear what -- hear what it sounds like, but you know once that gets in the war, like I said, distance plays games.

Remember in the olden days when before there was digital radio you have to tune in a radio station and sometimes you've got a station and it's loud and clear, and you've got -- the next thing you know the car moves or something happens and you lose it, and that's kind of what I think happened here is that they had something toned in -- tuned in and now it's -- they've got to find it again.

WHITFIELD: And so just to be clear. Is there any, you know, family of wild life whose sound would mimic that beacon sound which this ship may have misconstrued?

GALLO: Not typically, but people have told me that there -- in the past there have been sperm whales and other kinds of whales because they make a range of sounds that could hit that frequency, and -- but, you know, then you've got to worry about the rep-prate. My understanding is they not only had the frequency, but they had that click, click, click, click, and now you're asking a lot from an animal to mimic those two things. Not just the frequency but also the rep- rate.

So it's pretty much sounds like the right kind of thing. But, you know, you can have an instrument that's not tuned properly, you can have an operator that's tired. And you never know. So it really takes some detective work in getting in there and actually finding out with the right equipment or the right team is this from the aircraft or not?

WHITFIELD: All right. And the detective work is certainly under way. Australian authorities saying they are continuing to try to verify what the Chinese vessel believes it heard, but unclear how they're going about that kind of verification.

David Gallo, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

We'll have much more on the mystery surrounding this Flight 370 right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Now for an update on mortgages, a 30-year fixed rose slightly this week while other rate are slightly down. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're following breaking news right now as we enter day 30 of the search for Flight 370. China's state news agency is reporting that a Chinese ship detected a pulse signal in the Southern Indian Ocean today. It's the same frequency as the pingers on the flight data recorder. And now a Chinese newspaper reports the ship first detected a signal on Friday, but it couldn't record it because it stopped right away.

Well, today the signal reportedly lasted for a minute and a half, but the Joint Agency Coordination Center says that signal could not be verified and there's no confirmation that it's related to the missing plane. Officials in Australia saw they have been trying to get more information, but they haven't been able to open a line of communication with the Chinese ship.

China's state news agency also said today an air force plane of theirs spotted white, floating objects in the search area earlier today.

All right. So let's get our panel back here now, I'm joined by Les Abend, Tom Fuentes and Mary Schiavo.

All right, so, Mary, to you, first. The sequence of events here, perhaps it's less important than the actual event, but it kind of adds to the mess here, doesn't it, in terms of whether it was 10 or 12 hours ago that the Chinese vessel may have heard this -- this pulse, and may have informed its government which then disseminated it by way of its news reporting, but not necessarily immediately telling Australian authorities.

Australian authorities say they learned of it just like everyone else did by way of the news reports, but it still has yet to verify it. So what do you do with this kind of information? It certainly does raise the hopes, does it not, of some of the survivors, the victim's family members, but at the same time it seems like we're kind of chasing our tails one more time?

SCHIAVO: Right. It's a very messy chain of events and the problem with the chain of events like this is it makes the world think that the Chinese participants and joint task force aren't really onboard with the task force, they're running their own show and being secretive. It makes the families have less trust in the investigation. It doesn't seem to be coordinated and all of that sort of thing.

But all of that aside, that's kind of a sideshow. The most important thing is did they or did they not get these pings? And it says, you know, they are pretty sure they did. And if they did what are they coming from. And to me all of the -- all of the circus around it kind of melts away and I just want to hone right in on those pings and go get it. That's what -- that's what I think is the most important thing right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes, but it seems very difficult, Tom, to try and to duplicate, you know, that location where this vessel believes it heard this pulse for a minute and a half. And we've talked to a variety of experts who say it's a continuation. It shouldn't be just a minute and a half or a minute, but it's something that continues and it doesn't intensity as it starts to lose battery life.

So does that raise a red flag for you right then and there?

FUENTES: Well, we don't know if -- you know, what speed the ship was moving at and it's only able to receive the ping signal for -- if it's directly over it, so we don't know all of that, pardon me, but the -- you know, the point I'm trying to get at is what are the Australians going to do now? They've got this information. Do they ignore it?

You know, apparently they're still debating what they're going to do with it or if they're even going to respond and send resources to that location to check out not only the ping but also the debris that was cited by the Chinese aircraft. So, you know, from my perspective, I don't know how they ignore that. I don't know how they just dismissed that information and don't go check it out.

WHITFIELD: And, so, Les, what can Australian authorities do because we're talking about a dozen ships in the area, you've got air assets as well, and they have to be, you know, very discriminating about which assets to move, relocate because you don't want to lose an opportunity, but at the same time you want to seize on an opportunity?

ABEND: Yes, I mean, I echo Mary and Tom with their -- with their thoughts, but I think I'm just hoping that the individual that heard this ping and used that particular machine, if indeed it can do this with their technology because we apparently have no knowledge of this particular technology that's onboard.

But I'm just hoping they did something as simple as marking the waypoint so we have a latitude and a longitude that can really pinpoint it and send an asset there that we really know a good resource that we know that can pick up these signals.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mary, any final thoughts on this?

SCHIAVO: Well, I mean, I think the Australians have to go. They might be weighing their options and decide it was -- you know, came in an inopportune time and I think they will go check it out. If it's not anything then everybody has to get back on the same page because they will have wasted time off of the other search grid to go check it out, but it's ought to be easy to rule it in and rule it out and they've got to go do it.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mary, Les, Tom, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. So how do experts retrieve information from black boxes? Of course, they've got to find these black boxes, but once they do, if there really is some credence to the pulse and it may direct them to the black boxes, then what? More on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The search for Flight 370 may have new clues today. China's state news agency says a Chinese ship detected a pulse signal on the same frequency used by the so-called black boxes and a Chinese plane reportedly spotted white, floating objects.

Experts disagree what this could mean and there is no confirmation that any of this is related to the missing plane. So right now the key is, of course, finding the wreckage and the black boxes.

I am joined now by correspondent Zain Asher who went inside a lab that actually examines black boxes and what was learned.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. So what we're looking for right now is solid state flight data recorder. That's basically the new type. They're much more durable. They contain roughly 25 hours of information about the flight. So hundreds of parameters. By parameters we mean a unit of information about the plane. So everything from speed, altitude, roll and pitch.

So pitch being the tilt this way and roll being the tilt that way, and I actually spent the day with an engineer who walked me through how an information from flight data recorders are actually read. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN BALYS, OWNER, KOB AVIATION SOLUTIONS: Crash protected and shock mounted.

ASHER (voice-over): This is what investigators will see once the black boxes of Flight MH-370 are found and data from the memory downloaded for analysis.

BALYS: We pull the data up on the screen, we'll see the data in a tabular format and graphical format. We connect the recorder to a power supply. ASHER: Black boxes contain hundreds of data points or parameters about the flight's movement, pilot maneuvers, speed and altitude, all displayed with a series of graphs.

BALYS: Every flight data recorder records the data in binary values. It's a series of ones and zeros. In order for humans to understand that, we need to convert it into engineering units, and engineering units simply mean feet for altitude. Airspeed is recorded in knots.

ASHER (on camera): OK. So this right here, that's airspeed, correct?

BALYS: That's correct.

ASHER: So here, as you see getting faster, that represents takeoff.

BALYS: Yes.

ASHER (voice-over): It's through graphs like these that we'll learn if someone on board deliberately nosedived the aircraft, if there was a pilot error, or a mechanical failure.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: If an engine or mechanical failure there'd be all kinds of indications. It would be able to determine which engine turned off first if it was because of fuel starvation, they would know that, versus if it has been intentionally cut off.

ASHER: This line represents the plane's altitude. If Flight MH-370 suddenly dropped to a lower altitude midflight, here is where we'd see a change. And if someone on board deliberately altered the flight path, we'll see this line start to dip or rise depending on the direction.

BALYS: I think one of the important things that people will be looking at is who was in control of the aircraft. So when we look at the data from the flight data recorder, you can see if the inputs were coming from the autopilot or the left seat or the right seat. In other words, the pilot or the co-pilot.

ASHER: Technicians can also use latitude or longitude positions here to pinpoint where the plane was located at any point during flight.

BALYS: What you see on the front of this recorder is encased solid state memory module.

ASHER: And although the memory chips on flight data recorders are rarely ever damaged, airlines still need to perform regular flight data recorder maintenance and preflight testing to ensure the black boxes are up to par. The biggest challenge now is to locate them before the batteries die.

SOUCIE: To find that pinger in those trenches or to find it after the pinger has stopped in those trenches is going to be extremely difficult.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ASHER: Right. And if we don't get to the black boxes before the batteries die we have to then rely on visuals. By either wreckage and obviously as you know, Fred --

WHITFIELD: My gosh.

ASHER: Given, you know, how vast the Southern Indian Ocean is, given the fact that it's choppy, the wreckage is probably constantly moving, making it that much tough for people to spot.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And it's incredible. I mean, they call it the black box even though it's an orange box. It's got this reflective tape on it.

ASHER: Right.

WHITFIELD: And these boxes are generally in the rear of the plane in the tail.

ASHER: Right.

WHITFIELD: And that's in large part because they believe after impact the tail is going to slow -- you know, slow speed on its impact and it stands a better chance of survival.

ASHER: Chance of surviving, exactly.

WHITFIELD: But a lot of information on it.

ASHER: Yes. And it's interesting because a few actually posed this question to me. They said, you know, if the pinger is emitting a pulse signal every second, surely if it emitted every two seconds would the batteries last longer? Now my response is probably that it would be that much harder to detect.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ASHER: If the pinger didn't emit a pulsing every second, they do need to find a way to make the batteries last longer than 30 days. They are running out of time.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's incredible and we are at day 30 this weekend. So yes, time is of the essence, but still unclear whether the Chinese vessel and its detection of that pulse a minute and a half long of that pulse sound is that of the black boxes that would be, you know, attached to this plane, so we're still waiting confirmation on that.

ASHER: Right.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

ASHER: Of course.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we're going to continue to talk more about what the Chinese news agency has been reporting today as it pertains to that pulse that may have been detected by a Chinese plane and also debris that may have been spotted by a Chinese aircraft. All that straight ahead right after this.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Still awaiting confirmation, verification of what the Chinese news agency has been reporting that a Chinese if patrol vessel actually detected a pulse that may be that of a black box and that a Chinese aircraft also spotted debris in the Southern Indian Ocean. Again Australian authorities say they're still awaiting verification and confirmation.

Let's bring back our panel, back with me right now, Les Abend, Tom Fuentes and Mary Schiavo.

OK. So, Mary, you first. Is this it? Is this the best hope for finding the black boxes, or any wreckage?

SCHIAVO: Well, it seems like the best hope, but there's just -- it's troubling in the way the news was released, and now the reporter onboard the ship is reporting that it was heard also the day before for 15 minutes and then on Friday for 15 minutes, and then today for a minute and a half.

When the Australian join task force was notified is unclear so it's also shrouded in a bit of hugger-mugger, if you will, which really decreases the credibility, but a 15-minute segment of the pings and a minute and a half repeated on two different days it looks like it might be it, but I say it's all shrouded in confusion.

WHITFIELD: Les?

ABEND: Fredricka, I've been looking at this, as most people know, through rose colored glasses and I'm hopeful and I'm trying to be optimistic about it but I share Mary's feelings. I -- we don't -- there's been so much misinformation and information that's come out that has not been credible, that, you know, it's really hard, and I'm gratified that the families indicate that they're very skeptical, too. This is -- this has got to be tough for them.

WHITFIELD: And Tom?

FUENTES: I think there needs to be a huge diplomatic effort to get China, Malaysia and Australia back on the same page. This is an enormous disconnect. It doesn't bode well for the current situation and it won't for the long run, recovery and salvage when it gets to that point.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tom Fuentes, Les Abend, and Mary Schiavo, we'll be talking with you again momentarily. Thank you so much.

So to recap, for those of you who just might be joining us right now, this is what we know. Chinese state news agency says a Chinese ship detected a pulse signal with the same frequency as a black box but officials in Australia say the signal has not been verified and everyone is saying there's no confirmation that it has anything to do with the plane, but Australian officials do say that they are considering sending a search team to that area by daybreak. And a Chinese Air Force search plane also reportedly spotted white objects floating today. Again, no verification of that. More on this continuing mystery and story.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Coming up next, much more on the mystery of Flight 370, including how much this investigation and the search is costing everyone.

"YOUR MONEY" with Christine Romans is next.

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