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Coverage of The Mystery of Flight 370

Aired April 05, 2014 - 21:00   ET

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

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, their answer would be now we've done it, now we're moving forward. Three different commissions that are being -- four ministerial commissions. Two of them fall directly, if you will, under the control and influence of that transport minister, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Nic Robertson, thank you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon. It's the top of the hour.

Several days of nothing and now there is something. I'm talking about the deep sea search for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 and the people in charge haven't decided if this new something is worth a second look.

Here's what we know right now. Here's the Sunday search area that you're looking at on that map. Planes are heading for those red striped areas. The tan parts represent where the search has so far turned up nothing.

Search planes are in the air again, leaving from bases in Western Australia. There's new video right there. They're headed to the southern Indian Ocean.

Pictures just into CNN of Chinese planes leaving from Perth, Australia.

A Chinese crew just a few hours ago says their equipment caught some pings from the bottom of the ocean on a frequency mainly used by flight data recorders.

Here's how the Chinese news service reported it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: This afternoon, the rescuers have heard a ping signal every second, and the signals lasted for one minute, one and a half minutes. However, the rescuers say that this kind of signal of this frequency is not exclusive for the plane's black box. So, there is possibility that this kind of signal from some other equipment. So, at this moment, they still cannot confirm the signals are from the missing plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: At about the same time, those pings were detected, a search crew in the air says they flew over some white objects floating in the water. This is a picture of one of them. The reporting pings and this newfound debris are adding some cautious new energy to a frustrating search that has lasted nearly a month.

So, live right now to Perth, Australia, CNN's Matthew Chance.

Matthew, the Chinese released those new details through state-run media. All the other countries involved in the search are reporting directly to the coordination center. Is that a problem there?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's a source of friction. It's also a source of confusion. You're right. There are eight countries involved in this international search, Don. And all of them apart from China are directing they flow of information through the Australian organization that's coordinating this search.

And so, yes, it's been somewhat confusing. It seems the Chinese directing their information, their findings, through their chain of command in Beijing, then Beijing decides what to pass on to (INAUDIBLE0 to all sorts of problems.

One of the questions that this raises, this issue of detecting some pulses under the water and spotting these objects is what they were doing searching outside of the designated search zones, because these areas that are being talked about, and they gave us GPS coordinates of where they are. They're neither in the search area that was current a few days ago nor are they in the search area that's recently been annexed over the past few hours. You know, it's raising all sorts of questions are the Chinese running their own operation?

Having said that, if they do find the plane, I don't think anybody will really mind.

LEMON: So, Matthew, how much weight, then, considering everything you've said and what we have been reporting, how much weight are coordinators putting on this Chinese report? Enough to send some planes or boats to the place they're referring to, or no?

CHANCE: No. I mean, enough to consider sending boats and planes is what they've said. In fact, they've said they're looking at it, they want more information. The organizers have said, the Australia-led organization team, have said they're trying to contact or have been trying to contact the Chinese vessel that carried out these measurements, that heard these pings.

But so far, it's been unsuccessful in reaching that vessel. It's reached out to the authorities, the relevant authorities in Beijing. It still hasn't got enough information to find out what kind of pings these were, to find out exactly what depth they were at, to find out what equipment was used, things like that. Until they get that information, they say, they're not prepared to commit actual resources in terms of aircraft and ships to that location. We'll see what the coming hours bring -- Don. LEMON: Matthew Chance in Perth -- Matthew, thank you very much.

Let's discuss now, Michael Kay, CNN aviation analyst and retired Royal Air Force pilot, Les Abend, CNN aviation analyst and 777 pilot, Ric Gillespie, executive director of the International Group of Historic Aircraft Recovery, Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former Transportation Department inspector general. And then, also joining us in a little bit will be Geoffrey Thomas, CEO of airlinesratings.com.

Australian's joint agency issued a statement just a short time ago, saying the Chinese reports cannot be verified.

So, what do you make of that -- Mike, I want to look at, as we talk about that, can you put that map up? Because the map shows where they found supposedly this pulse signal. It shows the planned search area and the previous search area. There's no overlap.

MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: No, there isn't. I think the point you made from the --

LEMON: This new map was just released. Go ahead.

KAY: Yes. Cannot be verified at this point. We need to be cautious art looking too much into what that statement actually means and coming to a conclusion of whether the air chief marshal is going to go and corroborate that or just going to go and leave it. I think that's a dangerous assumption to make.

What has happened is that this information has put the air chief marshal Houston in a very difficult position, because he's got assets deployed almost two converging 150-mile tracks. He's got HMS Echo, he's got Ocean Shield, and we know that HMS Tireless is in the air as well.

If I'm air chief marshal Houston, I've now got a doubt casted in my mind about something else that's going on outside of the area that's been corroborated and refined by the Inmarsat analysts. So, to me, it's making the whole situation more difficult and it's difficult enough as it is.

LEMON: Mary, do we send planes -- there are lots of, you know, planes in the air, lots of ships on the sea. Do we use this information from China or not?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Oh, I think we do. I think what happens is takes somebody to the woodshed privately but publicly says we appreciate the information, we're working to verify it. As soon as they can get ahold of the ship, find out what it was, what's the frequency, what they used, what's the depth and what are the latitude and longitude, I think they send -- and if it checks out, if they really did get something, I think they send something over there because what else to they have?

Of course, they're going to go look. And I suspect it's just being competitive and investigators are by nature competitive. I think the Chinese probably had a clue and went and looked. They'll check it out.

LEMON: Ric, do you agree with what Mary says? Everything should be checked out regardless of whether we think it's legit or not?

RIC GILLESPIE, EXEC. DIR., INTL. GROUP OF HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY: This is so typical of the searches. This is what happened in 1937 with the Earhart search. There was information indicating the airplane was down at sea, so the coast guard went searching the ocean. Then, there was information that the plane would be on land in the Phoenix island so they sent the battleship Colorado. I think that's the one that was correct. Then, they also sent the coast guard -- the navy ship swan and, again, to search land areas in the Gilbert Islands.

All kinds of leads, everything was checked out. And you just have to run down all the leads. That's the only thing you can do. And it does dilute your assets.

LEMON: Do we have Geoffrey Thomas? Geoffrey Thomas there in Perth.

GEOFFREY THOMAS, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: Yes, look --

LEMON: Go ahead.

THOMAS: Yes, look, I agree absolutely with Mary. We really have to check this out. Sure, they might have been outside the search zone. There's questions about that. Are they running their own race? All those sorts of things.

But if they've got a ping of some kind, let's go check it out. Let's eliminate it or maybe it's positive. And this, as I said earlier, this is the most bizarre mystery in aviation and it may well be -- they've stumbled on it, so let's check it out.

LEMON: Geoffrey, weather is expected to be good today. I can see, it's sunny where you are. It's 9:08 a.m. in Perth now. How confident are you, I guess, can be, that they'll find something today? Or tomorrow? Or ever?

THOMAS: Look, the confidence is growing, although this is dragging on, obviously. In an instant world, we're all perplexed, how come we can't find this, and how it can disappear. There is a growing confidence that they are narrowing, they are working the numbers. The Chinese sighting gives us a little bit of hope. Just a little bit of hope that maybe we've stumbled on to it.

But aside from that, there is still a growing momentum that we are on to it. And I do really believe that we will find it. It just may take a long time.

LEMON: Les Abend, as an airline or airplane aficionado. This has to be mind-boggling even for you. You've been flying for decades now, right?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Almost 30 years.

LEMON: Right.

ABEND: It's totally amazing. But what's amazing to me, it's almost been 24 hours since we got this information about this ping that was supposedly found by this Chinese ship. I mean, in this day and age of communication, I realize there's time, and diplomacy involved. But why don't we have some form of communication on exactly precisely what they found?

LEMON: Absolutely. All right. Standby, everyone. We're going to talk to our panel again in just a few minutes right after this break.

Still ahead, much more on the disappearance of Flight 370. Hope after a month of searching. It's hard to find especially for families with loved ones on that plane. The new pinger sound has not changed that.

Plus, decoding the black box. The answer we need to solve this puzzle maybe inside those flight voice and data recorders. But are we closer to finding them?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Chinese ship detected the pulse signals briefly the last two days, but one professor says there is a reason to doubt if they came from the plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think -- I hopes signals came from the black box, but I'm not sure if it is really the signal from the black box, but I hope it is true. Because there are some search machines in this area and the signal might be from the other machines from the other countries in this area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He is not the only one hopeful yet skeptical.

I'm going to turn now to CNN's David McKenzie. He is in Beijing.

So, David, how are loved ones of the missing reacting? I'm thinking the families are staying reserved about this.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very reserved, Don. Certainly they've been here before over the last few weeks as we know. Getting leads and then those leads are dashed. You know, as these days stretch on, the people are just numb to any new information, really. We're not seeing that angry outburst like we saw sort of two weeks ago or so. People are just kind of just drained, tired, and fatigued by this process. It's more than a month now in terms of when this plane was due to and here in Beijing.

So, this latest information, when we've spoken to family members overnight in Asia and into this morning, they certainly say they want to reserve judgment until they get some physical evidence that they can, you know, hold on to and start that process of closure. So, you know, at this stage, they're just exhausted. LEMON: And why are these details coming from Chinese media and not from the search operation command center in Australia, David?

KENZIE: Part of the reason, there are two reporters at least from state media on that ship. It's a coast guard cutter normally deployed out of shanghai. Excuse me, the Haixun 01 apparently doing these tests in the water. So that's one of the reasons they have people onboard who can report this.

It is state media. So that is an organ of the Chinese government. But does not necessarily mean everything's coordinated here. The Chinese it seems are directly talking from their vessels to here at Beijing to command and control and then disseminate information on to Malaysia and Australia.

So there is a level of friction, but we don't know at this stage whether it's just because of this unwieldy search operation and whole lot of nations involved. Inevitably there will be some fog there.

But could also be something else. We've put questions in to the Chinese government and awaiting their response -- Don.

LEMON: All right. David McKenzie, thank you very much.

If the batteries still work, if those batteries still work, this is what it sounds like when a black box sends off a beacon signal.

(PINGER AUDIO EXAMPLE)

LEMON: So, are the reported pulse signals the Chinese ship heard the real thing? For answers, we spoke with Jeff Densmore whose company helps make pingers. In fact, his company delivered the original flight data recorders put on Flight 370.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF DENSMORE, DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, DUKANA SEACON: Obviously we need to wait and see or get evidence of what was heard and for how long, but it is a very unique sound. It's at a very fixed frequency and it's a very, like you said, the ticking of a clock. It's very repeatable and very continuous in that way. So, even if they heard it partially over the course of 90 seconds, it would be pretty unique to the device, itself. Obviously, there are many things in the water that can generate sound, but this is unique in what it produces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The device the Chinese ship used to pick up the signals is handheld and meant for divers.

Still to come, the flight recorders, those black boxes that hold voice and data may be the equipment to help us unlock the mystery, but just finding them will not be enough. Those recorders will have to be decoded. We'll show you how it is done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We're hearing a lot about Flight 370's flight data recorder. The information inside that device can be a treasure-trove of data that investigators could use to unlock what exactly happened. Have you ever wondered what's inside a flight data recorder and how exactly that information is stored and recovered?

CNN's Zain Asher opens up a device to give us a closer look at it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's protected and shock mounted.

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

KEVIN BALYS, TECHNICIAN: When we pull the data up on the screen, we'll see the data in a tabular format and graphical format.

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 to engineering units. And engineering units simply feet for altitude. Air speed is recorded at knots.

ASHER (on camera): OK. This right here, that's air speed, correct?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 problem.

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

ASHER: This line represents the plane's altitude. If Flight MH- 370 suddenly dropped to a lower altitude, mid-flight, 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 copilot.

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

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

ASHER: And although the memory chips on the 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 the trenches is going to be extremely difficult.

ASHER: Zain Asher, CNN, Buffalo, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: There's a big difference between the black boxes used by commercial airliners and those used by some in the military. The military version has a version that deploys on impact. But those cost three times as much as traditional black boxes.

Our special coverage of missing Flight 370 continues. Our Nic Robertson is in Kuala Lumpur where a new group has heard the air traffic control conversations with the two men in charge of the plane. Hi, Nic.

ROBERTSON: Hi there, Don.

Critical and key to finding out who was in control of the plane during its last moments. Who was speaking, the captain or the first officer? More on that after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The sun has been up for a few hours on the other side of the world, where the search has begun again for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.

Here are new developments. The search area, it shifts and moves a little bit every day. This is where the focus is, what the focus is on now on Sunday. And you'll also see the spot marked pulse signal detected where Chinese state-run media report a crew picked up pings from deep below the surface.

Planes are in the air again. Just a short time ago the U.S. military aircraft took off from Perth to join planes and ships representing eight countries controlling those search areas. That flight originated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, more than four weeks ago. And that's where CNN's Nic Robertson is now.

So, Nic, something unusual happened this weekend. Officials heard some people outside the investigation to hear some specific control tower recordings. Who was that?

ROBERTSON: That's right, Don.

Well, these are friends and colleagues of the first officer and the captain. This is to try to determine who made that very important last communication, the "Good night, Malaysian 370" indicating who would have been in control of the aircraft in those last moments. These were air traffic control recordings between the control towers and the cockpit of the aircraft.

We know on the ground that it was the first officer who would have been talking during the pushback and the taxiing of the aircraft to the control tower. Who then was speaking while the aircraft was in the air? It could have been either of those two men.

However, what we have now learned from officials here is they still, despite these friends and colleagues, listening to those recordings trying to figure out who is speaking, they say they still cannot determine at this stage who it was speaking, either the captain or the first officer. That is a very, very important detail because it gives a very big clue who was in control of the aircraft in those last minutes as the transponders, as the radio silence began, Don.

LEMON: Tell us about these groups the Malaysian government is forming as part of this investigation, Nic.

ROBERTSON: Yes, they're forming an airworthiness group, an operations group and a medical group. The airworthiness will look at the maintenance records of the aircraft. Is there anything in there that could lead them to believe there was a mechanical failure? The operational side of it will look at the flight records of that aircraft again, see if there's any information there that they can derive.

And on the medical side, looking at the personnel onboard -- any psychological issues, any family issues, also sort of survivability, if you will. What these staff onboard may have in terms of their background that perhaps will help inform investigators, perhaps, about the latter stages of this flight. It's designed by the government to try to, if you will, advance the investigation. Give it sort of -- give them sort of more areas of expertise, of control, but it's something that critics here have been saying that they should have formed a long time ago.

They're also saying that they will appoint a head, an overall head of the investigation and they are involving the Chinese, the United States, the British, the French, the Australians and other nationalities in this overall investigation, Don.

LEMON: Nic Robertson in Kuala Lumpur, thank you very much. Let's discuss now, Michael Kay, CNN aviation analyst, retired royal air force pilot. Les Abend, CNN aviation analyst and 777 pilot. Ric Gillespie, executive director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. And Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former Transportation Department inspector general.

So, let's start with the criticism toward the Malaysians. Is it warranted, Mary?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, some is. We don't know what all is going on there. Certainly, they got off to a pretty rocky start and we're kind of used to -- not kind of. We're very used to the NTSB standards, which are also the ICAO standards, the International Civil Aviation Organization standards, which they didn't follow at first.

So those standards are there because they've been proven over literally hundreds of investigations, and they work. That's how the world runs investigations. So, the criticism would be they should have stuck to those standards right from the start and would have a smoother ride right now.

LEMON: Ric Gillespie, is that criticism warranted?

RIC GILLESPIE, EXEC. DIR., INTL. GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY: Human factors are always a major issue, and in an aviation accident, in a disappearance like this one, paramount. Looking into the backgrounds of the pilots and looking for anything unusual, that's where you start because you don't have anything else to work with.

LEMON: Yes. The Malaysians are forming three committees to help manage the families and the search here. Do you think they'll accomplish anything?

MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I think they've got to be seen to be doing something. There are so if factors, Don, that come into play when we have investigations like this from kin-forming which is obviously talking to the families and loved ones making sure that the release of information is appropriate, all the way through to the overall coordination of the search. That's absolutely key.

Having a single point source that corroborates all of the information and releases one it's been unequivocally denounced. So I think something has to be done from Malaysia. We've seen Australia stepped to the plate on this and I think they're doing a fantastic job. But I think Malaysia really needs to look to Australia, look how they're conducting it from sort of the search operation, and try to follow suit just to induce a little more credibility into what Mary alluded to was a shake I start.

LEMON: Les, we've been sitting here a month. And that was probably part of one of my first questions to you the first day you came on. Do you think that -- the question is, people are going to say, why wasn't this done three, four weeks ago? Why is it just being done now? LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, from day one I've always stood on the fact this is an overwhelming type of situation even for airlines that have experience in this matter. If we want to go could have, would have, should have, the Malaysians should have said, listen, we're not experienced with this, please, can we have your help? Organized it appropriately like an NTSB investigation here in the states.

LEMON: Why wouldn't that happen, Mary? Is that pride? What gives?

SCHIAVO: Well, I mean, technically it was their investigation. Even under the ICAO standards, it belonged to them, probably in a sense of national pride and it's their airline and it's a state, you know, an off shoot of the state from their airline.

And, of course, you know, if you lose control of your investigation, you can lose control of the findings. It being a state airline and they not knowing how it was going to come out, there are other situations in the past where countries have let go of their investigation and in one case they gave it to the NTSB and did not like the findings.

LEMON: And sometimes when you don't know, you don't know what you don't know, right?

KAY: Yes, certainly. I think there's a history of pride here as well, Don. I was one of the first responders to the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, in Sumatra, where the Indonesians obviously a big part to play in that. They didn't invite the west in for many days until they realized the size of the situation.

So I think initially pride was getting in the way. And once they realized the magnitude of the situation, you know, someone advised them that it would be good then to draw in the very credible authorities like the NTSB.

ABEND: The pride may cost us in finding these black boxes in that period of time, unfortunately.

LEMON: Still ahead, our special coverage of Flight 370 -- practicing emergency scenarios. How common is it for pilots to do it at home?

Martin Savidge and Mitchell Casado are in the flight simulator.

Good evening, guys.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. You know, one of the beauties of the simulator, the many thing you can use it for, one of the best, is to simulate an accident or some kind of emergency because you know no matter what, everyone 's going to survive. And we'll show you an emergency run after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So, we have been telling you about the Chinese ship that supposedly heard those pings. Well, just moments ago, this just in -- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke about the reports of a pinger signal discovered by the Chinese. He urged caution with these new reports.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: My understanding is they're unconfirmed and, look, the point I make is that we are hopeful, but by no means certain. This is the most difficult search in human history. We are searching for an aircraft which is at the bottom of a very deep ocean. And it's a very, very wide search area.

So, it's a very, very difficult search, and while we certainly are throwing everything we have at it, and while the best brains and the best technology in the world will be deployed, we need to be very careful about coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. You heard the prime minister there. There's a map of the area where the pings were supposedly heard. The planned search area, and then the previously searched areas.

Mary Schiavo's with us. Ric Gillespie is with us and so are Michael Kay and Les Abend.

Mary, that's exactly what you said to me no more than 30, 45 minutes ago, that behind closed doors, you would take someone to the woodshed but come out front and say exactly what the prime minister just said.

SCHIAVO: Hey. I got a line to the prime minister.

No. I was in government for a very, very long time, and that's what government people do. You're very, very competitive in investigations when you try -- you know, we do this all the time. If they tell you to go look here, in your spare time, you go look there. That's what an investigator does because he's just curious.

But, publicly, you all have to be on the same page.

LEMON: Yes, clearly, though, he's urging caution, Nic Gillespie, but he's taking this seriously though it's not confirmed or corroborated.

GILLESPIE: Sure. He's not going to get out in front of this thing. There's so little information available about these pings now. And are they legitimate? He's protecting himself as much as anything.

LEMON: Yes. And we're looking at these maps that were just released not long ago as well. These maps verified the area, at least. But as far as we know, they're not searching that area, Mike.

KAY: No, I mean, look, there's been a huge amount of analysis that's gone in from the Inmarsat guys. There's a really lot a very clever minds on this. We heard the other day they managed to refine the information down to those two converging 150-mile tracks. The odds are completely stacked against this if we're now considering a ping that's been heard outside of where the analysis has been refined to with a piece of equipment that isn't on Ocean Shield, that isn't on HMS Echo. That isn't on Tireless, all very sophisticated equipment. And now, we're talking about a ping that's come outside of the area from a hydrophone.

So I think, you know, the prime minister a absolutely right. We do need to be absolutely cautious about this.

LEMON: As the search for the planes continues, for the plane continues, so does the search for clues as to why it vanished. And we have learned new details about what was on the pilot's personal flight simulator, seen here behind him in a YouTube video. The data shows he practiced emergency landings plus other scenarios.

Mitchell Casado and Martin Savidge in a flight simulator. We're going to talk about all those scenarios coming up right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As the search for the plane continues, so does the essential for clues adds to why it vanished, and we have learned new details about what was on the personal flight simulator seen behind him in YouTube video. The data shows he practiced emergency landings plus other scenarios.

Live now to CNN's Martin Savidge and pilot Mitchell Casado inside our flight simulator.

Martin, is anything unusual about what was found on the pilot's simulator?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I suppose if you weren't a pilot and maybe you were an amateur, you just looked at that information about practicing emergency landings and think, boy, that's maybe he was planning something no good. He wanted to be prepared for something like that.

But I think actually any pilot would agree to say that the use of a simulator to practice an emergency is exactly what an emergency, or what a simulator is best for.

In fact, I'm going to have Mitchell practice an emergency here now. He knows that something's going to occur on takeoff. He just doesn't know exactly when it's going to occur on takeoff.

And the whole idea here is that you do things on a simulator, you either hope will never happen in flight. If it does happen if flight, or any time, you're better prepared for it. Sometimes you do things as a pilot because maybe you know you'll never do it in the air.

I mean, the simulator is part entertainment and part training at the same time. So now I have to keep an eye on the speed and the timing is critical here for an engine failure which is on takeoff -- and basically seeing if Mitchell can handle it, which he's already done this before.

And it's practicing the procedures. He notices right away there's been the loss of one engine. But it's before the point of rotation. So what he needs to do now is be able to stop a fully fueled jumbo jet with everybody onboard before the end of the runway.

In other words, this emergency practice before you get airborne, we can do the same thing of losing an engine going airborne.

And again, you want to do this in a simulator to practice when nobody gets hurt. Congratulations. Thanks.

LEMON: Yes, very nice. I was asking Les Abend, who is 777 pilot, have you ever had an engine failure at takeoff?

ABEND: I've had to abort a takeoff at 90 knots which I wasn't airborne before, but, you know, it was a procedure that was familiar to us.

LEMON: Are you happy you have enough runway in front of you that you don't have to go airborne?

ABEND: If I had to continue, it wouldn't have been a problem either.

LEMON: Really?

ABEND: Yes, because that's all part of the recurrent training process. What they just went through was a very similar thing that we practice all the time, and for me, as I had this contention early on when we discovered this simulator, or the simulator with the captain, that he was doing this just to practice his own recurrent training procedures.

LEMON: But I would imagine, too, as you said, entertainment, too. If you have a simulator in your home, love flying, you're going to try to do daring and fun things I would imagine. Am I wrong, guys?

Marty? That's for you.

SAVIDGE: I'm sorry. OK, now, I mean, Mitchell, we do stuff in here. Part of it brought on by me. I say, how about such as flying through the Himalaya Mountains at 5,000 feet, nothing you would ever try with a 777. But there is some fun associated with something like a giant toy.

MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT: Absolutely. And that's what a simulator is for, it's to practice those things that would be too dangerous to do in real life. So, you're going to do those things that you wouldn't normally do. Failures at the worst time. You know, ditching in the water that's what the simulator, stuff like that. That's what the simulator is for, you want to prepare for those, that you have to face in the real life --

SAVIDGE: I still want to try to fly under the Golden Gate Bridge. But we haven't done that yet.

LEMON: How many parts of the world could this plane have landed? Is there -- can you guys tell us that, Martin, Mitchell?

CASADO: There's a lot, Don. It's a part of the world where it seems like there is not much but the range of this airline is so great with seven hours of gas that it really is just -- it's dozens and dozens of airports.

SAVIDGE: Yes, we keep looking at different ones in that part of the southern Indian Oceans. We were looking at the Coscos (ph) Islands. There are a few remote locations, nowhere near as many as, of course, if they remain on course heading to Beijing, and a lot of options then. But there are still some that are out there and some that can handle a plane of this size.

(CROSSTALK)

CASADO: The southern Indian Ocean offers less than the northern route. But, again, the range is 2,500 miles. It's a lot of airports.

LEMON: OK. Michael?

KAY: I think it's also important that the guys, having spoken to a lot of sources who fly for the major airlines, and Les as well, is that they get two days of simulators every nine months and the consequences of failing a sim ride are pretty drastic. There's a lot of pressure -- and Les will probably speak better to this, but having spoken to the guys, if they fail that sim ride, they're grounded. So, there's a lot of pressure to get it right.

LEMON: That's why they have it in their homes.

KAY: Well, it could be one of the reasons, you know, to practice.

LEMON: Yes. OK. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Martin. Thanks, Mitchell. Appreciate it.

We'll be right back, everyone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: News breaking here on CNN. Chinese news agency reporting that a Chinese ship searching in the Indian Ocean picked up a ping on the same frequency as a data recorder. That happened earlier today, 37.5 kilohertz.

And just a short time ago, the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, spoke out about these reports of a pinger signal discovered by the Chinese. He urged caution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBOTT: My understanding is that they're unconfirmed and look -- the point I make is that we are hopeful, but by no means certain. This is the most difficult search in human history.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: These are U.S. planes departing this morning from Perth, Australia, about to go on the search for the missing plane. So, all of this developing just within the last couple of hours.

My panel of experts are here with me. Michael Kay, Les Abend, Ric Gillespie and Mary Schiavo.

Straight to the expert, the woman who has done many investigations like this, Mary Schiavo.

You heard what the Australian prime minister said. You see the planes taking off. Does this at all adjust the search area in any way, Mary?

SCHIAVO: Well, not for today but it will for tomorrow, because today, they will be scrambling to find out what the Chinese know, where they are, why they're there, and what they have got.

LEMON: Ric Gillespie, how does this change the investigation, if at all?

GILLESPIE: I don't think it changes the investigation at all. We're following leads. I hope they're also following other leads.

I'd want to know more about the emergency landings that the pilot was practicing. There are emergency landings and then there are emergency landings. I'd like more information about that.

LEMON: What do you mean there are emergency landings and then there are emergency landings?

GILLESPIE: OK. So, let's say he is practicing landings with no brakes or no thrust reversers or hydraulic problems -- perfectly legitimate. But what if he is practicing with an intact airline with no mechanical problems on runways shorter than expected? Why is he doing that? Maybe perfectly reasonable reason but that would be interesting if that's what he is practicing.

LEMON: Does that make a difference to you, les?

ABEND: It's a good point. But even if he was doing that he might be doing it just for fun. And depending on where it was. I'm not sure I could draw any conclusions from that kind of thing.

LEMON: A lot of people have been looking at the pilot and co-pilot with a certain sense of, you know, concern that maybe they have something to do with it. But there is no proof or evidence right now that either of these men had anything nefarious to do with this airplane.

ABEND: It hasn't been made public at this point in time, if there is. Yes.

LEMON: Yes. Does this change the information on the pinger supposedly found, the sound, the frequency and also what the prime minister said, anything -- do you think this changes anything? KAY: What it does is it causes the air chief marshal Houston to be reprioritize his assets from logistical perspective. I think all the panel agree they have to go and check this out. It's something that we can't ignore. But in doing that, the commander, Mr. Houston, is going to have to reprioritize these assets and make a judgment call --

LEMON: How so?

KAY: -- on what he sends out there.

Well, I mean, if it's the pinger, does he send in the maritime surveillance aircraft? Is that enough to say yes or no, this is not a lead I should follow. Or does he redeploy something which is going to take a little bit longer, like a submarine, take it away from those two converging tracks and send it down there. It's a priority sort of --

LEMON: But Les brings up a point he brought up earlier, Mary, where he said, you know, it's been, what you said, 24 hours since we heard about this so-called ping detection that they heard. And so far, we have heard no confirmation from the Chinese government and nothing else. We've heard about it.

That's suspect, Mary.

SCHIAVO: Well, it is. And plus, they -- this is the second time they heard it. They heard it Friday and they heard it Saturday and still no confirmation. So, I would assume, though, there is a lot of back channel chatter and they're trying to sort this out. It was pretty specific, though. They said they had longitude and latitude and it wasn't just sort of a -- you know, a shot in the dark, if you will. But I would they're trying hard.

LEMON: I got to go, Mary, and everyone. Thank you all for joining us.

I'm Don Lemon in New York. We're going to break in with any developments on the missing plane.

But up next, "Death Row Stories." I'll see you later.