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Mystery of Flight 370; Press Conference from Perth, Update on Search
Aired April 05, 2014 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here. You're in the CNN Newsroom. I want to welcome those of you tuning in around the world on CNN International. I want to tell you the reason we're here so late is because the man in charge of this search in Australia, Angus Houston, has called a press conference for 11:30 Eastern Time. Not exactly sure what it's about. But we will carry that for you live.
Again, the man in charge of this search in Australia, Angus Houston, holding a press conference. So the search is on again, off again in the search for a passenger jet that vanished from radar screens four weeks ago. And two days ago, search crews from eight countries, in airplanes and in ships, are working again in the newly modified area in the ocean off western Australia.
And here is where they are heading right now. The red spots you're looking at that Sunday's place to look. The gray areas were hit on previous days and turned up nothing. In between is where a Chinese ship claims to have heard something this weekend. And according to China's state run media, that boat picked up 90 seconds of pulses on the same frequency used by beacons attached to flight data recorders. Nothing confirmed yet but our analysts say it is not out of the question.
So back to today, a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon took off from western Australia just a short time ago. That crew is now among the searchers heading for the Southern Indian Ocean. And if yesterday was time critical, today is even more so. If a pinger is working in the water somewhere it won't be for much longer. The batteries on those things only last 30 days, maybe a few days more.
That time is almost out. So in just a few minutes we're going to hear from the man who is in charge of this multinational search. Again, his name is Angus Houston. He's going to speak to the news media in Perth, Australia. And we will take that news conference live right here on CNN.
Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is there in Perth right now.
Matthew, how seriously are these coordinates -- these coordinators, I should say, taking these reports of pings and new debris by the Chinese. And are we expecting Angus Houston to address those reports in a few minutes? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think we'll certainly expect him to address that. If he doesn't address it directly in his comments then he'll certainly be asked about it if journalists are given the opportunity to ask questions afterwards.
But yes, I think in a word, they're taking the Chinese claims very seriously in the sense that these are serious people that have been engaging in a serious search albeit one outside of the designated search zone. They seemed to have been operating kind of outside of the remit of the other seven nations that are engaged in the search. And so that's been a source of confusion and a source of frustration as well.
Also there's some question marks over the kind of equipment they may have used to monitor these pings that they say they detected. It seems to be not the kind of equipment, much less sophisticated than the kind of equipment that's been deployed for instance on the Australian vessel, the Ocean Shield, and the British vessel, the HMS Echo, that's engaged in a similar kind of operation, under water, looking for this, any trace of this missing Malaysian airliner elsewhere in the actual search zone.
But what the Australians have said up until, you know, a few hours ago is that we don't have enough information about what the nature of this Chinese detection was to draw any conclusions from it. We can't verify that it's anything to do with this missing airliner. So that might be what Angus Houston is going to restate again in person, in front of the media, or of course the situation may have changed. We just don't know.
LEMON: Yes. And Matthew Chance, I want to listen to Tony Abbott who spoke just a short time ago and he urged caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: 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. 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 too hard and fast conclusions too soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, making those comments in Tokyo.
Matthew Chance, he's right. It's a huge search area but the search area is slight different today, the size and the location. How do they decide where to send the ships -- and boats each day especially with this information about possible hearing -- possibly hearing the pinger. CHANCE: Yes, they've been refining the search area on almost daily basis, if not actual daily basis. Based on updated analysis they've got from the very limited data that they've received along, the data being from the Inmarsat satellite which, you know, those handshakes and those pings that the plane was emitting as it was making its course to the south.
They've extrapolated from that, the most likely places where they think the plane could have landed if it ran out of fuel depending on its altitude, depending on the amount of fuel it had. And these are the areas that they're searching. And then when they search one area and they find the plane is not there they're moving on to a slightly different area.
The interesting thing about this Chinese ping, I've said it before, I'll say it again, is it's outside any of these areas that they've been looking at. And so according to the analysts, the world's best minds, they say, had been looking at it, they hadn't indicated that it was in this place. Doesn't mean it's not there but that wasn't their best guest.
LEMON: Matthew Chance in Perth.
Matthew, stand by we'll need you once the prime minister does speak. And as we await this news conference in a little under 30 minutes, I want to get some analysis on how or if these pulse signals should impact the search.
With me now is CNN aviation analyst Michael Kay, a retired Royal Air Force pilot and former advisor to the U.S. Defense Ministry, and Les Abend, CNN aviation analyst and a Boeing 777 captain.
Michael, what do you make of holding this press conference? You know, the man in charge of this, really sort of at the last minute here?
MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think in your statement tonight, and I think you hit the nail on the head. This is an absolutely critical time in terms of the battery life that's left on the GPS pingers on the black boxes. So in terms of what Angus Houston has to do next in the context of the information that we've received today from the Chinese news agency about this 37.45 kilohertz ping, his next actions could potentially be critical to the -- to the outcome of the investigation.
So I think Angus would have been thinking long and hard about the way that he deploys the assets that he's got. We already know that there's a lot of analysts that had been refining this area to the 250,000 mile converging tracks, and that's where the assets are concentrating at the moment. But what Angus can't do is ignore this latest information. So he's going to be having to be redeploy that and hopefully this will shed some light to it.
LEMON: Can we read anything into this, Les, positive or otherwise?
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's possible. I mean, the fact that this press conference was just called or very recently called to indicate --
LEMON: Because he's fairly organized here. He said I'm going to alert you at this location at certain times. And now, you know, this is out of the ordinary.
ABEND: He's the man. I mean, he's the man. And maybe he's just going to announce that they can't verify the credibility of this information the Chinese came up with or maybe -- he'll say that they can.
LEMON: Michael, is it likely that the search planes will move toward the location of these reported pulse signals?
KAY: I mean, to me, that would seem the most sensible first move obviously because they're a lot quicker than the ships. The P-8 Poseidon can travel at 500 knots at high altitude, the P-3s can travel at around 240 to 300 knots which is about four to five miles a minute. And then the Ilyushin is a jet aircraft as well from China, maritime surveillance.
So I think it would be sensible to deploy some of those assets into this area first just to sort of get a feel. As we spoke about today you don't get smoke without fire. So it'd be very unusual for me to find black boxes first before you had any sign of a debris field. So I think that would be the wise thing to do. If you then had anything that looked suspicious, any objects that we saw, we already know 90 objects were seen today.
But if there is anything that could corroborate lending HMS Tireless or Echo or Shield to go down into the area, which is going to take longer, then the airplanes will be able to do that.
LEMON: Les, minutes do count. I mean, do you think that some of the search assets should move that way? I mean, because the batteries are dying.
ABEND: Well, I mean, the most important asset would be a boat that has the towed, you know, pinger behind it. That can locate this thing at least in my estimation as far as the debris is concerned, you know, maybe a couple more airplanes.
LEMON: All right. Michael Kay, Les Abend, stick around. We're going to be talking with you again a little bit later on this hour.
And again, this is our special coverage here. We are waiting a news conference from the head of the search effort, that at the bottom of the hour here on CNN. In the meantime 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 or some other people. We don't -- we're not exactly sure if it's the two men.
Good evening to you, Nic. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Don. Friends and colleagues of the first officer and the captain on board, which one of the two was the one who was last to communicate with the air traffic controllers, key in this investigation.
More after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone, to our special coverage. We're waiting a news conference to start with the head of the Australian search effort. That's at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time here in the United States. I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 originated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia more than four weeks ago. This weekend's report that pings and new debris were found near the search areas has not been confirmed and are adding to the torment felt by the families of the 239 people who are on board that flight.
I want to go now to Kuala Lumpur and talk with CNN's Nic Robertson.
Nic, something unusual happened this weekend. Officials allowed some people outside the investigation to hear some specific control tower recordings. Who was that and why did they hear it?
ROBERTSON: Friends and colleagues of the first officer and captain is what we've been told by officials here, Don. This is in an effort to identify which one of them was at the controls of the aircraft when it said -- which one of them said, "Good night, Malaysian 370." Key for the investigation because it is not long after that communication that the aircraft then deviates from its planned route to Beijing. A very important clue for investigators about what was happening on board the aircraft.
The crew, all members, 12 members of the crew on board the aircraft, still the focus of the investigation here for the investigators. But it is unusual here at least for them to share this information. We do understand from air accident investigators that it would be normal to allow and help with identification for friends, colleagues, people who knew them well, knew the first officer and captain well to be played this recording to help with that identification.
But because the close way that the investigators here have been holding all their information, it is, perhaps, slightly out of the ordinary, also slightly out of the ordinary as well that they haven't played these recordings to the families of the first officer and the captain -- Don.
LEMON: OK, Nic, so tell us about these groups the Malaysian government is forming as part of the investigation.
ROBERTSON: Yes, three groups. Airworthiness, operations and medical. Airworthiness group is going to be tasked with looking at the maintenance records, those sorts of things, the background of the aircraft leading up to this day. The operations will be focused on the flight recordings should those black boxes be recovered. Again their sort of -- their role will increase once some of the debris is in the hands of investigations, if that happens.
And then there is the medical side which will -- which will -- and eventually the aircraft is found, will also get more work. They'll be looking at the people on board, the pathology, if you will, the survivability of the impact. All those sort of medical things that can be learned in a situation like this. So three groups, three tasked groups as part of the investigation here -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Nic Robertson in Kuala Lumpur. Nic, we'll get back to you especially after this news conference we're waiting at the bottom of the hour, 11:30 Eastern Time here in the United States.
Les Abend, you don't see -- does it make a difference, do you think, who's the last communication -- you don't see a distinction there?
ABEND: Yes. I've been hearing this and I know there's been a focus on what pilot, the captain, the first officer, made this -- made that last transmission but to me what's important, and Michael Kay and I have been talking about that on the break, was that -- it's important that it's either the crew or somebody else. But the fact that the captain was in control or -- it doesn't make any -- if it was the captain led, more than likely the co-pilot would be speaking. If it was the co-pilot, it would be captain. Or it could be that the captain was -- or the co-pilot was busy for a moment because he was grabbing a cup of coffee.
LEMON: But it still does offer at least something?
(CROSSTALK)
ABEND: Not to the airline pilot's perspective, it does not.
LEMON: No?
KAY: I think what's important, Don, is the consistency of the audio information that we're hearing. And what that means is that when you listen to the voice on start up on delivery frequency when the aircraft is on the pan, getting all the information, is that the same voice that you hear right up until the very last piece on the transcript, or are there two voices that are consistent in terms of that?
LEMON: OK. Let's talk about the black boxes now. If the battery still works this is what it sounds like when a black box sends off a beacon signal.
So are the reported pulse signals a Chinese ship heard, are they 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, DUKANE SEACOM: Obviously, we need to wait and see or get evidence of what was heard and for how long. It is a very unique sound. It did 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 a Chinese ship used to pick up the pulse signals is handheld and meant for divers.
Again, a news conference from the plane's search command center is scheduled at the bottom of the hour, 11:30 Eastern Time here in the United States.
Meantime, our special coverage of what happened to Flight 370 continues. If the new pulse signals are real then what do they say about Flight 370's course before ending up in the ocean? Martin Savidge, Mitchell Casado in a flight simulator to show us what the plane could have been doing beforehand. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: I'm Don Lemon. We're coming to you live at this late hour because a news conference has been called in Australia by the man heading up the search in Australia, the multinational search for this missing plane. We'll carry that press conference for you live in just a few minutes here on CNN. As soon as he steps up to the podium, to the microphones.
So if the pulse signal does belong to Malaysia Air Flight 370, and again that is a huge if, but if it is from that plane, what course did the airliner take beforehand?
CNN's Martin Savidge and also pilot Mitchell Casado in a flight simulator for us at this late hour.
So, Martin, what were you able to figure out from the location of these reported pulse signals.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, there's a lot that we still don't know. I mean, we know where this pulse comes from. And we've actually been charting a lot of this stuff out on maps and computers. What we are doing right now is flying 777, of course, laid out exactly the same as 370. We are now over the Straits of Malacca headed in a southwesterly direction.
So, you know this is after that significant turn that the aircraft made and we're sort of following the route. Now we've set the plane at 25,000 feet. And that's the big thing we don't know. At what altitude did this aircraft fly for the majority of the six to seven hours it remained in the air after it disappeared off of radar. So we basically figured out by looking at the maps, looking at where this ping was heard, it makes sense from what we knew about the projected path of the aircraft.
MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER, 777 COCKPIT SIMULATOR: That's right, Martin. I mean, it's basically on that southern route. It's right next to the last ping. The eight pint. It's adjacent to that. So it's excellent work by the investigators and the mathematicians and folks who calculated.
SAVIDGE: And those pings we're talking about, Don, remember are the ones that came from the Inmarsat that were on this aircraft that were mapped out and through some very, very good science, they determined two southern crescent crests with the way this aircraft may have gone. And this ping seemed to have come from that area. So the long answer to your question is, it looks plausible. I guess we'll find out soon if it truly is real.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, guys. Stick around. We'll see you in just a little bit here on CNN. Martin Savidge, Mitchell Casado.
That news conference from the search command center just moments away. Stay with us for that and special coverage of Flight 370. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: I'm Don Lemon. I want to welcome CNN viewers all around the world on CNN international and also of course our viewers in the United States. We're about to see a live news conference from Perth, Australia. The man who is in charge of the joint coordination center and leading the search for Flight 370 will make a statement and take reporter's questions and of course, CNN will take this news conference live when it happens.
You're looking at live pictures now in that room. He's going to step up there moments away. And as we wait for the very latest on that plane, a plane that vanished on March 18th, and what Angus Houston will say, want to bring in now my panel of experts for some analysis.
With me, CNN aviation analyst Michael Kay who is a retired Royal Air Force pilot and former adviser to the U.K. Defense Ministry, Les Abend, a Boeing 777 captain, also a CNN aviation analyst.
It's amazing to think, though, Les, there's truly no concrete evidence where this plane is unless, unless Angus Houston is going to come out and tell us otherwise.
ABEND: I'd love to see that happen. So is the rest of the world, of course, but yes, I'd love to see that happen.
LEMON: Yes. But I mean, it's still -- it's unbelievable. It's been a month. I hate to keep harping on this. But to be a month and no really solid sign or clue for this plane is unbelievable. We are working with a mathematical probability that you said didn't come up with the people at Inmarsat. You said it came up was --
ABEND: One man.
LEMON: Provided by one man.
ABEND: One man that figured out that there were more -- that there was not just one final satellite ping that there was actually, as we now know, seven pings.
LEMON: This is now -- we probably shouldn't call it a late news conference but -- or a last minute news conference because it was scheduled a couple of hours ago. But still it is out of the ordinary for a man who has been so organized since leading this search, Michael.
KAY: Yes, I think it's refreshing. We heard Angus Houston say the other day that he was -- he was going to take a more proactive approach in keeping us all informed. He's going to have something to say. I think we've had some quite unique news today in terms of this ping that's been reported from the Chinese news agency.
I think it's something that he has to follow up on. That will require the redeployment of assets. That will mean something to what's going on in the search, from the refinement from the analyst that we've been talking about. So there will be secondary and tertiary effects to this and I think it will be fascinating to see where Angus Houston goes with this next.
LEMON: Yes. And it's 11:30 in Perth, in the morning and those planes and the ships are out there now. The planes took off a little bit earlier but are in the sky and those who are leaving Perth are probably pretty close to their destination to look. But we don't know if they are flying to the destination where those supposed pings were heard, do we?
ABEND: It sounds to me like they're flying to where that debris might have been reported if anything else. But I think they're sticking with the standard -- with the search that they had already strategized.
LEMON: Because you don't need pings -- you don't need planes for that. What you need is the ping tower or the tower ping.
ABEND: The highest technology that's available.
LEMON: You need something that can listen under the water.
ABEND: That would be my --
LEMON: Yes.
ABEND: Impression.
KAY: But the problem with that is obviously it takes a lot longer to redeploy the ping locator asset or HMS Tireless or Ocean Shield or HMS Echo. It's a lot longer to deploy those than it takes for a P-8 or a P-3 or an Ilyushin to get over the area. So if I'm Angus Houston I'd be wanting the fast assets to get over there just to see if there's anything that can corroborate this in any way at all. LEMON: Yes. Yes. You've been talking this about the Ocean Shield and about the other assets that are out there. You said it doesn't -- it's not just like that that they can turn those around and move them in two different places. It takes a while. Thus the cliche to turn the ship around it takes a lot.
KAY: Yes, absolutely. I mean, the HMS Ocean, she travels about 15 knots, the HMS Tireless, the submarine, the nuclear submarine from Britain, she can go at about 35 knots but still relative to what the aircraft are flying at, that's pretty slow. So, you know, if you imagine it's got to cover 1,000 miles to redeploy to a search area that's going to take a day and a half. And as we've already said, this is a critical time. Because the pings are running out. And when they go, then these ping locators will be rendered defunct.
LEMON: Yes. I want to tell our viewers, if you're just tuning in, we're looking -- you're looking at live pictures from Perth, Australia. And this is where that search is being headed up by Angus Houston who is the head of the search, the multinational search. He's called a press conference just a couple of hours ago. And we're not exactly sure what he is going to say.
He's been organized in this, offering the families at least more hope than they had before, at least letting them know that someone was in charge, someone is organized enough to give them information them, to alert them as well as the media, and that someone was coordinating this particular search effort.
So he's going to come out in just a short time to update us on whatever it is he's going to update us on. And we're not sure, is it going to be about supposedly that ping that was heard at the same frequency that that black box data recorder pings are heard. We don't know if it's that, we don't know if he's going to say assets are being deployed in that particular area. We don't know if he's going to tell us, whether -- you know, why this got out of his hands and the Chinese state run media announced this rather than being confirmed by the official agency which is the Australians who are in charge of this.
Back now with my panel to talk about, you know, exactly what's going on. We've learned several things in the past -- over the past 24 hours. And twice we were told that they possibly heard at least a pinging from the data recorders. But then no follow up on that.
ABEND: It'd be nice to know that this is verified data or credible data at this point in time.
LEMON: Yes.
KAY: I think one of the key aspects to this as well, Don, is, you know, that Angus Houston will have at the forefront of his mind the feelings of the families and the loved ones of the 239 on board. And I think what he will be doing will be shaped by disseminating that information. So as not to raise any more false hopes. And so to make sure that every single step of the way he is trying to manage the expectations of the families and loved ones to make sure that they're looked after because that's the number one priority in this. LEMON: That is true. Speaking of the family, let's -- Nic Robertson is in Kuala Lumpur.
And, Nic, you have spent a lot of time with those families. Every single moment like this update, the families are watching very closely.
ROBERTSON: They are. And what frustrates them at the moment is there is no confirmation of this ping. And that's why they're saying right now that they're waiting patiently. They are concerned that their hopes are going to be got up again. Certainly everyone's hopes were raised when debris was first began to be spotted in those -- in the search area off of Australia. It then turned out not to yield useful information.
And the families are very much afraid of that. There is a lot here for them, of course. And it's -- and if any news about the aircraft coming down in the sea is going to be very, very painful because they hold out that slender hope, that slender hope that somehow their loved ones may still be alive somewhere. If they get this information that the aircraft truly has gone down, that this is the black box that's pinging from the bottom of the ocean there, then this is perhaps going to close down those avenues of hope.
So of course they would like very much to get more information about this and begin to get some sense of greater understanding of precisely what happened, which perhaps those black boxes can reveal. But at the moment, they're just saying they are waiting patiently, that there is no confirmation that they're seeing. They're taking a very cautious, pragmatic approach to this -- Don.
LEMON: And, Nic, I must ask if over the past couple of weeks as you have been spending time with the families, have you seen their attitudes change or anything about them change over the past couple weeks? Are they more positive? Are they a little bit more, you know, leery of the authorities in this case? What -- how are they reacting to this?
ROBERTSON: I think if you look at where we are today compared to, perhaps, two weeks ago where anger and frustration was boiling over, a huge frustration that Malaysian authorities weren't able to provide them with information, a number of families came from Beijing down here to Kuala Lumpur to get more information from authorities. There's been continuing frustration they haven't got that.
The level of anger, if you will, has been more muted and kept more behind closed doors. Certainly, this is a process for them. Certainly the anger has been high. But the frustration is still there. That they are managing it in a different way. And we're also beginning to hear more over the past, let's say, four or five days, but an editorial is written in Chinese newspapers. There's a sense there that the Chinese government doesn't want them sounding off as much as they have been against Malaysian authorities whereas the understanding of a sense earlier was that there was a feeling that the Chinese authorities was sort of happy for the Malaysians to be lambasted in this case. That also, that sort of government view if you will as it percolates out through editorials in Chinese newspapers is changing, and perhaps that's also modifying the way that the families are responding. But this is -- for them is not in the least bit political. It's absolutely personal and it's painful -- Don.
LEMON: You're watching a CNN special report. We're awaiting a news conference to happen at any moment in Perth Australia from the man who is in charge of this investigation, Angus Houston, stepping up to the podium now. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
ANGUS HOUSTON, CHIEF COORDINATOR, JOINT AGENCY COORDINATION CENTRE: Well, good morning. I'd like to start by just introducing the people who are on the stage with me today. Commodore Peter Leavy, the Taskforce Commander. On my left here I have Mr. Scott Constable from the Australian Safety Maritime Authority and I have Bob Armstrong from the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau.
I've called this media conference to provide you with the latest information I have regarding the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-370. As you are aware, late yesterday reports surfaced in the Chinese press that the Chinese Ship Haixun 01 had detected electronic pulse signals in the Indian Ocean.
I issued a media release overnight confirming that I had been advised that a series of sounds had been detected by the Chinese ship with characteristics consistent with the aircraft black box. Additionally I confirmed a number of white objects which were also sighted on the surface about 90 kilometers from the detection area. I made clear however that these signals and the objects could not be verified as being related to the missing aircraft at that point in time.
That remains the case. I also advised that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's rescue coordination centre had spoken to the rescue coordination centre in China and asked for any further information that might be relevant.
This morning we were contacted by the Chinese authorities and advised that Haixun 01 had late yesterday afternoon re-detected the signals for 90 seconds within just two kilometer of the original detection. This is an important and encouraging lead but one which I urge you to continue to treat carefully. We are working in a very big ocean and within a very large search area and so far since the aircraft went missing, we have had very few leads which allow us to narrow the search area.
Obviously we take any reported leads in the search very seriously. That's why today, Royal Australian Air Force assets were deployed to assist in further examining the acoustic signals in the vicinity of where this -- the Chinese ship has detected the sounds. HMS Echo and Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield, are also being directed to join Haixun 01 as expeditiously as possible to assist with either discounting or confirming the detections.
Echo is the closest to the site. Ocean Shield will be delayed while she pursues an acoustic noise in her current location.
A word of caution. In the days, weeks and possibly months ahead, there may be leads such as the one I am reporting to you this morning on a regular basis. I would ask you the media to treat them as unverified until such time as we can provide an unequivocal determination. And I think that's very important, and I ask for your assistance and cooperation.
I assure you that we will follow up and exhaust every credible lead we receive. We need to keep at the forefront of our minds the families and friends of the 239 passengers who were on board the flight. Speculation and unconfirmed reports can see the loved ones of the passengers put through terrible stress and I don't want to put any further -- put them under any further emotional distress at this very difficult time.
Today, also, the international investigative team has this morning advised of a correction to the satellite data that has been used to calculate the probable flight path of MH-370. The correction arises from new information about the state of the satellite itself when it received transmissions from MH-370 during its flight. The effects of the correction is to raise the priority for searching the southern component of the existing search area ahead of the northern component.
In other words, we see a higher probability of importance on the southern part of the search area. The whole of the existing search area remains the most likely area that the aircraft entered the water, but based on the new advice, the southern area now has a higher priority. The air and surface searches for floating wreckage today are already in progress and will be completed as planned in the available daylight.
Tomorrow's searches for floating wreckage will be adjusted to account for any new information. Up to 10 military aircraft, two civil aircraft and 13 ships will assist in today's search which will cover an area of 216,000 square kilometer. Fortunately, the weather in the search area is expected to remain good, with a cloud base of about 2,500 feet and visibility greater than 10 kilometers.
I'm now happy to take your questions.
(CROSSTALK)
HOUSTON: Just one at a time.
REPORTER: From Hong Kong Phoenix TV. Just three questions. Have you got the data and analyzed it by the experts in Australia. Second --
HOUSTON: Sorry. Just which data?
REPORTER: Have you got the signal -- the data of the signal from the Chinese ship and then analyzed it by the other experts? Second, any condition is needed to be fulfilled before you draw the conclusion -- I mean the confirmation. The third one is when can you draw the conclusion? HOUSTON: Well, the process is one of, you know, verification. And essentially, the information has been passed through the Chinese authorities to the Australian authorities with a request to do further investigation of the acoustic detection. So that is why HMS Echo and Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield, which has special equipment, which will be useful in these circumstances, are proceeding to the location of Haixun 01.
Now, all the data that becomes available to the authorities is obviously looked at very closely, but at the moment, at the moment, the data we have does not provide a means of verification. We have to do further investigation on the site itself. And that is why all of these resources are being moved to that particular location.
REPORTER: So when, when can you draw that conclusion?
HOUSTON: Well we -- I think we just have to let the experts take the necessary time to come up with the -- their conclusions and, on the basis of that, we will know whether it is a credible contact or not. This is something you should be -- you've all seen how we handled the visual search over several weeks.
When we first started the search, there were many, many leads. Some of them looked quite promising. We sent ships to pick up the stuff that had been identified on the surface of the ocean and step by step we looked at it and then we couldn't find a connection with MH-370 so that one was discounted.
And so far, none of the visual contacts that we've had and the wreckage -- the material we have recovered from the ocean has been, I guess, linked to MH-370. We'll go through a similar process when we go underwater. Underwater, the environment is quite difficult. There are lots of occasions when noises will be transmitted over long distances, depending on the temperature layers in the water and so on. So there's a complexity about working underwater that makes the task quite complex.
We have the necessary expertise to be able to operate there and obviously we will have the expertise on land supporting the efforts of the people who are doing the work at sea.
(CROSSTALK)
HOUSTON: Yes.
REPORTER: Based on your professional knowledge, if it is confirmed that a signal comes from the black box, how difficult would it be to recover the black box in that area, in this area? And if you -- if it is confirmed, will you announce the result immediately or do you have to wait for the confirmation in consultation with the other four countries? Will you announce the result together?
HOUSTON: Wait, look, the water in which the Haixun 01 is working at the moment, it is very, very deep. I think it's in the order of 4500 meters. And that is -- that's incredibly deep, 4.5 kilometers straight down. So, you know, any recovery operation is going to be incredibly challenging and very demanding, and will take a long period of time. That's if there is anything down there. I mean, first of all, we've got to establish the fact that there is something down there.
We are a long way from making that conclusion. That's why we need HMS Echo and the Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield to come to the location, because they have special equipment that can help us make the judgment whether there is anything down there. But I think the fact that we have had two detections, two acoustic events, in that location provides some promise which requires a full investigation of the location. OK.
REPORTER: Just to clarify just what you were talking about then, the two detections in the area, so the boat picked up something, then came back and found the second one in a separate area, is that correct? Two kilometers away? Is that what you were saying? And further, can you expand on the Ocean Shield, what it (INAUDIBLE).
HOUSTON: Yes. OK. The first detection was about, I suppose 36 hours ago, not last night, the night before. OK? And I believe it was just a quick acoustic detection and then nothing. The Haixun 01 stayed in the area investigating the site at which this had occurred. And yesterday afternoon, Perth time, there was another acoustic detection. That was two -- less than two kilometers from the original detection.
Now the fact that we have two detections, they are slightly apart in terms of distance, but in an ocean that size, two kilometers is not a large distance. And of course, they are separated in time over a period of 24 hours. The second transmission was -- or should I say acoustic event, was for about 90 seconds. So we obviously have to investigate it fully and we will do that, and we will let you know at the completion of the process what the outcome is. I mean, we are not going to hide anything from any of you.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: If I could ask you how long do you believe it will take for them HMS Echo and the Ocean Shield to be able to get into position and investigate this further? And is this location within that southern sector that you have now defined as being a more credible lead as to where the flight went down?
HOUSTON: Yes, the -- in answer to your last question, yes, the area is in the high probability area, yes. The second thing is, in terms of how long it will take the two ships to get there, HMS Echo is closer, she will get there, I would think, fairly quickly. I'll take advice from Commodore Leavy, but in terms of the Ocean Shield, she is -- she is in the process of exploiting another acoustic event which we need to look at to determine if there is anything in that.
So this is a painstaking process and if we get any lead whatsoever, we investigate it, and if it is significant, we continue to investigate it until such time as we say, well, no, that is not connected to MH- 370. So it is something that takes time. We are dealing with very deep water. We are dealing with an environment where sometimes you can get false indications. There are lots of noises in the ocean and sometimes the acoustic equipment can rebound, echo, if you like, and all sorts of issues around that.
Peter, would you like to say anything more?
COMMODORE PETER LEAVY, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY: Just in terms of the timing, we believe HMS Echo is approximately 14 hours from that position. And as Air Chief Marshal Houston just mentioned, Ocean Shield is herself investigating another acoustic detection that she's made. And once she's completed that activity, if it's decided to move her down, and that proves to be not the beacon up there, it will be approximately two hours to recover her towed pinger equipment.
It's approximately 24 hours for her to steam down there and another two to three hours to redeploy the equipment. So it will be over a day before Ocean Shield is there.
REPORTER: We're talking a matter of days before both ships are positioned to be able to either verify or discount?
LEAVY: That's correct.
REPORTER: Not talking hours, we are talking days.
LEAVY: We're talking days, that's correct.
REPORTER: Can you describe the other event that Ocean Shield is investigating?
LEAVY: This is only happened within the last 90 minutes. We heard a report back from Ocean Shield, from the towed ping locator operators on board there, that they had picked up a detection. It is very, very early days and the note of caution that Air Chief Marshall Houston mentioned before I would reiterate, they are still investigating that. We are not yet sure whether she'll be tasked to remain there, if it's promising she will, to investigate that particular emission or detection.
If it's not, then I expect she will be re-tasked down towards the Haixun 01 position. I would imagine it would take most of today to actually resolve that location up where Ocean Shield's position is. As you can appreciate, she has 6,000 meters of tow behind her, so to turn around and go back over an area of water again, it takes quite some time for the ship to physically reverse course. So I wouldn't expect until mid afternoon at the absolute earliest a decision on whether she will relocate.
(CROSSTALK)
HOUSTON: Yes.
REPORTER: So much has been made, Mr. Houston, of the race against time to retrieve the black box, given the complications with battery life and so on. Obviously this is a really promising couple of detections we've had, but obviously retrieving it before the signal stops, is that something you have considered?
HOUSTON: Absolutely. This is day 30 of the search. And the advertised time for the life of the batteries in the beacon are 30 days. Now sometimes they last for several days beyond that, say eight to 10 days beyond that, but we are running out of time in terms of the battery life on the emergency locator beacon. You're right.
REPORTER: The detection that you mentioned, the most recent, is that not being treated as seriously as the other --as the Chinese detection?
HOUSTON: No, not at all. We -- I mean we have two -- well, we have three separate acoustic events, two with Haixun 01, and we have another one with Ocean Shield. We're treating each of them very seriously. We need to ensure before we leave any of those areas of detection, that there is no connection to MH-370. So we will work in those locations until we can say yes or no. So we treat every -- we treat every lead that has any sort of promise, very seriously and we don't leave it until we have exhausted all avenues of investigation.
REPORTER: So will more resources go to the second site, then, where Ocean Shield is?
HOUSTON: Well, Ocean Shield is probably the best equipped of all the ships out there to investigate this sort of acoustic occurrence. She obviously has the towed pinger, which has just been described to you by Commodore Leavy, but she also has a remotely operated vehicle, which is highly capable, and we will see where it goes. And I'm sure, as the Commodore said, we are going to be looking at several hours, maybe a couple of days, before that one might be resolved.
But as soon as -- let's say if that one completes without verification, it will then be tasked to go down to Haixun 01's position. And if in the meantime other leads come up, we will prosecute all of them. We will -- you know, we will pursue these leads to their conclusion.
REPORTER: How far apart (INAUDIBLE)?
HOUSTON: Well, it's 24 hours -- they're a long way apart, actually. Three hundred miles? Nautical miles.
REPORTER: So you cannot be sure about the signal frequency of the detection of Ocean Shield?
HOUSTON: Well, this is late-breaking news. I thought it was important that we are totally transparent with you. I just want you to know that the search is a dynamic thing. Things are happening all the time. And this broke this morning, this broke, what, an hour ago?
LEAVY: An hour or two.
HOUSTON: And I thought it was very important that you be informed about it because it is like the visual search. We are dealing with identification of whether an acoustic event has anything to do with the downing of the aircraft. Is it -- does it represent that the aircraft went into the sea at this location or not?
