Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

New Developments in Search for Flight 370

Aired April 06, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Right now breaking news, the HMS Echo, a British ship with advanced detection equipment has just arrived at the site of the Chinese ship, the one that had detected those two pulse signals. Crews will try to figure out what those sounds are and if they are link to Malaysia airlines flight 370.

We'll talk more about that British ship that has just arrived now, the HMS Echo is Royale Navy survey ship that supports submarines and amphibious options. It's design to chart the sea floor and provide realtime environmental information. More importantly for this search, the Echo is equipped with highly sophisticated sound locating equipment. It could be the key to determining whether or not the signal is coming from flight 370's black boxes.

The search for the missing flight is focused right now in a part of the ocean where the Chinese ship detected those pulse signals Friday and Saturday. And that British ship may be the best bet right now to get some real firm answers. The Chinese ship detected the pulse signals two days in a row a mile apart from one another. So it may be the best lead officials have right now. Australian officials have used words like important and encouraging as a lead. But they caution it may not find all of the answers.

And Australia ship also picked up what officials are calling it an acoustic noise today. But that's about 300 miles away from where the Chinese vessel and now the British vessel are. Search teams there are also trying to figure out just what that acoustic event is.

We're also learning brand-new details about the potential path now of the plane at the very start. Just after it dropped off Malaysian military radar, as you key right here in this graphic. A senior Malaysian source now tells CNN it appears the plane went north and then around Indonesian airspace you see right there. That move may have been intentional to avoid radar detection in Indonesia. They are going to examine every angle of this investigation.

But first, let's a closer look at the details about the possible flight path now. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live for us in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

So Nic, what more can you tell us about the plane skirting Indonesia and why? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, what we're being told by officials here is that they have been able to make this calculation based on more radar data is being available for neighboring countries. They have been able to use that to get the accurate plot of where the flight flew after it crossed back over the peninsula. And it told them something very concerning, it is very important, and maybe a big clue for the investigation.

It has told them, they believe, that the pilot was intentionally flying to avoid radar detection before taking off into that very remote part of the south Indian Ocean. Why is this a concern? We know in the past day or so, officials here on the investigation have played the air traffic controllers recording between air traffic control and cockpit of the aircraft. They played that to colleagues and friends of the captain and first officer. Why? Because they want to know who made the last radio communication before transponder switched off, before the aircraft went radio silence. They want to figure out if it's the captain or first officer. They say they haven't been able to make that determination right now. But whoever was at the controls they now because of this new information, skirting and avoiding radar detection they have better psychological analysis of who was at the controls and what their motivation might have been, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. You've given up a lot of great detail to expand the conversation with the panel coming up.

Thanks so much, Nic Robertson.

Let's also check in right now with Will Ripley. He is in Perth, Australia, the hub of the search operations were.

Will, let's focus now on the fact the British ship has made it to the location where the Chinese vessel was and where it said it detected those two pulses on Friday and Saturday. So what's the first order of operation for this British ship Echo?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is a really important development in this investigation. Because what this is going to do is push thins forward. We still don't have answers, as you mentioned. But this will bring us closer to getting answers specifically about these two possible were pings have detected on Friday and Saturday by the Chinese ship, the Haixun 01.

The Echo is there and what's it's doing right now and has been doing for the past couple of hours is scanning ocean floor, using very sophisticated technology to essentially map out what may be down there. This type of technology is going to be crucial because what Chinese did, they detected possible sounds that could have been from flight data recorder according to some experts. But again, the key word here, possible.

And we also know that the battery on those recorders are going to be running out, if they haven't already, that they are going to be running any day now. We've now passed that 30-day mark for the battery life. So to have the Echo in this area scanning for any potential wreckage that may lie below will help us get clear information about is something there, is something not there. And that's very important work happening as we speak.

WHITFIELD: And what do we know from Chinese technology as compared to high-tech technology that is supposedly on this British ship. How do they compare, how will they work together, potentially?

RIPLEY: You know, our spokesperson at the Australian defense force here who CNN has been talking to, tells us they are really trying to get their heads around exactly what the Chinese technology is. I mean, we saw the video of what appear to be hydrophone hand-held going into the water. Obviously, that raises some questions about how accurate is this. Is there a possibility of a signal, a false positive, so to speak.

And so, you know, as the Australian command center and the Chinese officials continue to communicate, they are talking about that. They are asking questions about the technology, the accuracy of it. But they clearly felt that it was significant enough, promising enough to send the Echo in, get that work started. They also send some planes. They are going to have air force planes flying over this area as well.

So, you know, there a lot happening and perhaps today could be a day we learn more.

WHITFIELD: All right, let hope so. Will Ripley, thanks so much in Perth, Australia.

I want to bring in now CNN analyst Rob McCollum. He is an ocean search specialist and a vice president of Williamson & Associates.

OK, so Rob, help us understand. What would lead to false positives?

ROB MCCALLUM, OCEAN SEARCH SPECIALIST: You know, the noise that's being heard is in the sort of 30 to 40 kilohertz band. And the ping as broadcasting on 37.5 kilohertz. That's being selected intentionally because it's the quiet zone. It's part of the spectrum which has the least amount of ambient noise. So, it makes it very good for human use trying to get through synthetic sound in the water. But the ocean is an increasingly noisy place. And so, there are other users of that frequency, science equipment, people that are using sonar in the water for scientific purposes or for military purposes. You just never know what is going to crop up. It's a little trying to turn your radio dial and then get exactly the right stations amongst a lot of others.

WHITFIELD: So, it's conceivable that other scientific equipment and military equipment could be in that area and could duplicate the same kind of sound or frequency?

MCCALLUM: You know, it's hard to say because we're getting snapshots of sound. We're not getting really good quality lengthy broadcast which we can analyze. But it doesn't necessarily have to be in this area. Sound can travel through the water a very long distance if it's bouncing along between a thermal climb and the bottom or, you know, bouncing off some other event. WHITFIELD: OK. Rob McCallum, thank you so much. Don't go away. We're going to include you in a panel that we have got coming up a little bit later. We're going to talk about the obstacles in place for the British ship which this great technology. But still, there are hurdles along the way. We'll explore all of that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

A couple of major developments today in the search for missing flight 370. The HMS Echo, a British ship with advanced detection equipment has just arrived at the site where a Chinese ship detected two pulse signals. An Australian ship also picked up what an officials are calling it an acoustic noise but in a different area to the north by about 350 miles.

But authorities say they can't verify that any of these sounds are connected to the missing plane. There are also new details about the potential path of the plane. A senior Malaysian government source tells CNN it appears the plane went north and then around Malaysian airspace. And the source says that move may have been intentional to avoid radar detection.

I want to bring back our panel for this hour. With me here is Captain Kit Darby. He is a retired United Airlines captain and the president of Kit Darby Aviation Consulting. CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, former inspector-general for the U.S. department of transportation, now an aviation attorney who represents families suing in airline crashes an disaster. Tom Fuentes, is a CNN law enforcement analyst and Rob McCallum is CNN analyst and a vice president at Williamson and Associates.

OK. So this British ship, the Echo has arrived in the area where Chinese searchers say they have heard pulse signals. Does it mean that we are taking those reports very seriously, at least the Australians, Rob?

MCCALLUM: Yes, it does. It mean that, you know, there's been a trigger of interest and now the acoustics need to be verified. And the best way to do that is to get more assets in the water. And the options are to bring in another ship with acoustic capability or to drop sonar voice (ph). And this the way to go.

WHITFIELD: And so, Mary, the feeling is the Chinese have taken the lead of their own search selecting this area and then saying they came across these pulse signals. Should Australians believe there is any going to be in a sharing of information -- further sharing of information or cooperation now that a British ship with supposedly more high-tech equipment than that of the Chinese in that area. They would have to work together, would they not to find those same pulse signals. But should the expectations be high or low for that level of cooperation?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think they will have that level of cooperation because if we can, you know, based on what we saw the equipment, the Chinese has found the pings, it was pretty rudimentary. And they need that ship, they need the British Echo for all the more advanced equipment because finding the pings and hearing the pings is just a tiny part of what you've got to do. Then you have to find where the source of the pings are. You have to find the location of the black boxes. You have to get down there and map the floor. And then you have to call in the resources to decide now what do we do? How do we bring it up, get a submersible, get the black box up if it's still in parts of the plane.

So, what the Chinese did, if it's what they have done, they found it, it's very, very important. But now the heavy lifting begins. And you need several nations to help you do the heavy lifting.

WHITFIELD: And Rob, this is your area of expertise, in fact, because if we're talking about the pulses are detected again and sound as though that these boxes may be in the general vicinity, let's talk about the depth of three miles potentially in this area. We heard our Jennifer Gray makes a comparison of that would be the distance of say 20 Eiffel towers. I mean, that is incredible depth. What kind of equipment can be brought in, and what is the time line in order to bring in and prime salvage of explore beneath the surface?

MCCALLUM: You know, that's a very good question. If this is verified as a pinger noise, then really we've hit the jackpot and we're able to stick a pin on the chart (ph) and say this is the spot. The next step is to map the sea floor, probably first by multi being sonar which the Echo is equipped with and then afterwards by more detailed side scan sonar which would actually provide imagery of any wreckage on the sea floor.

After that, really, the clock stops in the scene there's not a great rush. Then we would need to bring in more equipment. It will bring in world class remote operative vehicle, an ROV. And that would go down to retreat the black boxes, all large pieces of wreckage for forensic examination.

WHITFIELD: And Captain Darby, all of these are very hopeful scenarios. Again, these are the ifs, if the pulses can be redetected, if it turns out those pulses are turn out to be the black boxes. A lot of hope here.

KIT DARBY, RETIRED UNITED AIRLINES CAPTAIN: Like I said, there is a lot of hope. And if it is a true ping, I mean, the hope it's well founded. But, if they have been extremely lucky to find it or they had information others didn't have, but somehow we took those huge hundreds of thousands of square miles and brought it down to a now a pinpoint as the other gentleman said. So, I'm very excited if it's a ping. If not, we're back to where we started.

WHITFIELD: All right. And Tom, you know, all of this hope is now shrouded by, you know, more skepticism as we are opt to hearing from our Nic Robertson's sources telling him out of Malaysia that now it appeared, not only did the track seems to change of this plane trying to avoid radar detection in Indonesia, but officials have also played the control tower audio to friends of the pilots, not family members. But no one was able to identify those voices. What do you suppose officials are trying to pinpoint right now? These two things coming, you know, close proximity, a change of the track and then the identification of the voices and the last, you know, communications.

THOMAS FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: First of all the reporting of the change in the track is not really new reporting. It's the motive that it was on purpose to avoid radar. That theory is really what's new about that. But Malaysian officials early on said that plane was hand flown. That it was a criminal act. Somebody intentionally made it change course, not knowing whether it was by the pilots themselves or intruder in the cockpit making the pilots to do it. So that part is not really new.

But I think that, you know, the whole aspect of this investigation really in a way it is where it was in the beginning. They really don't know why the plane made those maneuvers. It appears it's not because of mechanical problems. And you know, that's the issue.

WHITFIELD: And Mary, still unclear who may have been piloting the aircraft, you know. We know that the investigation is still a criminal investigation. They are looking at the pilot and, you know, the copilot. but still unclear whether or not someone compromised that cockpit and took control and there by trying to avoid Indonesian airspace taking the plane north and then south again.

SCHIAVO: Right. And ordinarily, you can identify, you know, if it's pilot or copilot. In other words, pilot flying using and a pilot not flying handles the radios. So it's interesting to me that persons familiar with their voices, for example, in the United States, the NTSB routinely has co-workers identify the voices.

And the fact they can't can be attributed to one of two things. One is they were under stress, didn't sound like themselves or it was someone else communicating or the transmission are so bad they haven't released them but air traffic control tapes are scratchy sometimes. Pilots ask air traffic control to repeat twice because of scratchy communications.

So, there's many reasons why they can't identify them. But if they have cockpit voice reporter they will know in an instant because there's two mics. They will know left seat or right seat talking. So once again, need the black boxes.

WHITFIELD: And so, what would be the next step if they are unable to get that, you know, cockpit voice recorder, what would be the next way in which they can try to either verify with the voices they have in the control tower reporting or is there another means in which to try to pinpoint those voices.

SCHIAVO: Well, there is. They can use voice analysis there are. And we have to do this in crash investigations often for, you know, courtroom purposes, too. There are companies that analyze the voices in the cockpit, the sounds in the cockpit. Any little sound that you hear in the background, ordinarily, you have cockpit voice recordings not your control traffic tapes where usually have both, but you can also use scientific analysis if you are unable to identify the voices, you know, kind of like a voice print. But you can go that route as well. So hopefully they will be able to identify them soon.

WHITFIELD: And Captain Darby, why is it officials would not want to rely on family members of the pilot and copilot to help identify the voices?

DARBY: Well, it's more difficult than it might sound. When you're talking on the radio you have a very limited audio range. People normally listening to the transcripts often can't under what's being said even though they know the people saying it. So in this case, it's hard to say.

Typically, the captain would fly first and copilot on the radios. If that changed at some point, that would mean something going on. So that would be my anticipation. There was also that other call from Vietnam where the person that made the call said he felt was answered by the copilot but that's been unverified.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much to everyone. Rob McCallum and Kit Darby, Mary Schiavo, Tom Fuentes, stick around. We are going to talk with you again throughout the afternoon. We have so much, so many moving parts on the developing story and mystery surrounding flight 370.

And how reliable is the Chinese equipment in detecting underwater sound? We're going to further explore that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Right now a British Navy survey ship in the area of the Indian Ocean where a Chinese ship detected two underwater pulse signals. This could be one of the best leads for team searching for flight 370. But there's some serious concern about the equipment that detected the pulses.

Here is CNN's Rene Marsh.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we now know more about the equipment used on the Chinese ship when that pinging sound was reportedly detected. We spoke to the company that makes it. And they tell us divers can use it or it can be used hand-held from the surface like the Chinese are doing in this video.

But clearly, this hydrophone does not go as deep as the tow pinger. Remember, the tow pinger is what crews are using on board the Australia ship Ocean Shield. It can go 20,000 feet deep, far from any noise on the surface.

But from this video, you can see this hydrophone got nowhere near that. That is because they are using it from the surface. And the reason why depth is so important is because you have to be within in a one to two mile radius to reliably detect the pings from the black boxes. One concern is about false positives. The maker of the hydrophone the Chinese are using says interference from another device in the ocean is a possibility -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Renee Marsh, thank you.

So again, right now, that British ship with sophisticated equipment is now on the scene, the same location where the Chinese say they detected pulse activity.

So how does technology on those ships compare? We explore with our panel after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New details now from a source in the Malaysian government are raising suspicions that missing flight 370 may have tried to avert radar detection. The source tells CNN the plane flew around Indonesia in may have an attempt to avoid detection there.

But why the plane would do that is still a mystery and search crews in the Southern Indian Ocean are rushing to figure out if three underwater sounds are related to the missing plane. A British ship just arrived in the area where a Chinese ship had detected two pulse signals and an Australian ship is also investigating a noise it detected about 350 miles to the north of where the location where the Chinese ship is and where now the British ship is.

Our panel joining me again, Kit Darby, Mary Schiavo, and Tom Fuentes and Rob McCallum.

OK. So now, this HMS Echo, the British ship is on the scene, what is the process, how do they coordinate with the Chinese ship.

Rob, it would seem this is apples and oranges, the Chinese ship using a hydrophone just placed below the water surface and this British ship having technology that can detect sounds some 20,000 feet deep. How do they either work together or conflict with one another?

MCCALLUM: you know, that's a question for the search commander to determine how they will be deployed. But the most important thing for both vessels to keep in mind is the need to keep the area as quiet as possible. Once they code, deploys the pinger locater, she will need absolute silence to quietly troll along and listen very carefully for any potential pinger noises from the black boxes. And I don't think that's a big ask of Haixun because, you know, she's using a small pen- hold pinger locater from the surface.

WHITFIELD: Mary, is it you are feeling that there really is more to it than that? I mean, could that Chinese vessel only be using that, you know, hydrophone or might there be something else they are just not revealing.

SCHIAVO: Well, if they are just using hydrophone that I would think that they probably have some theories, intelligence, number crunching why they went to that location. I suppose it's possible because the pinger through water is about a mile, mile and a half, then that's vertical distance, lateral up to three miles. If they were right on top of it, I suppose it's possible. So, I guess the bigger question would be why were they right there and how did they know to go right there.

But no matter how you look at it, if they have happened either stumbled on it or figured it out, the Echo is the right ship to have there and they can confirm it either way. And if it is wreckage, the Echo then can start the business of mapping and finding the boxes.

WHITFIELD: And Tom, what would think the Australian were thinking same thing, had some of those same questions but maybe because of the issue of time felt like it's right to go ahead and move the assets now, ask questions later.

FUENTES: Well, it sounds like it but sounds also like they didn't really move that quickly. The information apparently came out around noontime yesterday, their time. And it was really at evening time, they were still contemplating in their press release what they were going to do and then finally decided to answer this.

And as I mentioned earlier, I don't think they can ignore it whether they want to or not because of the fact that this is being broadcast in China as the finding of the airplane. And if the Echo gets there and it finds nothing from its found equipment, I think they are still going to have to go to the bottom with the submersibles and do more. I don't think they can sail away and say we didn't find anything, the Chinese were wrong.

WHITFIELD: And where would these submersibles come from likely, you know, Captain Darby, I mean, there -- if it turns out that there is some real verification or as you know, duplication of that pulse signal, a lot of equipment has to be brought in. So we're talking about not just a matter of hours more but days more if not even weeks.

DARBY: Not exactly my specialty but certainly this is not -- detecting is one thing and recovering is a much larger operation take a lot of time and, of course, winter is coming. So it's going to be a long difficult search and whole of different equipment. And once you find it, lifting it from the bottom, and finally getting the box out of the airplane, bringing it to the surface. Very different than hearing a sound and locating the wreckage.

WHITFIELD: And we're all talking optimistically. But then, if there's nothing, so much have been devoted in these four weeks to the search. Much of that four weeks in this general, you know, Indian Ocean area, at what point do officials, do countries say, you know what, we have no more resources to give. Are we a matter of weeks away or days away from the juncture if nothing is concluded today, nothing is found.

DARBY: There's so many countries involved and so many citizens of countries involved and a commitment from the airline, it's going to be a long time before they back off this search entirely. Obviously, some people will fall away due to lack of resources. But I think we'll be looking at this for a really long time. WHITFIELD: And Mary, you have seen this kind of investment before. But really, this investigation is unprecedented in so many different ways. At what point do you see countries resources drying up saying, you know what, we just can't commit anymore?

SCHIAVO: I think what's going to happen is, you know, where the source of the ping, since it came right on the cusp of the battery running out, I think they will have to map the ocean floor if they don't -- can't replicate the pings. I think they will have to do mapping to rule out that that is where the wreckage is and the battery just died.

And then after that I would assume what they will have to do is with the weather going to be changing soon, winter coming on. That would be a good time for them to say, well, as in air France, we're going to have to take a break over the winter and regroup and see what they can find otherwise. But that's still the case even if they do locate the ping and start search for the black box, they are going to have to get up the evidence that they need as fast as possible. The black boxes may keep parts of the plane engine, et cetera, because winter approaches. So I think that the weather will probably call an end to it at some point.

WHITFIELD: And Rob, what does it entail mapping the ocean floor?

MCCALLUM: It involves the use of sonar. If you're just looking at the sea floor itself from wanting a picture of symmetry, the type of, you know, underwater topography that you see on Google earth, then you use a multi-beam sonar which Echo is equipped with.

If you want to get imagery of the sea floor and start looking for things like aircraft wreckage, then you use a side scan sonar. And that's deployed one of two ways, either by AUV or by a towed array, by towed sled. You could actually map the entire search area in about nine months if you elected to do so.

WHITFIELD: All right. Incredible investment of time.

All right, thank you so much Rob McCallum, Kit Darby, Mary Schiavo and Tom Fuentes. Thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

All right. We will have much more on this investigation now four weeks into it. A British ship now in the same location where the Chinese vessel said it detected pulse sounds. What next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, teams looking for flight 370 are in multiple search areas hundreds of miles apart. One of the most promising lead is where a Chinese ship heard two pulse signals underwater. And to the north an Australian ship picked up what officials are calling an acoustic noise, 350 miles between them now.

CNN's Jennifer Gray has more.

GRAY: A lot has been going on over the past month with search areas, new certainly areas. We've been talking about this arc. We're going to try to put it in perspective now that the Chinese say they have actually feel like they heard that ping.

Let's start with the arc, this blue line. That was the original arc. And it gave a lot of insight into where we were going to search, because of handshakes, all the talks we've had in the past couple of weeks.

So in the yellow, that is where you see the previous search area all the way down to the south along that blue line and then even up to the north. We've also been watching these areas in red. Those are new search areas. These are areas we're currently searching.

And then if you look right here, this is where the Chinese said they heard that ping. This the Ocean Shield. If you look at it in relation to where the current search areas are, from here to here, that's about 200 miles. Here to here is 200 miles as well as there. So where the Chinese say they heard that ping is well away from those current search areas.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

All right, pinger batteries on the black boxes from flight 370 could expire at any moment. A British ship with advanced detection gear is in a an area where Chinese ship detected pulse signals.

But as CNN's Brian Todd reports some of this technology was never designed for this kind of search.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It can descend 20,000 feet below the surface, can detect this sound coming from the black boxes pinger from two nautical miles away. But experts say deploying the towed pinger locater right now is Hail Mary task.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're asking a big, big ask, you know. It was never designed to do this.

TODD: Officials at Phoenix International, the manufacturers of the pinger locater agree that these conditions are far from ideal. To be most effective, it needs a starting point, a confirmed piece of wreckage from Malaysia airlines flight 370.

If they haven't found debris, is it pointless to use this?

PAUL NELSON, PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL: Your question pointless is not a good description. It is very, very difficult if they have not found debris to even know where to start.

TODD: The pinger locater's limitations, it's passive, it listens for signals from the pinger. It doesn't send out signals to pick them up. Obstructions like underwater hills or mountains can impede it.

NELSON: Weather is a big factor. If the boat is doing this on the ocean waves, now you're attached to an umbilical to this thing. So this thing goes up and down and it is much less stable in the water.

The first towed pinger locater in was designed in 1976. In the last 18 years, it's been used four times in major commercial air crashes. In 2009, it passed right over the box from Air France flight 447 in the Atlantic. In that case, the pinger locater failed to find the pinger. The manufacturer says that's because the pinger had broken off from the black box. It might have been damaged.

But Three other cases success, a 1996 Bergen (ph) air crash in the Caribbean, the Egypt air crash in the Atlantic in 1999. And the 2007 crash of Adam air jet off Indonesia.

The black boxes were found but search areas were relatively small. Malaysia Air is the fifth attempt and still a long shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have nothing to use. It's a better shot on the Indian Ocean that has a long side the darken (INAUDIBLE).

TODD: An official from the manufacturer expresses confidence telling us if that pinger on Malaysia airlines 370 is working and they are searching in the right area, they will find it. The pinger locater record, he said, speaks for itself.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Brian.

All right, a new ship with high-tech equipment now trying to see if underwater sounds are indeed related to the missing flight 370. How will that change the effort? Our panel is back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

Right now, a British ship with high-tech underwater sonar equipment has now arrived to the very area where the Chinese vessel said it heard pulses, two pulse a mile apart in the Indian Ocean. Might those pulses be that of the black boxes from this missing flight 370.

Our panel is joins me again. Kit Darby, Mary Schiavo, Tom Fuentes and Rob McCallum.

OK. So how might this British ship the echo try to either confirm or dispel what the Chinese vessel has already said it has detected two pulses?

And then Captain Darby, to you first, because would wonder how could you have black boxes in the vicinity. This pinging in the vicinity, if you don't have any floating debris anywhere nearby.

DARBY: Well, what is going to produce the sound is probably at the bottom. I mean, it is a major structural part of the airplane. You know, on the other expert, they say that when you get a band of the different temperature water, that this little sound waves can carry just like FM radio does across the surface of the earth. So it can go a long way. But to find it twice in the same place, very encouraging, like I said, if this is the real ping, we have found the flight.

WHITFIELD: And if this is the real ping, we are talking about on the flight data recorder or a voice recorder similar to this replica on our desk here, and you have the pinger device here with the censor, it goes off as soon as it hit water which is on this far end here, they are usually in the tail of a plane. But you were saying, it is not out of the realm of possibility that a plane, if indeed this plane went down in this area, could have gone down intact and everything remain intact and that is why you have floating debris?

DARBY: That is one of the theories on why we haven't found debris. Now, we have all seen (INAUDIBLE) miraculous landing on the Hudson. However, landing an airplane in the open ocean with winds and waves far more difficult. I would not say it is impossible. But it is extremely more difficult than what that (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about the limitations of these pingers.

Mary, you have investigated so many of these kinds of investigation, maybe nothing is quite like this flight 370. But what have you discovered the limitations are of these pingers?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think probably, first and foremost, is when they don't work as in air France 447. Either they are damaged or that kind of a situation. We found in the 9/11 investigation the black box was destroyed in the World Trade center. So, you know, the pinger was pointless. Everything was destroyed.

So the biggest draw back on the pingers themselves are damage or not operational. I don't think -- I mean, I'm a pretty strong opinion that when they selected the frequency for the pinger pulses, they intend to tried to make them not sound like things in the sea.

So, if they can replicate and they can find the sound, and all the other equipments things nearby are turned off, I mean, I think it is a pretty good chance that it is a pinger because if that is where it was selected for. It doesn't sound like other things. It doesn't sound like marine life. It is a cyclical, you know, emission, you know, like a stop watch.

And so, the limitations are just the mechanical part. If it is putting out sound there are not many limitations you can find it.

WHITFIELD: And the Chinese vessel saying that pulse down did duplicate the 37.5 Kilohertz frequency.

And Rob, you are very familiar with this depths. We are talking about this section of the ocean which is maybe three mile-seat, 20,000 feet. If indeed a pinger or pulse is detected by way of this, a high-tech British technology that is now in the area, give me an idea of how and by what means would the exploration go to those depths. You have been in depths like this by use of submersibles. Explain what would be in store.

MCCALLUM: There are two ways to get to these depths. You can use a remote operated vehicle, an ROV and you would need a work class ROV which means that that industrial string ROV which would go down on the end of a tether. The tether provides power and electricity and command and control to the device.

WHITFIELD: And you used that apparatus in the search for the titanic?

MCCALLUM: Actually, yes. And ROV was used in the search for the Titanic but our dives on the titanic were all by man submersibles which are, you know, submersibles in free swimming. They are not tethered and operated by humans.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. And so, I mean, when we talk about this search area, they would probably have to be the use of both. Those that maybe robotically controlled and perhaps there might be some use of manned submersibles as well?

MCCALLUM: The manned submersibles are not necessarily the ideal way to go. And the sense that they are fairly rare. There are only two submersibles and, you know, adjacent to this region. And they have a limited time down below because, of course, they are carrying humans which breathe oxygen. A remote vehicle can operate 24/7, you know, without any worry at all because you simply switch out the pilots who are on the surface.

WHITFIELD: Rob McCallum, Kit Darby and Mary Schiavo and tom Fuentes, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

We'll have much more on these new developments involving the search for flight 370.

Again, a British now in the same area where the Chinese vessels said it detected pulse activity. And an Australian ship is also concentrating on an area about 350 miles north of that because of acoustic noise. That is the most that they are saying at this junction.

All right, much more on that straight ahead.

Also next, another story involving the high seas and involving a daring rescue of a sick little girl off the coast of Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All straight ahead at the top of the hour, the very latest on the search for flight 370. We will have live update from Perth, Australia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Right now, a look at some of the other top stories we are following.

Afghanistan estimates that about seven million of its people turned out to vote in spite threat of violence from the Taliban. It was the first democratic transfer of presidential power in the country's history. One woman said she went to vote because she was fed up with the violence.

Despite with all the heavy security, 20 people were killed at voting centers. Winners of yesterday's election will be announced at the end of the month.

President barrack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will be in Texas Wednesday. They will attend a memorial service for victims of the shooting rampage at Fort Hood. Three soldiers were killed and 16 were hurt when investigators say specialist Ivan Lopez opened fire before taking his owned life. They say Lopez struggled with depression and anxiety. And before the shooting, Lopez vented on facebook about a range of subjects from outrage toward out of (INAUDIBLE) mass shooting in Connecticut to the hatred he felt after he say he was robbed.

And we will have much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. And it all starts right now.