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Malaysia Releases First Report on Flight 370; Dam Emergency Forces Evacuations

Aired May 01, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin this morning with breaking news.

A new transparency in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Just minutes ago, finally, Malaysia's government made public its first report on the pplane's final known moments.

The big headline for you, the plane had vanished for a full 17 minutes before officials even took notice. And yet it took a remarkable four hours, four hours, before an official rescue operation was launched.

It is the government's most thorough accounting yet of what investigators know or suspect.

CNN's Will Ripley has been sifting through this report. He joins us from Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Tell us more, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Yes, this is a five-page report and then some other supporting documents that were attached to it. We've been going through them. And here are the things that really stand out.

You talk about those 17 minutes when nobody even noticed the plane was missing. OK. That said, then we talk about the four hours where what we see here -- this is a report that kind of describes all of the events that were happening over those four hours. And what it says to me, Carol, is that there was a lot of confusion during those four hours initially about where the plane even was.

At one point, Malaysian air traffic control was saying oh, we think the plane is possibly in Cambodia. Check with Cambodia. Well, we now know it never was there based on the satellite data and the radar data. And meanwhile, even when the plane's, you know, transmitters, Carol, that were switched off, the transmitters that allow the plane to communicate with civilian radar, civilian air traffic control, we now know that the Malaysian military was tracking MH-370 in real time.

The prime minister admitted it to CNN's Richard Quest. And yet even though the military was tracking this plane, nothing was done for hours. And you see here, 3:30, they asked, all right, heard anything new about the plane? Almost 4:00 a.m. again, any new information about MH-370? Then again 4:25, another query.

So every half hour people were checking. People were asking. But they didn't seem like there was any action being taken until 6:14 a.m. when search and rescue was activated. By that point, Carol, judging on the speed of the aircraft, it would have had about 2 1/2 hours of fuel left, and it would have already been really far south on that flight track if we believe the satellite data that the international team of experts here in Kuala Lumpur are basing their assertions on.

The plane would have been closer to that area in the Southern Indian Ocean where it eventually went down. So confusion led to a long delay. That's what this report say, this five-page report. It doesn't have a lot of answers for the families.

It also recommends, Carol, that we have real time tracking on commercial aircraft as soon as possible to try to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

COSTELLO: I'm just curious, Will, how did the Malaysian authorities release this report?

RIPLEY: It was released via e-mail. We were told earlier today there was going to be a press conference. That press conference was canceled. And then we were told due to technical problems, the scheduled release was pushed back by several hours.

One other interesting thing, Carol, that's new is this here. The cargo manifest. A lot of the families wanted to know, what was in this plane? Was there anything suspicious in the cargo manifest on this plane? So we're looking at it right here. And it mentions three things other than the passengers' luggage. A shipment of mangosteen, which is a fruit, a fruit that was being basically imported to Beijing.

It says console here, which we believe is electronic equipment, and then the cargo manifest also mentions lithium batteries. This is now on paper what we've been reporting for a while. Nothing in the shipment stands out as anything that would create any sort of unusual effect. It was all within regulations. So again still so many questions. And of course, Carol, the biggest question of all, where is this plane?

Nearly eight weeks in, we still haven't found one physical piece of it.

COSTELLO: You're right about that. Will Ripley, stick around because I want you to join the panel that I'm about to bring in.

Former NTSB director and CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz along with David Soucie, a CNN safety analyst and author of "Why Planes Crash," and CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien.

Welcome to all of you, gentlemen.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Peter, I'm going to start with you. How could a plane be missing for 17 minutes and no one noticed?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think it highlights, you know, the sloppiness of the air traffic control system in that part of the world at that time of day or -- you know, night. I mean, they just were asleep at the switch and apparently on the night shift, they're not watching very carefully. They've got inexperienced perhaps new people on it who were reluctant to sound the alarm.

But that clearly -- that four-hour gap where the plane disappeared and then finally, you know, at 5:30 in the morning, the watch supervisor was summoned, and the search and rescue operation initiated was really inexcusable.

COSTELLO: Well, David, how could anybody be reluctant to say, hey, we have a missing plane? It's been missing from radar for 17 minutes.

SOUCIE: Yes, well, the 17 minutes bothers me. But what bothers me even more is the subsequent time that it took and then lack of coordination between the military radar who was picking up and tracking this aircraft real time during this -- during the following period, why was that not communicated, why the two didn't communicate together?

But if you think about back prior to 9/11, our communications between our military radar at the United States and the -- and the civil radar was not that well coordinated either. So either they didn't learn from our lesson or they had learned from our lesson and they didn't execute it well. I think that's an even incredibly important period of time. Four hours while the aircraft was being tracked by military radar and no one else knew where it was.

COSTELLO: Yes, and I want to continue to talk about this with Miles. Four hours before a search team was even called out. It just seems absurd.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes, no, it's mind boggling. And frankly, it's tragic. It's tragic because if there had been a little bit of better coordination, and yes, on 9/11, there was not good coordination between the military radar capabilities and the civilian side. They were stovepiped, as it were. And that has changed dramatically in this country.

Other countries probably should have been taking a lesson from the U.S. on that. This is not a 9/11 event, but it is a similar kind of scenario. Now to imagine that the military was tracking this blip and not calling up the civilian guys to say hey, did you lose a plane, is extraordinary. And the fact is, if somebody had been a little more on their toes and scrambled a fighter to get up there and get near that aircraft, who knows what might have happened?

It might have changed the outcome dramatically. And some people might be alive today who are dead.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Richard Quest joins me now.

Richard, I wanted to ask you about the Malaysian military. Where was it? What was it doing in those four hours?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that somebody was watching, and we know because the prime minister told us that they thought it was a civil aircraft. But what's not clear -- and I've said from day one, in this search, the so-called four-hour gap, what role did the military play? Were they informed? Were they asked? Were they monitoring?

I have to tell you, a lot of the information we're being given today is because the prime minister has insisted upon it. There are those -- there are many that were resistant. They -- first of all, there were some who just wanted to give out the short report. They didn't even want to give that initially. And then the PM says you're going to give away the report. You're going to give out the report.

And then there were those -- who have spoken to people who say no, it was the prime minister who said, if there's any more to give, you're going to give it. And you're going to give it now.

COSTELLO: So why the disconnect? I mean, why did the prime minister have to come down so hard on the Malaysian authorities, the transport minister and the military, to release this stuff?

QUEST: Because it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. This four-hour gap is embarrassing. Particularly following Air France. The fact -- and I'm going to be charitable here. I'm going to allow you an hour, an hour and a half of confusion. Planes don't often go missing, but it's not unusual for a plane to be out of contact for a short period of time. It happens. Shouldn't, but it does.

But this, Carol, from 2:35 right the way through to 5:20, there's only one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 attempts that we're told about. So for something like three hours virtually nothing is being done. Meanwhile, the military has tracked it. The military knows where it's gone. The plane is still flying and will continue to fly for another 2 1/2 hours.

COSTELLO: Geez. OK. You said that they released more than they wanted to, but that's still a scant report, right? Compared to others.

QUEST: The report is fine. The report is absolutely fine.

COSTELLO: So the length is fine. It's normal.

QUEST: Now we have all these other documents, the length is exactly what one would expect. Three to four pages. Four to five pages. This happened. It's all over.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about useful information within this report.

QUEST: Right.

COSTELLO: And Peter, I'll pose that to you because you're the big NTSB guy. So I know you haven't had much of a chance to actually look at it. But from what you know, is there anything helpful in this report at all?

GOELZ: Well, what it does is clarify the situation and lift the fog a little bit. And you know, Richard -- Richard is being modest. It was his interview with the prime minister last week that forced the military to add clarity to this report.

You know, it's not in the nature of military organizations to be either transparent or to admit mistakes. The U.S. is just the same. And it was Richard's get of the prime minister, putting him on the air, that forced the transparency. And that was a very important moment.

But in the report itself, it allows us to double check the statements that people have been making over the past five weeks. We can see how they made the decisions they made to search the areas that they have searched, and we'll examine that through the day, but it looks -- it looks pretty solid to me.

COSTELLO: Looks pretty solid. So David, some of the interesting things, they did release the passenger list and where the passengers were seated. We know the Malaysian authorities cleared every single passenger. But is it worth going over those passengers now that we know who they are and where they were sitting?

SOUCIE: Well, I think that the Malaysian government and the CIA, remember, and the FBI have been involved in this from the very beginning as well. So those passengers have been thoroughly screened even by U.S. standards, which is quite high. So I think that that's good. I think we can divert our attentions back to where they should be, which is where this aircraft is. And my confidence in this just got increased.

It's always been strong because of the underwater locator beacon pings. It's been strong for that because I have no other explanation as to where those came from. Now I know how they got the information from Inmarsat about the location and about the draft and how it went there, how it got there. So I'm more confident than ever that that aircraft is there. We need to continue searching.

If we don't find it, look again. Use some other equipment. Stay there. Keep working it. It's got to be there in my estimation.

COSTELLO: Well, they're still there and they're still looking.

Peter Goelz, David Soucie, Miles O'Brien, Richard Quest, thanks to all of you.

I've got to take a break. I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we're continuing to follow this breaking news, the Malaysian authorities have released this preliminary report about what they know happened to Flight 370. Joining us again, former NTSB director and CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz, along with David Soucie, a CNN safety analyst and author of "Why Planes Crash," CNN's Richard Quest and also CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien.

Will Ripley is also in Kuala Lumpur. I want you, gentlemen, to stand by just a second. I want to bring in David McKenzie now. He's been talking with the families. As you know, the families have wanted to get ahold of this preliminary report for weeks and weeks and finally it's been released publicly.

And, David, what are these families saying about it?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the family members we've spoken to haven't, in fact, received that report. Now, that's unclear whether it hasn't gotten to them or they are occupied with other things at this moment because the primary news coming out of Beijing tonight, this morning, is that they've been told that they're going to need to vacate the hotel where they've been for many, many days.

There were emotional scenes at that briefing with the Malaysian Airlines authorities. Many Chinese authorities and police there as well. Some people getting on the floor, wailing, saying what has happened to our loved ones?

This felt like a bookend to the story. The people just wanting some kind of clarity, some kind of closure that they haven't gotten all this time later. And while the report might give some more details, it certainly doesn't bring them any closer to finding out what happened to their loved ones.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Weren't the Malaysian authorities supposed to inform the families first when such things were released?

MCKENZIE: Well, they did, in fact, inform the families a crucial thing to them, which was that they're going to be closing the assistance center here in Beijing, and they will move (INAUDIBLE) now get (ph) them home to their other family members in coming days. (INAUDIBLE). So they have not received that report.

I can't, you know, say 100 percent whether they have gotten it en mass, but certainly it appears that that was less of a priority for the authorities tonight and more to tell them what they have in store for them in the coming days.

COSTELLO: David McKenzie reporting live for us from Beijing.

OK, let's talk more about this preliminary report. Richard quest is reading it.

And I see you highlighting certain things, so I want to go to you first and ask you what else you've found in there.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really does come down to why more wasn't done when the event took place. What I was highlighting, at 1:46, this is, what, eight minutes. Eight minutes after Ho Chi Minh says, where's the plane? The plane hasn't checked in. We're expecting 370. Where is it? Eight minutes later, Ho Chi Minh's advised that the observed radar blip disappeared at waypoint bit ot (ph), which is another of these famous waypoints, little airways of the air -- highways of the air.

And so, you're starting to see a scenario building where pieces of the jigsaw are being put on the table, but nobody's seeing the total picture. And as I said earlier, I'll allow - you know, I'll allow them an hour and a half of what's going on. But by the time you get to 2:00 in the morning, some two hours -- an hour after it's missing and you've got another three hours of going backwards and forwards, it's starting to get a bit rich that nobody finally says, help, we've lost the plane!

COSTELLO: So, 17 minutes it disappears from the radar. It took them a full four hours to actually begin looking for this missing plane. And, you know, I can't help it, Miles O'Brien, and I'll pose this question to you, that if somebody aboard that plane was -- wanted to deliberately make this plane disappear, surely they knew, perhaps, that the Malaysian military might act like this. Maybe air traffic controllers would not be totally responsible. Is that possible?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes. And it's important to note that this handoff is a key time in aviation. When you go from one air traffic control center to another, there always is a little gap in communication because you say good night, you change the frequency, and then you pop on the next frequency. And each control center is not listening to the other on their frequency. So to say there was a 16- minute gap before Ho Chi Minh City got nervous about that, that's not -- that's in the realm of possibility. A flight that hasn't checked in in 16 minutes, they might, you know, that happens. That's a little bit long.

But nevertheless, so there is an opportunity in that period of time when each control center thinks the other is talking to the aircraft, there is an opportunity to make things happen in the way of disappearing an aircraft. Now, this decision, you know, I suppose if you really wanted to disappear it, you could have gone due east and flown to the deepest part of the ocean. But the fact is, someone who was experienced in aviation might very well know that as a primary target flying over Malaysia it would be very unlikely that the Malaysian air force would even pay much attention to it, which is clearly what happened.

So there was no conversation between the Malaysian air defenses and the civilian component and vice versa. No one was -- there's no record of them calling each other in this period of time. That's just extraordinary, but that also, frankly, to a lesser degree in time, but that happened here in this country on 9/11. There was that, you know, different buildings, different systems and a stovepipe setup, which in these cases can be very dangerous. This could have been, you know, Malaysia's 9/11. And that's -- you know, it's another kind of tragedy, but it could have been avoided.

COSTELLO: Well, and, Peter, you can't escape the fact that the pilot, Captain Zaharie Shah, had years, decades of experience. Like he knew what was going on. He would have known all of these things, right? PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, exactly. And that's the very perplexing issue because it appears as though this plane was under human control when it made this turn and its subsequent turns. And that can't be underscored enough. And there simply is no mechanical explanation for the aircraft acting in this way that we can agree on. So we have to keep focusing on human factors.

COSTELLO: OK. So, David, let's just center for a moment on the cargo and the passenger -- there's nothing in the cargo hold that was remotely suspicious. I know there were lithium batteries, and we've examined that time and time again. Malaysian authorities say they were stored properly. They don't think these lithium batteries had anything to do with the plane's disappearance. They don't think the passengers had anything to do with it.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, I - I -- Carol, Carol, I wouldn't just discount these lithium batteries. You know, they don't fly on U.S. aircraft in the cargo hold. That's something we should not overlook. In the panoply of non-deliberate acts, lithium batteries are pretty high on my list. I don't know if the panel agrees.

COSTELLO: Panel? David?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes, Miles, I'll tell you what -- yes, let me talk about that because I've been talking about these lithium batteries for quite a while, and Miles and I have as well. But, here's the thing. They've been telling us there was 450 pounds of lithium batteries on this aircraft. And in the United States, that right there is not safe. It's a violation. We've had deaths. We've had accidents because of these lithium batteries stored in bulk.

Now we read the report. Guess how much is on there? More than 5,000 pounds of lithium batteries in this cargo hold. Where's the breakdown there? What were they trying to hide? Why didn't they tell us that before? Five thousand pounds. That's like having two cars inside that cargo compartment. That's how big these lithium batteries would have been in there. One of those batteries -

COSTELLO: So - so -

SOUCIE: Just simply one battery that shorts out or has a problem can migrate to all the rest of those batteries.

COSTELLO: OK, we're looking at the cargo manifest right now and I know, Richard, you've been poring - you've been poring over it.

QUEST: (INAUDIBLE), I'm not being rude.

COSTELLO: No, no, you go ahead. He's poring over this report. But -

QUEST: My information is -- my information is, I don't know whether all those batteries went on the same flight. I see - you know, there are the requested flights of --

SOUCIE: Well, it's right there on the cargo manifest, Richard.

QUEST: Yes. But there were also -

SOUCIE: No (ph), it's right there.

QUEST: But also -- yes, they were also, I'm told, I believe, not that it's relevant to whether there was an incident, they were at the rear of the aircraft. Again, I don't think that's necessarily relevant other than the question of a fire under the EE (ph) bay, under the cockpit.

But, David, my information is that when these batteries were loaded onto the aircraft, it was at the rear, in the rear cargo section of the aircraft.

COSTELLO: OK. We're going to - we're going to explore this much, much more in the NEWSROOM. So we're going to take a pause so we can really read this preliminary report and find out the pertinent information so we can pass it along to you. So I hope my panel comes back. Peter Goelz, David Soucie, Miles O'Brien, Richard Quest, Will Ripley, David McKenzie, thanks to all of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, heavy rains, dangerous flooding and an explosion that rocked a Florida county jail. Ed Lavandera in Pensacola, Florida, this morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, investigators are combing through this building trying to figure out what happened. We'll have details coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Rain, rain, go away. I think we're all shouting that this morning. Dangerous flooding over half the country, and it's causing all kinds of problems from a cracked dam in Laurel, Maryland. Take a look. I know it sounds cliche, but the streets are virtually rivers. Also in Florida, an explosion at a prison caused in part by the weather. And in Baltimore, take a look at this gigantic sinkhole. It is crazy. An entire street collapses, swallowing at least five cars. Nineteen families cannot return home. And a nearby CSX rail line is affected. No word on when the road will again be usable. It is that bad.

But let's go back to Laurel, Maryland, where a leaking dam has emergency workers on edge. Hundreds of people have been evacuated just in case. Jeanette Reyes from our affiliate WJLA is in Laurel this morning.

JEANETTE REYES, REPORTER, WJLA-TV: Good morning, Carol.

You know, we've been out here all morning, but with the sun coming out, can you get a better idea of what's going on here. I want to get out of the way so I can show you this flooding, massive flooding on a major road here in Laurel, Maryland. If you take a look at this car dealership not far from here, half a dozen cars completely surrounded by water. I just stalked to the dealership owner and he tells me it's a complete loss. All of those cars are useless now. About $150,000 in losses there.