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New: Flight 370's Satellite Data Released; Critics: Satellite Data Is Incomplete; Military Chief: We Know Where Missing Girls Are; Forty Killed In Ukraine Airport Gun Battle; Some Blame Culture For California Killer's Rant
Aired May 27, 2014 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The satellite involved is Inmarsat 3f1, one of 11 satellites in the Inmarsat collection. It's in geo stationary orbit over the Indian Ocean and it was to this satellite that MH370 sent the signals, the so-called handshakes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): Leading the team here was Mark Dickinson. With his colleagues, they dive deep into the data.
MARK DICKINSON, V.P. OF SATELLITE OPERATIONS, INMARSAT: It's three times the information we have. There were messages from ground station to the plane and back again that shows you the terminal is switched on and powered up and we have some time information and in addition to that there was some frequency measurements.
QUEST: The timings told them the distance between the plane and the satellite enabling them to create the so-called arcs. They then factored in the frequency differences. The so-called Doppler effect. Dickinson's team concluded mh370 had to have flown south in the opposite direction. It was a startling conclusion.
(on camera): What did you think when you got the data and you started to model it and you put it in and you suddenly realize where this plane probably went.
DICKINSON: Let's check it again. You want to make sure when you come to a conclusion like that that you have done the right work and data is as you understand it to be.
QUEST: Was there a moment of disbelief?
DICKINSON: Having messages for six hours after the plane is lost is probably the biggest disbelief in terms of what you have.
QUEST: Inmarsat quickly realized analysis of data from MH370 to the satellite produced an extraordinary result and need to be tested. So they round the model against other planes which have been in the sky at the same time on the night and against previous flights of the same aircraft. Time and again they round the model over dozens of flights and the planes were always found to be exactly where they were supposed to be. DICKINSON: There's no reason why it shouldn't work for this particular flight when it works for the others and it's very important that this isn't just an Inmarsat activity. There are other people doing an investigation. Experts helping the investigation team who got the same data and made their own models up and did the same thing and see if they get the same results and speaking for the teams we get roughly the same answers.
QUEST (voice-over): The results of all this work led to dozens of search planes and ships being sent to the Southern Indian Ocean where for weeks they followed the trail to nowhere. Inmarsat's calculations have been called into question. The families demanding the raw data.
DICKINSON: Well, I think the data itself stand alone is fairly opaque and you can't draw too much from it. What I think is more pertinent is to see the messages and important bits of information and that's the job that we've been trying to do and some explanation behind how the numbers are used.
QUEST (on camera): To be clear you are letting people make judgments on your work. You're not inviting them to redo your work.
DICKINSON: No. Redo the work takes experts in many, many fields.
QUEST (voice-over): Mark Dickinson has recently returned from where he was part of the rethink team. He knows the entire weight of this search rests on the Inmarsat data.
DICKINSON: Everyone on the investigation team working with this understand what it means. It means this is all data that we have for what's happened for those six or so hours. It's important that we get it right and particularly trying for the families and friends of the relatives onboard to make sure that we can help bring this sad incident to a close.
QUEST: The Inmarsat data will guide the search for the foreseeable future. It's all they've got. Without it, there would be no search at all and the men in London are still sure they're right. Richard Quest, CNN, Inmarsat, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This new report isn't exactly sitting well with many of the families of Flight 370. They say there are not enough details in this document. Let's bring in Sarah Bajc. Her partner, Philip Wood, was on board Flight 370. She's been calling for the release of the satellite data for more than two months. Sarah, welcome.
SARAH BAJC, PARTNER OF PHILIP WOOD, AMERICAN ON BOARD FLIGHT 370: Thank you for having me on the show.
COSTELLO: Thank you for being here. Are you satisfied by today's report?
BAJC: Well, we're pleased that they finally started to give some information, but we are not satisfied that the report has been delivered in a format that is clearly had management done to it. So I think what we had been expecting were actual log files. You know, the raw data cycles that get downloaded from the satellite to the satellite station would be far more difficult to manipulate or to falsify than a pdf file as an example.
I'm not accusing Inmarsat of doing that because I believe that they're a good company and they are doing their best to help in this situation, but that data has been taken out of their hands and been massaged through also now the Malaysian government before it was released to the public. It also doesn't hold everything that had been asked for.
There are probably about 50 different points of evidence that the families have been asking to be released that we believe there has to be more transparency in this search because there have been just repetitive errors demonstrated by the investigation team so far. So once you have been bitten 20 times, you become a little shy of that one time that somebody says trust me on this one when all of the other ones have been proven wrong already.
COSTELLO: You're right on this one because the Malaysian government appears it is withholding information because earlier today the CEO of Inmarsat was on CNN. So listen to something he said about this data release. I'm sure you've heard it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUPERT PEARCE, CEO, INMARSAT: What's gone out today are the raw data communication logs over our networks. All of the information that we have that passed between our network and the plane during the fatal hours when the flight was lost. So it's everything. We put everything out there in terms of the communications between our network and the plane itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Inmarsat as you said, said it released everything it has. The Malaysian government is the entity holding things up. The families have been so united in this. Why is the Malaysian government still withholding information do you think?
BAJC: We don't understand it. They are clearly covering something up. Whether they are covering up their own incompetence or wrongdoing or they're covering up on behalf of somebody else, for instance another more powerful government, it could be any of those scenarios. There's no other explanation for this repetitive closing of the vest. I've said it so many times I feel like a broken record.
In most countries in the world, the air traffic control records are public record. It's open to the public. Civilian radar data is open to the public. Yet we've not seen any of that in this investigation. So, you know, there's just been too many things that you would expect to have been disclosed that have not been disclosed.
And I want people to remember, this is about the families and our loved ones and wanting to find out what happened but it's also about air traffic safety. Eight million people every single day get on an airplane and we had an airplane go completely and utterly missing and the powers of the world are claiming that they don't know anything about it.
That's a very, very scary thing. I'm just astounded that more people aren't taking this more seriously. So, you know, someone has to be covering something up in this. I just do not buy it. I just don't buy it that somebody doesn't know something else.
COSTELLO: I'm just curious to ask you this question because I know you've got this new data now and maybe you've hired experts to look at this new data. Have you been in touch with experts and have they imparted anything to you that's new?
BAJC: Within minutes of receiving it, it went out to about a dozen people. Nobody who was hired. There have been people from all over the world who have stepped forward to volunteer their expertise. Faculty at major universities, people who are highly published and well regarded in their fields. Some work together in teams. Some work solo. Already we've had some preliminary feedback come back that there are some discrepancies showing in the burst frequency numbers as an example.
But it's a little too soon to tell. The Malaysians have been holding onto this data for 11 weeks. We've at least got to give these guys a couple of days, right. They've only had it in their hands for a few hours for most of them because of time zone differences. Let's give it a few days to see what they come up with.
COSTELLO: Sarah Bajc, thank you as usual. We appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an airport becomes a battleground between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian militants. Forty people now dead. We'll take you there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 13 minutes past the hour. We are expecting decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court this hour. Two rulings likely to come out that deal with executive power and another that deals with free speech. The first case involves President Obama making recess appointments to a federal agency. The second concerns a Massachusetts law setting an exclusion zone around abortion clinics.
It's deadline day for Donald Sterling. The Clippers owner must respond in writing to the NBA's charge he damaged the league with his racist comments. If Sterling does not respond, the NBA will consider he's admitting to the charge. The league set up a hearing a week from today where Sterling can respond in person to the owners.
Praying for a miracle. Those are the words of a Mesa County, Colorado, sheriff as the search continues for three men missing after a series of weekend mudslides near the Utah border. The men had gone to investigate damage from the first slide and vanished when two more massive slides hit the region.
This morning, the Nigerian military says it knows where more than 200 abducted school girls are being held. As you know, the girls were kidnapped six weeks ago by the terrorist group, Boko Haram, but the country's defense chief says they won't go in with force to free the girls because the girls could be killed in the process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AIR MARSHAL ALEX BADEH, NIGERIA CHIEF OF DEFENSE STAFF: The good news for the girls is we know where they are but we cannot tell you. We cannot come and tell you. Just leave us alone. We are working. We will get the girls back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Will they get the girls back?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is becoming a delicate situation. If Nigerians say they know where they are then you have to ask the question why is the U.S. still there because the U.S. Mission is to help the Nigerians with intelligence to help locate the girls, but Nigerians say they know where they are. U.S. officials say they have no information to independently corroborate those reports and that the U.S. hasn't been asked to leave yet.
The U.S. also believes it has information as we have reported here that the girls have been split up into smaller groups. Some may even have been taken across the border. So a bit of a conflict of information, if you will. I think the U.S. and Nigerians probably agree on one point. At this point nobody wants to use force to go in. There's a lot of concern that wherever these girls are, their safety could be at risk.
Typically in Nigeria we all know a lot of these situations are resolved through negotiation, through ransom demands. We'll have to see if that is eventually how this one comes to an end. Hopefully a peaceful end -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I hope so. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is the deadliest outbreak yet in Donetsk. A gun battle at an Eastern Ukrainian airport has left 40 dead and may just be the turning point in the government's fight against pro-Russian separatists. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh will tell us more. Hi, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, what we know at this point is there are 40 dead from yesterday's clashes. Two civilians and we've seen undignified sad pile of militants at the local morgue here. Many doctors say with bullet wounds and wounds from heavy weaponry. I saw one dead civilian female with a large head injury. It's distressing scene for many in Donetsk. They demanded the Ukrainian army to leave. The majority of the dead we saw today come from two trucks.
We also saw that were hit by heavy weaponry by the Ukrainians. Interesting developments where separatist have heard of a window opportunity for them to leave the city center between 1:00 and 4:00 that passed. It's now 5:00 local time. After that they say they have been told they may have key buildings struck by air strikes --
COSTELLO: All right, we lost Nick's transmission. You get the gist of that. Things are turning around in Ukraine. We'll have to wait to see if they turn around in Ukraine's favor or Russia's.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Elliott Rodger's social media backlash. What it says about our culture.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me. On the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara today, classes have been canceled to allow students, faculty and others to come together in a day of mourning for the six students killed in Friday's rampage. Nine other students were injured during Elliott Rodger's killing spree. A broken community begins the difficult process of healing.
CNN's Sara Sidner is in Santa Barbara, California. Good morning.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. We're hearing more from the families of the victims here in this community. All of them students at the University of California Santa Barbara. And all of their families cannot understand why their children were taken too soon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): Vigils held across California honoring all six UC Santa Barbara students killed in the Deadly shooting and stabbing rampage by 22-year-old Elliott Rodger before apparently taking his own life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want our kids to get hurt. This shouldn't have happened to any family.
SIDNER: Parents inconsolable including the mother of 20-year-old, Chen Yang, one of three men deputies say Rodger stabbed repeatedly in his apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand why this happen to me.
SIDNER: Classmates remembering their studious and happy friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never had any enemies. Always super friendly. A really good guy. Did not deserve this.
SIDNER: The sheriff says the gunman was mentally disturbed and he planned to kill men and women he saw as popular kids. Taping this YouTube video titled retribution. ELLIOT RODGER: I wanted love, affection, adoration. You think I'm unworthy of it. That's a crime that can never be forgiven.
SIDNER: I will kill them all and make them suffer, he wrote. Just as they have made me suffer. One of Rodger's childhood classmates mentioned in the document describing him as quiet.
LUCKY RADLEY, CHILDHOOD FRIEND: He didn't say much. I don't remember him saying anything. He only spoke when he was spoken to.
SIDNER: A family friend says Rodger's parents feel a pivotal moment was missed last month when six deputies conducted a well-being check on mother after his mother discovered other chilling videos he posted online documenting his "loneliness and misery," but the officers say they found nothing alarming during their check.
JAMES ALAN FOX, CRIMINOLOGIST, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: We would like to believe that we could collect all of the data, all of the evidence, and be able to identify mass murders before they act but we simply cannot do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: You know, Carol, what has really gotten a lot of people talking, all of the students, all of the students who died were between the ages of 19 and 20. We're talking about freshman and sophomores who came to school excited about their lives blossoming, their adult lives moving on and now you have these families who now have to bury their children. It's unspeakable.
COSTELLO: Sara Sidner reporting live this morning.
Supposedly Rodger's childhood rejection from a 12-year-old classmate along with his inability to have sexual relationships with women later in life led to his deadly retribution of that childhood crush Rodger wrote, quote, "I started to hate all girls because of this. I saw them as mean, cruel and heartless creatures that took pleasure from my suffering."
It struck a nerve. Thousands of women used twitter to express their solidarity in response to Rodger's hate filled rants. Other women claims Rodger's sexist rants are part of a culture that breeds violence against women pointing specifically to bad boy comedies like Seth Rogan's "Neighbors."
Rogan, the actor, is not happy. He tweeted, "How dare you imply that me getting girls in movies caused a lunatic to go on a rampage?" Let's talk about this. Kelly Wallace is our digital correspondent and editor-at-large for CNN.com and Marc Lamont Hill is a CNN commentator and host of "Huffpost Live." Welcome to you both.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's a tough conversation. We'll give it a go. So women, especially those in college, are scared of men that take advantage of them. It's hard to argue in this climate that they don't have reason to be, right?
WALLACE: Exactly. I think what's important to point out and we also saw #notallmen kind of sprout up here. Women aren't saying, all men are like this and all men do this.
