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Erin Burnett Outfront

Searchers Race to Verify Pings Heard by Locator; Ebola Outbreak Claims Nearly 100 Lives; Pistorius Murder Trial; Marks: "Optimism Fading Away Ever So Slightly"

Aired April 07, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next breaking news, searchers racing to confirm the pings detected in the Indian Ocean are from Flight 370. A report from the U.S. search team in just a moment.

Plus, the agony of waiting, the brother of an American passenger, OUTFRONT, tonight, why he thinks investigators may be hiding something.

And Oscar Pistorius takes the stand, talking about how the smell of blood still haunts him. Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. And OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, ships so far have failed to reconfirm the signal that could be from black boxes belonging to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, that's according to Commander Marks with the U.S. search team, and we're going to be getting an update from him in just a moment.

First, though, this failure so important, because it's on the back of what's been called the most promising lead yet, pings that have been consistent with both the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. On Sunday, an Australian Navy ship towing a U.S. pinger locator, that's the device you see in the water here, right there off the edge, the yellow device, called a TPL or towed pinger locator, twice detected signals consistent with those emitted by airplane black boxes.

Now keep in mind, the black box signal is designed to transmit for about 30 days under good conditions. We're now in day 32 in not good conditions. The first detection lasted two hours and 20 minutes, the second just 13 minutes. These pings were detected about 375 miles northeast of where a Chinese ship detected two additional pings on Friday and Saturday.

From everything we understand, by the way, these things can't all be to the same plane, these two situations will not both be true at the same time, at least that's our understanding. The Chinese said these pings that they detected were about a mile apart and also consistent with the frequency you get from black boxes.

This leaves a lot of questions, and experts say, as I said it's incredibly unlikely these recorders are so far apart, so there could be a false alarm in one or both cases, however, pings were detected along an arc where officials believed the plane made its last partial handshake communication with the satellite. That would be the most likely location where the plane ran out of fuel.

We begin our coverage tonight with Matthew Chance in Perth, Australia. Matthew, I understand officials have narrowed the search area. Search plains are now taking off where you are. What can you tell us as they are truly now racing against time? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are racing against time, but also they've got these significant leads that have managed to get them to narrow the search field considerably. It's been over the course of the last few minutes that the search field that was vast, remember, some 90,000 square miles, has today been reduced to just 30,000 square miles, so two-thirds taken away, two-thirds narrowed down as a result of the leads they've got.

Within the past hour or so, observation planes have been taking off, 14 aircraft will be taking to the skies over the course of this day to look for debris and assist in the search operation. That operation now focusing on two main areas, the first one being where the Chinese first say they located some pinger activity, some acoustic events, as they call them, to the south of the search zone.

But the main focus at the moment, as you've mentioned, is to the north of the search zone, that's where the Australian ship, the ocean shield, has been detecting those very dramatic findings, very dramatic electronic signals they reported over the weekend. They are trying to recapture those signals now and try and calculate whether it's something that significant or not, but the feeling is at the moment that it is significant, but they haven't managed to reacquire those signals at this point -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you very much, live from Perth.

Joining me now on the phone, Navy Commander William Marks of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, he's on board the USS Blue Ridge, which is leading the U.S. search efforts for Flight 370. Commander, thanks for taking the time this morning. At this point, you haven't yet reconfirmed those pings from the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder, right?

COMMANDER WILLIAM MARKS, ABOARD THE USS BLUE RIDGE (via telephone): That's correct. We have not yet been able to reacquire this signal, and as encouraged we were about two days ago when we first got the detection, as the hours pass, we are -- our optimism is fading away ever so slightly. The important point to note about our towed pinger locator is, it is only effective when there actually is a sound coming from the black box.

So it is a passive hydrophone system that listens for sound, so every minute that goes by is another minute where the battery life of that black box dies down, and without a signal coming from that black box, the towed pinger locator won't be effective. So we were encouraged when we initially had this detection.

It was a solid two hours' time, then we turned around on a reciprocal course and got another almost 15 minutes, and that's just what you want to do, that's just the profile you want to see. And we were encouraged, however, as every minute goes by, that we can't reacquire this, that's another minute the battery is dying down on that black box.

BURNETT: Do you, Commander, have any sense why there's been a failure to reacquire the signal? Is it possible the signal was something else or do you think it definitely was some sort of flight data recorder and the battery died? Which of those scenarios is possible?

MARKS: Yes, there's so many variables involved. You have, certainly, the life on that battery, I would call that the number one challenge we have. There are other things in the ocean that could produce noise at this frequency, that's certainly possible. However, you know, when we initially detected the sound, it was very consistent with what you would expect coming from a black box, and there were two especially encouraging signs.

First, is that as the TPL traversed in its path, the signal got stronger and stronger, and then as it crossed where we think the line of bearing was, weaker and weaker, and that's what you would expect as you move toward the signal and then away from the signal. And then the second encouraging piece was, we actually heard two, or the same frequency, from two distinct locations, which, again, would be consistent, because remember, there are two black boxes.

One is from the cockpit and one's the data recorder, so those were two encouraging signs, and I think, you know, not being able to reacquire it, it's just part of what's out there. I think just acquiring it in the first place, if it indeed was the black box, was an amazing stretch just to acquire it in the first place, so it is somewhat discouraging, but it's kind of a long shot just to begin with.

BURNETT: So, Commander, what happens at this point, if it is not reacquired, that signal, are you confident enough with what you heard the first time to, you know, send those, you know, underwater vehicles down there? I know this is at the depth at which the line they are able to operate at, they can't go much deeper than this. Would you go underwater and start looking, are you that confident or no?

MARKS: Sure, that really is the million-dollar question. What we're hoping for is to use the towed pinger locator kind of in tandem with the Blue Fin side scan sonar, so we were hoping to move in, get a fairly precise location with our TPL, and then once you have that, the searching with your Blue Fin side scan sonar becomes so much more easier, because you have a more defined location.

Without that location from the black box, it is extremely difficult to get this get location of where to put in your Blue Fin side scan sonar, so it kind of was a series of steps that ideally you would take. The first one being a location on the black box, so without that, it is much more difficult.

But remember, we're still out here, we're flying missions with our P- 8, still flying. It will be up again today looking for debris. That still is a factor. You could easily still have debris on the surface of the water. That would give us a clue. We're hoping to still have a couple more days at least with the black box pinging away.

So we'll still have the towed pinger locator out there, and, you know, only afterward will we kind of resort to putting the side scan sonar in a general location where it's not quite precise.

BURNETT: All right, well, Commander Marks, thank you very much for taking the time this morning. We appreciate it and we hope that you are successful here.

MARKS: Thank you. Appreciate having me.

BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, the daunting task of detecting the pings from the black boxes. Why even the sound of rain could throw off the search.

Plus, family members, what they are thinking tonight, who and what they believe. The brother of an American passenger OUTFRONT next.

And why did the plane fly around Indonesian air space? It's one of the central questions here, when you get to the issue of mechanical versus human intervention. Was this plane avoiding radar?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. At this moment, searchers are trying to racing to verify pings that they say could be from the missing plane's black box. Important to note, though, they have not been able to verify pings that they heard over the weekend, and these pings are coming at a different frequency than black boxes normally emit their pings at.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, family members of those on board are holding all night candlelight vigils marking one month since the plane carrying their loved ones disappeared. Here in the United States, the family of American passenger, Philip Wood is awaiting answers.

Philip's brother, James Wood, joins me now. James, thank you for coming on tonight. I know you, your sister, your brother, have been waiting 32 days and hoping against hope for some sort of a miracle. When you hear this news that this plane could be about to be found, do you feel relief at getting an answer or not?

JAMES WOOD, BROTHER OF PHILIP WOOD, AMERICAN ON FLIGHT 370: Well, at midnight last night when I was watching the Australian spokesperson talk about this and the evidence that they'd found, I was actually really hopeful. As the day's gone on, it's been a little less so, especially to hear the commander say they are losing a little bit of hope. However, I'm trying to stay optimistic, and at least keep a positive thought in my head about it.

BURNETT: And, I mean, when they say that these signals are the most promising leads they've had, obviously, you know as you said, they are a little less optimistic they can hear them again, but perhaps they would be able to find the plane if it's there. I mean, do you think this really is the plane? WOOD: Right now it's the best hope we have. I don't know if it's the airplane or not. There's so many variables that we just don't have an answer to, and that is part of the frustration that, I think, all the families are feeling. Not just me, not just Sara, not just us, but all the families involved.

We have such a frustration about it, because the evidence, the leads, they are so sporadic, they just aren't hitting the way we would expect it to hit, especially given all the technology. I don't want to denigrate anyone out there searching, because they are the ones that are working hard for us on our behalf, but it's frustrating, because we don't really know much beyond just a signal.

BURNETT: And, you know, you mention Sara, of course, you know Philip's partner. I spoke to her on Friday. And you know, she was, you know, she said she's had some really dark moments, but at that time she was feeling a little bit more optimistic. I mean, she believed that plane was intact. I mean, do you think it's possible the plane is intact, whether it's here, below the ocean surface, or somewhere else?

WOOD: I think there is a lot of evidence that says it could be intact. Where, who knows? I don't like to think too hard on it right now, because it hurts to think about it, but the idea that it might have landed, even if it was landing in the ocean intact, leaves a lot of questions. Like the beacon, no beacons ever sounded that are supposed to sound when they hit the water. Why did that not happen? There's an island chain called the cocoas islands that are up, supposedly, in the flight path that they are saying, and there's a 5,000-foot runway there that never -- we don't have any evidence right now they saw anything on radar, that leaves me with suspicion and wonder.

There's too many things that just don't add up. I'm not saying that I think it disappeared into the wild blue yonder like that, to some other part of land, I don't know. I wish I did know, but it's hard to hold on to the hope one way or another.

BURNETT: I know. I mean, it's impossible for me to imagine from where I'm sitting, but I can only think that it's painful for you to hope one way or the other.

Last week, right before, Philip, a week before he boarded this flight, I know he was in Texas, he was with you. What do you want people to know about your brother? I mean, he had two, you know, just finishing college, and just out of college, amazing kids. I know he's very close to you and your other brother and your sister page.

WOOD: Yes, what can I say? You don't expect -- you know, when we go through life, we don't expect the moment, the very last time you're going to see someone. You know, you don't think that's going to be it.

I haven't gotten to see him a lot the last few years, so every time I've seen him, it's been precious. And we made an extra effort just to go down and see him that weekend. We were celebrating my dad's birthday, and I'm so glad we went, because we had an ice storm that kind of sent us home early, but I'm glad we got to see him for that last time, and I hope it's not the last time.

BURNETT: Well, James, I hope it's not either, and I know -- I know, you know, some might say it's silly to say that, but there is still that chance, and we're all praying that that's the case.

Thank you.

WOOD: Thanks, Erin.

And next, why a cyclone that hit the Indian Ocean a couple of weeks ago is now relevant in the search for that missing plane.

And the Ebola outbreak, the death toll on the rise, we have a Special Report from South Africa tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And breaking news, we have just found out that the Australian government, the defense minister for the Australian government, will be holding a press conference tonight. And Matthew Chance has been covering this. I know we're just hearing details about the press conference.

Obviously, we've heard other press conferences. This one, I don't believe, was expected. And obviously, the defense minister is a new player here. How significant do you think it is?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's potentially significant. Remember, Angus Houston is ahead of the search effort, this is his boss, David Johnston, the minister of defense of Australia, has made this visit to the piers air force base, which is outside of Perth, where we're located now. He's going to be talking to the search crews that are here on the base. He's going to be getting a briefing himself from the commanders of the base. And then he's going to answer questions from the media. So he may have some insight, extra information, some extra detail, on the specifics of this hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner. That's the reason he's come here.

I've spoken to his press attache, they say any new announcements apparently are still going through the joint agency coordination center, Angus Houston and his people. Nevertheless, he's the minister of defense, we're going to stay across it.

BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much, Matthew. Obviously, that could potentially be very significant.

At this hour, search crews are trying to reconfirm signals picked up by Chinese and Australian ships over the weekend. Whether they are pings sent back by the missing plane's black box. As we've reported, though, right now from the U.S. Navy, they are saying they have so far failed to reconfirm those signals.

A massive cyclone struck near the new search area two weeks ago. This could be very significant, wind speeds were more than 160 miles an hour. That means a lot of water moving a lot of places, and that could mean a lot about potential debris.

Chad Myers joins me now from the CNN weather center.

So Chad, obviously, you knew about the cyclone while it was happening, but at the time, search officials weren't, I guess, looking in that area, right? I mean, so what do you think? I mean, could this really have moved debris that far, that we never saw any?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Without a doubt. Without a doubt in my mind now. We were 1,700 miles away from the center of this, that was our focus, way south of this picture. Here's Australia over here. Now remember, this is moving the opposite direction of a north hemisphere hurricane.

This is a cyclone, so all of this wind now, only 300 miles from the center of this major hurricane, cyclone, was pushing waves and water that direction, at least 60 or 70 miles. We already know that this was an area that looked like a washing machine in the first place, but now we know it was even worse than that, because this storm, although we were watching, looking down here and the storm was way up here. You know what, that's 2,000 miles, no problem.

Now it's no longer 2,000 miles. Now that category-5, at least equivalent of a hurricane, was only 300 miles from where that ping now has been located. Waves were at least 12 to 14 feet. And you know what? We're talking about certainly the chance there's debris in the water, but could there have been some life rafts in the water, as well, with waves at 14, 16 feet and wind at 60 to 100 miles an hour.. That would have been horrific.

BURNETT: Well, certainly, this scenario you are alluding to, I mean, if there were life rafts and there have been some sort of landing intact and people fighting for survival, if that were not the case and the plane had landed there and there were no survivors, do you think debris from that would also have been scattered now and be totally non-locatable?

MYERS: Well, I don't know if it's non-locatable or not. We go and take a look where the currents were, and the currents are moved a little bit by the wind, but if anything was sticking out of the water, let's say a wing tip was ticking out of the water, that's the wind that would blow that like a sail. If it's slightly under the water, it will stay there and not move as much, but all of that stuff, remember the first pieces of debris that were picked up, we saw them getting them out with a fishing net, it was just a piece of paper. Anything like that. Anything like that piece of paper, anything that might have been floating, would have been churned up so much that it would have sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

BURNETT: Wow. All right, thank you very much, Chad Myers. It is certainly a whole new aspect of this. So a lot of people saying, wouldn't there be debris? Well, maybe not.

Well, ahead OUTFRONT, detected by the Australian vessel and U.S. pinger locator seem to be the most promising lead yet. The question was, did they hear dolphins?

And why did flight 370 steer clear of Indonesian air space? Is there now any scenario that can explains this flight that did not involve an intentional human act?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news in the search for Flight 370. U.S. officials now say optimism is fading because they have been unable to reacquire the signal, which was possibly from the plane's black boxes. They detected the signal over the weekend.

Three ships are now scouring the waters in the southern Indian Ocean. They are working 24 hours a day, dark, light, doesn't matter, they are working. A fourth ship now on its way, all after a ship using this piece of equipment that you're seeing now, this yellow, looks kind of like a fin.

It's called a towed ping locator. You tow it on the back of a ship. It detected two pings and today, search efforts -- the biggest deployment of ships and planes yet, the multinational search team, 11 planes, three civil planes, and 14 ships.

The black box pingers will soon fall silent, if they haven't already. The batteries died after about a month. We're obviously at 32 days now and maybe the problem with reacquiring the signal could be a battery problem. We just heard from the commander of the U.S. Navy.

Rosa Flores is OUTFRONT with more on what crews are listening for right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what a ping sounds like.

DR. JAMES MILLER, UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND: Very high frequency.

FLORES: The critical sound searchers are hoping to hear in the deep and rough waters of the Indian Ocean.

MILLER: It's deep and it's dark, it's salty, it's high pressure. It's hard to work.

FLORES: Here in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, researchers shows the challenges search crews face as they try to hear the ping from Flight 370's data recorder.

MILLER: So this is a hydrophone.

FLORES: We drop an underwater microphone, a hydrophone, off the back of the boat as it moves farther away from a pinger that's already been submerged. And even less than 100 yards away, the ping starts to fade.

Distance isn't the only problem out in the Indian Ocean. There are other noises competing with the sound of the pinger, like sea life. One dolphin species sounds like a black box pinger, and this is the sound of rain under water.

(on camera): Let me get away from the loudest part of the boat, so I can show you one of the biggest obstacles that searchers have in the open sea. Just ship noise, even here, listen to how loud it is.

(voice-over): There are, at a minimum, 15,000 ships on the world's oceans on any given day, creating even more obstacles in a search that's already daunting.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Anish Patel, president of Dukane Seacom, which manufactured the original pingers that were attached to the black boxes on this plane. He's helping the government analyze the pings. CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien, and Richard Quest also join me.

Anish, let me start with you. Commander Marks says his optimism is fading. They haven't been able to reacquire this signal after about two hours and 20 minutes and 13 minutes, two separate times. Obviously, I know you've been talking to them about the data they've gotten. Are you as -- are you losing hope, too, or not?

ANISH PATEL, DUKANE SEACOM: Well, we love to see them reacquire the signal. Obviously, that would definitely help us continue looking at more data, but the initial data that was shared with us looked very promising.

BURNETT: And, Anish, when you talk about the initial data being shared, I guess this is the question -- how specific is that data? I mean, you can imagine if there's a point under the water where perhaps a plane might be and you pick it up off of a signal, that you were able to chart that in terms of the duration and how loud it is, you might be able to find it, even if you don't reacquire the signal, right?

PATEL: Well, ultimately, that's what they are going to have to do if they don't reacquire it, they are going to have to look at the locations they did hear the signal and base their next level of search as the next phase on that data.

BURNETT: And there has been some discrepancy out there. Obviously, we know the signal that's been picked up in both cases here by the U.S. pinger locator was 33.3 kilohertz and usually the pinger you might manufacturer, the one you manufacturer, will be 37 1/2. Does this concern you, make you think that they are listening to the wrong thing?

PATEL: Well, it's something we need to study further. There's a lot of variables that come into play, age of battery, depth of water, temperature of water, possible debris that could be refracting or changing the frequency. All of these things need to be examined. The more data we have, the more we can help them. BURNETT: So, when you hear 33.3 is what this is broadcasting on, you're not throwing your hands up and saying that's not it, you're saying this very well could be it, right?

PATEL: We're optimistic, but cautious. We don't think it's dolphins.

BURNETT: You don't think it's dolphins.

Well, that's a big statement because everyone has been worried, Richard. People have been worried that's what we could have picked up, 300 miles away you have the Chinese picking something up, as well.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and the discrepancy between what the Chinese heard, the equipment they were using, and the inability to replicate it, and also the very short space of time that they heard it, versus what the ocean shield heard, is interesting.

Everybody's discounted dolphins. Everybody's discounted a whole variety of things, and you do keep coming back to the two hours, 20 minutes, the 13 minutes, and the optimism, and I think what Anish says is what they are planning now to do. What they've had to do again and again, Erin, is not just plan B, but plan C, and D, and E.

BURNETT: And Z at this point.

QUEST: Right. Then they'll go to plan A-1 and A-2 and it will go on and on right the way through, and now I suspect they are already thinking, if this doesn't work, how do we find it.

BURNETT: Miles, what do you think?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I hope we don't get to plan ZZZ, that's for sure. When I look at that Chinese video, I've been looking at that carefully, and a couple of things come to mind. First of all, you know, it's a pole with a device, it's designed for scuba divers. And they are sharing ear buds.

You know, it's a clue at best, right? So they actually had a --

BURNETT: It looks a little like a science project.

O'BRIEN: It does, indeed. If I was grading this high school science project, I probably wouldn't give them a very good grade, and they had a pinger onboard the vessel. Your expert will tell you this, it's out of the protocol, it's there to test the device, but you're probably just listening to yourself.

So, I think that's all a red herring. So, let's move on to the pinging that is associated with the sophisticated equipment. This is real stuff.

The problem is, even at two and a half hours, that's not enough. You want to get multiple contact and reacquire it, and reacquire multiple times to triangulate down.

BURNETT: Now, Anish, you I know manufactured the original pingers here and they brought them in for inspection maintenance a couple of times, Malaysia Airlines, but stopped a few years ago, right? So, at this point, do you have any idea whether these pingers were even working or when they had been maintained or anything?

PATEL: Well, we've been told they were due next for June 2014, so they were approaching end of life. But the unit's certified to operate for at least 30 days, even at the end of life, and, you know, we've stated before we think we can get a few extra days. We believe that the pinger at least operated for 30 days. It may be degrading right now, but that's why we need to keep looking.

BURNETT: Now in terms of the ability to find this now, Richard, let's just say they say, look, we're going to go down. And obviously, there's all kinds of angles and debris and other kinds of problems there could be, but they go down and they look for it.

This is right at the depth range that the autonomous underwater vehicles can or can't operate. We're going to be testing the ability of that device.

QUEST: I mean, and there are contours near that area. David Gallo was sending me some very interesting diagrams that show there are some contours beyond the range of where this is of the Bluefin and the autonomous vehicles.

BURNETT: So, you mean contours, places underneath the ocean?

QUEST: Yes. Absolutely, absolutely.

BURNETT: OK.

QUEST: So, there are places there, but nothing about this has been easy from day one. And I think if you just -- I'm going to be a little more heartened, not optimistic is the wrong word --

BURNETT: You're dealing with loss of life.

QUEST: Look at what they've done so far to get to where they are. The ingenious nature of using the Inmarsat, getting the scale, getting it all out there. One should only be heartened that they can now go on to the next challenge and deal with that, too.

BURNETT: Miles, what's the bottom line for you, especially given you've been frustrated with Inmarsat's lack of transparency with their data, do you think this is the plane?

O'BRIEN: I'm an Inmarsat believer tonight. I think, I would love to see the data, of course. In some day, I think it would make for a great story, to really figure how they pulled this all off.

The fact that this location happens to coincide with that last, we call it the half handshake, half ping, whatever you like, which we have associated with the last transmission from the aircraft, that, to me, that's triangulating your data and your evidence. And so we got a ping there, and that tells me that Inmarsat did an absolutely admirable job taking a technology that wasn't designed for this and making it useful. They had nothing else to work with.

BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much to all of you.

Next, the new evidence that shows Flight 370 might have been trying to avoid radar the night it disappeared. So again, the question at the bottom of this entire mystery, what was going on in the cockpit?

And Oscar Pistorius takes the stand for the first time in his murder trial. What he said and why he says he still wakes up smelling blood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And let's check in with Anderson with a look at what's coming up on "AC360."

Hey, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Erin. Yes, we're going to have more on surprising developments just minutes ago in the search of Flight 370. It's our breaking news at the top of the program. The search narrowing, two locations picked up pings over the weekend, but with a new day under way, there's only one area in the Indian Ocean where search efforts are currently concentrated, just one. We're going to talk about the latest and the battery life of the black boxes, which may not have much time left.

We're also going to take you back inside the simulator tonight to talk about the new report the Flight 370 actively skirted Indonesian air space. Now, why would whomever was at the controls do that? What that means, and how would they know how to pull it off.

Also, aviation analyst Miles O'Brian and aviation correspondent Richard Quest join me for that, along with transportation inspector general, Mary Schiavo, who is not buying it, frankly. It's all at the top of the hour, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Anderson, thank you so much.

Our breaking news coverage continues on Malaysian Air Flight 370.

They are trying to verify the signals they think could be from the passenger jet, but as William Marks told me earlier, at least from his point of view, optimism is fading as to their ability to reacquire the signal. Here's the thing, Anderson just mentioned this, there's a new flight path that came out, which is why this gets such urgency, when we try to find out the motive of what happened here, or if it was mechanical, what possibly could have caused this.

Here's what we know about the flight path. There was a diversion to avoid radar detection, or again, that implies intent. There was a diversion which resulted in avoiding radar detection. According to Malaysian officials, radar data from neighboring countries show Flight 370 flew around Indonesia, all the way up and around in order to -- up and go down the Indian Ocean, obviously, the direct path would have been to go straight down, not going down.

Joe Johns is in Kuala Lumpur tonight with the latest on the mysterious flight path.

Joe, what are investigators telling you about this new information?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they are telling CNN is this is about a pattern of radar avoidance. It's the first almost confirmation, if you will, based on the source, in any authoritative way that someone inside the cockpit would command and control and skill, guided that aircraft in a way to skirt Indonesian aircraft that -- the Indonesian air space, I'm sorry.

That's important, because if that plane had strayed into Indonesian air space, it would have set off all sorts of alarm bells. Jets might even have been scrambled. They would have detected, and we wouldn't be searching for the plane as we are right now.

So, this also tells us a little bit more about why law enforcement authorities here are saying this is a criminal investigation, and they have not cleared the flight crew. So, it certainly raises more questions than answers, but you can see where it's pointing, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. Joe Johns reporting live this morning from Kuala Lumpur.

I want to bring in Richard Quest, and our aviation analyst and 777 pilot Les Abend.

All right. Great to have both of you with us.

So, Richard, let's talk about this. We've talked a lot about this Indonesian radar issue. They've been very quiet, all 17 countries have responded; but not them. Go ahead.

QUEST: "A.P." reported on March the 17th that Indonesia military said they had no trace of MH370 on the night. And not only that, Indonesia said they've handed over all the data requested to Malaysia.

So, although they have been very quiet, I think we have to agree they've not exactly been at the forefront of this, they have said they have no trace of MH370, which does lend credence to this idea of going around the northern part of Banda Aceh.

BURNETT: All right. Let me ask you, Les, you have talked about mechanical error causing this. What would explain a flight path where it goes over, instead of just dropping down, goes up around radar space specifically, then goes down, that is not human intent?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, everything about this whole thing has been perplexing to me as a pilot anyhow. But what Richard said, that may very well be, they may not have seen it at all anywhere, that whole track may be totally false to begin with.

BURNETT: Fair point.

ABEND: But that being said, to answer your question, if that's indeed possible, as a pilot, I understand my en route chart where air space ends and where new air space starts, but as far as radar is concerned, I don't really know where radar ends and where it doesn't. I'm always under the assumption somebody's watching me somewhere, either on the ground, even up in the air.

BURNETT: So, you're saying, if this was intentional, this was someone who had incredibly specific planned, meticulously planned information.

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: Let me ask you, if I may.

BURNETT: Yes, go ahead.

QUEST: If you wanted to take the plane in a particular direction, you might not want to go, and if you look at the animation, you might not want to go over the top, because of the radar, might not know the route of the radar, but pretty certain you wouldn't want to go over the land mass of the country.

ABEND: You mean Malaysia, correct?

QUEST: Indonesia particularly.

ABEND: Why didn't they just go over Malaysia? It doesn't make sense. You know Malaysia's got radar.

QUEST: Because you're Malaysian Airlines.

ABEND: But it doesn't make -- an airplane going that past, it would draw somebody's attention.

BURNETT: I see both of your points. Even so, it would be required. Not just oh, I want to go around not over land but some kind of meticulous knowledge --

ABEND: What was the end game? What was the end game in this whole thing? Why do all that --

BURNETT: Well, you're back at motive, right? You're back at motive if there was an end game, was this some sort of suicide? Was it something, terror? What was it?

ABEND: But let me go back with the original, let's say that airplane went down to 12,000 feet. If you think about it now, my original thing, OK, it made the left turn they were diverting because of a mechanical problem. We just got something in the shelves.

BURNETT: Right.

ABEND: OK. So, it makes a left turn. I don't know about the radar track. I don't think Richard and I really can be confident about that. It makes that turn. Now what? Where does it go?

It goes down to 12,000 feet and then it goes slower and burns more fuel and ends up almost at that point that seems to be the area of highest probability. BURNETT: Fair point. Are we going to know from the flight data recorder exactly what the flight path was?

QUEST: Yes. And not only that --

BURNETT: Every single --

QUEST: One thing we do know is that it went around the tip of Indonesia. We've known that since March 25th.

BURNETT: Right. There's a record of it.

QUEST: No. We know that because that's the radar data and the first six satellite hand shakes show it going around Indonesia, if you look at the map that was given out on that date. We've known that fact. What's not happened is nobody has hung their hat on it as to why.

BURNETT: Well, the why is what everybody must, must know, we must get answers.

ABEND: We'll find out.

BURNETT: Thanks very much to both of you. And next, the Ebola outbreak. Doctors scrambling to contain one of the deadliest viral diseases in the world. There is an outbreak and we have special report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And now to some other big stories we're following tonight. An outbreak of the Ebola virus has claimed 100 lives across West Africa. Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses on the planet. There is no known cure.

The outbreak is believed to have originated in Guinea and has now spread to the neighboring countries of Mali, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, even a horrific internal and external bleeding.

Vladimir Duthiers is OUTFRONT tonight and he is filing from Lagos.

Vlad, what do we know about this outbreak?

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, at least 86 people have been killed by what the World Health Organization is you calling a rapidly evolving outbreak. And the virus maybe spreading from Guinea, where it first originated, to neighboring countries. Seven people have died in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali are also investigating suspected cases. Meanwhile, Senegal, not taking any chance of last week to close its border with Guinea.

Now, human outbreaks usually start after eating bush meat (INAUDIBLE) bats. Once infected, the virus spread through contact with bodily fluid from the sick and dead and the symptoms are horrific. We're talking about diarrhea, vomiting and in some cases internal and external bleeding. This particular strain of Ebola that's turned up here in West Africa kills up to 90 percent of those infected and there is no cure -- Erin.

BURNETT: Thanks very much.

And now, the crisis in Ukraine. U.S. officials warning Russia against a serious escalation in that country because there's been a big new development. President Obama is telling Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease all efforts to destabilize Ukraine. What has happened is apparently there have been skirmishes in far eastern cities in Ukraine, no in Crimea, but other cities in far eastern Ukraine, where they have been battling pro-Russian forces and demonstrators. One of the cities include the eastern city of Donetsk today. This is a real escalation and can show Russia really incurring and intervening in a much bigger swath of Ukraine.

Ukrainian president says that they are going to fight all efforts to dismember their country. U.S. officials believe Russia has about 40,000 troops on the Ukrainian border.

Well, Oscar Pistorius broke his silence, fighting back tears. The one time Olympian took the stand this morning in his murder trial. His first words were an apology to the parents of Reeve Steenkamp, his girlfriend, whom he shot and killed in the bathroom on Valentine's Day last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR PISTORIUS, DEFENDANT: I would like to apologize and say there's not a moment and there hasn't been a moment since, since this tragedy has happened that I haven't thought about the family. I wake up every morning and you're the first people I think of, you're the first people I pray for. I can't imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that I've caused you and your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Robyn Curnow is OUTFRONT in Pretoria, South Africa, tonight.

Robyn, it's pretty emotional apology. What else did Pistorius say in the court?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, very powerful day in court. Not only is it unusual for a murder accused to offer up an apology before his testimony, but in doing so turning his back on the judge, looking into the gallery and trying directly to say sorry to the mother of the woman that he killed.

Now, also, during his testimony his defense team asked if he was on medication. He said he was on anti-depressants and sleeping pills because he just couldn't forget Valentine's Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PISTORIUS: I have terrible nightmares about, about things that happened that night where I wake up and smell, I can smell, I can smell the blood and I wake up to being terrified. If I hear a noise I wake up, just in a complete state of terror, to a point I'd rather not sleep. Then fall asleep and wake up like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: So, Oscar Pistorius is showing remorse in court today also explaining his fear, his vulnerability, particularly because of South Africa's high crime rate. He's relating a story about how his mother when he was a small child was often fearful of noises, of intruders in the night, that she would gather her three people in the bedroom because his father often traveled, wasn't at home and she also kept a gun underneath her pillow.

Oscar Pistorius, if you'll remember in his affidavit said that he kept his firearm underneath his bed. Now, in day two of his testimony it will be key, how and why did he use that firearm on Valentine's Day.

Erin, back to you.

BURNETT: All right. Robyn, thanks very much to you.

Thanks to all of you for watching.

Anderson starts right now.