lot of revenue the show may be over but the conversation continues. >> no one saw us, and free us. >> a malaysian airliner en route to beijing disappears from radar as sfamly and friends -- family and friends wait anxiously for word. the plane went down near

vietnam. hello, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live in new york city. we begin with breaking news. a malaysian airline jet vanishes. authorities are searching for answers. the plane is carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members. it's a boeing 777 that has been in service since 1995. it's been more than eight hours since the plane was scheduled to land in beijing, and air control lost contact two hours after it took off from kuala lumpur. vietnamese state media quotes a navy official saying it crashed off the coast of vietnam, near an island in the gulf of at the end of the day land. malaysian airlines has been reaching out to passengers and crews' family. malaysia airline flight m 8370

is a boeing 777. it can hold 31,000 gallons of fuel, weighing 541,000 pounds. and can travel 6,000 miles. and travelling monday to new york and tokyo to san francisco. now we turn to allen schauffler, where boeing makes the 777 for the reaction to the planes. >> this is one of the safest planes in the air, one of the best selling models that they have made and shipped more than 100 boeing 777s to triple 200 in a 200 model and a long range model. 300 more on order. they are sold over the world, have a tremendous safety yes record. they had one -- safety record. they had one flight in 19 years. 18 million plus airmiles, and one fatality crash. the company, itself, staying

quiet. this is the entirety of their statement: >> that's what they have tweeted out. that's essentially all they there told us when we spoke to a representative recently about this. they are just waiting to see what happens, where the plane is found, if it is found, and we can assume there'll be a boeing investigative team on the ground or in the water when and if a crash site a located. it will be customary for the airline and a country where the crash site is to request the help from the company and the u.s. government. we expect that will happen. we have not heard that it has happened. boeing saying they'll keep an eye on things, not much more than that. >> malaysia's acting transportation minister spoke about effort to locating the missing plane. >> to work with all the

countries involved, and their missions. so basically the fact that we are meeting after two, coordinating all the missions, coordinating all the agencies, getting all the information as far as we can convey to the public, that's the best we can do at the moment. >> al jazeera's contributor todd curtis is with us from austin texas. thank you for being with us this morning. first of all, you know a lot about these types of planes, which have merely a spotless record. when you heard it was missing. what did you think, given how sophisticated the plane is? >> my first thought was a positive thought that it was missing, but possibly landing in an airfield that didn't have a control tower or other communications. obviously from what has been trickling out from vietnam and elsewhere, it looks like that was not the case.

from the sounds of it, it looks as if it did go down in the water, it didn't go down intact. there's no reports of distress signals or an aircraft in the water. >> you were hopeful when you heard that it was missing. >> that's correct. this is a part of the world where although there's a sophisticated air traffic network and an experienced airline, it's an area without the infrastructure that we are used to in north america. there might be smaller airports that don't have the kind of backing that you have at a smaller airport in the united states. in other words it could have landed and we don't know about it. >> speaking of that infrastructure, the vietnamese government said the plane lost all contact and radar symbol a minute after entering vietnam's traffic control. rescue workers found the emergency signal for the plane.

how is that activated? >> well, the transponder, the emergency locatingor locatingor, it's activated, triggering the device send out a signal. if it's underwater, it sends out a signal for sonar-type equipment. it's possible there may have been signals radio in nature, but again, this is a dynamic situation. it is not clear that the signals first reported were from the aircraft. that will have to be hashed out later. basically there are a couple of ways the signal could go out, and a couple of ways for the search team to find the aircraft. >> okay, strong force or in the water. is the emergency signal different from the black boxes?

>> it's connected in the sense that the black box and the signal work together, one, to locate the aircraft and the second to have the data. they are physically separate systems in different parts of the aircraft. >> talk about the black boxes. you mentioned the effect and backt of the water -- exact of the water. what type of damage does the water do, in terms of trying to retrieve information on what may have happened. >> the black boxes, i might have missubpoena. the eot will send out a radio signal to locate it by the air or other radio signals in the area. the black box will send out the signals to find the under the water. getting to the question about how the black boxes were, they are two separate systems, one a cockpit voice recorder. the second the digital flight data recorder, celebrating

several dozen in the case of the triple 7. several dozen parameters. if those are recovered, assuming there was a crash, they can use those to piece together what may have happened, lining up the voice communication in the cockpit with the data from the rest of the aircraft to answer questions such as was the crew aware of an unusual situation in the aircraft, and did the crew take actions that resulted in the aircraft performing as designed or did something happen where that was not the case. >> i want to move away from the technical aspects. the captain of the plane has been flying for some 30 years, and the copilot since 2007. that's a lot of experience. how easy is it for them to get lost or offtrack. >> again, in an aircraft like that, a sophisticated aircraft, one where you have more senior pilots in command of the

aircraft. it will be difficult to get lost unless there was a series of problems making the navigational system not work as designed or had that system give false information to the pilots. it's also possible that there could have been issues with pilot's misinterpreting correct information. this is getting a little ahead of the story. it's unclear weather the aircraft has crashed or the pilots were lost or off course at any point. but to make a complex story more simple, there's several ways they can get lost or offtrack. it depends on the situation this aircraft was in. two things to keep in mind - it was a night-time flight and a flight where the initial portion was over water. so you don't have the kind of reference points on the ground - lights, cities, et cetera, that you might have on an aircraft

flying over north america. if there's confusion about their navigational situation, they may not have had many reference points on the outside to help them out. >> it's been eight hours since they were supposed to land. how do airlines cooperate with government officials and emergency workers. what's the relationship like between the two? >> depends on the country there's a well thought out practised set of procedures that happens with a flight going missing, especially an international flight. a country where the aircraft may have been, vietnam. that has been involved in the search, the country the origin of the aircraft. this is a question of how do those particular governments coordinate on those other issues.

air traffic control organisations work with one another. i suspect that the versions of their coast guards will work together in a situation like this, a joint operation. >> codd -- todd curtis, joining us. thank you for being with us. we'll bring you any knew developments on the malaysian airlines plane as they become available. >> we have ended the week with a lot of bad weather. we saw icing and half a million people losing power because of that ice. the good news is that system is going to make its way out to the atlantic, and it will clear for the weekend, so the crews can get out and fix the powerlines. to the north-west we are looking for more rain coming into the forecast. flooding has been a problem,

especially along the western parts of the washington. we'll see flooding across parts of idaho, and montana over the next few days. >> temperatures on saturday, seattle. we think on monday we'll get a break in the rain and the sun will shine. towards los angeles, the temperatures will be coming up. no rain in the forecast. you need to go to north california. 84 degrees will be the high as we go towards saturday. that will continue until we get to monday. it will drop down, back into the '70s. across texas, we have clouds going through over towards new mexico. rain in the forecast. it will be a problem. down towards townsville. corpus kristi. and maybe we'll see a bit of that rain. the high temperature of 60 degrees. going through the rest of the week it will rise to 78. >> a jumbo jet bound for beijing

disappears with 239 on board. four were americans. we'll have more on those latest developments.

>> we return to the top story. a malaysia airlines jet vanishes en route to beijing. it was carrying 237 passengers. the plane has crashed off the coast of the vietnam. let's go to rob mcbride at the airport in beijing. what can you tell us right now? >> it is a very agonising weight for relatives, friends of passengers aboard the aircraft, waiting for confirmation that the aircraft has, indeed, crashed in the sea. what we are hearing from malaysian airline officials in beijing, and from malaysia

itself is that they cannot confirm there has been a crash. they have heard the same reports that we have, quoted on reuters newsagency. that a senior vietnamese naval official said there has been a crash. the agency is trying to get this corroborated. this has been reported. they are trying to get a corroboration. until they do get that confirmation, it is very difficult for the airline to confirm that. their official position is that this airline is officially missing. it's been some 12 hours since the last contact with the aircraft, a good six or seven hours since passengers should have been arriving in the hall at beijing international airport. relatives of passengers are being looked after at a hotel

nearby, where several hundred of the world media are camped out here and there at the airport, waiting for more information. >> thank you rob mcbride in beijing. >> russia's foreign minister warns secretary of state john kerry of a boomer anning effect if the u.s. takes access over the crisis in ukraine. russia is believed to have 20,000 troops on the ground. the kremlin says they are local self-defence forces and not under russian control. many russians support closer ties, a minority group is concerned about what that can mean for them. jennifer glasse has the story. >> vladimir lenin stands in the capital. not far from sevastopol. some people are worried history may repeat itself. communist leader joseph stalin expelled them en masse.

>> not long ago when the tatars were deported from crimea, the same thing happened. soldiers came with arms and in 15 minutes soldiers were thrown out of their homes. tatars don't plan to let it happen again. they formed self-defence groups patrolling their neighbourhood. so far it's quiet. they are left with a mistrust of moscow, and leaves this community wondering how it may be treated. >> this minority group was hoping for international support and are certain it won't come in time. >> if vladimir putin makes a decision, he makes it in the morning. in the evening it's implemented. no bureaucracy, no delays. as for u.n. structures, it takes months. by then it will be all over. >> and things are moving fast. the city council of sevastopol voted on thursday to become part

of russia, perhaps trying to help predetermine a referendum on crimea's future. that was brought forward by the pro-russian parliament. >> translation: considering the geopolitical situation, we decided the sooner we were done with the vote, the quieter it would be. and people will feel safer. >> all this happening as the ukrainian navy and forces called for them to surrender. not an ideal environment for a referendum. michael works to bring investors to sevastopol. he says the crimean people are not in control. >> this is the game between russia and the united states. they have are the major players of this game. if they come to good agreement, then differently -- definitely everyone will be happy. >> here there's no agreement in

sight. and the longer the military standoff turnings the harder the diplomatic solution becomes. >> reports of excessive force against anti-government protesters and journalists in venezuela is raising concern at the u.n., the international agency is demanding them provide information on alleged cases of torr tur. two were killed this week in violence, raising the death toll to 21. high inflation and violent crime fuelled anti-government protests which began last month. >> a man locked up for 18 years, 12 on death row is taking on the texas prosecutor who tried his case. anthony graves has been convicted for the murder of a grandmother. he was exonerated and said the prosecutor withheld evidence

that could have cleared him at trial. he is filing a grievance hoping to have the prosecutor's licence revoked. >> legalization of marijuana raised challenges for law enforcement. defecting when someone is high behind the wheel. >> reporter: this is not acting class, it's real-life police work. >> when i ask you to, i'll ask you to tilt your head back and close your eyes. >> law enforcement. a squad being trained to recognise stone-influenced behaviour. they want to stop accidents like this, a few days after marijuana was allowed to be sold. >> how does law enforcement tell the difference between stoned and drunk driving. >> officers find on marijuana

officers have a harder time. he will tell me, and based on that, i will start to get tears. >> before they pull anyone over, troopers must have probable cause. i cannot arrest someone based on an odour or a couple of cues. >> to get the word out. an ad campaign is designed to keep people from driving high. the law says drivers are impaired with 5 nanograms of thc. there's a loophole. people charged with driving under the influence of marijuana, can try and convince a jury that they were not high. >> it's not the nanogram, it's how the substance affects someone. it doesn't matter whether it's higher or lower. it's behaviour of impairment.

>> a frustrating area for law enforcement. the marijuana community is left not really knowing oftentimes whether they could be - whether they are truly impaired or can be convicted. >> so far in colorado, there has been two arrests a day for driving under the influence of marijuana. we can all agree that people should not use marijuana and driving the same way they should drink alcohol or prescription drugs or other illegal drugs. >> and with this graduation, there'll be more troopers trained to be on the look out for people who decide to get high and drive. >> some lou enforcement -- law enforcement agencies were training officers to recognise stoned driving. >> up and coming artists in the spotlight at the whitney museum, we introduce you to a sculpture

who created this, along with other talented people taking center

>> one of the art world's most prestigious shows opened to the public this weekend. it's the biennial 2014. crowds lined up to catch the showcase of up and coming artists. we spoke to one, dave mckenzie in his studio in brooklyn. >> i was shocked to be selected to be in the biennials. >> it doesn't happen every day that you get to be in every major exhibition. i'm an art maker or sculptor. i make performances and videos. when it shows a piece called camera and the work is videoed and i document finding myself at an event with henry kissinger.

i think with the way technology change youred our lives, obviously people are documenting everything all the time. what he has lost, and someone asks is why we document. when you document everything, i think in some ways you get people walking around the museum taking pictures of painting of sculptures, delaying the experience, looking at the works of art. when people come to the museum and sees my shows, i think history is created in archives. it shows the beautiful has come, and it's me in a museum in berlin, housing the busk as well as me walking through an abandoned building and sort of marrying the two images together. i hope people think of the work, will think of how we choose to preserve certain things, and let

other things fall into ruin. >> now let's take a listen to a chicago artist about his elections to the show. >> i'm an artist who works with papier-mâché and leather. they are not even possible objects, really, in the real sworld. they are a kind of like how we might view the past as like these great moments, frozen, and no one is looking any more. and they can see their current world, but almost completely emptied of human life or form or culture. the motion of a middle class has been a kind of declining way of if. i'm not suffering, but it's certainly starting as available as they were to my parents or to other generations. to be in the whitney is a huge honour, and nothing bothered me.

i was free - i was free of neuroosises and i felt fantastic. there's a certain reward of making art and having people look at it and participate in it that way. >> a 2014 whitney bianial running through may the 5th. before we leave you - an update on the top story. a malaysia airlines jet vanishes on the way to beijing. authorities are searching for answers. this is what we know - the plane is carrying 239 passengers, including crew members and it's been more than eight hours since it was scheduled to land. four u.s. citizens are on board, three adults and one infant. please stay with al jazeera for all the latest developments on this story. thank you for watching. i'm morgan radford. i look forward to seeing you

back here. "the stream" is up next and you can follow us online or on twitter. stay with us. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in "the stream." buckle up, we're going to walk the streets of baghdad with ordinary iraqis to get a sense of what a day is like with a sense of utter unpredictability. >> my cohost, rajahad ali is here, and he's bringing in all of your feedback in the show.