we're following the breaking news. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the breaking news, china has released what it says are satellite images that may, repeat may, show debris from the malaysia airline flight 370.

we're investigating. we've got experts who are taking a closer look at these images. joining us now, the former chairman of the national transportation safety board, jim h hall. also joining us steven wallace, a former faa director of accident investigation. jim hall, what do you make of these images? some are suggesting they may not necessarily be any debris from that airliner. others are saying it could be a very significant moment. what do you think? >> well, it appears to me, wolf, just from the images i've seen on television, that there's a strong possibility that it could be flight 360. and my thoughts, of course, first go to the families because they will not have peace of mind until this wreckage is found. >> flight 370, to be precise. >> 370 -- i apologize. >> that's all right. we don't know and some are nervous, some are cautious about

this. steven wallace, you've taken a look at the size of these three big chunks that china has seen on its satellite images. your conclusion? >> i heard your analyst say they estimate the dimensions of the debris about 40 by 70 feet. well, when an airplane goes into the water, whether it impacts intact or breaks up at high altitude, what floats are lighter weight typically interior components. major structural components will sink. so if this image is a blurry image -- i'm sure it will be more carefully analyzed, if it's true that the piece of wreckage is 40 by 70 feet, i would be very skeptical as to whether it's part of that aircraft. >> the three chunks -- and jim hall, i want you to weigh in on this. one chunk 43 by 59, one chunk 46 by 62 feet, one chunk 79 by 72 feet. and the chinese in releasing the objects, they told us the units

in meters, 13 by 18, 14 by 19, 24 by 22. you agree with steven wallace that these are pretty large chunks, that it would be unusual for wreckage from an airliner like this to be able to have these large chunks floating? >> well, steve is an expert in this area, and i would defer to his judgment. i'm just hoping because it is in the vicinity, that that aircraft might -- the wreckage may have floated and these aircraft i've seen three or four in these situations and there are various pieces. sometimes a very large tail piece can be found floating on the ground -- i mean, on the water. >> on the water. so it's -- it may or may not be. but as far as losing, you know, any contact with that huge 777,

steven, the fact that the transponders, both of them went out, the plane simply vanished, disappeared. it could be the result of some sort of catastrophic engine collapse or power outage or whatever, but it could be an act by an individual, an act of terror or somebody getting into the cockpit or pilot suicide. i don't know if you've studied all of that. but what's your sense? >> investigators don't want to speculate but they want to learn from what they've seen in the past. we've seen airplanes blown up, air india 1895, lockerbie 1988, egypt air '99 flown deliberately into the water. we've seen those sort of criminal acts, suicides or bombings. again, i think we have to be careful here not to replace yesterday's red herring with today's red herring. the last thing we were talking about was this radar track. and this -- what we found today, if we think that's part of the wreckage, that is completely

inconsistent with that primary radar track we were discussing earlier in the investigation. >> take us behind the scenes, jim hall. you're a former chairman of the ntsb, the national transportation safety board. the ntsb announced they have individuals, they have experts on the scene in kuala lumpur working with malaysian authorities. what are they doing? >> well, wolf, i certainly hope we have some of our forensic radar people there to assist them. this investigation to this point has been without effective leadership, and you know it's are been very unfortunate all this information that's come out and then been corrected and, you know, i think the international civil aviation organization is going to have to look at restructuring how international investigations are done. if we're going to have a country that can operate this type of aircraft, then we need to

anticipate the worst and have a coordinated investigative effort. and i think the rules are going to have to be changed. >> let me bring steven wallace back into this conversation. malaysian airlines ceo was at a news conference today. he was unable to answer whether the faa's calls for inspections on possible cracks in the 777 that could lead to decompression, loss of structural integrity, he was unable to answer whether or not they had dealt with those faa calls for further inspections. what does that say to you? >> not too much. it's really -- if his director of maintenance didn't know, that would be a big concern, but this really is a bit below because these directors there's hundreds of them out there. >> you don't think after a plane disappears he'd go back to his experts and say, did we do something wrong, did we miss some inspection, did we not follow the directors? >> some of those are issued with a great deal of conservatism, so they were concerned about a

minor crack growth that might have resulted in a skin failure, which the plane is designed so that the skin fails it vents benignly. >> so that couldn't cause a crash? >> very, very unlikely. but i'd like to add to what chairman hall said, this investigation has gotten off to a very slow start. i don't know whether the fact is it's a national airline there's a lot of plid or the military/civil relationship there because there's been expert faa, the people that jim hoped were there, they are there, the radar experts. the sharing of the data has been slow and even this chinese photo apparently was taken several days ago. so this investigation has not gotten off to a start you would expect. >> let's say, jim hall, that these images that the chinese satellite agency have released, turn out to be a false lead, let's say the malaysian air force which yesterday suggested the plane after the transponder

turned off maybe turned around and flew over malaysia for another hour and ten minutes, that turns out to be a false lead, where do we go from here, jim hall? >> we have to keep looking. in this day and age of terrorism, we can't have a missing aircraft of this size. we all know from 9/11 what can happen. so that's why i've been an advocate for a decade for deployable recorders that are used on the f-16, f-18 and the military. certainly in our country, at least, where we have sophisticated technology, we need to have everything available. we couldn't have it, if this was a u.s. airline, can you imagine the situation, wolf? we need to be prepared in the future to take steps to learn from this unfortunate set of circumstances. >> yes. doesn't look like either one of you has a whole lot of

confidence at least right now in the way malaysian authorities are conducting this investigation. there's some suggestion, steven wallace, that the satellite images they're a little blurry and some suspicion the chinese deliberately blurred them for whatever reasons, they didn't want to reveal their capabilities or whatever. do you buy that? >> i think that's rather rampant speculation. i think that the chinese, of course, the majority of the passengers on this aircraft were chinese citizens. the chinese have a tremendous interest in this. and so i would hope that they would share those photos in the pure undoctored form. it certainly would be their responsibility. >> i hope they're sharing them at least with other authorities like the ntsb and others. another thought there, jim hall, before we go? >> we can't have an international accident investigation without competition people in charge of

the investigation. there's so many cameras, there's so much media attention. you could see in malaise xwysiae getting carried away by being on television for first time, wanting to release this information and that information. nobody's been in charge of this investigation. that's got to be addressed by the international civil aviation organization because because there are too high of stakes now involved in between major nations and with all the conflict in the world. so this -- we certainly don't need to repeat this any time soon. >> and i know you want to wish all your former colleagues at the ntsb who are now investigating this in malaysia and elsewhere the best of luck. jim hall, the former chairman of the ntsb. thanks very much, steven wallace, to you as well. we'll continue the breaking news

coverage. the mystery surrounding flight 370, are these images a long-awaited break in what's been a seemingly oh so troubled investigation?

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and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? our breaking news, a chinese satellite has taken images of a suspected crash site from malaysia airlines flight 370 showing what appears to be some large pieces of floating wreckage. that comes even as the search has been stepped up along with the investigation on the ground. brian todd is taking a closer look at what's going on, he's joining us right now. brian, this investigation in many respects only just beginning. >> that's right, wolf. you know those new satellite images from the chinese sending malaysian investigators into a scramble for information as this case takes more turns. cnn has learned that police have searched the home of the pilot of malaysian airlines 370.

the video we've gotten from inside that home shows why it's of interest. this is the pilot of missing malaysian flight 370. today police were searching his home for clues where we know from this video the captain had a flight simulator in his home. could that provide answers to this mystery? as each day passes, it seems each clue raises more questions than it answers. all part of a pattern of confusion and some say a lack of coherent information from malaysian officials. their vietnamese counterparts say they're pulling back on their search until they get better communication. >> up until now we only had one meeting with a malaysian attache, however the information they've provided is insufficient. >> i am surprised they haven't had more meetings. maybe the meetings are going on at different levels. but i would think they'd be in contact with all the governments in the region to see what data they have and how it plays out. >> reporter: he investigated hundreds of crashes for the

ntsb. his criticism of the malaysians is far tamer than congressman peter king's. >> so far they seem to have dropped the ball at every level. i hate to be the monday morning quarterback, but appears they've done nothing right so far. >> reporter: the search area has been a point of contention. day one officials had the search area here in the gulf of thailand. then they expanded it over land and into the strait of malacca. it covers 27,000 nautical miles. critics say the search area should be smaller by this stage, not wider. tom haeuter disagrees. he says they're disresponding as new information comes in. >> situation like you have to start with all the data you have. now if you have data that says it strawed from the flight path, we have to expand the search. you've searched east, west, a reporter said. you dmont what you've seen on radar. and several days in -- >> this is utter confusion.

>> i don't think so. i think it's far from it. it's only confusion if you want it to be seen to be confusion. >> reporter: but there's more now adding to this confusion, the head of malaysia's civil aviation department now says his agency has not received or even seen the newly released satellite images from china. >> very, very strange indeed. mary schiavo, the former investigator for the u.s. government suggests u.s. officials should take over the lead in this entire probe. what are you being told about that? >> reporter: a former ntsb official tells us that it cannot happen. it has to be the country where the incident occurs who has to take the lead. that's according to international treat es. the malaysians have this now. they'll have to make due with it. >> they'll get a lot of help, no doubt about that. families there sharing more of their anger, more of their grief. look at this. passengers, relatives threw water bottles at malaysia airlines officials in beijing

and accused them of being liers. 239 people were on board where the plane suddenly vanished. two brothers who were traveling to indonesia on business. they spoke to the third brother who appeared in shadow because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. he described the pain his family is experiencing right now. >> translator: extremely sad. we've been crying. there's a feeling of loss, but for sure we're still hoping. because the plane hasn't been found, we still hope we were together the way we were before. >> what are you hoping for now? >> translator: our hope is that they'll be found soon, as soon as possible. that the plane and the people on board will be found, and we're hoping for a miracle. >> so are we, every day we're hoping for more. we'll take a quick break. more of the breaking news, the

chinese satellite images may or may not be genuine showing aircraft, the airliner crash site. also, a shattering explosion levels a new york city apartment building. we'll go live to the scene. pay my bill. phone: your account is already paid in full. oh, well in that case, back to vacation mode. ♪boots and pants and boots and pants♪ ♪and boots and pants and boots and pants♪ ♪and boots and pants...

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>> much more on the mystery of flight 370 in just a moment but we're following other important news. take a look at these smoke plums over the new york city skyline. a gas explosion is blamed for this. poppy harlow has an update. >> reporter: we just got a new number of fatalities in from the new york city mayor's office. three people, three people, we

know two women for sure. we don't know the identities yet but three people have died because of this massive tragic explosion that took place just behind me. let's zoom in so you can see dozens and dozens well over 50 first responders, police officers, firefighters digging through the rubble all day through five story residential buildings here in harlem, spanish harlem. they were well over 100 years old. it's expected we're told by the utility company and mayor's office this was some sort of gas leak that led to this explosion. we know at this hour 63 people, that number has gone way up, 63 people have been injured because of this. some critically. some with minor injuries. at this hour ten people remain unaccounted for. that is the key question right now is where are those people that they cannot find. all day i've been talking to family members frantically up here looking for their loved

ones. i spoke twonesses, an aunt, 67 years old lived for two decades on the second floor of one of those buildings and have not heard from her. that's the case for families of at least ten people. the mayor, bill de blasio calling this tragic because there was little to no advance warning. at 9:15 this morning a call came in from somewhere nearby they smelled gas. by 9:30 this massive explosion took these two buildings down the ground. now they are investigating not only the department of building, the police here but ntsb coming in because this had to do with a pipeline investigating what may have cause this. they do know now the structural stability of the surrounding buildings is okay so people will eventually be allowed to go back home. but really tragic. three people did. 63 injured. we still don't know where ten are. >> poppy harlow on the scene for us in harlem in new york city.

it's early thursday morning over in malaysia and china where we're expecting more new developments in the investigation of the mystery of flight 370. chinese officials, they have released satellite images that may show the plane's wreckage. stay with cnn for the very latest. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family.

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we'll continue monitoring the developments in the mystery of flight 370. erin burnett will have the latest. ukraine's interim minister met with president obama over at the white house earlier today. the meeting comes as pro russian forces tighten its grip on the crimean peninsula. president obama threatens to punish russia with sanctions saying an outside country can't dictate how ukraine should contax cut it's internal affairs. president obama said he's committed to declassifying a senate intelligence report on controversial bush era detention practices. president obama won't weigh in on the explosive accusations that the cia secretly removed information from those computers but did not want congressional investigators to see. just days before spring a powerful storm the blanketing

snow on parts of the united states from the midwest to the northeast once again. this is vermont where some areas could see as much as two feet of snow. a winter storm warning is in effect there until tomorrow night. controversial governor of arizona says she won't run for re-election. republican jan brewer making the announcement earlier today amid questions about whether she could legally seek another four years in office. brewer may best be known for signing a 2010 law requiring immigrants to carry registration documents at all times, a case that was partially struck down by the united states supreme court. not much movement on wall street today. the dow and the s&p barely moved. the nasdaq posted a modest gain despite some sharp losses in global markets over concerns on china's economy that helped drive down many indices in europe and asia, more than 1%.

that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. remember you can always follow what's going on behind the scene, tweet me @wolflittle bit zero, tweet the show @cnnit isroom. erin burnett "outfront" right now. >> next breaking news chinese government has released new satellite images of what could be missing flight 370. is this really the downed plane? what happened in the cockpit moments before that plane went down. a look at how safe the boeing 777 could be? could something like this happen again? let's go "outfront". good evening everyone i'm erin burnett. we begin "outfront" with breaking news. we have satellite images from