crimea's vote today trickle in. president obama spoke to putin on the phone. the u.s. has called the vote illegal, however. russian government also saying that they need to find ways to strengthen relations between the government of russia and the ukraine. >> thank you for joining us. we are following two important stories for you now. a controversial vote today pits russia against much of the world. people in the region voted on whether to join russia or become an independent state. the white house is slamming the

vote calling it illegal. plus we track every angle of airlines flight 370. 25 nations are searching for the missing plane. coming up short. the airlines disappeared ten days ago. let me give you the latest developments here. pakistan says no trace of the missing plane ever showed up on its radar. right now police are examining a flight simulator taken from the pilot's home. the search for the jet is getting bigger. authorities are scow weatheriur and land. we are bringing in our experts to track the unsolved mystery of malasia. it is another day without

concrete answers. we have andrew stephens live on the ground there. authorities looking at the flight simlulator and can you tell our viewers what is the most significant development today? >> i think jim, the most significant development is here. the reason i say that, 24 hours ago, we were getting information that the trance ponders in the plane were switched off before the captain or who ever said his final words by radio. all right good night. that has been confirm ed to us today. whatever was happening was happening before that final contact. today the police continue to look at the cabackground of the

pilot and the co-pilot. police saying this has been put back together again. royters is reporting that there were programs on how to fly through bad weather. that is a fairly normal program to have on a flight simulator. but a significant that they are refocusing on the captain. the co-pilot as well. you will remember has a history there was an accident three years ago when he let two strangers into the cockpit. add to that, another ten crew members and 227 passengers on that plane. there is a lot of leg work to get through now. and get background checks on passengers and crew before they

can be eliminated on the investigation. >> i'm glad you mentioned that. nothing has been established linking the pilot and co-pilot on that. >> i wonder if i can talk about the search air yaxt there has been a lot of information that they appeared to have this radar data taking it west while they were still focusing the search to the east. how much has that hampered the search efforts in this country? >> yeah, significantly on both counts. the ambassador here to malasia today. i pointed out to the west had not been searching for 8 days because they were being told that primary search area was 8

days lost. we know they were very unhappy. it is significant that given just how difficult it was always going to be to find this plane. if it had gone down south into the vast expansions of the ocean. it could be hundreds of miles away from where the plane wept down. there is a concern. the malasians are telling us today that they have to get the radar information from these 11 countries that the plane may have over thrown and that they can't rule out at the moment. they have to get that information still. that is going to require delicate maneuvering. this information will be sensitive. it is not being helped by what is being perceived by the miss

step as long the way so far. >> let's hope that the cooperation gets better. thank you very much. >> joining me now to discuss the latest developments our cnn safety analyst and law enforcement analyst and lawyer, engineer and pilot. who has investigated all of the major crashes. if i can ask you in light of that experience looking at this development today, as they focus the investigation of this, how important is looking at this flight simlay tore and do you think that is an, unusual thing to have? >> i think the flight simlay tore is very important.

it could be as in knockous or it could be an instrument used in preparation for what happened? why do i say that? >> the route that this pilot flew from the time that the system was turned off. the last communication, the turn 180 degree turn, follows by the flight across the malasian peninsula. military radar had primary hits of this airplane but it was able to traverse with an air force that could have crossed. it wasn't just one that missed it but three. >> to me, it sounds very

practiced and possibly rehearsed. >> definitely clear. we know they are pouring over it right now. how big this search area has become extending from the ocean up to land and north asia, and land ande invest gators are telling us, how do you cover that amount of ground? >> in any accident or investigation it becomes a game of management and resources. you go with the most likely sna scenario first. i wanted to say that. how long and where they are searching. the most important piece of information right now would be gathering the satellite

information. the pinging could be within a specific satellite's reception area. the important thing is to get the important thing and see where those circles overlap. that is when you focus. now you have a real place to focus. i don't think that they have enough of that information. they are focusing on the 16 satellites that they use to focus on the 400 frequency on the elt's. but that, those satellites are designed not to try angyou late. it is important to put those together and overlap them and see where those pings came from and then a concentrated search cannen sue.

25 countries has been mentioned before. and a lot of information is sensitive. how far do your radars go? how far do your satellites go? are you confident that will work? you have to get countries like the u.s., all of the kinds of countries that have resources there. how do they share that freely? >> jim, that is extremely difficult. i have run a number of multi national task force cases like that. you want to work with partners that you have worked with in the past. or that you have prearranged and had agreements with. you have kcountries trying to come together and when they come in with their own ways of doing business or if they come in with a great deal of information so

that you can over whelm vest gators it can make it more difficult. it may not be a blessing to have so many countries to jump in. the management of the command post, the crisis center. how the agencies are going to be aligned. that is more easily done if you planned in advance to do it. during the middle of a crisis is a difficult proposition. it is an unusual alliance of countries to work together. david, tom, arthur. i want you to stay with us. i want to invite our viewers to tweet in questions. you think of things that you don't think of. tweet them and we'll try to answer as many as we can on the

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without ear information it has not been ruled out. also authority of the book plane crashes. i'm going to give you the chance to answer the first question again. if someone tried to make the plane in visiible how possible

is that and what kind of skill level would a pilot feed? >> a high level of skill. if you look at the location of theary plane at a point in time it doesn't take you over india or pakistan. le the government reported today that they have no radar data which would have been through their air space. if you go through the eastern border, that area is one of weak

radar coverage. and then you are free to travel another 7,000 miles. >> that would be embarrassing to the chinese to reveal a vulnerability to them. >> we are talking 25,000 feet. >> we know the plane has to dip at least at 45,000 feet. but if the plane was at 45,000 feet, it would be the referred route. >> so that is avoiding the redar. you could have to get this plane on the ground. it is one of the theories that we know. but would that be doable? >> how skilled would the pie

late have to be to land it on a unused air field or old military base? how doable is that? the sophistication it takes to turn off the equipment and the order and type of systems. what concerns me so much is 10,000 data points. not a lot of people would know that is what i have to shut off first. so, this is an advanced commercial aircraft. this shows a lot of preplanning. this took years and years to put

together. i find it difficult to believe that after that level of sophistication that they would let the aircraft go crash into the ocean. >> you are saying that level of skill just quickly to turn off the systems and have the knowledge would allow the pilot to land that plane? >> well, if they had turned off the systems first, the information would have been sent back to the airlines and there would have been a clue right off the bat that, that aircraft had

been commendeared. can we use satellites to track and find planes? >> one of those things is that they have a they are parked over lotions that might be a problem that they want to keep track of. thanks to all of you.

i know we are going to have another chance to talk to you. we know that flight 370 was pinked up as an unidentified object. but up next new information on why that didn't happen. yes! not just a start up. an upstart. gotta get going. gotta be good. good? good. growth is the goal. how do we do that? i talked to ups. they'll help us out. new technology. smart advice. we focus on the business and they take care of the logistics. ups? good going. we get good. that's great. great. great. great. great. great. great. great. great. (all) great! i love logistics.

there is new information today on the search for flight 270 out of pakistan. officials there claim they didn't see the jumbo jet on their radars or they would have scrambled the military to respond. we talk about how large the area is being searched. granted if we take that fact for face value, there would be incentive to see it, but looking at the map, why would it be important that pakistan was not on the path of the plane? >> there is a chance that the plane may have speneaked south. on an efficient flight path maybe something like that could have happened. so the most likely chance of this line being the correct possible area of landing now,

because the government did say that these lines may in dikate that the plane was on the ground, that is the shortest distance to get there. otherwise they run out of fuel. how did they get here? >> this is one arc of a gps ping. but we don't have the gps. we only have g. you need at three at least and they will cross at one point and that would have been right there. we have one satellite and that is out here 22,000 miles in space. it pinged the place and they know the time and angle to do that and they also know the signal strength to get back to that satellite. that is the same distance.

now this is a circle looking flat at it. and this is where the arcs come from. if you think about this circle here, the plane couldn't get there. so let's get rid of that, gone. now, the government says, you know what, guys we have good radar systems through here. we would have seen it. now we have two arcs. and if we fly up to the northern arc there is a lot of territory. at 8:11 am it was on that line somewhere or on the bottom of the line down here. if it is down here, jim, there is not any land that i see within landing distance within fuel distance to get to. it is all a matter of how much

gas was in that plane. the last ping they had was 8:11. the government says it may have been on the ground. the 7:00 am 11 minutes after may not have been very far from the 11 ping and the plane may not have been moving and that is why they think the plane may be on the ground. >> that arc is a guide but doesn't mean that it is confined to the red lines of that arc. but that is the best guide that they have at this point. airline safety change big time after 9/11. up next we look at the lessons that we learned back then that may help us find flight 370 today. who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged.

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welcome back. we never imagined a week ago that we would still be reporting today that a commercial airliner is still missing and that nobody knows where it s but that is just where we stand. ary airplanes, boats are considering what happened to that triple 7 could be anywhere on the earth right now. united states navy is helping the search. and considering that the plane happened on the radar. airline security changed drastically and what lessons have we learned and what can this missing mh 70 tell us. >> we have california

congressman joining us. thank you very much for joining us, congressman. >> you bet. >> i want to get to a point or concern. if 13 years after 9/11, a plane can, and it has not been proven yet, can be commendeared, does that mean that something similar in the u.s. can happen is that a concern? does it expose a vowulnervulner? >> it checks against the stolen passport database. you don't know who is flying on your plane. they are more for americans traveling on overseas or on

flights traveling in the united states. we have put in terms of passengers getting on the planes and their luggage as well. there is a multilaried approach as well. and we are seeing that. it had nothing to do with the disappearance of this plane. that may have more to do with the pilots or the crew. en even there. we scrutinize the crew on that. airline flights are a safe way to go. when, and you and i talk about this peer oddically when there is a challenge or threat to planes, we were talking about bombs being brought onboard, when that happens sometimes you will see changes to u.s.

security at airports, there were some new security advances at the sochi olympics because there were some sort of attacks there. will this lead to changes here? longer lines and more rigorous checks of passport data? >> it is possible that it will lead us to greater scrutiny with the crew of the aircraft. these could be things that we have taken action to correct. making sure that people aren't taking action with stolen documents. the hope may be that we see improved airline ability around the world. and tracking aircraft. we will be looking at those systems like the black box and determining better safeguards. so that pilots can't turn off

the communications. so those kinds of changes are possible but i don't think you will see them manifest in longer lines in the airport. i have been getting a lot of questions over twitter. why is it that they are able to switch off the systems. you are saying that might change down the line? there could be changes that airlines corporate with the feedback of the ntsb. that thewill make it easier to d aircraft. and without having to retrieve a black box from 15,000 feet under the water. those changes could happen over ti time. >> thank you very much. how this flight might affect us here at home. several u.s. agencies are

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we want to turn now to what u.s. investigators are doing to find the plane.

>> that is right. jim, i think it is fair to say that from the beginning they have been looking at everybody on the plane. from the passengers to the crew. the fact that they have come forward in the last couple of days that have basically guided them towards looking more closely at the two men that are in the cockpit. u.s. investigators are going back and looking at the information that they have on them. and i'm told that they have been going through that information and figuring out if there is anything that they can find. whether or not there is any online communications with anyone that they know that could

raise a concern. mostly because there are so few facts that they have there is no plane that has been found right now that is what they are looking at, jim. >> i think it is an important distinction that they are making to our viewers here. from the sources that you are speaking to now, there is no evidence that is suspicious yet, it is just a line of inquiry at this point is that right? >> there are so few to go on. building profiles of anybody on the plane. they are looking at any individuals who had contact with the plane. from the caterers to the grounds crew who had any ability to do something to the airplane before he took off.

nobody is saying that the pilots are suspected here. they do feel like it is imperative to reexamine those folks. it took some skill to move this plane from it's scheduled course and take it on this arc that they are searching for. that is what they are looking at right now. >> understood. no sussuspiciouses but signs that lead them in that direction. as you mentioned just the skill required to do that. thank you very much for coming on. >> we are following a big story today. the votes are in and the counting is underway. coming up the early results right after this break. but first mark jones has never let anything get in the way of a championship. he shares his never give up add

toot. >> 65 years old mark the snake jones has competed in the wheelchair championships. he never planned on becoming a champion pool player but it helped him overcome something that happened years ago. >> the wheel came off the car and the impact my door flew open and i didn't have on the seatbelt and i flew out of the car at probably 50 miles-an-hour and i broke my neck, back, all over. >> he was paralyzed. no longer able to walk. the. >> able body, as my friends they said let's play some pool. i sit and watched them play. i said this can't be this difficult. >> friendy pick up games turned into tournaments.

it is undescribable. i just love it. i love the competition. it is a feeling he wanted to share with others like himself. >> it is not easy. and i know what they are going through. that is what the organization is all about. getting people out doing things. >> dr. sanjay gupta cnn reporting. dear sun,

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first a major development in the ukraine. today's referendum ov overwhelmingly favored joining russia. 95% voted to leave ukraine. how will the west respond? with us from moscow is cnn contributor. and on the phone is christopher hill. if i can begin with you first, mr. hilsner.

i would like your reaction to today's vote and this big picture question, is this the beginning of the retreat from russia from it's relations >> i don't think you'd say it's the beginning of a retreat. but i think the relationship has been going downhill now for quite a while. i'd say probably for the past ten years or so. it's been going slow. slowly going downhill. what's happened today in crimea is seen in russia as a great victory. actually, cars are driving around with russian flags waving. the russians the vast majority see crimea as being part of russia historically. for 250 years after it was taken and when it was given away by khrushchev it didn't matter. that was the soviet union so it

could have been given to the 15 other republics but when the soviet union disappeared it just so happened that crimea remained in ukraine. and that's been seen by most people as unfair. now, if anyone doubts that 95% of the people who -- of the 50% of the votes that have been counted are for joining russia, they shouldn't. this is what most people in crimea want. 60% of them are ethnic russians. they want to be part of russia. this is not a staged vote when you look at the celebrations. you can't doubt that these people really are very happy. maybe 6 or 7% voted to stay with ukraine. they had that choice on the ballot, but they're a small minority. now, will this lead to worse relations with the west? there's no doubt about it. but i think you have to be careful when you talk about the west. is it the united states or is it the united states and europe? because europe in that sense is much more dependent on russia,

it has much more closer independent ties than the united states. if europe decides to employ sanctions there's going to be y retaliation on the part of russia. it's not a good situation, but it has to be seen the way it is and i think the reporting is going to be objective, not tinged by prejudice by saying that that referendum was done under russian guns and things like that because you get the wrong picture, as if the majority of the people in the crimea didn't want to be part of russia. that just isn't the case. >> thank you, mr. posner. i want to ask ambassador hill, because you have those cultural ties between the russians in crimea and russia. but there is the matter of national borders here which the u.s. says have been violated. the u.s. could move to impose sanctions as soon as tomorrow, but moscow seems to have figured that into the calculations is

there hope that russia would reverse the move it is taking today and in the weeks leading up to this? >> i don't think the sanctions are going to make any difference at this point. i think vladimir putin is basically making a decision to in effect annex crimea. i'd be very careful with the notion that somehow this has happened before. that this is akin to the kosovo voting. this is quite different. this is a neighboring state, annexing a part of its neighbor. there's no question there's been an enormous amount of history. i mean, crimea is not something new to russia at all. but giving some thought to that, it was 20 years ago when the russian leadership gladly participated in a process that kept crimea in the ukraine. so i think it's a very dark day. especially a dark day for those of us who worked very hard to include russia in international issues, such as north korea or

bosnia. i think a very dark day, but i think putin has left our president with no choice. he needs to impose sanctions, and i know putin will impose his own. it will be a real sort of sense of spite and kind of hard line approach. and we'll have no choice but to do more. in fact, i think the end of this is going to be to cast russia out into the cold and the problem is i don't think putin really cares. i think this is where he wants to take russia. i think it's kind of a bad day for east-west relations but maybe an even worse day for the russian people and by the way, taking crimea out of the ukraine will make ukraine a much more western oriented country. so if russia was looking to kind of keep ukraine as a friend, neighbor, ally, they have done something quite to the contrary of that interest. >> well, two very different

views there. as you say, a sobering day for east-west celebratirelationship watching the celebrations as the ethnic russians celebrate the vote. thank you very much, ambassador and mr. pozner. social media is abuzz over the other major story, flight 370. we'll look at what is being said and how the missing jet liner is trending online, right after this. [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

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you'd be hard pressed to find a facebook or twitter page that doesn't mention the missing airliner. our nick valencia has been looking at how it's trending worldwide. what are you finding out on the web, when it comes to this mystery that's captivating us? >> that's the story, the

mystery. it's millions of people all throughout the world. number one story on cnn's digital platform since it broke on march 8th. you can see it's still here, the top story. one of the most visited weeks in the history of cnn.com. i mentioned the story broke on march 8th, it's one of the most popular stories all time. it's right up there with the inauguration of president barack obama. and sites like twitter, we are seeing it's not really trending anymore more here in the united states as it was for days, but on social media sights in malaysia, you can see here it's still the number two story. people are using the #mh 370. number two story here on malaysia and india twitter. also, heavy traffic on google news here. you will see this is also one of the top stories, the second most read story here on google news and when you visit yahoo! more of the same. lots of interest in the story as people are trying to figure out the mystery of malaysian airline

370. people have taken an interest in this plane and where it could be. >> and the questions are coming in by the hundreds. thanks, nick valencia, for following this story on the web. this is cnn breaking news. >> you are in cnn newsroom. we are attacking two very important stories today, that the world is watching. a controversial vote today pits russia against much of the world. we have early results from crimea's referendum on possibly joining russia. crimea's leaders say crimea is going home to russia. world leaders say not so fast. president obama and russia's president putin talked today about the tense situation in the ukraine. plus, we are tracking every angle of the mysterious disappearance of flight 370 and there are new clues emerging. right now, 25 nations are searching for the missing plane and coming up short so far. the airliner disappeared some ten days o,