anybody to go through what i went through. it is not right. it has to be fair. good evening, everyone. i'm don lemon in new york. this is cnn special live coverage of the disappearance of malaysia airlines 370. the boeing 777, missing with 239 people on board. here is what is new tonight. malaysian officials are looking hard and looking again at the people who walked onto that airplane ten days ago. i am not talking about just the paying passengers. the captain and his co-pilot. they are getting another close look too. one thing the malaysians believe is that the last contact with the plane could have been made from the ground. if that is true, that means somebody who knew what they were doing landed that jet. it is just one working theory.

it's not a wild departure from what american officials believe, either. a u.s. intelligence insider is telling cnn that they are leaning toward the scenario that the pilots are responsible for that plane vanishing. no details beyond that. now, let's go to the search. it is a massive operation. it has to be. look how much land and open ocean that 777 could have covered, planes, ships and satellites belonging to 25 countries now involved in this search. a few countries are saying, no, there is no way that plane is here. india and pakistan are both saying, if it entered their air space, they would have picked it up. i want you to listen to this. it is a friend of the man who was at the controls of the plane. he told cnn that it is not fair to imply somebody did something wrong before all the facts are in. take a listen. >> i feel particularly affected when they go for the lack of evidence, they

are going into theories like questioning his credibility, his terrorisms link and issues like that. i think it's a bit -- a little insensitive and unfair to the family. >> that interview was in kuala lumpur, malaysia, where cnn's jim clancy is right now. jim, 10:00 in the morning there. is the focus on those two airline pilots just as strong today as it was over the weekend? >> reporter: certainly. you know, they have searched the homes over the weekend. they have taken the flight simulator that was in the -- they have examined -- >> we are having a bit of a problem there with jim clancy. we will get that fixed and get right back to jim clancy for the very latest from kuala lumpur. but right now, the "uss kidd" is scouring the sea for any remains of the plane.

the commander is joining us. commander, tell us about today's search. >> hey, first, thanks for having us on, don. we appreciate the opportunity to talk about what we are doing up here. we are supporting the malaysian government who is running the overall search plan and operation. they give us areas to go search and we do so. right now, we are in the adaman sea heading north near the nicobar islands on the edge of the ipdian social based on an area the malaysian government has asked us to take a look at. taking a look for any debris in the water. we have extra people standing watch to take a look out with binoculars and cameras and we also are leveraging the advantage of our helicopters on board which allows us to go check a lot more space in a lot less time than just with ships. we are combining that effort to take a close look. so far, nothing that leads us toward something related to the missing airliner. these waters are highly congested with fishing and

commercial vessels so we found a lot of material in the water whether it is fishing buoys or other trash or debris but nothing that would lead us to believe it was associated with the missing airliner. >> i'm glad you mentioned that because many may feel that these waters are just open water and it's not very congested, but you said this is a very congested area. had an airplane gone down, someone would have seen something in the particular area where you are searching. >> well, i can't say that for certain. what i can tell you is when we started our search on 8, march, in the gulf of thailand. that body of water is definitely highly congested with fishermen and commercial ships. and we searched all through there with vessels of several other navy veries. we searched that area intently. at that time, i think that was the highest priority or highest probability in the malaysian government's assessment. we then after a couple days there, shifted to the west of

strait of malacca, the busiest waterway in the world. so done in the andaman sea where the merchant traffic goes in and out to get back to asia, that is very highly congested. when you get 50, 60, 75 miles off that main thoroughfare in the upper part of the andaman sea, you can find pockets that are less congested. not conceivable but certainly in the lower density areas, by commercial shipping, you would expect a higher probability of somebody missing something. >> commander, i want you to stand by. i want to bring in cnn meteorologist, chad myers. even if we can rule out pakistan, the search area is still enormous. >> it certainly is. probably the size of half of the lower 48 states of the united states. because the line here, and we will get to why there are lines. 200 miles east and west or north and south of that line right through there, that's about a million square miles. same story down here in the

south part of the search area. about a million square miles. and that's literally two-thirds to a half of what the united states would be, trying to find an airplane somewhere in the united states. >> chad, what about the ship traffic in that area? you heard the commander talking about it. it's a busy area. can you point out to what he is talking about? >> absolutely. we have this marinetracker.com. i know i can look at this, there are over 1,000 ships in this strait here between the gulf of thailand back over here to malacca, the strait of malacca. right through here and everybody has to funnel through there. so all of this traffic, had there been debris in the water, somebody probably would have seen something, specially in the daylight hours. there are some miscommunication saying that some people have found luggage. we think that the communication was more like mistranslated to saying, please look for luggage in the sea. right now no reports that have been confirmed at all of anybody

that has found anything significant with this flight. >> chad meyers, thank you very much. i want to broaden our discussion about this search. we are joined by hans weber, an aviation safety expert. also joining us is brad meltzer, brad is the author of "history decoded," the ten greatest conspiracies of all time and host of "brad meltzer" on the history channel. and we have mitchell cabrera, we saw him all last week with martin savidge. great reporting by him and martin. hans, i want to start with you. let's talk about the jet's acar system, the aircraft's communicating and reporting system. at this point, can it lead investigators to this aircraft? >> it's doubtful, because it doesn't seem to be functioning. it seems to be turned off. somehow compromised.

also, the satellite communication element of acar which is available technically but not all airlines describe to it because it is expensive. i don't know whether malaysian airlines subscribed to the satellite communication. it appears from what i've heard, it appears that maybe at one point they subscribed to it. the airplane was properly equipped with that capability. but it seems to me that currently they're not subscribing to that satellite communication aspect of acars. >> so, then, hans, what about the signals or the pings from the cockpit. what are they looking for depending on if the plane is in water or on land? >> well, are you talking to the so-called pinging from the acar's satellite antenna trying to establish contact with the satellite or are you talking to the emergency --

i'm sorry. >> go ahead. either one. either one. i am talking about the pinging that was received and if the other systems are in place, should there be information coming from them, as well? >> yeah, no, the acars instant communication channel, well, that, plus a radio communication for the pilots, the fact that there was this so-called pinging, which really appears to have been the antenna, cell antenna on the 777 trying to establish a link with the satellite but the satellite did not establish the link. that would have -- the reason for that, as far as i know, would have been that malaysia airlines did not have that capability in their account. they were not paying for that capability. >> right, right. >> so that's the only thing. i mean, there is no other way other than radio to communicate.

>> i want to go to mitchell now. i want to talk about that flight simulator. you know how this 777 works, sophisticated airliner. so what do you believe? what do you believe happened having worked with the very similar airliner, especially with that simulator? >> well, as far as the simulator goes, a lot of questions have been raised about him having a simulator in his house. for a pilot, that is as per normal, nothing out of the ordinary there. pilots, it's a passion to fly. it's not just a job. it is 24 hours a day. you live it. and it's just completely normal for him to have that flight simulator. i don't see anything out of the ordinary there. >> yeah, and they also said he had that flight simulator. people who knew him and his friend that we showed an interview of at the beginning of the

broadcast because of his passion, his love for flying. people that have training bicycles in their house if they are cyclists or people who have treadmills in their home, do you see that any differently? >> no, not at all. a flight simulator actually using my information, it is a great tool to use for your training. every six months, we have to go back and train. it's a great resource to train and practice those maneuvers and practice those procedures, keep current. so, nothing at all. yeah. >> and, mitchell, it is so early on. we still don't know and they are still checking into that. brad, i want to go with you. you deal with conspiracy theories all the time, all the time. what do you make of this, how can a large passenger jetliner just vanish like this, seem to have fallen off the face of the earth? >> what we are looking at really, don, it's almost like the pilot episode of lost. that's the scary question. how does it vanish? we have to remember, that makes it a mystery.

mysteries, like any story, a story isn't what did happen but what could happen. we all know the facts are all not there yet. but, you know, when i talk to our investigators we use and my favorite one we work with, she pointed out two things, which i think bear repeating here, which is one of two things happens. it is not just how do they vanish but how have they been quiet this long? so one of two things is true, either that plane has crashed in the ocean and everyone on board is gone. or, if they are still alive, how do you keep it quiet? and i think that's the scariest part to me? which is what happens to these people. it is not just that they have vanished but we haven't heard anything in all this time. because we all know how impossible it is and it's where every conspiracy falls apart. how do you keep everyone quiet? >> brad, i'm glad you brought that up. because we have been talking about. i have been getting questions from viewers on social media, and e-mail and on the street. especially on today, like a day when we deal with the supernatural, when we go to church, the supernatural

power of god. you deal with all of that. people are saying to me, why aren't you talking about the possibility that something odd happened to this plane, something beyond our understanding? have you dealt with that on your show, and are you surprised that people are raising those questions? >> listen, when you do a show like "decoded," no one gets crazier e-mail than me. we all kind of roll our eyes at conspiracy theories, but what conspiracy theories do this so ask the hardest, most outrageous questions. but every once in a while, they are right. that's what we have to remember. why it has captured our attention, there is no logical explanation right now. you can say it crashed into the ocean but something just seems odd. where are the parts? where are the pieces? why do they keep going for seven hours? why do you have a guy on board who gives his watch and his ring to his wife and says, keep this for my boys in case something happens to me. that's not some stranger. he's a mechanical engineer. something smells wrong. one of my favorite reporters once said to me that the american people always will sniff for the truth until they find it.

and there's something about this story that just strikes us at our core where something feels really fishy. it just smells terrible. you know what, when that happens, i'm not one of those believers that aliens came down or anything like that but you do have to stop and go, how does a jetliner with almost 200 people on it disappear? >> absolutely. >> how are they just gone? >> absolutely, absolutely. thank you very much. stick around, guys. we will see you a little bit later on. up next, could the passengers' cell phone information help in this search, and if the plane landed, would that make a difference? plus, we are going to break down the plausibility of the theories being investigated right now and which ones have major holes in them. this is cnn special live coverage. stay right there. lots of tablets... one pill. you decide. prevent acid with prevacid 24hr.

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welcome back to the special live coverage of the disappearance of flight 370. many wonder with today's technology why everyday cell phone tracking can't help pinpoint the location of any of the cell phones of the 239 people on board that plane. shouldn't it be as easy as using a "find my phone" app. experts say, maybe not. cnn technology analyst, brett larson. so cell phone tracking, is it being used in this search? >> it could be, but it may not be very valuable. because cell phones are most easily tracked when they have a cellular or data connection. even if you have 268 phones, all turned on, all actively looking for a signal, if there is no signal to be found, those cell phones and even the "find my phone" app are useless. even though they have a gps data or connection, they are not going to be able to find you relative to where you are, because they need that data connection to say, okay, you are here.

so if you're -- say, if you're in the middle of the grand canyon and there is no cell service, the map will show you -- the gps says you are here. without that data connection, you can say, it happens to be the middle of the grand canyon. >> so i am flying above water. doesn't always work. above water meaning an ocean, not just a river, right. so when i'm on the plane i can text using wi-fi on my iphone. i raised this question last week with a cnn analyst, his name rhymes with guest. completely shot me down. >> i can see. but it's a valid question. a lot of international carriers now have wi-fi on board. i was just on lufthansa a couple of months back. they had wi-fi. we had wi-fi over the ocean. it requires a satellite connection. now if that were the case on this airplane and the passengers were savvy and quick enough to note something had gone wrong or whatever the situation was, if they were to turn on their phones, they would have been able to make a data connection and send some sort of

information. >> every once in a while, i fly a lot, you do too, if you are in a clear area, those clouds part, you are in the sky and not even wi-fi you will get -- oh, my gosh, i have service. it is 30,000 feet. what is happening? >> it means there is plenty of connection on the grown. the signals are high frequency. so they go up. they don't go down. so it makes sense if you are flying over a populated area where there is a lot of cell service available -- >> this is a populated area. many of it. >> exactly. you are going to pick it up. >> but the bulk of this flight has been where it has kind of fallen off the radar literally has been in areas where there is no ground-based communication, it's all courtesy of satellites and way of satellites, so that requires additional, especially for cell phones and tablet devices. it requires that additional step to jump it from the airplane to the satellite to give it the here i am. >> people are saying, well, you know, if the plane was low enough and we are looking at 9/11, people were making phone calls but that was

in the days, many of those, the old back of the seat. >> that went through the airplane's communication system. but it should be noted even that technology with the cell phones or the telephones, rather, the air phones in the back of the seats, didn't work when you were over water, because they required a satellite connection. >> so but all this -- we are giving different scenarios. >> absolutely. >> but if something happened to this plane, something catastrophic, if it did crash, that changes everything. >> then none of this would work. >> the only situation where we could see where having those cell phones would be a potential life safer or a game-changer in this search, if they landed in an area that had cell service that was compatible with the cell phones and the cell phones still had the power to stay on and maintain that connection to the cell system. and when those phones connect to the cell system then they're trackable. then they're findable. >> why the ringing? everybody is like why the ringing? why are they still ringing? because usually if the phone is off -- >> if i'm on the subway, it goes to voice mail. it's a sad sort of false hope to pin to. the reality on cell phones

ringing, when you make a call, if you're calling my phone, it is not my phone that's sending that ring tone back to you that makes the sound, it is the cell phone provider, verizon, at&t, vodafone, sending that signal back to you instead of the silence. what you're hearing and while you are hearing that ring, it is looking for your cell phone. when it doesn't find it, it goes back. >> that little bit of hope. the families and i want to hang on to that, that they are alive and the plane is intact. >> we all do. >> thank you very much. i appreciate that, sir. coming up here, we are going to talk to a panel about the theories floating around out there and which ones are most plausible. plus, the partner of an and on the plane breaking her silence now. she says she is quite certain that he is still alive. you are going to hear from her. that's next. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms.

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welcome back to cnn special live coverage. since flight 370 is missing and without a trace and nobody knows its fate, there are multiple theories, many theories on what possibly happened to that plane. did it vanish due to terrorism? was it hijacking or a catastrophic failure of some sort? was the jet struck by a meteor? i mean, there are many theories out there. the malaysian government theorizes it was deliberately flown off its course. but why and where is it back with me is hans weber, brad meltzer host of "brad meltzer" and there is mitchell casado, a pilot trainer

who has worked in a triple 7 pilot simulator, and, hans, to you first. there are lots of theories out there, hans. one that many believe is that this plane is somewhere probably on the bottom of the ocean. if so, why not debris field? can this happen without a debris field? >> no, it cannot happen without a debris field. there is always a debris field. there are many items on an airplane that are buoyant, sea cushions, et cetera, usually, there are air pockets in stabilizers. remember, the air france 447 had the vertical stabilizer float around in the ocean. if you're interested, i could offer one theory. i read today -- a friend of mine in england sent me a page from an english paper. i'm not familiar with it. i think it was called "the daily telegraph" or just "the telegraph." according to which this past week, some guy in british custody who used to be an al qaeda operator in pakistan told a court that he

met several malaysians in pakistan. amongst them, a pilot. and they were talking about a plan to hijack an airplane. and they were wonder iing how to enter the cockpit door. and he gave them, he said, a shoe bomb he had made, a relatively small bomb, not big enough to take down the aircraft but powerful enough to break open the cockpit door. so here is one potential theory. these guys broke into the cockpit and maybe had one of the pilots cooperate with the idea that he might be able to save the airplane later. the next thing that we have learned is that the airplane climbed to 45,000 feet. >> would that be a scuffle in the cockpit? what would that or someone who is not used to flying that plane. >> it could be a scuffle. it could have been a scuffle of

some sort. but i think to make my theory work, you will see it later on, one of the pilots might have actually cooperated because it might have gone to 45,000 feet because they wanted to asphyxiate everybody on board except the ones in the cockpit, who had access to the oxygen masks. >> okay. >> the cockpit oxygen supply lasts much longer. >> stand by because i want to bring in mitchell now. mitchell, when you're doing that demonstration in the simulator with martin savidge, i think you said it and other people have said it, it's really tough for a plane to get to 45,000 feet especially for someone flying it, not used to flying it. and it depends on the weight and all of that. is it a feasible possibility, is that a feasible theory, it climbed that high because they wanted to asphyxiate everyone on board? >> it is feasible to get up that high.

is it feasible to get up that high to asphyxiate the passengers? that, i'm not so sure of. i had a lot of trouble holding that altitude at 45,000 feet. i was on the brink as martin mentioned of overspeeding the aircraft. the aircraft being structurally unstable, in other words, things coming off the airplane and stalling the airplane, in other words, the airplane losing lift and fall from that height. so there is a very fine line to fly that airplane, very thin and one millimeter each, up or down and you are out of control. being up at that altitude, you are in uncontrolled flight. i mean, you're in an experimental aircraft. no pilot in the world knows what it is like to really fly that airplane at that height. it is not certified. it is all the numbers in all the manuals mean nothing because it's experimental. this is just conjecture. nobody knows for sure. but it is possible in theory to reach that altitude.

how the airplane behaves in real life, we can simulate it, but in real life, that's very hard to say. >> mitchell, what's the peak for a commercial aircraft for altitude? >> the 777 200 is certified for 45,200 feet. that is the maximum altitude it can fly. that is not to say on some days it can't reach that altitude. some days it is really hot and the molecules are separated, they're far apart and it affects lift and it can't get to that height. >> this commercial aircraft beyond the 777, beyond the 777. >> beyond the 777, i mean you're looking at between 35,000, 41,000 feet. but going up to 45,000 and above is unheard of. >> so the 777, that's a peak, 777, 45,000 feet. brad, this is what you talk about.

these are different theories. you heard what hans said. what do you make of it? >> you know, listen, what hans said is, again, the investigators that we use on dakota, my favorite one, had the asphyxiation theory a couple of days ago. and she said likened it and said, again, you have to go back sometimes to the sherlock holmes of it all, which is sometimes the most simple explanation is the one that makes sense. and the simple part of this is how do you keep all those people quiet? you have almost 200 people on a plane and they're going seven hours longer than where they were supposed to go. how do you stop almost 200 people from calling loved ones, texting people, doing something to say help us. and if that plane was really going -- to me, again, we all know it's theorizing, it is because you did something to keep all those people quiet. and that's what always has to happen if you want them to stay away. you have to keep them quiet. >> brad, you have heard this meteor theory. right, i'm sure you have. >> of course. >> malaysian authorities are saying it may have flown for seven hours after that. that would probably strike down

this meteor theory. >> listen, you know, what will strike down all the theories with the facts when we have them. what we are seeing now, the reason we are asking these questions is that all conspiracies at their base are mirrors to what we are fearful of the most. if you look at jfk, just as an example, in the '60s, we blame the communists. in the '70s, we blame the establishment and the cia. in the '80s with the rise of the "godfather" movies, we plame the mafia. if you want to know who killed jfk, it was whoever america was most afraid of. this is tapping into our greatest fear, the most obvious fear of flying and crashing. it is one of the base fears. almost anyone has that. that fear you could disappear in a moment's notice. it is striking something within us where we all know, right, the reason we are talking about this right now so many weeks later as it goes is simply because there is something that real scares us about this. and when that happens, all of our fears come out so you see meteors and you see everything

coming all at once and that to me, at this moment in time, you have to stop and say, why are we still so obsessed with this story? of course, it's not just because of the concern of the people which is a vital one, but we are just asking every question we can because we can't wrap our heads around how this could ever happen and how this many people can disappear. >> right. the sheer lack of facts and the fact that this plane has been missing for ten days. many people thought that would never happen. oh, that's impossible. that could never happen in this day and age. >> the thing that's so fascinating, again, we all know when you are on a plane that there is somebody who keeps their phone on that says, i still have to text my loved one. i want to see how my kid is. he's not doing well. i want to check out, see how he's doing. there is someone who phones home. and in this nsa-obsessed world we just can't believe something is wrong, don, right? we know it in our core, you can't keep everyone quiet like that. and that's what's i think n gnawing at all of us. >> right now in the u.s., you can keep your phone on. they will tell you at the

beginning, keep your phone off, keep your device on but turn it on airplane mode. thank you very much. we will see you here soon on cnn. up next, you are going to hear from someone who makes these underwater beacons in black boxes. how close do search crews have to get to pick up a signal on them? you're going to want to see that information. plus, one of the americans on board, his partner is breaking her silence saying philip wood is still alive. she is certain of it, she says. you are going to hear from her next. get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks who will talk to them about preparing early for retirement and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

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ten days after malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared, the newest chapter in the investigation is focused on the pilot and the co-pilot. we have learned the last words ever heard from the cockpit, all right, good night, came after the plane's communication systems were switched off and police have seized and are now examining a flight simulator that the pilot kept in his home. they are looking for any possible clues about why the plane veered off course and what the malaysian government describes as a deliberate move. the search has grown for the missing jet exponentially. it now includes thousands of miles of land and sea. for its part, pakistan says its radar system did not pick up any sign of a wayward jet. and for the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board that missing jet, the past ten days have, of course, been agonizing. american passenger phil wood is among the missing. today, his girlfriend, sarah

bajak, spoke to the bbc radio. she said she has to believe that he is still alive, and she thinks, in fact, she hopes the plane was taken for a reason other than to simply be crashed into the ocean. >> i am quite certain that philip is still alive. i still feel his presence. and a logical conclusion, i used to read sherlock holmes as a kid, i think i have memorized all those stories. you know, as improbable as it sounds, all of the facts point to the fact that the scenario that the flight has been taken and you don't go to that excruciating level of planning and self-discipline and resource enablement to take a plane only to crash it with nobody seeing it. i am kind of expecting it is going to be a lot longer. i do believe they are still alive. i mean, philip is the only american adult on that plane, he

is going to be a valuable asset for them and he is a smart, very self-controlled, very calm guy. so he won't cause trouble. he'll take a calming approach and if anybody is going to survive it, it's going to be him. so i just have to believe that he is still alive. >> so the plane is headed to beijing. cnn's david mckenzie joins us live from beijing. it is now day ten for this ordeal for these families. how are they holding up? >> well, they're holding up the best way they can, don, and a lot of them expressing the same kind of sentiment you have heard there. that they believe that their loved ones might be alive. as these twists and turns have taken us through the last week or so, don, the new information that this plane was deliberately taken or taken control of coming from malaysian authorities and others, it gives these families hope no matter how remote that hope is at this point. also a great deal of anger and frustration from the families,

at authorities, at the governments and china as well weighing in saying the malaysian government hasn't done enough, don. >> you know, we are seeing more and more finger pointing from china, david. why is that? >> i think there are a number of reasons. china feels, perhaps, they don't have any control of the situation. china is much bigger, more powerful country than malaysia. but they're beholden to the malaysian authorities to lead this investigation. so, yes, through state media and others, they have accused malaysia of dereliction of duty at worst. and that's a quote and at best, withholding information. they have also pointed the finger at the u.s. saying the u.s. needs to have -- use its intelligence capability. china is a powerful country. it is growing more powerful. but it doesn't have the capabilities like america does. and so in a way, it is feeling the pressure from its own

citizens to help solve it, but they can't. so, you know, one way to solve that problem is to point the finger at others. but, of course, also, there are all these families, hundreds of them particularly here in beijing who are feeling the brunt of the emotional trauma of this event. and the chinese government wants to look like they are on their side. >> david mckenzie in beijing, thank you very much, david. still to come, the maker of a key part of the flight data recorder tells us about the chances of ever finding the plane when your search area is just so huge. can pings be sent if the plane is under water? the answer is next. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business.

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welcome back, everyone. as you know, a plane is missing and 25 nations are searching for malaysia airlines flight 370. coming up short. dozens of ships and planes scouring huge swaths of ocean and land for any sign that have missing plane. the search includes trying to detect pings from the flight data recorders. chuck scofield joins me. he works for a company that makes one of the components that emit signals to flight data recorders or in flight data recorders. we do know the plane's transponder was shut off.

is there any way to manually turn off signals from the flight data recorder? >> as far as the pinger goes, no, it is an automatic trigger once it is submerged in water. >> so it's automatic. how close do search crews need to get to the plane to pick up a signal from it? well, depending on a few factors, traffic in area, algae in the water, et cetera. they are certified to two nautical miles. >> given the enormous depth of the indian ocean, i think would they have to be right up on it in a certain depth of water? >> they are certified to survive up to 20,000 feet. as far as locating the device itself, that two miles is good for any direction.

>> okay. what are the chances, though, of the beacons failing? because, you know, we look at recent airline tragedies or missing airplanes, and it has taken up to two years in some instances to find the data recorders. >> correct. actually, each unit is tested in water prior to shipping to its destination. so, the likelihood of the pinger failing is very slim. it is a very reliable device. it has been used for many, many years. this unit has proven effective over a long span of time. other than that, it's a fairly simple device, very reliable. >> mr. scofield, stand by because our meteorologist, chad myers, has been reporting on this, also, the tracking of the plane, satellite, radar and all that. do you have any questions for him? >> chuck, i do.

this is not going to show up on some random fish-finder, you know, from some bertram going across fishing in the area. who has a receiver to hear these pings? >> well, agencies such as the navy, coast guard, et cetera, typically, can pick up on the signal, can either be done on the surface or by a towed array at a certain depth. >> how many receivers do you think are out there listening for a ping right now? is there any way to put a number on that? >> oh, gosh. >> ten, a dozen, a hundred? >> i can only speculate. i honestly don't know. >> okay. that's a fair answer because we don't know either. don, if it has to be an official boat, it would be great if we could put some kind of receiver on every little fishing vessel out there, not a ten-foot sciff. i get that but then we would be able to really cover some ground.

>> my question to him, chad, is that you said this is fairly reliable. it's been tested at different depths, different lengths, so what is your explanation then for nothing right now? >> the only thing i could guess is they are not in the area. i mean, you've heard of the proverbial looking for a needle in a haystack. they haven't found the haystack. hopefully, they will find it very soon. as i said, it is good up to two miles. so we can only hope and pray that they find it as soon as humanly possible. >> so here's a question then. all right. you said they are not looking in the right place. then would that lead you to believe over land or water that they're not looking over the right place because it's over land or i would imagine that the possibilities are greater that it would be picked up somewhere by someone listening depending on how many people but over water, maybe not.

>> well, it's quite possible. the device we manufacture only operates in water so it is a completely different system on the aircraft if it were picked up. >> so, not over land. that particular tracking device, not over land. this is only over water. >> exactly. exactly. it is an underwater locator beacon. >> all right, good. >> thank you. appreciate it. good information. >> chad, we will get back to you. up next, a look at some of the histories -- of history's greatest mysteries, from amelia earhart's disappearance and the disappearance of natalie wood and the death of marilyn monroe. plus, what if a piece of debris is found? we'll break down what it is like diving looking for that plane for the diving teams. and we'll be searching for the wreckage under water. this special coverage of the disappearance of flight 370 continues after a quick break. d services you depend on.

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the disappearance of malaysia airlines flight 370 may become one of history's biggest mysteries and one that leaves us with no firm answers. some wonder about the assassination of president kennedy and the death of marilyn monroe. we have more on the conspiracy theories linked to history's biggest uninvolved mysteries. >> reporter: even when there are

plausible explanations -- >> like the bobby kennedy case, like even amelia earhart. >> reporter: -- the answers don't always satisfy. >> i think mysteries mean questions. >> reporter: the strait of gibraltar, 140 years ago, a ghost ship found floating. what happened to the crew of the "mary celeste," pirates, perhaps a sea monster. all popular theories debunked in this 2007 documentary, which tells us what didn't happen but doesn't tell us what did. 77 years after amelia earhart disappeared during her trip around the world, the search continues. wreckage has never been found. ♪ i feel pretty oh so pretty >> reporter: and los angeles county where new questions have come to light about the long-debated death of actress, natalie wood. in 1981, it was ruled an accidental drowning. in 2012, a coroner changes the death certificate, drowning and other undetermined factors.

and -- ♪ but diamonds are a girl's best friend ♪ >> reporter: -- marilyn monroe. in 1962, her death was called a probable suicide. an overdose of barbiturates. but how did her internal organs disappear at the morgue? for skeptics more questions lingered. what about her links to john f. kennedy, robert kennedy, the various crime bosses? >> i have talked to at least 40 people who said -- you know, talked to her before she died who said how happy she was, how excited and how she made plans for the next day and then all of the sudden, she is dead. >> reporter: a year later president kennedy shot in dallas. his death shocking the nation and still causing confusion. that perennial question, could there be a second shooter? >> the church committee concluded unanimously that there was at least, you know, two different gunmen but yet that's been denied by others. >> reporter: it may be the

greatest mystery in american histo history. lee harvey oswald was ruled the only assassin. but 60 years later a lgallup pol shows 60% of americans don't believe it. those are just a few of the stories that have long fueled speculation and a string of conspiracy theories. to learn more about them and read more of history's greatest mysteries, you can check out cnn.com. don? >> alexandra field, thank you very much. good evening, everyone. i'm don lemon. getting very close to the top of the hour, this is cnn's special live coverage of the disappearance of malaysia airlines flight 370. it is the boeing 777. it has missing for ten days now with 239 people on board. here is what's new tonight in the search for this plane and at the same time the search for clues, any clues. so far, there are not many. and they don't point to any solid conclusions. where the flight originated? malaysia. officials are finding out all they can about the pilot and the co-pilot. they were in control at takeoff.

but then something bad happened intentionally or not. police are also interviewing airline mechanics, even cleaning crews, anybody who touched that airplane before it left the ground. that's back in malaysia on land, the area where the aircraft could be is enormous. 25 countries have sent search planes and ships but considering all plausible theories, that 777 could literally be anywhere on earth by now, anywhere. the u.s. navy is out there searching the indian ocean. stay there. i'm going to talk to an officer on board the "uss blue ridge." that's just in a few minutes on cnn. first, jim clancy in kuala lumpur right now. jim, tell us about this extra close look that those two pilots are getting. what are they looking for and what have they found so far, jim?