lp lower cholesterol 2 times more. take care of those you love and cook deliciously. mazola makes it better. good evening, everyone. it is 2:00 a.m. here in new york. 2:00 p.m. in kuala lumpur. and 2:00 p.m. in perth, australia. the breaking news in these early hours coming from thousands of miles in space. a satellite looking down on the southern indian ocean off western australia spotted images of objects possibly, possibly related to missing boeing 777 malaysia airlines 370 missing since the morning of the 8th. australian officials saying two objects and perhaps others nearby have been spotted in very deep water in a part of the ocean known for attracting all kinds of debris. so the usual warnings apply about false hopes here. that said, the discovery of these pieces of debris could mean the world to families waiting for word of loved ones

and investigators trying to figure out what happened to the plane and where exactly to look to find the aircraft. the hope, and so far it is only an educated cautious hope, is that they could be the sign of more to come. search planes are either on scene or on the way. we know some search planes are already on scene. commercial satellites have been redirected as well. i want to start our coverage this hour by going to john ostrauer from the "wall street journal" who's been breaking a number of stories on this over the last 12 or so days. he has some new information. john, what are you learning at this hour? >> at this hour certainly what we're following is the developing situation off the coast of australia with the australian maritime aircraft heading in that direction to investigate this 78-foot item, or blob as they described it. but our reporting this evening takes a deep look at the last 12 days and what really unfolded both in the u.s., the uk, and

malaysia. as far as the pace of the dissemination of the information that led to this critical satellite data that we now see guiding far north and far south. ultimately, what we're able to determine through our reporting was that the initial satellite data was developed offer a week ago. actually, last monday. officially disseminated inmarsap, the satellite company on tuesday, received on wednesday, and was fully four days until it was confirmed by malaysian authorities as the correct course of action. and during that time there was a bit of refinement that did take place but it really wasn't that significant to chait outcome that we see today as far as these wildly diverging search corridors. >> and is it clear to you at this point based on your reporting why it took four days for malaysian authorities from getting the information to

actually confirming it? >> well, in that time there was several things going on. so primarily investigators didn't want to accept information and publicize information that wasn't fully corroborated by authorities in the u.s. and specifically at the ntsb and the faa but also there were several things that happened during the week that really threw off the pace of acceptance, and one of those things was the revelation of chinese satellite data which pointed to objects in the gulf of thailand potentially pointing to debris there. so certainly that disrupted the process considerably. what we did later realize as we did our reporting during this past week was that inmarsat found itself so frustrated with the uptake by the malaysian

officials of this information that they actually went to the uk security authorities to share this data, hopefully in the hopes of being disseminated more widely more quickly to try to move the process along. >> do you have any sense based on what you have learned or based on"getting radar hits of

significant size." they're trying to get visuals on those hits. again, visuals getting radar hits of significant size doesn't mean they know what those hits are from, whether it's from debris from an aircraft, whether it's just large pieces of junk floating in the ocean. and ast 1200 aboard the poseido

u.s. poseidon aircraft. just because they are getting hits of what they say are significant size on the radar, you can't read too much into that. >> well, i do find it encouraging because the garbage patch to the best of my recollection that you heard about earlier is more or less -- you heard it described as confetti. so there's a big piece here and a big piece there but more or less it's tiny pieces even down to microscopic. these are big chunks. and you know, the first thing that came to mind, i thought, well, that's a part of the world where containers often are knocked off ships by rogue waves, so it's a tractor-trailer

size shipping container. it's not uncommon for ships to lose those. but there's something about this, and i can't believe the australians would be so -- so, you know, careless just to put this much effort into something they're not pretty sure of. so i'm really hoping. >> yeah, the fact that australian officials -- i mean, the prime minister, john young, from the maritime safety association, the fact that they are so out in front of this, you say kind of is an indication that they are at least confident in the fact they're redirecting basically all of their resources on now searching this area. david, when you were involved and intimately involved in spearheading the search for air france flight 447, how big were the pieces of debris that were found five days after the crash? what size -- >> yeah, people can go on the web, can do a search for air france 447 images, and you'll see pieces of the galley -- >> we're showing the tail section. yeah. >> the tail section.

so they were about that size. but nothing that was the size of this big piece that the prime minister's talking about. but that doesn't -- you know, i wonder, anderson, if you'd allow a 777 to run out of fuel at altitude or whatever altitude it might have been. what does the plane do? does it nose dive? does it glide down? what happens at that point? if it's out of fuel. because if there's big pieces, that suggests that the plane landed on the water fairly gingerly. and it would be interesting to know what the plane would do at that point. >> and that's a question really, we'll get david suchi on it. do we have david? is he sneer we'll bring david back, a former faa investigator, to ask him that very question. because again, you know, with the air france flight that was a flight that david gallo, my understanding is essentially plummeted hitting at great impact, which is why the pieces were so small. but you're saying if the plane essentially had a softer landing

on the water, even if it broke apart, what would that -- a, is that possible and what would that mean for the size of debris? could that explain the size of debris we're seeing? >> right. and again, the intriguing thing to me is if that's the tail section, that it would contain -- could contain the black boxes, and that would solve a whole lot of the mystery of what's happened here. >> jeff beatty is also joining us, formerly with the fbi, also the cia, also with delta force. jeff, the idea of -- it sounds a soft landing on the ocean. it's certainly very different than, you know, captain sullenberger landing on the hudson river, landing a jet this size on the open, you know -- in the indian ocean is a far different matter. >> well, you're absolutely right. but i have to tell you, anderson, i have a great deal of empathy for the families because i had the unfortunate experience of actually being in an aircraft that was shot down and had a pretty hard crash, and people --

it was the first blackhawk shot down. and people left us all for dead. they figured, well, everybody's gone. they left us. we managed to get a hold of a survival radio and get some help and get out of there. so my experience is i'm in the rescue business. i don't want to overdo the hope, but i don't want to see hope killed. and if this aircraft did ditch, the potential exists for survivors. it's not like the hudson sullenberger. but great book out right now, "new york times" best-seller list called "unbroken." two aviators in rafts for 40 days. >> an extraordinary story. world war ii. >> yeah. so people survive these things. i'm hopeful that if it was a ditching that there's going to be survivors. i give credit to the australians for not overdoing it and raising people's hope. hope is slim if in fact this is debris from the crashed aircraft. but there is always that. so i just wanted to share that about -- because i can understand what the families are

going through, having been through that left for dead scenario myself. >> sure. jeff, it's good to get that perspective. we're going to take a short break. our coverage continues. ska no matter how busy your morning you can always do something better for yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber. you get 4 lines onw at&t's network...ilies including unlimited talk unlimited text ...and 10 gigs of data to share. 10 gigs?

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. welcome back to our continuing coverage. attica sh a shubert is at a hot

kuala lumpur where families are are waiting for word and emotions have been running high understandably. i don't know if any of the families are talk about this. obviously they must be watching for any information from australian authorities. >> reporter: yeah. we've reached out to a number of family members, but understandably they don't want to talk right now because a lot of them, they're just not sure yet what exactly has been found and they've had their hopes raised so many times. and they want to know for sure what exactly is happening. now, what we understand is that malaysian airline officials have briefed the families here at the everly hotel. they've done it behind closed doors. so we don't know exactly what was said. we do know that as of now malaysian airlines has said they are not going to be sending any family members or anyone to perth, australia until they have confirmation that this is in fact the plane. so they are waiting for confirmation from australia. but as you can imagine, family

members are very tense. they're very nervous. they don't know what's coming up next. so they're basically inside, waiting to see what happens, hoping for some sort of closure. >> and we absolutely respect the privacy of the families at a time like this. we certainly wouldn't want to intrude on that. ati atika, we'll check back in with you. david suchi, former faa investigator, author of the book "why planes crash." i was talking to david gallo and he raised the question of if in fact this plane crashed in this debris is related to the flight and it did land in the water, essentially with the flight 447, the air france flight, that plummeted at a great speed into the water. if a plane ran out of gas, for instance, ran out of fuel, would it nose-dive down into the water or would it be kind of a softer landing, soft as one can have in a 777 in the ocean? >> well, it depends on if it was in controlled flight or not and if there was someone navigating

the aircraft. it potentially could have a softer landing. but if there was no one at the controls, eventually the power would overcome and the aircraft would start at a steep descent and plummet. so if it was not in a controlled situation, likely there would be smaller pieces than what we're seeing now. but that doesn't mean that it wasn't. >> so the fact that -- the idea that there may be a large piece, and again, we do not know if it's part of the aircraft, but if it is part of the aircraft, and we're talking about a piece some 24 meters, almost 79 feet, would that indicate -- i mean, can you read anything into that? or it's obviously just too soon to tell? >> it's too soon to tell, anderson. but you know, again, it's likely one way or the other. even if it is one solid piece or if it's a bunch of little pieces the size of a desktop strung together by strings and fibers from the carbon composite of that structure. it could appear to be one piece, especially from a satellite view. but as they get closer they'll

be able to tell by the movement on the top of the water as to whether it's one piece or many pieces strung together. >> and david gallo, on the air france investigation, from the time the debris was found five days after the crash to actually recovering the black boxes two years later, in 13,000 feet of water, david gallo, what was the next step? from finding that initial debris to the day, you know -- and how often were authorities out there on the water? >> well, it wasn't -- the debris was found five days later, and i believe it was about a two-week period where pieces of the plane were still being recovered from the surface of the south atlantic. with that there was -- we had the last known position. we had four minutes of acars data that stopped abruptly. that four minutes was translated to 40 miles that the plane may have traveled. that gave us a search radius 80 miles in diameter, which is big. the floating debris told us

we're in there, so we began looking. we were in the big haystack so, we began looking for the pieces of the needle. and the first round of searches, we spent two months in the wrong part of that haystack. then went back again about a year later. and then within a week's time we were onto the wreck. so it was two years, but it was not two years on the water. and then for the second phase we had one ship, the aleutia, and we had three very sophisticated underwater robots, these underwater drones that gave us more firepower on one ship than i think has ever occurred even to this day. it was a very effective way to

locate the wreckage. >> david soucie, given the fact this is 400 miles southwest of perth, in terms of again, if this debris is from a plane, if it's in an area where the plane went down, in terms of finding that aircraft, the distance from perth, the distance from australia, that's got to make the search all the more difficult just in terms of keeping assets in place, keeping the search going on. yes? >> well, not only the search but the recovery. you know, to be able to take that -- those parts and pieces out, maintain some structure so we can get some information from them. that's a very daunting experience in trying to get that out in pieces that are going to be useful after the fact, which is an important thing to do. so yeah, there's going to be some time involved in doing it. that distance is going to add a lot to it. so as david gallo knows, had just expressed, once you get some good firepower, as he put

it, a lot of ships out there, a lot of space, that'll aid in that effort. but yeah, that's a very critical point to make, 1,400 feet -- or 1,400 miles from anywhere where they could start assembling the aircraft. >> and we were told from john young, from australia's maritime safety authority, visibility is not good. assuming, though, that the u.s. reconnaissance aircraft, the poseidon, the other -- the australian aircraft that had been sent there, these more commercial satellites that are now being reorie-oriented in or to pass over to make multiple pass, do you have a sense, david soucie, of how quickly if they're able to find debris, how quickly they would be able to identify it? >> you know, that's going to be the difficult part. because once it's -- especially if it's not one big solid piece as we were talking about having one big solid piece is kind of unlikely, but if it's a whole bunch of little pieces strung together i think it would be more difficult to try to

identify it as specifically a piece of aircraft and not just debris in that garbage area of the ocean right there. >> again, we're going to take a short break. our coverage continues. again, we are waiting word from australian authorities about what they may he -- any further information they have about these pieces of debris that an intelligence -- that a satellite spotted, that was analyzed by australian geospatial authorities that they're investigating further. we'll have continuing coverage in just a moment. we'll be right back. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd. if our rate on this cd goes up, yours can too. oh that sounds nice. don't feel trapped with the ally raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

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kyung, in terms of what authorities have briefed the families on, do we know any more? >> we don't know any more about exactly what they've told the families. we do know that they have actually spoken to the families. it was an official from the airlines telling cnn that they have indeed talked to the families. we can only assume that they are telling them as much as they know about what the australians have found, what they've seen on their satellite images. we do know that the malaysians, the acting transport minister

has not seen an actual picture, at least what he told us, of what the australians have found. so at this point we're just assuming that that's all been shared. the families had a long complaint that the government hasn't been transparent tough over the last week. we've seen this rising anger among especially the chinese family who say the government just isn't speaking to them. the government has said that they are now trying to be as transparent as possible with the families. the families, though, are not being moved to australia. according to the airline, until there is more confirmation from the government. >> and sarah sidner, are there any plans we know of at this point for a briefing from malaysian officials or are they simply basically just waiting for australian officials to announce what they've heard? >> reporter: it's interesting. they were going to have a briefing. they usually have one every day at 5:30 our time. that is still expected to happen. but they were going to have one much earl sxwrerkts that got

canceled. and it was also interesting to hear from the acting transportation minister, who was just asked on the sidelines, hey, can you tell us anything about what you've heard from the australians? he said i can't tell you any details. and five minutes later the australian officials were detailing exactly what it is that they saw. so obviously, the australians seemingly take the lead in this because they are the ones that have that satellite imagery and they are the ones that are closest to it. they may be the ones that find it first. obviously, the u.s. is also there. and new zealand. they mentioned several assets from new zealand and the u.s. also in that area and trying to get to this point and find this exact spot where those at least two objects have been seen by satellites. anderson? >> i also want to bring in andrew stevens, who is in perth, australia. and again, this

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. welcome back. 2:36 a.m. the east coast of the united states. 2:36 p.m. in kuala lumpur, malaysia, where authorities are carefully watching the situation in perth and the rest of australia, where it is also 2:36

p.m. day 13 in the search for flight 370. david mckenzie is in beijing where families have been waiting for some solid information day after day after day. he spoke to a psychologist who's been talking with the families about how those families of those on board the flight are reacting. so far the information they've been getting, how they may react when they finally get some real answers, david. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. think of the 12 days that have been this agonizing wait for these families. every day it seems brings false hopes, and then those hopes are dashed. still people today saying they're holding on to that hope. that psychologist we spoke to said that he is very concerned that the people in recent days, particularly the elderly in this hotel behind me who may have single children on those -- that airline because of china's one-child policy, he says many of them are having suicidal thoughts and they are filing

into this hotel behind me prepared for when that news comes, if that news is bad, anderson, and they really worry that this eventual news will be a catastrophic reaction psychologically for these families. another psychologist i spoke to said because there have been all these loads over this time giving these families hope and then dark that hope that, again, if the news comes in the coming hours that this is in fact flight mh 370 and that it crashed into the southern ocean near australia it will be news that will be almost impossible to deal with with these families. they were expecting the worst when they arrived here 12 days ago. now they just don't know what to think. >> yeah. it's hard to imagine what these 12, now 13 days have been like for them. david, we'll continue to check in with you throughout the night as we continue to watch what authorities are searching for off the southwest coast of perth, australia. objects spotted in the water by satellites. australian satellites. trying to get more information.

and more assets are now en route and on scene. searching the area, trying to get visual and more photographic information and even satellite information on those objects in the water. exactly what they are. don lemon has been watching this with our coverage all evening long. don, i spoke to a psychologist in beijing several days ago who had been counseling some of the families, and he was raising the point that a lot of the families are hoping that a hijacking was involved because that at least gives them the hope that perhaps their family members are still alive somewhere, perhaps being held hostage. >> their family members are still alive and can perhaps be saved by either the united states or by military or some authorities from someone, from somewhere else. but anderson, you know, when i talked to you about the difficulty, i heard you having conversations about just how difficult it's going send out a

right? aircraft. that aircraft according to this press conference held just a short time ago. they have to drop markers in the water. right? so that once the ships get there to bring it back they'll know where it is. and as you pointed out, 2,500 kilometers off the southwest coast of perth, 1,500 miles, it's going to take them four hours to get there. i want to hone in a little bit more about what john young said from the australian maritime safety authority. he says the reason that they think this is a bit more credible than what we were talking about, the satellite images from china, is because they were using a number of different analysis to figure out exactly what this is. he says the plane's movement from the ntsb, the analysis they've gotten from the ntsb and also know this satellite imagery that they have gotten. let's let him talk about it, and then we will. >> i don't want to draw too many conclusions from this.

we have two separate forms of analysis here. you might recall on the slide here the two yellow arrows pointing to analysis done by the united states national transportation safety board about the movements of the aircraft that has focused searching, and we have now seen satellite imagery of two objects, or a number of objects there. and i don't want to draw too much from that. this is a lead. it is probably the best lead we have right now. but we need to get there, find them, see them, assess them to know whether it's really meaningful or not. >> so apparently, they think what tha what they've gotten from the ntsb about the plane's movements, significant enough. what they've gotten from the satellite imagery significant enough. but he said he doesn't want to draw too much conclusions. you heard him there giving the warning. you gave the warning as well. it doesn't turn out to be always what they think this is even though they work with satellite imagery a lot.

so again, four hours flying time to get there and then two hours, anderson, once they do get there to work. and then they have got to, you know, come back if they don't or do find it within those two hours. >> and david soucie, a former faa investigator who we're going to talk to right after a short break, raised the point earlier, and i think we should discuss it with him a little bit further, about whether or not all the assets right now are focused solely on this possible debris or if some of those assets are now being deployed to where they believe based on their calculations if this debris is for real, if it really is from flight 370, based on calculations they've already made about where a possible impact zone would be. our assets going there. let's talk to david about that. we'll take another short break. we'll be right back. with the vin number. oh, i just did it. with my geico app. vin # is up to the loaded. ok well then jerry here will take you through all of the features then. why don't weeeeeeeeeeee go out to the car.

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there are more than 150 chinese nationals on board flight 370. a statement from regent park. we hope australia will dispatch ships and planes to relevant waters as soon as possible to search and verify. the foreign ministry has already instructed the chinese embassy in australia to keep close contact with the australian side and to assist australia in this search and res krewe mission. i want to go quickly to andrew

stevens in perth, australia. certainly, andrew, according to what australian officials have already said, they have already done what china says they are hoping that they do in terms of dispatching ships, dispatching aircraft and even redirecting satellites. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, anderson. a warship has been dispatched about 15 or so hours ago from perth. it's about 1,500 miles to get there. it's going to take several days. the australians saying over the past day or so there have been images in the search sector in that southern end of the indian ocean that they haven't proved anything yet but the debris we've been you can thatting about which has been described as incredible new information by the australian prime minister is slightly to the south of the southern end of that search grid. but with the ships due to go into the far end.

it will be interest iing to see. that will be diverted down much further south than where it has been located. if it's in that vicinity. and also obviously the military assets in the air, that's going to provide what they hope is some visual proof. we're being told the conditions are a bit moderate, visibility is low, and john young has been warning that we may not get any information, any sightings, confirmed sightings today. there's five hours of daylight left in that search. >> and in terms of what john young said, andrew, is there any -- i know he didn't say during the briefing, but i wonder subsequently if any information's come out. do they plan to have another press briefing scheduled anytime

within the next several hours? >> reporter: it's a fluid situation, obviously. a lot will depend on what imagery they're getting back from their own assets in the air. nothing has been announced at the press conference. given the amount of interest, extraordinary interest now in the search. but if they do get more credible information, i'm sure that there would be a briefing as much as they can. obviously, there is going to be some certain security issues involving the imagery. but having already said, this from the australian prime minister, from the highest source you can get in australia, that they'll be continuing to update it as much as they can. >> they also said during that briefing that they would make every effort to release the satellite imagery that they have

thus far, the initial satellite imagery, when asked by reporters, that raised so many hopes, that raised obviously and changed the whole search paradigm for australia, just in the last several hours. have you gotten any word on the ground, andrew, about when those images may be released? because that's certainly something that obviously a lot of viewers would like to see for themselves what exactly has made australian officials come out publicly, so out in front. the prime minister, other australian officials coming out, talking about this and redirecting all their operations toward this area. >> reporter: that's right. john young describing it as the objects were relatively indistinct, about 80 feet and they were probably awash with -- from bobbing up and down. as far as those images they've been working with from

australia's own satellite intelligence community, no word yet on when they may be released. you remember the chinese prematurely released images which were not anything to do with the downed plane. the australians will obviously be wary of what they're putting out but they've committed in so many ways to saying this is an area of interest and those images will be available. i can't tell you when, but i would suspect with the australian media clamoring now for those pictures it will be a matter of sooner rather than later. >> andrew stevens in perth. again, just showing the global resources of cnn. we have journalists on the ground in perth, australia. also multiple journalists in kuala lumpur. you also heard from david mckenzie earlier in beijing, all throughout this region covering this story from as many different angles as possible. we're going to take at short break and when i come back i do want to talk to a former faa investigator about what happens next. just what we should all anticipate over the next several

hours as these assets come on scene and the assets, the poseidon aircraft that's already there continues to search. what the timeline may look like for the next several hours. we'll be right back. so it's your uncle's turn. what? wait, wait, wait... no, no, no, wait, wait. (baby crying) so you can deposit a check... with the touch of a finger. so you can arrange a transfer in the blink of an eye. so you can help make a bond... i got it. that lasts a lifetime. the chase mobile app. so you can.

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welcome back to our breaking news as we continue to wait for word from australian officials or even u.s. navy officials about what if anything they have

been able to find from the initial satellite report the australian officials had about pieces of debris. one quite a large piece, almost 79 feet in size floating about 1,400 miles off the southwest coast of perth, australia. i want to bring in david soucie, formerly faa investigator, author of the book "why planes crash." david, just in terms of what we should be looking for and what investigators will be doing for the next several hours, how do you see this playing out? we know sflieatellites were redirected. we know there's a poseidon aircraft on the scene. we know there's an australian destroyer on the way. we know there are four other aircraft, australian aircraft, new zealand aircraft heading toward the region if not already there. how does this -- how does this play out? >> the investigators are facing a critical junctionture at this point because the first thing they want to do is identify

positively whether this is debris from the aircraft or not. if they're able to do that from the air, using the orions, using the satellite images, whatever it might take, trying to get as low as they can to identify this aircraft, if they identify that it is indeed that aircraft, then that's going to take them in a little different direction than if they don't. because if they can't identify it directly they may have to wait until the ships get out there and wait until they get a close examination and get helicopters in to identify it positively. so that could really make a difference in how much time this takes. but we have to remember, though, and set our expectations in the fact that this is 1,400 miles. to take a ship 1,400 miles, even at flank speed, would be -- you were talking 60, 70 hours. 50 to 60 hours to get that ship out there to where it's going to do some good. and they won't run at those speeds because if they do they'd run oust fuel by the time they got there. it's a matter of managing

assets. that's the whole thing about an investigation, is what's the first priority? stay on that first priority. and then manage those assets in a way that you'll have them when you need them. >> certainly australian authorities do seem to be all in on this debris search in terms of their assets. you have statements by the prime minister, also maritime safety officials as well. david soucie, i appreciate you staying up late in our coverage. it's great to have your expertise. former faa investigator. i also want to thank everyone who has stayed up into the early hours of the morning to help us and actually, david, if i could, if i could just bring you back in here, earlier you had said about the possibility about not just directing all assets, looking for the immediate debris, but already trying to take some assets and look for the possible impact zone if in fact there is an impact zone. do you think that's already under way, or is that something they would basically just wait until they can verify this debris is from a plane? >> you