after debris 1400 miles off the coast of australia. [ screaming ] >> we have no sightings yet. >> if this debris is indeed part of that plane, then it kind of dashes that wishful thinking to piece. >> everyone is thinking of those families. anderson starts now. good evening, everyone. it is 8:00 p.m. in new york, 8:00 a.m. in kuala lumpur and western australia and there is breaking news tonight. for the first time in two weeks since the airplane vanished we may finally know what's was said between the cockpit and ground. britain's "daily telegraph" as obtained and publisheded a transcript of radio transmissions between flight 370 and air traffic controllers starting with the boeing 777 at the gate preparing to taxy, ending with the first officer signing off. 54 minutes of conversation that we did not have before. that said, we want to be very

careful to label it for what it is. this is a transcript obtained by a reputable news source but not ourselves that has been apparently translated from the original english into mandarin and into english again. nuances may have been lost. still there's plenty to learn from what we've got. breaking news on the search. australian officials telling us another search plane took off out of western australia heading for the waters that were calm today but as you'll see rarely stay that way for long. and there's been a big change in tactics. searchers relying less on high tech radar and more on old-fashioned eye balls and binoculars. we're also learning possibly significant new information about files on the pc simulator, flight 370's captain had at home. you see the simulator behind it from a youtube video. files deleted from the hard drive. there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for that. we have another full hour of coverage ahead starting with kyung lah on the search and pamela brown in washington on the cockpit transcripts and

flight simulator story. kyung, early morning hours there in australia, 8:00 a.m. in perth. are search teams gearing up right now for know full day at sea? what kind of resources are we looking at? >> i think i'm actually hearing it right now. i'm about 500 yards, i'm told, from where these planes are actually taking off. we could hear some turbo props starting up. these are the p 3 orions. one is scheduled to take off right now. they will be leaving from this air base and heading four hours away to that remote area. at daybreak there was one that took off as well. and then those two civilian long-range planes. there will be more today, a total of six planes in all heading to that remote area four hours away, anderson. >> australian officials saying they're going to focus more on using human spotters than radar. i've heard some of the debris may not show up on radar,

floatation devices and the like. >> reporter: well, you put it perfectly when you said good old-fashioned eyeballs. the military is trying to rely plane that is get there faster and then use good old-fashioned eyeballs. the civilian planes acan fly almost at the speed of sound. it will get down there in a fraction of the time. they'll be able to get down there very, very quickly. they will be able to spend some time there and then zoom back. the downtall fall they don't ha radar. they have to use people who are trained to look for debris. they're hoping to catch the debris that might float. seats and life jackets. now, as far as the military prop planes, they'll take four hours to get down there but they have the radar. so it's a give or take. trying to flood the zone, anderson. >> we're going to talk to a commander from the u.s. navy involved in the search from the seventh fleet about what assets they have in play.

pam, i understand investigators are just in the last few hours learning more about the deleted files on the captain's computer. what do we know about them? >> reporter: sources telling cnn that investigators have uncovered evidence that files from those hard drives were deleted more recently than was previously disclosed by malaysian officials, that date of february 3rd. at this point we still don't know how many deletions there were, who made them and when. but we can tell you that forensic experts as well as outside consultants have been brought in. they are in a full tilt dive to uncover what was deleted and how it may have been erased. if it appears certain files are strategically deleted or scrubbed clean in a more sophisticated than routine way that could be a red flag. at this point we have no indication the pilots are were planning one of the plane's disappearances. as one of my sources said there was nothing to run on that would suggest otherwise at this point. >> want to be clear on this through sources you've learned that items were more recently

deleted. there's no necessarily nefarious explanation for that. it could be very much somebody trying to organize their files, right? >> reporter: exactly. my colleague evan perez has been talking to his sources. they've told him there's no reason to believe there was nefarious intent. but of course they're still combing through the hard drive as we speak trying to obtain more information and more details about the deletions. pam, also this report by "the telegraph" newspaper with the communication between the cockpit and air traffic controller for the first 54 minutes or the flight, anything raising alarm bells or suspicion among people you've talked to? . of course because we're dealing with a missing plane everything is going to be under scrutiny and picked apart. there are parts of the purported transcript obtained by the telegraph newspaper some find interesting. for one the pilot repeated the altitude twice. also the pilot didn't repeat what air traffic control said at the very end which pilots are supposed to do. instead he signed off saying those infamous four words we've

all heard, all right good night. pilots we've spoken to say informal conversational talk between the pilot and air traffic control isn't necessarily out of the ordinary, but again because of the circumstances here, everything is going to be scrutinized. important to reiterate here that the communications, 54 minutes of communications between the air traffic control and the pilots was translated from english into mandolned mandarin into english. it's not a perfect translation. cnn has not independently confirmed the authenticity of that transcript. >> kyung, third day searching in this particular area, no spotting of debris apparently seen in the satellite image. how confidence are australian authorities this is the right area that there was something there to begin with? >> if you talk to the guys in the air, the ones getting into those military planes and taking a look, they all say the conditions are good. we have hope. we want to figure out what this is. we want to find it.

we want to give some answers to these families. so there's hope there. but they also if you talk to other government officials, we notice some language difference from what the prime minister said the first day and then in the second day. he was raising the possibility that this might just be a shipping container. he didn't say it the first day. so there is this sense of yes, this is the absolute best lead. let's get more governments involved. let's get more planes out there. let's get more eyeballs out there. there is, though, always underlying everything is that this might not be it. >> and if this is not it resources devoted exclusively to this particular search have not been used in other areas over the last several days. kyung appreciate the reporting, pamela brown. want to bring in our panel of experts who's been with us throughout the hour and week. david souci, author of "why planes crash." les abend a retired pilot and

cnn analyst. and david gallo and mary schiavo. les let's start with you. the transcript of the 54 minutes you have in front of you. does anything jump out at you? again there is some language issue but you have to consider it was translated from english to mandarin to english. >> right. and it's a very abridged version. you don't get all the transmissions to other aircraft in between. so terminology we use is situational apairness. there's a lot of things deleted or left out. the translation like you mentioned, anderson, it's difficult even clearances that normally would be responded to in a standard way aren't translated properly. >> and this final communication that some people have focused on, the casualness of it, which we'll put on the screen, is that

common? that kind of casual language? >> well, yeah. it's nonstandard, but that frequency is probably used all the time. and the controllers know that the pilots know and vice versa. >> so technically, we're seeing it on the screen here all right good night technically the copilot should have reread ho chi minh city, 120.9. >> should have read back the frequency to confirm it. but they've probably done this hundreds of times. and it just goes -- >> as far as you're concerned not much to glean from this. >> no. in addition to -- we seem to be focusing on the repeating of the altitude a bunch of times. there's a good time space on the transmissions on those altitudes confirms he's at 350. if i want add higher altitude to go into that air space, the way i coax a controller i want a higher altitude to confirm that i'm still at the same altitude. >> nothing there.

>> mary you agree nothing to glean from this transcript? >> well, except for one thing i noticed we keep focusing on that the copilot, whose voice we believe it is said all right good night and exchanged pleasantries. i did notice he was respond together air traffic control which said to the plane at least twice before then, good night. and they had also head good morning. so this particular part of the world, air traffic control had exchanged those pleasantries with the plane at least three times. it didn't seem out of character to be pleasant in return. >> and a lot of people have pointed to that in the last couple of days saying could there be some sort of coded messaging there. clearly, mary and les thinking not. david gallo, two days after release of images of debris. how convinced are you that those showed something specific in the first place. i can't see anything. looks like a reflection on the water but i'm certainly no

expert. >> i'm kind of conflicted myself. because i want them to be bits of that aircraft. at the same time i'm with the families hoping that they're not, that the plane is still sitting somewhere, passengers relatively safe and sound. i've heard from several friends and colleagues that are very familiar with satellite data. and they're not saying it can't be the aircraft, but there's a lot of doubt about what those things really are. and i'm hoping that in a few hours we're going to know for sure. >> david soucie, about the deletions that the pilot has made. again sources telling cnn's he even perez and pamela brown that there were more deletions later on than the malaysians have released. but no reason to believe that there's anything suspicious in these deletions. >> right. and the thing that bothers me a little bit about that is the fact that why did they think that they know it and then they didn't? the malaysians have had a lot on their hands. i believe they're a little bit in over their heads on this. and that's what gives me the

indication of to me that i know they're reaching out and getting more help which is good. quantico has the best facilities than anyone to look at that data and see what had happened to it. so it just indicates to me again that they are in a little over their head a little bit but realizing it and reaching out for a little bit of help. >> mary you've been involved in this kind of thing before. one point you made several days ago which i think bears repeating, it's not just that something that an item was deleted. but perhaps if there was an attempt to overwrite something that was deleted that meeting telling. >> right. it's not just what you did and cleaned up your files or deleted it, but if you took active steps to make it very difficult to retrieve it it would show that you were intending to cover your tracks. it would show some kind of an intent to obfuscate or hide. in quantico, virginia that's the right place for that. they also have analyst and they don't just have the computer wizards, they'll have analysts that can analyze things. what does this mean? is there any significant to this

or that? by the same token they may find nothing and say there's no significance whatsoever. >> obviously an investigation like this it's important to recognize and to point out, certainly in our coverage to point out what we don't know and what leads have not really led anywhere over the last 24 hours. there's a lot more to talk about. i want to take a short break. we'll pick up the conversation when we come back. let us know what you think or questions you have. follow me on twitt twitter @andersoncooper. using #ac360. next up what may be in store for ships as they search for wreckage in some of the roughest waters on earth. there was good weather today. in previous days we've seen poor visibility. we'll check in with u.s. navy's seventh fleet commander. later a theory what the plane was carrying was the reason it went down. we'll talk about that possibility ahead.

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we've been talk about how favorable the conditions have been today for the search for flight 370. that's the exception not the rule. take a look at what it's looked like in the past. this is video from a leg of the volvo ocean race last year passing through that area. this is from last year. but this search area last spring gives you -- it's a part of the southern indian ocean around 40 degrees south latitude known as the roaring 40s. you get a sense of why here. it's not smooth sailing at times. the ocean is smoother right now thankfully. it's not likely to stay that way. commander william marks spokesman for the u.s. navy's seventh fleet joins me by phone. >> commander marks, the u.s. p 8 poseidon it's not searching tomorrow or today due to routine maintenance.

when is it expected to return to the search? >> usually we take a day or two for the planned maintenance. it's a regular thing. we watch the fatigue level of both the air crew and the plane very carefully. so you can't run people 24 hours a day. you also can't run equipment 24 hours a day. but we're in rotation with the australian forces. it's a very coordinated effort. so the search is covered for that day. >> australian officials are also saying that their search is now more focused on visual sightings as opposed to radar. i assume they're still using radar especially when something like the p 8 poseidon is part of the search. can you explain the idea behind really focusing on visual search as opposed to radar? >> sure. and really that came about because two days ago the weather was really bad. very low ceilings, a lot of fog.

yesterday a lot better. but our philosophy is we take a balanced approach to use the optimal range of our sensors. if the optimal sensor is the radar they will go heavy on using the radar. however, if the environment dictates that the visual search would be more productive, they'll lean forward that more. so we do use a balance. that's what the air crew does. they're experts in that. and it just depend on the environment, depend on the day. >> we're looking at some video of australian forces flying low and dropping some items into the water. do you know what those would be? i don't know if -- they're obviously some sort of sensor devices. what would they be putting in the water? >> so those are sonobuoys. i get that question a lot, are we pinging underneath the surface for water or are we looking submerged? really what those were doing was to get a sense of the environmental conditions

specifically the currents under the water. so for example, those sonobuoys cowl tell you if there's a 1 knot current over the course of 24 hours potentially a piece of debris could have moved 24 miles. those are mostly for environmental. >> lastly just how difficult is the task at hand here? i mean, given that we're some five days after the satellite images were taken, given the difficult weather conditions you've had in the last couple of days, these objects could have traveled something like 300 miles or so or even sunk, correct, if they were there in the first place? >> yeah, that's true. and this whole operation has been a challenge. it's difficult. but what i tell people is, this what is we do. this is what we train for. we're out here every day so that when a crisis does occur we already know who the players are, we know how to communicate and we know what our immediate actions are. so to us, certainly a unique

situation but something we are prepared for. >> i know you think about the families of those on board the aircraft as well as those on board this aircraft. and i've talked to several family members who are waiting for word. they are all obviously incredibly appreciative of your efforts as are we. so thank you for talking to us. >> you're very welcome. thank you. let's go back with our panel. david gallo, let me start with you. i want to go back to something you said in our last block about the people you have been talking to who had a lot of experience looking at satellite images. they're twbeginning to raise serious questions about what actually is in those images. can you say more about that? how doubtful are you or they that this is actually something significant? >> well, when i look at those images i see something. i just don't know what it is. and it looks like it could be part of the aircraft. it might be maybe a wing. and therefore has a low profile so would be difficult to pick up with radar.

they're looking at the same things we're looking at as far as i know. so they don't have access to the actual raw data. but it's interesting. it must have been four or five but they've all expressed doubt more than they've expressed any sort of strong positive feeling that those are pieces of an aircraft. i was surprised by that because we're going to know fairly soon whether -- if we find those pieces whether they're right or wrong. >> les, do you have doubts as well? >> i really do. at this point now that we're day three. and my contention is that maybe we should increase the search back over land. >> really? >> from the standpoint of the elts not activating with the salt water, the slide rafts would have them in them. >> that for you is a big red flag, why those elts. we've heard from a number of pilots today or folks we're actually going to have a piece about elts later on. a lot of people raising the question, the elts why didn't they go off because there are multiple ones. >> there is.

and the slide rafts, i don't know how this airplane is configured. but there could be some that were in the overhead bins, too, strapped down. >> david gallo, excuse me david soucie,are you skeptical about this debris given the amount of time? >> because of the amount of time, i'm concerned if it was a wing, it's a tapered wing. and the center spars of that wing are very heavy compared to the tip of that wing. so the fact that it would be flat enough to be seen in that configuration concerns me a little bit. i would think that wing would have tilted toward the heavy side, which could keep it afloat but it wouldn't be in that attitude. it would be in a much different attitude. so i'm a little skeptical it would have been able to continue to float for that long. >> and david gallo, it looks calm out there now and what we've heard from folks the last 24 hours it was calm. but as we saw a short time ago in that video taken last year, around this area, it's notorious for having big waves, strong winds, tough currents.

does that just complicate the situation in terms of trying to triangulate how far debris could have potentially moved from any impact site? >> yeah, of course. i mean, it's not as though the currents have the same velocity or the same direction or the winds have the same velocity and same direction. it's all variable. these are swirling winds, might be eddies in the currents. it's a real complicated issue. welcome to the world of oceanography. as captain marks said, this is the world that we live in. but to find something, to backtrack something over so many days, it's going to be really tough. not impossible but really really tough. >> and i just want to reiterate to our viewers, the video you're seeing while david is talking here this is from 2012. this is not involved in this search. but it is in this area. and the reason we're showing it to you is to give you a sense of what it can be like out there on the water. you remember the first day -- here's more video which you see actually a person. this is from last year from a race that took place in that

area. remember the first day of visibility was very low when search crews went out there and they were said to be waves in the 20-feet range. it gives you a sense -- that's one thing to say that. another thing to actually see at water level how difficult is it. so david gallo, when you're out there, how do you deal with this in terms of trying to spot something in these conditions? i know you work under the water, but just trying to spot something on the surface when you have white caps blowing off the top of waves, i don't know how you do it. >> yeah. well, it makes it really hard. imagine trying to stand on the deck of a ship with a pair of binoculars. in that situation almost impossible to do. i've been in those conditions just west of here and it was horrific. but if this was the underwater search it would make it impossible to launch and retrieve vehicles or to tow a system in this kind of weather. so it's a double whammy. >> because you can't get underwater vehicles into the water in this kind of condition. >> certainly not with a cable.

if you're towing something that's four miles beneath you or three miles beneath you, almost impossible to keep that thing stable. you've got snap loads on the cable so you're stressing the system. if you're launching autonomous underwater vehicles like drones, retrieving them in this weather almost impossible. >> last night we showed some of the remarkable equipment that woods hull has to map the ocean floor, these submersible vehicles that can really map a wide range. and i got a number of questions after the show from viewers about it. why not just even now get those in the water mapping out grids underneath on the ocean floor? >> well, anderson, you got to start someplace. and those vehicles on a good day -- those vehicles that's one thing. the technology is incredible. those vehicles are awesome. the team is almost more important, the dedicated team that goes along with those vehicles. and where do you begin on a good day each vehicle might cover

about 25 square miles. that's not a lot of turf. so you would be burning out a team. these teams workday and night for weeks and months on end. and you're end up with a lot of burnout. so almost not worth just -- just be taking a shot in the dark. so we need a little bit more to go on than just get in the water and turn the vehicles loose. >> and we're showing animation of what these vehicles from wood hull can do. invented by woods hull ocean graphic institution. it's a good reminder the technology is extraordinary. it's the humans behind the technology to interpret the data to keep these things running. you've got to take into account wear and tear on human beings as well as on the equipment. much more ahead. we're going to talk with an aviation reporter in australia monitoring the search effort. what his sources are telling him. he has serious questions about some of the copilot's signoff with air traffic controllers. as you've heard most other pilots we talked to say there's nothing unusual about it. plus inside a 777 simulator. exploring one of the new theories about what may have happened on board. trouble that may have been

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published a transcript of radio transmissions between flight 370 and air traffic controllers.

geoffrey thomas is back with us from bulls brook, australia. >> geoff regarding this township of the transcript retained by the telegraph newspaper you say the signoff from the copilot still doesn't sit right with you. why? >> no. well, the international protocol from the international civil aviation organization is that the signoff should be a repeat of the instruction given by air traffic control. so typically the signoff should be mh 370, contact ho chi minh city on 120.9, good night. it repeats the instruction. that's the international protocol. all right good night is either very -- way too casual, not compliant, or maybe it's a coded message. >> so it could be just sloppiness. you're saying it could also be some sort of a coded message. >> indeed. indeed. >> i guess one way would be to

try to find out other planes that the copilot has flown on to see if this is what he commonly signs off with. australia's deputy prime minister came out today urging caution saying whatever the debris is or was may not be floating anymore, may have already sunk. with certainly different tone than we heard from the prime minister just two days ago. do you get the sense from people you're talking to in australian authorities that they're not as confident as they were that this is something significant? >> no, not at all. prime minister tony abbott i think is think very careful not to raise the expectations of the relatives, loved ones that are left behind. and this is also still a rescue mission. it may well be we find some rafts as well. but i think what we're seeing on the ground here is that more assets are being deployed we hear today the chinese are

sending three aircraft down to pierce air force base in perth. i understand the japanese are going to commit a couple of o orions as well. while the prime minister talk may be softening, the commercial assets are being ramped up. >> in terms of we heard from searchers they will not be using radar in that area, just their eyes. is that a good idea in your opinion? >> well, look, i think it's possibly been a little bit misconstrued there. because they're still using radar. but they're using their eyes as well. because a lot of this debris would not be picked up by radar. seat cushions from an airplane, pieces of plastic. all those sort of items that would float are not necessarily radar friendly if you like. and so they're using both.

and they're also using experts at spotting. and people who really can identify things at long distances. so it's a combination of assets here. >> and to your knowledge, are they sending back in real time high resolution photographic images that other people in australia are looking at in real time, or is this all being done by the platforms that are out there? >> obviously they're doing it -- they're recording everything they see out there. my understanding is that they are relaying back to the search headquarters anything of significance. my understanding is that yes, there is some real-time data imagery being sent back if appropriate. but as yet that hasn't been shared with us. >> all right, geoffrey thomas, appreciate you reporting on what your sources are telling you. thank you. >> pleasure, anderson. well, up next, did fire strike flight 370? that's one of the things that investigators have been looking at. we're going to take you inside a

777 simulator, cockpit and see what pilots can do when a fire breaks out on board. also ahead tonight, the families of the missing holding on to hope. we're going to speak to sarah bajac whom we have spoken to before. she has been very public about her partner phillip wood who is among the missing. she has a facebook page, she wants information out there about him. we'll talk to her ahead. card f. it's not the "limit your hard earned cash back" card . it's not the "confused by rotating categories" card. it's the no-category-gaming, no-look-passing, clear-the-lane-i'm- going-up-strong, backboard-breaking, cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every single day. i'll ask again... what's in your wallet?

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welcome back. another new development tonight malaysia airlines ceo acknowledging flight 370 was carrying a cargo of lithium ion batteries. he did not say how big the shipment was. these type of batteries have been implicated in other incidents. they are flammable. tonight cnn's martin savidge is back in a flight simulator along with mitchell cosado. i don't think you guys have ever left the simulator framgnkly. this is one aspect investigators are looking at, the possibility of a fire on board. there were these potentially flammable lithium batteries. could a fire have started in the cargo hold and then overtaken the cockpit? >> the answer to that is most definitely it could have happened. we're not saying it did in this instance but it could have. it's happened before in other aircraft. value jet one of the most famous ones. that plane from the moment the fire started to when it went down was 3:42.

then you have the ubs flight out of dubai in 2010. that was due to the batteries. it was basically fire that just filled the cockpit with smoke, either overcame the pilots or made it impossible to navigate. so inhappt happens definitely. >> what steps would pilots take to try to con taitain the fire? >> if we were flying at altitude the first indication would likely be the alarms that would be going off. the moment that alarm goes off there are a number of things that begin to go into play. the pilot and copilot would measly go for a checklist and begin to figure out who's going to fly, who's going to navigate. you want to get this plane down on the deck as low as you can, maybe 8,000 feet. because you're going to want to open the window to try to ventilate. at the same time you've got oxygen masks that have come on, and you're going to begin communicate together ground. because you want to find out from air traffic control where you can get this plane down on the ground and onto a runway somewhere. so the only thing we know from

370 is they turned. as far as any of this other action which would have been standard and drilled into them over and over, it didn't happen. >> i want to go back to our panel, bring in mary schiavo, former inspector general for the department of transportation, david gallo of the woods hull ocean graphic institution and cnn aviation analyst les abend. les a fire on board, how serious is that, as a pilot how big a concern that is for you and what do you do? >> it's got to be the worst scenario on an airplane. >> really? >> yeah. because you have no control over the situation for the most part except to be able to attempt to extinguish the fire. if it happened in the forward cargo department like seemed to be simulated there, you would start a whole process of arming bottles, freon bottles and deploying those bottles into the cargo departments. you would select which one, assuming the forward. >> that's done electronically?

>> it's done electronically through switches. but you would manually have to go through that process to do it. there's a couple of freon bottles. starting the prosays shuts down fans all sorts of things so it stops circulation down in that compartme compartment. if you did smell the smoke first thing would be to put on your oxygen mask which includes the goggles. you have to use a different mike switch on your yoke to communicate. it's a lot of confusion. >> as a pilot do you have an immediate sense of how big the fire is? i know alarms are going off. but are they ack that accurate in how big the fire is or do you smell smoke? >> oftentimes you'll smell something. a lot of times with us it turns out to be something they're burning in the galley behind us. so he went immediately jump to the oxygen mask. it could have been insidious, slowly sneaked its way into the cockpit. >> mary, how effective are on

board systems against fires? >> that's the problem. because of the crash of value jet flight 92 back in 1996 we have fire detection suppression equipment in the cargo holds of wide bodied planes and others. but that fire suppression equipment may not be effective against the lithium batteries. in the boeing investigation looking at two planes that caught fire or had a smoke event because of the batteries, they determined they had to redesign the box in which those batteries were housed that the fire suppression system didn't work. and even the firefighters in boston had a difficult time putting the fire out. so those batteries are especially troublesome. not only do they start fires but it's hard to get them out. >> david soucie, there have been a number of incidents involving lithium batteries, not necessarily on board flights but

fed-ex, dhl, a lot of carriers people who ship this thing. >> right. there's a form that's required after mary pointed out after value yet, hazmat regulations have been changed under code 14 of the cfrs. under 179 through 179 it tells you what you have to do, to report, prevent from going onto the aircraft. so we have a list here of about -- anybody that's looked at this has probably searched for this and found out there's 141 incidents of this happening with a lithium batteries. however, if you go through there and look at it, most of them -- only one or two that i found i haven't gone through the whole list yet-but just a few on the airport when it happened. most of it loading and unloading, forklifts going through. most about a lap tonight battery got hot in and the flight attendant was able to take that battery out and put night a coffee pot and suppress any kind of fire. >> david gallo, a lot of discussion online about the search effort. we know it's a long way off the

coast of australia. got a tweet from julie. she said "why can't they launch some drones over the suspected debris area?" what about that? >> well, they could theoretically, sure. from a ship, i think it's a long way out but i guess you could do it from land. again it's going to come back to the drones are really going to carry cameras or radar or something of that nature. it's still going to be tough to see through any kind of rough weather. and that is a long way away. it's twice the distance that the air france site was off the coast of brazil. >> i also got a tweet from andrea who says "i've been wondering if they could have had a decompression and lost consciousness and the plane could have kept flying." les how possible is that? >> it's possible if it was toxic fumes. one of the things i wanted to point out, the baggage compartment, all the baggage

compartments have freon. the avionics area does not have fire suppression. what it is has the automatic ability to redirect air flow. because that air flow that comes through there comes up into the cockpit also. >> it's just extraordinary this far into it we are still going over -- investigators are still going over these theories. there was so much hope just a few days ago when this debris seemed to be picked up by satellites. and now with each day that passes, and again my thoughts just keep going to the families who are just waiting day in and day out. this is just horrific for them. i appreciate all our panelists being here again. mary schiavo, david gallo, david soucie and les abend.

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...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we take care of the heat, so you don't get burned. just another way we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ two weeks ago tonight, 239 families learned that their loved ones vanished seemingly into thin air. 239 souls from more than a dozen countries. for two full weeks now their families have lived in this terrible state of limbo trying to hold onto hope. we've seen their anguish and their courage. sarah bajac still hopes for the safe return of her partner phillip wood on flight 370. they were about to move back to kuala lumpur from beijing when this happened. sarah, i appreciate you being with us. i know you have a support network around you. you created a facebook page. i want to show our viewers that.

it's called finding phillip wood. you're trying to keep up energy for the search and keeping hope alive. it's one of the reasons you're speaking out as you have for the last several days. how concerned are you that too many resources are being put to this ocean search and not enough to searching over land? >> thank you for asking that question, anderson. i'm very concerned about it. if you look through our postings, i think general population is concerned about it as well. the experts keep pursuing all the options that would denote a crash. intuition of the innocent or the ignorant depending on how you want to look at it seems to be that the people are all still alive. that's a consistent theme. and whether it's wishful thinking or just logic, sometimes when you know less of the data you can make more intuitive decisions. but there's a chance that it

was taken by an abductor of some sort we should be putting some of our resources to land. >> have you been able to gave message to authorities to malaysia airlines? what is the communication like and the flow of information from them to you? are you satisfied with it? because i know it's frustrating for a number of families. >> yes. there's been no exchange of information with authorities. so that is exactly why i've been engaging with the media. it's been a consistent theme that i've tried to come back to, that i believe and i think most people believe that the passengers are being held for some other purpose. and so far that doesn't seem to be listened tochlt but since all of the other avenues that we've explored actually don't make sense -- i mean, i've been listening to your show as i've stood here. even a fire in the cockpit, there would have been some other

evidence to point to the fact that that had happened. an alarm or some other movement of the plane or whatever the case might have been. so i hope the authorities maybe take a little more brain approach as opposed to the brawn approach that's been pursued so far. maybe that will get us someplace else. >> i'm always very cautious about speaking to somebody who's experiencing a situation like this. because i don't want to do anything or ask anything that's in any way inappropriate or too invasive. and in the past you have spoken about phillip. and i know just this not knowing, this day in and day out, are there ways that you have figured out to try to get through each day? do you stick to a routine? do you pay attention to all the twists and turns that are being reported, that are being investigated? how do you deal with this? >> well, desperation leads to a

certain kind of nervous energy. and i'm dealing with that by engaging with the media and pushing forward with the finding phillip wood facebook page to bring awareness and to provide a format for group therapy, if you want to think about that. but at a personal level i've tried very hard to keep with the routines that phillip and i have followed for the last couple of years. i get up early. i drink coffee in front of the window and look out over the sunrise. we live next to an apple orchard. and i do yoga every morning and eat my oatmeal and go to work. i've continued to keep a teaching schedule. and i'm sure that that's what phillip would want me to do. no use having other casualties of my students not being able to hit their exams. so i'm keeping normal life going, but i'm pushing all this extra energy into trying to make a difference. >> it's extraordinary that you're able to continue teaching

and that that's something that you've been able to stick to. it just shows what a great teacher you must be, the fact that that is still a priority for you. and sarah, i appreciate all you're doing and you talking to us. thank you very much. my thoughts continue to be with you and with philadelphfill phie others. >> thank you, anderson. >> you can find out more about all the passengers at ac360.com. strange and chilling headline, georgia university student arrested accused of making ricin. and more on the boston bombing suspects. [ female announcer ] grow, it's what we do.

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we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can. let's get caught up on some of the other stories we're following. susan hendricks has a 360 bulletin. russia finalizes annexation of crimea. ukraine's former president ditched the pact in november leading to protests and his rye move and russia's actions in crimea. in washington, d.c. a george washington university student is under arrest accused of making rye ricin in his dorm room. at the department of justice, civil rights prosecutors say there was no wrongdoing when a fbi agent fatally shot a chechen man being questioned in florida

about a possible link to one of the boston marathon bombing suspects. one month from today at the boon marathon, 100 runners will make up team mr 8, in memory of martin richard the youngest bombing victim. his sister was injured in the attack. the family released this photo today showing jane with her new prosthetic cheetah running leg. certainly a brave little girl. >> susan, thanks very much. that does it for us. we'll see you again 11:00 p.m. eastern tonight. "piers morgan live" starts now. this is "piers morgan live" and i am bill weir filling in tonight. as search planes zoom over that lonely water of the indian ocean, spending hours searching for what could be an 80-foot floating piece of this puzzle, we're going to look into two possible fresh leads. we'll see if there's anything to glean from transcripts of radio conversations between f