good morning. i'm michael smerconish. first off, we want to get to latest news on the missing malaysian flight 370. a 74 feet long and 43 foot wide object was found in the southern indian ocean. ships are headed in the direction now. we know in the same area, a cyclone warning is in effect. that is going to make the search difficult for the ships and planes in the area. we will keep you updated throughout the hour.

this is my third program on cnn. i'm still learning the ropes. my show started as one of the greatest mysteries unfolded. flight 370 has all the elements of news. missing people engaged in a common activity. the presumption of a deliberate action and resulting conspiracy theories. how to approach the story is something i wrestled with all week long. i heard the criticism from the competitors who are not used to second or third place finishes. your interests are my paramount concern. i know from my radio show this week. the verdict from the water coolers is we want to figure out what happened to 239 people and the airplane in which they were flying. we have needed perspective. my goal is to have you watch and leave with a better understanding of a matter of legitimate public interest. here is the plan. we're going to analyze the

continuing connundrum. i'm trying to figure out how to unravel the story of the pilots. who better to ask than mary o'toole. we have michael kay. he distinguished himself flying for the british r.a.f. and investigated aircraft crashes. we have tim weller. he was the project manager in the underwater search for the air france that crashed in the atlantic in 2009. we have the widow of the captain of that flight to reinforce the safety. she worries we are still vulnerable. clyve irving penned something. his focus is on the timeline and the significance of reports that

the transponder was turned off three minutes after the pilot's final verbal communication. you want to hear what he thinks that suggests. we'll have dr. nicholas defanzo. the area of expertise is the spread of rumors and were we are so inclined to believe them. let's get started. assuming malaysian airlines flight 370 is at the bottom of the indian ocean, searches for it poses enormous challenges. it calls to mind the hunt for the titanic. that was found 74 years after it sank. tim weller is the operations manager at phoenix international. he also was project manager in the search for air france 447 in 2009. we have michael kay, a retired

helicopter pilot with the british royal air force, with experience in flying around the world. tim, at which stage in regard to the malaysian flight with someone of your expertise get involved. of course, the breaking news this morning, is the satellite i am imagery. is that enough for you to be in the case? >> i think we need to find more surface debris so we can calculate a better search. we are looking at water depth of 3,000 meters to 5,000 meters. the challenge is enormous. the search based on one satellite image could take years. >> how would it compare to your work with regard to air france? for example, is the ocean floor in this location as well charted as where you were exploring? >> i only had cursory looks at

the bottom data here. it looks like it could be rough, but you know, the biggest challenge is the area. without having more information about where the impact was, it is nearly impossible to tell where to start the search. in air france, you had a large area of debris on the surface. the experts that could do the hindcasts and drift models had an easier time bringing that information back to a possible point of impact. in this case, we don't have any of that. >> if a debris field is located, what then would be the next steps? >> the next steps would be to mobilize a tow pinger locator. to listen for the pinger everybody is talking about and possibly an auv to start the scan sonar search in the area.

>> the pinger you referenced puts a diminished amount of time on the clock. we have two weeks to find something on that basis? >> that's right. as time goes on, the battery voltage decreases. it could last 40 to 45 days, but the sooner we find debris, we know how much time we have to utilize the tow pinger. >> i wonder how this is hindered on the authorities. we have the image from the chinese that was four days old. are there concerns from the chinese that they don't want to reveal their satellite capabilities? >> i think it is broader than the chinese, mike. there has been outset inconsistent issues of the

diplomatic relationships on the data feeds we have been given. there has been huge inconsistencies on the issues from thailand and malaysia who said they did see something unusual. in indonesia, they have a band saying they have seen nothing. when it comes to china, china putting a plethora of satellites in orbit at the moment. this is not a geo stationary satellite. this is is satellite in orbit. i think there will be suspicions about which data coming from which satellite. i think i can understand why china is regarded about releasing bits of information because the u.s. will track where the information came from and what the satellite is used for day-to-day.

>> the process is not inspiring confidence. i was watching cnn early in real-time when the malaysian representatives were having a press conference. it seemed just so haphazard. i was just handed a note and it comes from the ambassador. >> there are 26 countries involved in this. a week ago, 43 ships and aircraft from 14 countries involved in the search. that is a huge, huge search operation effort to try to coordinate within the country let alone across 26 countries. we have to go to the southwestern tip of australia and just look at mammoth efforts they have been deploying to search the area of square miles. we have seen the maritime surveillance aircraft. it is not an easy logistics operation to put together on a

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pilots on the flight that was hijacked and flown into the world trade center. i have a dramatization of ellen to see how it is easy for hijackers to take control. ellen, congress mandated cockpit doors, but not a secondary door. >> we are talking about a lightweight gate that gets locked in place during flight in operation. use has shown us the cockpit door works while closed, pilots need to come out for restroom

breaks and meal breaks. it is during the times of flight that we are vulnerable. the study that was done showed that the cockpit could be breached in under two seconds once the door was open. >> i'm flying later today. i know when this flight goes, at some point, the staff will put the beverage cart across the aisle. is that what they are using in lieu of a secondary door now? >> tsa said every airline has to come up with a procedure. you will be lucky if you are on the airlines that do use the cart and flight attendants. some use a flight attendant. that method is the most robust form the airlines have to protect the cockpit during a breach. you see what happens two seconds lat later. >> it was not mandated by the congress, your husband's employer said they were going to take this step. they were going to provide secondary doors. the dreamliners started to be delivered to united and now

continental. you became aware of the fact despite what they said, the secondary doors were not present. >> they were installed on a lot of airplanes. it is an easy fix and inexpensive. now continental and united have merged, it is a team. they do not have the same philosophy. i was appalled that the company was removing the doors, but all the other airlines were not doing this. it is clear in the study that the forms of use to protect the cockpit do not work and the secondary barrier was proven to work 100% of the time on 100% of the flights. >> i know you have been rattling their cage. what is the explanation? >> procedures have evolved over the years and they are doing everything they are required to do, which they are, but it is not a requirement yet. that is why legislation has to come through. >> is this a dollars and cents

issue that is providing you from the safety of satisfaction? >> i was told for united airlines it was not a cost issue or weight issue. it is that the tsa emphasis is on explosives on an airplane and not on a breach of the cockpit. that's their new focus. i don't know what study or risk-based analysis was to say we will only have explosives on an airplane. we know terrorists will look for weakness. the door can be breached in two seconds. >> i want to ask about the malaysian flight. you got the news quickly about victor on 9/11, these folks are now entering their third week of uncertainty. your thoughts? >> my heart goes out to them. at first, when tragedy hits you, you are in shock. it lasts for days or it could last longer for that. then reality starts to set in. they are having the hopeful moments something is there and it goes away.

they can't give up that their loved one is not alive or their loved one is not going to be found. it is difficult. this many days later, it is anguishing. >> and on september 11th, there were not many that found out for days or longer. >> i met all of these people who lost somebody in the towers, they were struggling. i was lucky i found out right away what the case scenario was. there is no way to give them any kind of sympathy that they can take in. they are just anguished. it is a shame for them. i really hope some news can come. >> i applaud the way you are keeping the memory of your husband alive and being a champion for cockpit safety. thank you for being here. >> and everyone else. >> indeed. headlines redefined. a fashion choice by one of the malaysian airline pilots has become front page fodder. i'll explain. let me get this straight... [ female voice ] yes?

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time for headlines redefined. the headlines that got the story half right. number one, here is what was in "the daily mail." democracy is dead. missing airliner pilot wearing

slogan t-shirt. i had a caller to my radio show. a guy called up and said michael, i suspect the pilots are behind it. i said why. one pilot hates democracy. i'm sure he gleaned that from that headline or from somebody repeating that headline. here is what i think the facts are. the pilot is a supporter of anwaribriham. ibriham is a democracy icon. last year, in 2013, running for prime minister in malaysia gets the highest recorded number of votes, but still can't wrestle power from the sitting prime minister. so when the pilot's shirt talks about democracy is dead, it is actually being worn, i think, out of frustration. he is complaining that democracy is dead in malaysia. he wishes democracy were alive.

ibriham himself said of the pilot, he is a passionate man of reform and democracy and freedom. i'm worried that the presumption of innocence has been waived with regard to the pilots. here is the headline i would have written, pro--democracy pilot at controls. crowd hammer blasts flight 370 coverage corrupting the news business. who were they talking about in that segment which i watched? in the segment, he admits the story has the elements. he made reference to agatha christie. that is all about ratings. that prompted bill o'reilly to talk about this being all a burlesque show. here is what i was thinking. guys, if you want to get in on the action and you want to cover

the malaysian flight, don't use cnn as your means of getting in on the action by trumping up a charge that cnn's coverage is excessive. we can have a debate of the subject of worldwide fascination. be more honest about it. start covering the story yourself if that is what you would like to do. here is how i would have written the headline. it would have said this, fox is not covering the plane by covering cnn's coverage of the plane. headlines redefined. there you go. when we come back, we will talk to a person who has written some great things about this subject. that's clyve irving. from zombie flights to timetables, my next guest has checked all of the possibilities. oman #1 ] why do i cook? because an empty pan is a blank canvas. [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. [ woman #3 ] to travel the world without leaving home.

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for the search for missing malaysia airline flight 370. an object 74 feet long and 43 feet wide found floating in the southern indian ocean. ships are headed in that direction right now. we also know that in the same area, the southern corridor, there is a cyclone warning in effect. that will make the search very difficult for ships and planes in that area. we'll keep you updated throughout the hour. one theory that gained steam this week was hero pilots. it surmised the pilots were dealing an electrical fire in the cockpit. joining me now is clive irving. contributor for "the daily beast" and "conde naste." i pulled a number of things out of pieces you written. i want to hit you with them and expand. the data system and transponder

quit after the pilot said all was okay. why? >> nothing sinister. i think they keep trying to make the pilots every action and background sinister when there is nothing here. trashing the pilots is unseemly. >> turning off the transponder is the first thing a hijacker would do. >> that's right. the transponder can be subject to a technical failure like any other part of the cockpit. >> the prime minister referenced deliberate action. seem to be throwing under the bus the pilots. part of the narrative that it was something nefarious. >> these pilots have families and they are in great agony and distress. >> why would a bad guy take out the acars system? let's assume there is intervention in the cockpit? >> it makes no sense.

>> differ between the acars system. >> it is nothing anything in the cockpit. not like a cctv camera in the cockpit that they tape over to avoid them being spotted. the greatest thing a hijacker would be worried about would be the satellite would somehow see what was going on. that's not the case with the acars at all. >> so far and maybe i'm cherry picking from the columns that i read from you, you are not casting aspersions on the pilots. >> in this case, it is swung to the technical. what i have been trying to do is pull it back all week and say we need to interrogate all of the technical possibilities for the

accident and the terrorist and the criminal. >> what would literally happen if this plane were to have run out of gas? >> this whole search is predicated on the idea the plane did run out of gas. that is why they are searching the area. working back from that, you have to ask the question, what circumstances could have created a situation where this plane would fly for so long without communication? it could be flown by people who did not want to communicate. that seems highly unlikely. what is more likely, it was flying on its own. it is capable. it is a stable aircraft. it is quite capable on flying on auto pilot. >> all of the engines would not run out of gas all at the same time. one would have run out of gas before the other and created -- >> it banks and tips over and goes down. >> is the change in the flight plan necessarily evidence of something sinister having taken place? this is something else i hear

everyone latching on to and say they changed the computer between the pilot and co-pilot, it had to have been with bad intention. >> priorities are important here. a saying among pilots, priorities are aviate, navigate and communication. the first thing is if they thought the emergency was not too urgent, they would program in a change to go toward wherever is a nearby airfield. it is not like world war ii and grab the joystick. the smooth way of doing it is flying at 500 miles an hour, if you switch off the auto pilot and hand fly, it is a rough thing to do. >> something else you have written, clive, what floats? >> the most buoyant parts of the

plane are the empty tanks. the tail. in the case of flight 447, air france, the first thing we saw was the vertical stabilizer with the airliner number on it. that is what you should be looking for. pieces of that size. >> did the dimensions revealed by the chinese today comport? >> no. they are too square. i wonder why the chinese keep doing this. this is the second time they have done it. i don't want to jump to the conclusion about the wreckage. one wonders did the satellite images and not taking the first step of comparing the dimensions. >> is there a sub-plot here of national security? could the chinese not want to reveal the securities to that part of the world? that is why an image taken on

tuesday comes out on saturday and perhaps with less definition than they were able to capture it? >> i don't know the answer to that. i suspect that is the case. the chinese and the united states don't want to reveal to each other the finesse of their assets. they are not obliged to give us the accuracy of how they know this. >> time is of the essence. >> a ticking clock. >> how so? >> because the longer it goes on, the harder it is to find the wreckage. the wreckage will be floating away from the impact site. with the winds down there, it will be hard to locate it. the flight data recorder only goes on for 30 days, the batteries. the pinger is recognized. you can get only three or four miles range. this is privative technology. quite unnecessary for us to be

dependent. >> i'm say something at the end of the program on that issue. the technology clearly exists that we would not need to go through this and yet, we do. >> the europeans with 597 simulations of air crashes across the world using streaming. a model that streams the information from the plane before it disappeared. out of those 597 crashes, 82% of them, were identified within four miles of where they went down. >> thank you, clive irving. how much do we know about the two men in the cockpit of flight 370? we will let you know how the fbi will likely profile these men to get some answers. [ male announcer ] frequent heartburn? the choice is yours. chalky... not chalky. temporary... 24 hour. lots of tablets... one pill. you decide. prevent acid with prevacid 24hr.

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much of the speculation into what happened to malaysia flight 370 is focing solely on one place. the cockpit. what did the pilots have to do with the disappearance of the flight? one of the pilots had flight simulator with deleted information on the simulator. for a look at how the fbi will look at the flight members and the crew, i'm joined by a former senior fbi profiler. mary ellen, you have been

involved in real "silence of the lambs" stuff in your career. what would you be interested in learning about the pilots, but also on the crew and also on the passengers? >> well, what's important to understand with these kinds of cases, it is very typical to look at the people that are part of the crime scene, if you will. that includes looking at whether or not they could have any involvement. that is not bashing, but it is simply part of the investigation. we will look at the baseline of the behavior. how are the individuals on a normal regular day. what were they like regularly? then you go back and you can begin to compare any changes that occurred in their behavior 24 hours, 36 hours before the event. the reason that we look for that is this, this kind of activity, being involved possibly in a

plane that's probably crashed somewhere, it is not impulsive behavior. it is behavior well thought out and planned and purposeful. there will be obvious indicators along the way of a shift from that baseline of behavior to now they have taken plans to get involved and taking over an airplane. that is what we would be looking for the shift in behavior. >> would that shift in behavior, let me play arm chair detective for a moment. would that be giving away possessions to a loved one or writing a note. >> it could involve something like that. that is pretty obvious. it may be more nuanced or subtle. we look for changes in the diet, change in what they wore, change in where they spent their time. they now become more isolated. maybe they have evidence of

nilistic thinking. you don't look for just one thing. you don't cherry pick. >> mary ellen, wouldn't a terrorist want a bigger payoff with this? i look at the maps and i say if someone had comandeered a plane of that size, they would have crashed in australia. you would not expect the end game would be to crash where presumably the flight went down. >> that's true to say that in theory. it really does, after you look at all of the they'ories and possibilities, it comes down to the individual. what is their thinking and what is their goal and what are they attempting to accomplish? that individual, if it is a terrorist, may not fit into the regular mold of what we have seen in the past. >> something else that hasn't gotten a lot of attention.

security at kuala lumpur. i assume if mary ellen o'toole were on the case, you would want to know what was the security like? could someone other than the passengers and crew and pilots have gotten on board the plane? was someone in the jump seat? >> that's all very important information. you would want to know all of that. you want to go back and begin looking from a behavior perspective what was going on both in terms of the passengers on that plane and in terms of the plane itself. so you have to look at this and i think that is happening. you look at this whole event through many different lens, but the behavior lens cannot be emphasized enough here. >> i'm so glad you are here. an additional question if i might. not all terrorists are suicidal. the 19 on september 11th, presumably were suicidal. maybe you will offer me a few some of them did not know they were about to die. osama bin laden was not suicidal. even at the end wasn't suicidal.

in this case, what would be the working model? how would you approach that question? >> well, first of all, there may not be a working model that is consistent with this. again, i go back to the idea that you have to really peel it back to the individual once a certain individual is identified. but we are putting the cart before the horse with that. again, you look at what we know right now. one of the most stunning things, i think we have to consider is you have 237 people on that airplane. two more including the flight crew. >> pilots. >> how could 237 people consistently and completely become so quiet in this airplane? at least at this point, that's a consideration. how does that happen? so, once we begin to answer some of the more compelling questions, i think we will get a better sense of the kind of individual that could have done this.

>> mary ellen o'toole, thank you for your time. trying to explain the mystery. why are we so obsessed with the theories and rumors? i'll ask the man who knows. kin' . mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. glass on floors. daily chores.

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the theory on the fate of

malaysia airline flight 370 came fast and fur rust. from hijacking to aliens to suicide missions. so many theories from experts and amateurs alike. joining me now is a psychologist from the rochester institute of technology. he is the author of "the water cooler effect." a guide to understanding and harnessing the power of rumors. thank you for being here, nick. you say to rumor is human. why? >> people are in a sense making and social animals. we have been rumoring since history began. it is something we do probably most of the day. we like to make sense of things. we like order. we like method. in the face of a mystery, and in particular, an intriguing tragic mystery, such as

>> and i can only imagine that in a world of social media, that's all hastened. >> it pours gasoline upon the tendency to puzzle solved. not only does the information flow farther and more quickly, but people can be exposed to the information continuously. . in the old days when you had to wait for the newspaper or the nightly newscast, you get a breather at least to think about things. but now you can keep up almost to the minute with the latest news and information. >> you know what occurs to me is that the larger conspiracy theories among us, they never seem to pan out. in fact, i'm sitting here trying to scratch my brain and think of one that really did fit the bill. and yet, it doesn't diminish interest in them. so i guess the question is, if there should be a rather nocuous answer for the missing malaysian

flight, will that diminish con pa spir ras si interest in it or will it persist? >> i don't think it will diminish it. when ever we face a puzzle like this we bring two things to it. one is our framework, our -- the beliefs that we have, the system of thinking that we have. and the other is the communication or the social network that we have. those two go together, so when i face a puzzle or an unexplained mystery like this, part of what i bring to the mystery is what i think is plausible. an again, in part, that comes from social network that i'm embedded in and in part from my own way of thinking and my own beliefs and attitudes and beliefs. >> is part of the -- >> and trust or distrust. >> is part of the explanation that we conflate fact and

fiction? are some folks among us, on maybe subliminal level mixing up lost with what they're watching playing itself out on a worldwide stage? do some among us remember capricorn one which was a well-done movie and suggested we never did land on the moon and our minds mix up that which was real and that which was fiction? >> oh, yes, that's quite easy to do. the important thing is to remember the narrative. we're often trained as human beings to look at the overall pattern. and fiction and interesting movies and television series like "lost" supply these narratives. this narrative of a plane disappearing in a remote part of the earth is an intriguing one, it's one that is among many of us, it's well-known and involving. >> and what i hear you saying is that our interest and fascination in it is largely

driven by, a, the fact that we are social beings, b, in our minds we need a sense of order, we need a sense of explanation, we need to know that it's not a mystery but there's some plausible explanation for that which has transpired. >> that's the root of it. i think all of -- well, all of the media attention, in part, what we're doing right now adds to it a bit. at least it makes it available for people who are sort of hooked on this puzzle solving to gone and think about it more and more. i have to add that this muzzle has not been solved. as i keep thinking about this mystery, it's still at the heart of it doesn't make sense. and i think for most people, that drives them on. that makes it an interesting enterprise to sort of dig their teeth into. >> nick, i just have 30 seconds left with you. the title of your book "watercooler effect," there are

some environments that foster these kind of rumors more so than others. is the watercooler truly at the top of that list? >> it is indeed. of course, in today's world there are many virtual watercoolers, places where people congregate not just to get water but to share information with one another, the latest news, gossip, and so forth. >> and one of those certainly is social media, as we were just discussing. nicholas difonzo, thank you for your time. appreciate you being here. when it's all said and done, how will we remember the mystery of flight 370 and what does it say about our collective conscience as the entire world copes with what is possibly a global loss?

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before we go one last thing. two weeks in and we remain mesmerized by the search for malaysian flight 370. yesterday in the "new york times" author noted it's been humbling, as well as horrifying, to see the entire globe in an age of unpress debted data accumulation, up in the air, more or less. he's right. and it reminds me of our interest in jessica mcclure. remember the 18-month-old who fell in a well in texas in 1987 and trapped for 58 hours or the 33 chilean miners rescued in 2010 and, of course, the events of 9/11 chun fortunately did not have the same outcome of the infant or the miners. i prefer to consider this a uniquely human interest in our fellow man. and not that it makes it worth it, but tragedies of this kind often produce a sense of unity and brief respite from the usual

sensation that separates us. there is no partisan divide in praying for the people on board. there might be competing near ris as to what went wrong but they don't divide along liberal and conservative lines. we'red in midst of a trade war with the chinese. china and japan, they don't see eye to eye when it comes to islands in the east china sea but they're working with one of our surveillance planes and the australian military in search of the missing aircraft. new zealabritain is participati with many other nations joining forces to bring this to a conclusion. before we all go back to our lives, it would be nice for once to harness the emotion and the sense of oneness for a constructive permanent purpose. and in this case, that should at least involve demanding change of the airline industry so that in an age of instant communication, our ability to figure out what happened and ensure that it doesn't repeat, is no longer dependent upon

finding flight records that remain a part of the airplane. thank you for watching. we'll see you next saturday. i hope saturday morning has been good to you so far. thank you for sharing your time was here. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. you're in the "cnn newsroom." >> the breaking news we've been following for you already this morning, the search for flight 370. >> china has new is a light images and they're showing a large object. here it is. floating in the southern indian ocean. this object is 74 feet by 43 feet. about 77 miles from where previous satellite images spotted two large pieces of debris, maybe, but we're