and @theleadcnn. subscribe to our magazine on flip board. that's it for "the lead." jake tapper will be back on monday. i turn you over now to wolf blitzer who is in "the situation room." >> jim, thank you very much. a whole new search zone. aircraft is aircraft are getting ready to take off. based on analysis that the airliner could not have flown as far as originally thought, the search area moves hundreds of miles to the northeast. objects spotted five planes quickly locate possible debris in the new search area. their information immediately sent for analysis as ships are moving in for a closer look. and pilot versus autopilot. we have new details on the background of the airliner's captain. plus, a look at how ground controllers might automatically take charge of an airliner if

there's trouble in the cockpit. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with a stunning new turn in the hunt for flight 370. here are the latest developments. forget the old search zone. there's a new search zone, 680 miles to the northeast. much closer to australia. authorities say new analysis of data shows the airliner could not have flown as far as previously thought. planes which were unable to confirm sat lime images in the old search zone have spotted multiple objects in the new area. we are awaiting results of the scrutiny of those photos. aircraft are getting ready to return to the ship zone. china says one of its ships has arrived in the new search area. our analysts and reporters are all standing by here in

washington as well as around the world with the kind of special coverage that only cnn can deliver. let's begin with our aviation correspondent rene marsh with the very latest. rene? >> a sudden shift in focus. again, this search zone has moved and authorities say that's thanks to a credible lead. that lead? more analysis of existing data with an entirely new search zone in play, does that mean crews wasted time searching the wrong area for more than a week? the new zone, roughly 1,023 square miles, larger than the state of new york and 300 miles closer to the australian coastline a shorter trip for search planes. >> this is our best estimate of the area in which the aircraft is likely to have crashed into the ocean. >> reporter: so why change everything three weeks after the plane disappeared? more radar and satellite analysis makes investigators

believe the plane was flying faster than previously thought. as it moved between the south china sea and the strait of malacca. a faster fuel burn early on means the plane can't go as far. but what about those satellite pings that first led searchers to the south indian ocean? since the plane went faster, it used more fuel and there's no way it had enough gas to make it to the bottom of this arc so now the search moves to the northeast. >> it's now the most credible lead as to where debris may be located. >> critics suggest we've heard that before. previous leads of floating objects near the old search area were called credible area, too. >> this area corroborates some sort of objects and debris. >> we have now had a number of very credible leagues. >> reporter: none of them led to flight 370 but malaysian authorities still think they could be relevant.

>> because of ocean drift, this new search area could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images. >> reporter: the hunt for flight 370 started in the south china sea, moved to the strait of malacca before expanding into the andaman sea and northern indian ocean. then came these arc, the search stretches from south kazakhstan to the southern indian ocean. until now. were the last eight days of searching the old area a waste of time? australian officials say no. >> this is the normal business of search and rescue operations, that new information comes to light, refined analysis takes you to a different place. i don't count the original work a waste of time. >> well, meanwhile, today the ntsb had a show and tell at its laboratory here in washington, d.c., where flight 370's black boxes may, may be examined if

and when they are recovered. you're being looking at video from that show and tell and the lab examines 650 flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders a year. about a third of them come from foreign governments. they are very hopeful that they will be able to recover information if and when it's recovered and someone actually asked, what has been your luck as far as pulling information out of it if it's been submersed in water. they can't think of a time when they weren't able to pull information off. >> this is it. a small box like this is what they are searching for. the so-called orange box, and the pinging is only going to go on as long as the batteries are still working. maybe another ten days. rene, thank you. let's bring in miles o'brien as well as peter goelz, a former ntsb analyst and tom fuentes. let's start with you, peter. so is this new area the real

deal or is this another false hope? >> well, i think it's the best deal that they can come up with today. this is all new territory. the analysis is difficult, the analysis hasn't been done before. they had a fresh set of eyes looking at the data. they did it in a more extensive way. this is their best call in finding debris in the area with the airplanes rather than just five-day-old satellite images. >> miles a. pilot flying over, they see something white or gray or whatever, how long should it take to determine if that is wreckage from a plane? >> well, once you get a ship on site, it should be easy. >> you couldn't make out that this is wreckage even if the plane went low? >> i suppose if you saw something with malaysia logo on it, yes. but in many cases what we're

talking about are small pieces and you need to look at serial numbers and that kind of thing. they might get lucky and find a piece like that. obviously in air france in 2009 the vertical stabilizer was in the water and it was quite obvious who it was. >> is it impossible or likely even if you don't get a ship in the area, a plane can fly at a low level and make a decision, this is it? >> no, they would not be able to do that. they've got to get their eyes and hands on an actual physical piece of wreckage that has the serial number that is clearly identified to the aircraft. the families at the least would not accept anything less. >> and they shouldn't. rene, what are you hearing from your sources in washington? are they upbeat or still tentative? >> to echo everything just said here, it's the best information that they've been able to drill down further. nothing is 100% until you get to those pieces, you examine them

very closely, and you're able to definitively say, yes, this belongs to the plane. other than that, you can't get really excited because now look what happened, we're looking in another area. >> some nearly 700 miles away. is it your belief, tom, that the public leadership in us a straul yeah and malaysia, that new arithmetic of the original data showed that the location was slightly different, 700 miles, not so slight or, or, i'm throwing this out as a possibility, was there some secret information out there collected by the united states that was shared with all of the investigators? maybe you guys are looking in the wrong place? >> if there is such secretive information, i'm not aware of it. >> i'm talking about, peter, because the u.s. has satellites and all sorts of high-tech capabilities that it doesn't want to share with the world, confidentiality, national security reasons. if they spotted something 700 miles away, presumably the u.s.

would have told the ntsb, the faa, hey, guys, you know what, do some more math? >> sure. i think that's possible. but remember, the south indian ocean was pegged by the ntsb and the u.s. as the most likely spot. i think it's a further refinement of their first analysis. they know the pinger is dying out. they've made their last best guess at this point based on the facts that they had. >> i can't tell you how many people have tweeted me or e-mailed me. they are losing total credibility. they are losing total confidence in the credibility of all of these investigators given this major, major shift. >> well, the thing is, there's no transparency. so there could be some very good reasons for all of this and you hit on one of them. the data we're talking about sheer sensitive for everybody because we're talking about military radars and capabilities and perhaps we might be able to ind fi some holes in their

system. there's a great reluctance and couple that with natural rivalries between the countries. it took them a long time to pull this together. certainly if all of those complications hadn't been in play, we would have known a lot sooner that they were flying faster at 12,000 feet. >> and what the officials are really worried about right now is that the longer it goes, the less likely they will retrieve this flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder? >> absolutely. and we'll start getting that critical information relatively quickly. they start releasing that information to investigators within 24 hours. so we'll start to get a picture of what is on there but, of course, it goes back to finding the reporters first, wolf. >> we've heard conflicting opinions from the malaysian authorities and the australian authorities earlier today, miles. the malaysians suggesting, well, some of the earlier stuff spotted in the old search area could have drifted towards the

new search area. so it wasn't a total waste. the australians saying all of that stuff, the 122 pieces that were spotted by one piece of satellite, 300 spotted by another, that's all junk that has nothing do do with the wreckage. >> if in fact the malaysians are correct, that would be hard to explain. but based on the ocean currents. >> so you believe the australians are right? >> i do. >> peter, kwwhat about you? >> i think the australians are speaking straight. >> you have more confidence in the australians than the malaysians? >> the us a strare is nothing w from either country by the oert but just in terms of -- since we want to throw out wild speculation, ask the navy if we could have had u.s. submarines looking for that box and if they found something to, alert the people above and got out. >> we're going to find out how

they came up with this new calculation maybe late in the day but stand by. up next, they spotted objects on their first mission over the new search zone. now as aircraft are prepared to head out again, we're going to talk to admiral john kirby. he's walking into "the situation room" right now. we're going to talk about what is going on in a moment. stand by. also, he's been the subject of a lot of scrutiny. we'll take a closer look at the captain of flight 370 and his flight simulator which has sparked a lot of suspicion. when folks in the lower 48 think about what they get from alaska,

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the breaking news just coming in to "the situation room," president obama spoke with the russian president vladimir putin by phone today to discuss the escalating crisis in ukraine. the white house says the president discussed a proposal that the u.s. would put forward for a diplomatic resolution. the phone call was initiated by president putin to president obama. that's an interesting news item there in and of itself. the white house statement saying that president obama suggested that russia put a concrete response in writing and the presidents agreed that secretary care and lavrov could meet soon to discuss we're going to have much more coming up where russian troops are massing. stand by for that.

in the meantime, let's get back to the history surrounding flight 370. before they could find a needle, they need to find the haystack. and before they can find the haystack they have to find the farm. are they searching in the right place? let's get the latest from admiral kirby. those were your comments the other day. you suggested that it's not just looking for a needle in the haystack, you've got to find a farm first. >> yes. >> here's the question, admiral. the investigators, have they found the farm at least? >> we don't know. certainly we hope so, wolf. that's everybody's hope, that they've gotten closer. as you have pointed out, the area is to the north and roughly the size of new mexico and it's in air france when we used navy gimt to find that black box, that search area was about 40 square miles. this is about 123,000 square miles. it's still a large volume of

space on the water surface that we're looking for. >> so basically, correct me if i'm wrong, this is the best estimate now where, if there is wreckage, the wreckage exists someplace in this huge area but it's just an estimate, not a certainty. >> that's exactly right. it's based on data that investigators have been collecting here and estimates of how fast the plane might have been flying and therefore didn't go as far. it's just an estimate but it's based on new information. >> the old search zone, was that a waste of time? >> with searches at sea, there's no guarantees. there's no waste of time when you're trying to solve a mystery like that. >> how active is the united states military right now in trying to find this? >> we're being very active and doing it in consultation with the malaysian government and australian partners. right now the focus for us in the united states navy, particularly is fixed wing

search aircraft. we now have two. the second p-8 poseidon will be arriving in perth today. you'll fly one aircraft and then it takes a break. >> even though it's 700 miles closer to perth than the old search zone, you still can only do one a day. >> with this particular aircraft. the aircraft can stay aloft for eight to ten hours. the fact that it's closer to perth will help keep it on station a little longer. we've also sent some underwater surveillance equipment to be boarded on a ship but that's only valuable if you have a much more defined area than we have right now. >> you would think given the poseidon, the most advanced airplane that the u.s. navy has, could determine if something floating out there is wreckage or do they actually need a ship to go out there and pick it up?

can do you that from the air? >> most likely you'd need the ship. the poseidon can search a wider swath of water. but you're most likely going to have to have somebody go out there and verify. >> my assumption is that the u.s. has the best satellite imagery out there, that u.s. satellites are involved, even though you're not releasing images publicly. >> that's right. we are helping with imagery to the degree that we can. we're sharing that with investigators and the malaysian government, again, as best we can. we're not talking about the sources of the sources of the imagery. >> can we assume there's a su n sub in the area, and there's a little ping coming out of it? >> we don't talk about submarine operations, wolf.

what i'll tell you is we're focused our attention on the fixed wing -- >> the p-3 is the orion? >> yes. we had a p-3 participating in the search. it's now two p-8 poseidon. that's the successor to the p-3. it will eventually go away. >> other countries in the region, including malaysia, not so much, right? >> we're in very close partnership with australia. we share the information that we can. >> and some information you can't share, for obvious sources and methods? >> that's right. >> so what do you think about this whole operation? are you upbeat that in the next few days we're going to see something? is this another sort of unfounded hope? >> i wouldn't call it an unfounded hope. we're all hoping that this helps refine the search a little bit. i can tell you we're all mindful in the united states military that we've got 230 some odd

grieving families who want answers and we also want to participate in what has become a very international effort. so i think we're very focused on the mission. we believe in the mission and in the importance of it and if this search area pans out and produces results, that's great. >> does the u.s. plan on sending any ships to the area? >> there are no plans right now for u.s. warships to participate. >> and moving an aircraft there -- >> there's been no discussion of that. again, i'll tell you, search operations as you're seeing it here today with a new search area, they change over time. particularly when they are at see and you have all of the different conditions at sea. they will change over time. this one will continue to change over time. if there's a need for other assets, we'll have that discussion with the government. >> droens? >> we started with your excellent quote that you're not only looking for a needle in the

haystack, not only looking for the haystack, but you're looking for the farm and once again you're not even sure that the farm has been located. >> that's exactly right. >> let's hope it has been. thank you, rear admiral john kirby, spokesman for the pentagon. don't leave. much more on the massive search expected to get under way very shortly. i'll speak live with the commander behind the military operation that spotted the debris. also, flying a plane on remote control autopilot from the ground. details on new technology that might have prevented flight 370's mysterious fate. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ♪ [ male announcer ] when fixed income experts... ♪ ...work with equity experts... ♪ ...who work with regional experts... ♪

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the massive search for flight 370 expected to resume momentarily from perth, australia. joining us now via skype, new zealand defense force, they spotted some of the debris in the new search sghozone. also joining us is van gurley,

oceanographer. tell us what your men and women have spotted and how realistic is that this could be wreckage from the airliner? >> good morning from new zealand. the crew from new zealand went on task yesterday morning perth time and came back late afternoon. during that time, 4 1/2 hours on task, they identified, picked up 11 objects. they varied from what looked like orange fishing buoy to objects that were around 1 meter square white in shape. they have taken high-definition photos of those objects and sent the information back to the headquarters in perth. but they weren't able to actually identify those objects. we'll actually have to wait for them to be picked up by a ship. >> when will that happen, based on the information that you have, general, that a ship will get close enough to those

objects to determine whether or not they are from the airliner? >> well, i expect in two hours time that there will be four ships in the area and able to be directed onto the location of the objects. the aircraft that took over from us, royal australian p-3, immediately found the same objects and so i think we've got a very good position to direct the ships in to assist in that recovery of the objects from the sea. >> and i take it the waves, the current, the weather is a lot better in this new search zone 700 miles away from the earlier search zone and it will make it easier for ships to get to this area and actualy pick up some of this debris from the surface of the indian ocean? >> yeah. the weather is very good in the area. there's only 15 knots of wind from the northwest.

sea state is 1 to 2. there's only a few white caps and very good visibility. so the weather is going to improve today. so there should be every chance to make that rendezvous and pick up these objects. >> new zealand is flying, what, p-3, the orion service planes. is that right? >> yes. it's a p-2 k-2. k for kiwi and two for the second upgrade that we've had on the aircraft. >> based on what the experts are telling you, how encouraged are you that what you spotted may in fact be wreckage? obviously you don't know for sure but what is your assessment? >> we don't know for sure but we're not the only aircraft in the area that's come across debris. in fact, five of ten aircraft have located objects in that general area and so there's a high probability that it will

identify or otherwise the missing malaysian aircraft. >> commander of the joint forces new england defense force, thanks very much. we'll stay in close touch with you. hopefully in the next few hours we'll learn whether or not any of those pieces of debris are in fact from the airliner. let's get some reaction now. van gurley is joining us, former naval oceanographer. what is your opinion about this new search zone? >> well, it's intriguing that the shift happened to quickly. one of the things that we'd be interested in the type of analysis we've done at metron is to look at the new compared to the old area. you don't want to get you caught running in the same direction. you don't want to get into a game of playing little kids' soccer. i'm sure that's not happening but you want to keep some folks looking at the places where you haven't seen something yet but there's still a chance you might

finding is. >> and your bottom line assessment is? >> the fact that we have five of ten aircraft coming back and seeing something is intriguing and has to be investigated. again, what are the odds of seeing something on the first day after all of the work that's gone in? >> van gurley, thank you very much. up next, the pilot's home simulator. we're taking a closer look. and interpol slamming malaysia for completely ignores its database for lost or stolen passports. aflac.

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let's get to the very latest on flight 370. a closer look at the airliner's captain has been the focus of so much attention. our justice correspondent pamela brown is here. pam, what are you learning? >> we're learning from sources, wolf, that the fbi is getting closer to gathering data from the hard drive of the flight simulate are to. so far, it offers very little clues whether he deliberately diverted the plane but those who knew him are shedding new light on the captain. the man who helped build zaharie shah's simulator is offering a glimpse into the mind of a veteran pilot whose source is a key figure in the flight 370. >> it's not unusual to have a simulator at home. he was very passionate for his hobby. he wanted to make it as close to real as it could be.

>> this man sold shah some of the parts he used to build his simulator. he tells cnn that the 53-year-old father was so interested in making the simulator feel real he wanted a robotic seat like the one seen here that would mimic what it feels like in a cockpit. he says he doesn't believe shah could have been involved. >> he was a down-to-earth guy even if he was flying, he's a pilot. i wouldn't think that he would go that far, no, to turn a plane around and fly for hours just to do something stupid. >> reporter: overnight, those who knew shah and his co-pilot fariq hamid said both men lived ordinary lives and an acquaintance says he was patient and efficient and far from a political fanatic. neighbors of hamid said the 27-year-old first officer was

friendly and well-mannered and seldom socialized within the community. still, sources say investigators are focusing on both men, especially shah, if for no other reason that he was in charge in the cockpit. >> they are interested in the state of his marriage, his views of malaysian airlines which he apparently was unhappy with what he perceived as mismanagement and corruption. they were looking at the views of his son for his recent unemployment. >> reporter: so far sources have not confirmed those sources to cnn and interviews with shah's family and the forensic examination of his hard drive hasn't turned up anything that would explain the plane's disappearance. though investigators also say a lack of evidence indicating premeditation also doesn't rule out the theory that one of the pilots could have snapped in the cockpit. >> just because there's no previous history does not mean that the individual didn't have an episode that led them to do something that they would not

normally otherwise do. that happens all the time, unfortunately. >> we want to stress again that there is no evidence, as of now, according to sources, about the pilots what solve. today the ceo of malaysia airlines did not speak specifically about the pilot or the co-pilot but said that all new pilots go through a thorough examination and have follow-up exams depending on conditions, such as their age. >> pamela, stay with us. i want to bring in evan perez and tom fuentes. i want to get back to that in a moment, the whole pilot issue. but interpol released an interesting statement today really critical of the malaysians for not checking the database that interpol has. as we know, two passengers with stolen passports got on to that flight. the truth is, this is from the interpol press release, the truth is that in 2014 prior to the tragic disappearance of flight 370, malaysia's

immigration department did not conduct a single check of passengers' passports against interpol's databases. what do you make of this? because pa malaysia claims that the computer system was too slow. >> that's an absurd claim. >> the malaysian claim? >> the united states queries that database 30 million -- sing ga p pore, 30 million times. in two-tenth of a second when the pass board is scanned, it goes through that database and it's scanned. that's a false claim. >> should we read anything into the fact that the interpol is releasing this statement? there was always suspicion about these iranian passengers.

should we read anything about that? >> the director has been adamantly trying to get the countries of the world to query that database for outgoing flights. one billion tickets a year are issued with no check by the country and has tried to get these countries to do it. i think maybe he's lost a little patience with any country that wants to use -- that it's too slow, too cumbersome or whatever, this is off of the virtual private network and, again, to query the database and get an answer. >> i hope they change their policy. so much focus on the pilot and co-pilot, especially on the pilot right now. the hard drive that the fbi has been trying to recreate some of the deleted files. what's the latest that you're hearing? >> wolf, i don't think from talking to officials -- they don't think that the hard drives themselves will resolve everything. they are looking at it. what this serves, for the

purpose of for later on when they have additional information that comes in from other parts of the investigation, perhaps from the black box and that's recovered, they can take all of that information and perhaps compare it with what is found on the hard drives and that might give more clues as to what might have been going on in the captain's head before the flight or in the co-pile's head before the flight. >> so the information right now may not seem very significant but later if new information comes in, it could prove to be significant? >> that's exactly right. >> evan, tom, pamela, thanks to you. we're expecting flights to be taking off very soon, momentarily, in fact, in the search for flight 370. we're going live to perth, australia, at the top of the hour. plus, we have new details on technology that could potentially prevent -- potentially prevent another mysterious disappearance. [ male announcer ] there is no substitute for experience.

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we're learning new details about technology which could prevent another plane from suffering the same mysterious fate that flight 370 suffered from our brian todd is here. his team is uncovering new documentation on this cutting edge program. >> we found documents for a patent that boeing applied for ten years ago. it's for a system that could enable a plane to be flown by remote control from the ground in an emergency. the system hasn't been deployed. one of our experts said if it had, this incident may well have turned out very differently. a lost signal, a vanished plane and on the ground a feeling of complete helplessness.

but an idea has surfaced to put auto pilot on passenger planes on remote control in stressful situations. in 2004, boeing applied for a patent for a system referred to as ub interruptible auto pilot. >> the ground controller could now take control away from the pilots so they wouldn't have control over the throttle, the yoke or the rudder pedals. that would be handled by the ground. everything the pilots tried to do would be inconsequential. >> pilots could flick a switch when under stress and sensors could activate the ground auto pilot if a certain amount of force was used against the cockpit door, then ground operators could take control of the plane using radio or satellite signals and steer it to a determined airport. they'd be flying it almost like a drone. if malaysian airlines was hijacked or if a member of the crew purposefully did something to alter the path, could this

have saved that plane. >> if they determined this was a problem and they tried to get in touch with the pilot and co-pilot and they couldn't, then if that system were in place, it seems as though the ground controller could then have landed this aircraft. >> reporter: right now autopilot systems are manually switched is on and off only at the discretion of the pilots in the air. autopilot cannot land or take off. it could present a new problem. this system wouldn't be hack proof. >> this wouldn't be hack proof, so terrorists might be able to get into this data stream and force the plane to land or do whatever they wanted it to do. >> reporter: has boeing advanced this idea from ten years ago? is the company still testing it out or has it scrapped the idea entirely? we tried multiple times to get information from boeing on this project. the company would not speak to us about it. >> basically the technology would convert an airliner into a remotely piloted vehicle like a drone? >> absolutely it would.

it would be flown like a drone by remote control from the ground, and they say they could even land this plane and possibly activate like an emergency brake system on the runway. incredible technology. if it can be tested and deployed properly. we don't know anything about it because boeing's not talking to us about it. >> let's get to more on what's going on, some other important news we're watching. our special coverage of the mystery surrounding flight 370 will continue, but there's breaking news right now. russian president vladimir putin phoned president obama today to discuss the crisis in ukraine. right now the president is in saudi arabia for meetings about two more crises, the ones in iran and syria. our white house correspondent michelle kosinski is joining us from riyadh. michelle? >> wolf, this is remarkable news that the white house says that today russian president vladimir putin called president obama on the phone to discuss the u.s. proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in

ukraine. they said that this week in the hague secretary of state john kerry presented again this proposal to the russian foreign minister. and we knew that this was at least the second time that the u.s. has presented this written proposal. we know back in paris early this month on march 7th it was presented and that it entailed russia pulling back its troops, disarming militant groups, forming a contact group to open a dialogue with ukraine. but at that time russia seemed to dismiss this outright. one thing that russia emphasized was that the u.s. proposal legitimized the current new government in ukraine and assumed that russia would be okay with that. well, clearly russia was not okay with that. we knew that they were going to form a urnt ko proposal. now we hear that president putin wants to talk about this. president obama emphasized to him on the phone, the white house says, that he would need to pull back troops for there to remain this diplomatic path to a

resolution, and that they wanted russia to work with ukraine on some of the things that ukraine has been trying to do because they've maintained that ukraine has been open to diplomacy with constitutional reforms that would protect the rights of ethnic minorities, that would presumably leave some autonomy in crimea, among other things. so now it seems that russia wants to talk about this, and president obama told putin to put a concrete response in writing and that the next steps would be the foreign ministers would meet again soon. this is truly remarkable to hear. but it's stuff to imagine what exactly pulling back troops means. does that mean this massing of tens of thousands of russian troops at the ukrainian border that threaten some other provocation, which the u.s. has forbidden, or does this mean pulling out of crimea? russia has said that crimea is now a part of russia. well at the same time you have ukraine saying it will not cede

a centimeter of its country to russia and the international community saying no one is going to recognize that crimea is a part of russia. so how this will turn out diplomatically if russia has to pull back its troops is a mystery at this point, but hopefully soon we will see some real step towards a resolution. wolf? >> michelle kosinski, our white house correspondent. thanks very much, michelle. new to cnn. welcome to cnn. good to have you on our team. coming up, aircraft about to take off heading for a new search zone. we'll have the latest on the hunt for flight 370. and cnn's kyung lah was aboard a navy surveillance aircraft when it actually spotted objects in the new search zone. she's standing by. you get 4 lines onw at&t's network...ilies including unlimited talk unlimited text ...and 10 gigs of data to share. 10 gigs? 10 gigs. all for $160 dollars a month.

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happening now a "situation room" special report on the mystery of flight 370. we're following a critical shift in the search.

we expect planes to return momentarily to a new target area in the indian ocean where crews spotted objects that might be debris from their -- with their own eyes. we're standing by for results of analysis of photos like this one. could that be a piece of missing plane? our experts will talk about the new evidence and what happens next, plus the partner of an american businessman who was on the flight, flight 370, opening up about her pain and the connection she still feels to the man she loves. >> not too many people get that in life, and even if he doesn't come back, that won't change. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. >> and we begin with the breaking news this hour. search planes are set to take off after a series of critical new developments in the hunt for