another search day for flight 370 is now coming to a close in the indian ocean. did crews spot any debris? we will bring you a live report in moments. it is more anger and frustration for the passengers' loved ones. they demand answers on the streets of beijing. you are watching cnn newsroom. i want to welcome you in the united states and around the world. we begin with the frantic search

for malaysia airline flight 370 flight 370. a fourth week begins for one of the biggest aviation mysteries of all time. a new search area is focused in the indian ocean. it is 1,000 kilometers from the original search area. in fact, take a look at this image. it was captured by a new zealand military plane on friday. aired on chinese television. shows an unidentified object that the ship will attempt to locate and take aboard. meantime, the chinese official news agency says the aircraft spotted three, quote, suspicious objects in the indian ocean. the acting minister made a comment of hope. he made that statement after meeting with families of

passengers. >> i understand the appeal and peace for the family and hoping against hope, no matter how remote, of course, we are praying and we are going to continue our search for the possible survivors. but what they want is a commitment on our part to continue the search and that i have given not only on behalf on the malaysian government, but so many nations involved in this sea and air operations. >> let's bring in paula newton. she is live in perth, australia. the base of the massive operation and search. paula, this, we cannot forget three weeks in, this is still a huge search. give us a sense of the assets are out and which are back and what we know at this hour. >> reporter: well, we just moments ago had an aircraft, this one a p-3 orien.

they went out to search the area and they search the top of the ocean from about 500 feet up. what is most crucial now, errol, is the flotilla of ships that will arrive at the search zone later tonight. their search will not begin until tomorrow morning. what is key is that what these airplanes behind me have been spotting from the air, they will now be able to scope out the area and be able to look. some of the debris spottings and locate it and perhaps investigate it and retrieve it and by it on board, that is when we will know, errol, if they are in the final resting place. >> that is what makes it difficult for the families and officials. you have tony abbott, the prime minister, saying people should not underestimate how

challenging it is. you get the sense this is wearing on everybody as much and they are trying as best they can. >> reporter: it is. especially everyone has the families in mind and know how difficult it is. we have no physical evidence at this point. errol, in terms of them changing the site search, it has triggered a new phase of the operation. a great deal of confidence they are on to something. i can tell you the australian naval ship will be deploying tomorrow. three australian investigators will be on that ship. what does that mean? it will take them several days to get to the site. they are there, ready, as specialists to look at the pieces of the wreckage that everyone is hoping they will find and begin the first steps of the real investigation here. >> all of what they are doing now factors in to all of the information gathered over the past three weeks. there is a sense possibly

officials are getting close. paula newton is live in perth, australia. you know, malaysia's acting transport minister is hoping for survivors. he spoke to journalists in kuala lumpur. let's do to paula hancocks now. paula, each day, he seems to get more exhausted. he is saying it is not unreasonable for families to ask for hope, but as i was just saying to our paula newton in australia, this must be wearing on everybody by now. >> reporter: absolutely. certainly it is the hardest for the families and relatives of the passengers on board. we are three weeks now and still there is no physical evidence. they are just waiting for any information now. we know the acting transportation minister met with families saturday at the hotels where some of them are holed up. we understand from the private

meeting, the families were asking that even if their loved ones were not alive, they are dead, they want guarantees that the authorities will continue to search for them. this is what the transportation minister said to them. he said, i give you a guarantee that the malaysian government and other countries involved in the search will continue to look for your loved ones. he also said that some still held out some hope. of course, they would hold out hope until they have the physical evidence that he spoke to reporters afterwards. let's listen to exactly what he said. >> miracles do happen. remote or otherwise. that is the hope that the family members want me to convey to not only to the malaysian government and to the world at large. if it means our prayers, that's not very difficult request, is it? >> reporter: he also said if

there is a remote chance, they will continue to search for survivors. he said this is a search and rescue operation still and he also said that he wanted to make sure the lines of communication with malaysia airlines has been smoother. there has been criticism from the families. they don't believe they are getting all of the information available to the authorities. errol. >> the authorities are saying, we just don't have anymore information, but indeed, families have been through such a grueling three weeks. that is our paula hancocks there in kuala lumpur. we want to cross back to perth, australia where we can show you the aircraft. aircraft have been on regular rotation to the search area of western australia. this is the pierce australian air base in perth. our ken was up in the planes and

said they identified objects visibly from the window. until they can confirm what they are seeing from the air is, in fact, debris from mh-370, all of this debris is speculation. we will continue to bring you any developments in the missing malaysia airline search. there are many stories we are following for you on cnn. there are differing accounts about what was discussed in a tv call with the russian and u.s. presidents on the crisis in ukraine. the white house says vladimir putin committed to working to a solution to the crisis, but the kremlin says mr. putin expressed concern for the safety of ethnic russians in ukraine and moldova. tens of thousands of russian troops amassed along russia's border with ukraine. rescue crews are digging through the muck and mud in the

landslide in the united states state of washington. 17 have been declared dead, but a number of other bodies discovered in the wreckage. they have not been recovered yet. the landslide covers 2.5 square kilometers and some of the mud is 10 to 12 meters thick. officials in los angeles say an earthquake there did know significant damage, but there were minor injuries. the 5.1 magnitude quake was followed by aftershocks. nothing serious. several water mains did break in one community. disneyland shutdown during the quake. this was l.a.'s second earthquake in two weeks. our coverage of missing malaysia airline flight 370 continues after the break. jets seen in the new search area. how likely is it the two are connected? two dozen countries helping in the search.

many putting aside old rivalries to continue in the search. that story next.

here's the latest information in to cnn. china state news agency reports that chinese aircraft are spotting three suspicious objects while searching for missing malaysia airline flight 370. the search area has been moved closer to the australian coast. no word if it is part of the missing plane that disappeared three weeks ago. tom forman takes a look at the variables that make the search difficult. >> reporter: this is one of the problems that is troubling to investigators. how do you not know you are not taking photographs or satellite images of the same thing?

how do you know the satellite image from here is not connected to the same debris photographed by an airplane up there? part of it has to do with distance and time. this is 700 miles. over the period of days we're talking about here, five or six days, it would be very difficult for something to naturally follow that path. normally debris is moving out a half mile or a mile an hour. on a busy day, two or three or four, but not so much in a straight line. you need to get between four or five miles an hour for it to cover that distance in the time allotted. this is probably not connected to the other debris. if you figure out this is standalone debris that is connected to the plane, that is just the first part of the mystery. because then you have to look at where did it come from? where did it originate? if you spread a grid on the water and mark the grid where the search area was and narrow it down to where you found the

debris to create a single point out there, you then have to expand the field enormously over this amount of time over more than 20 days, to figure where it came from. because the drift patterns could be very complicated. frankly, i don't know how you put together an algorythm here. you can try. to actually lead you to the bulk of the plane is a tall, tall order. >> let's bring in our meteorologist karen macginnis now. you said there are good conditions for the weekend, but the window is closing here? >> yes, errol, we were hopeful this weather would cooperate for the aviators and those on the open waters. yes, we have seen that weather

window has really held nicely. the next 24 hours look good. really start to deteriorate as we go late in the day on sunday. here is the approximate area they are searching. yes, just right to the northwest of that, that's where we are watching another area where potentially some of that moisture moves in. the winds kick up. we start to see the lower visibility. now, these airplanes that they have in the skies, the p-3 and p-8, they can fly at fairly low altitude and now they have the extra window, less time getting to the site that they are searching from yesterday's credible leads as it was said, they have a little bit more time to investigate this area with the aviation fuel they have on board. however, they just can't do that when the wind is a problem and

visibility is a problem. here is that disturbance and some of that moisture that is going to filter in across the southern half and the western half of the search area, which is equivalent to the size of the country of poland. if you can imagine, they take off from here and search area and go back to refuel. it is quite the operation and if they have those waves that are kicking up, reduced visibility and wind that kicks up, errol, it is just more time that they have to spend looking for something. back to you. >> all right. karen, thanks very much. this search for the missing malaysian airlines has brought together several countries that are typically at odds with one another. they are working together now, but once the search is over, so will be the cooperation. jim clancy looks at the regional politics. >> reporter: the search for

flight 370 compels rivals across asia to come together as partners. >> in an area in southeast asia fighting over rocks in the middle of the sea and now working together, i think that is a great achievement. >> reporter: from the sea of japan and malacca straits and oil and gas riches and fishing rights are crushed in the 24-hour news cycle. social media bursts with the missing airlines with 239 passengers captivates the world. >> several are reacting to the pressure put on by the public to do something about locating this plane. >> reporter: do something. planes and ships from china, japan, south korea, australia, new zealand and the united states. we are now hearing from one of the pilots who returned moments ago from searching for mh-370 over the western coast of australia, in perth, australia. let's listen in to what he has

to say. >> if you do find something of significance, what will you do? do you go back? >> absolutely. yeah. okay. the process we go through is everybody on board the aircraft will hear the mark, mark, mark call up from the flight section and it will drop a flare which emits smoke importafor 45 minut. at same time, we use the aircraft system that will drop a gps point. we attempt to maintain visual contact with that object that was being seen and reposition the aircraft to get photographs of it. once we got photographs of the object, we send them off for analysis. if there is a vessel in the area, we vector them on to retain the object and analyze it from there. that is the basic process. >> have you gone through so long

now, is there a time constraint or concern about the chances for finding anything? >> my chances of finding anything, that is over the rescue coordination. my job is to optimize our platform. to get out there and get eyes on and find anything we can in that area. the chances of finding anything, that is not something i would comment on because it is not my area of expertise. one more question. >> the objects -- >> okay. the objects that were potentially sighted yesterday. position has been recorded. they dropped drift buoys in the area to get an assessment of what the drift is doing of the objects and other aircraft in the area are attempting to

relocate those. that wasn't my mission today. my mission was a separate area. i hope those guys did well today. hopefully will have good news. thanks. >> thanks, everybody. >> all right. you hear the pilot who just returned from a search of the western coast of australia going through essentially the proper protocol. they have a procedure where they drop the flare buoys in the water and they can call ships in the region to confirm or not that this is wreckage from mh-370. so far, we just missed it as we crossed the pilot. this pilot telling us the images identified in chinese media have not confirmed to be mh-370 and no other debris has been found as of yet. we have teams all over the world covering this story for you.

we whiill bring you details as soon as they become available. stay tuned with cnn. we will be back after this short break.

welcome back. now as we told you a short while ago, the presidents of russian and the united states had a phone conversation on the crisis in ukraine. vladimir putin called barack obama on friday. the white house says mr. putin agreed to work for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. the kremlin says that is not

what happened. it says mr. putin expressed concern for ethnic russians in ukraine and moldova. our white house correspondent michelle kosinski joins us live now from the white house. what do we know about the call from putin to obama? >> reporter: we know something entirely different depending on which sides summary you read. we don't know that there was actually any movement. any positive movement on the diplomatic front. what the u.s. said after the call which happened yesterday evening here in saudi arabia, was president putin reached out to president obama by phone and wanted to talk about a proposal about the diplomatic solution in ukraine. president obama, according to the white house, told putin the

diplomatic way forward would require pulling back of russian troops. they did not specify if that meant the tens of thousands of troops amassed at the ukrainian border or the presence in crimea. of course, it is hard to imagine what a diplomatic solution would be. on the one hand, crimea is now part of russia and on the other hand, ukraine saying they won't secede a centimeter. the u.s. not recognizing that crimea is part of russia. when you read what the russian summary of that phone call was, it says that president vladimir putin alerted the u.s. to a situation of what they called extremist rampage. issuing threats and intimidation to citizens in kiev and other parts of the region and president putin said he was worried about another area. called transnestria. it is a part of moldova.

it is an area of dispute. president putin said he wanted a fair settlement of that dispute. he was concerned about what he saw as a blockade of the ukraine crisis to the people in that area. that is a big concern. the question is what is putin's plan. what does he see his role being in that part of moldova at this point? it is right on the border of ukraine. the worry all along has been with those troops massed at the ukrainian border, does putin see plans for other parts of the region? what happens next? the u.s. said russia should submit a clear written proposal what it sees a diplomatic way forward being and both foreign ministers can meet in the near future. errol. >> although there are two completely different interpretations, it can be seen as a positive sign that the two leaders have direct contact. what about -- we know the u.s.

president has left saudi arabia and coming back to the u.s. what was on the agenda with his meeting and the saudi king? >> reporter: u.s. officials said it was a good meeting. called it excellent. more than two hours long and stressed the alignment of both countries on the two biggest issues threatening the stability of this region. iran and syria. it was really necessary for the u.s. to reassure saudi arabia that our diplomatic outreach to iran on the nuclear issue was going to be something that would not effect the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia. officials said that they stressed the u.s. would not accept a bad outcome and the u.s., of course, is still worried about iran's other actions in the region that are seen as destabilizing. the united states and saudi arabia agree on helping the opposition in syria.

they agree on what groups to help. obviously, the u.s. has a lot of concerns about proliferation there. i think it was interesting coming here. u.s. officials said one issue that did not come up was human rights. we know that president obama has spent the last week talking about the importance of individual rights, democracy, freedom. he met with the pope on those issues. made a speech on those issues. it didn't come up here. when saudi arabia just issued a series of laws that essentially makes it a crime to tweet dissent and tweet people's dissatisfaction with the government. made it a crime to stage a sit-in or any peaceful demonstration. we asked that question. how could that issue not come up with the king of saudi arabia? they said this was not a time to talk about areas where the two sides don't agree. the u.s. obviously acknowledges that there is disagreement there. that would be discussed later and in different ways.

they said there wasn't time to really discuss everything on this visit. it was positive and really important for both sides to sit down face-to-face. those issues have been a point of tension between saudi arabia and the u.s., syria and iran. errol. >> very interesting. i know some saudi female drivers were planning a protest there. it is illegal for saudi females to drive. michelle kosinski in saudi arabia, thank you. our coverage of the missing malaysia airline flight 370 continues. digging deeper into the captain has come under the scrutiny of investigators.

welcome back. you are watching cnn newsroom. i'm errol barnet. let's get to our top story. the missing malaysian airlines. authorities are focused on a new search areas in the indian ocean. 1,000 kilometers of the northeast and closer to perth, australia. planes and ships are hoping to relocate objects spotted friday in the new zone. in this image you are seeing now, captured by a new zealand military plane on friday, aired on chinese television. shows an unidentified object. meantime, chinese official news agency says they spotted three objects in the indian ocean, but a pilot that just returned to

perth, told reporters, as of right now, no objects have been confirmed as part of the missing passenger jet. investigators are essentially working backwardis to find out what happened. they are using critical condition about the flight to determine what happened in the end susan has the latest. >> reporter: it is about how far the plane before running out of fuel. new analysis of radar and satellite data suggests the aircraft did not fly as far as investigators initially thought. >> the authorities have indicated they have shifted the search area approximately 1,100 kilometers to the northeast. >> reporter: analyzing radar data of the path between the south china sea and the strait of malacca, investigators believe the plane was traveling faster than previously

estimated. burning more fuel early on. >> the more fuel the airplane burns, the faster it burns that fuel, the sooner those engines will stop turning. that is why they have to change the area where they are looking for the aircraft because the aircraft would have crashed >> reporter: investigators have not revealed how fast the plane was flying, but they say another indication, the plane's altitude supports their theory that the aircraft was burning lots of fuel early on. they estimate the aircraft dipped as low as 12,500 feet. >> the airplane was not cruising at high altitude as assumed previously, but cruising at a much lower altitude and burning more fuel. >> reporter: what does this tell us about what happened on board? some aviation analysts believe it is consistent with a colossal

mechanical failure. a fire on board which would have knocked out the multiple communications system and overwhelmed the pilots with smoke. >> they probably got intoxicated with the fumes they were breathing in and at that point, at an altitude that was survivable, 12,500 feet, probably after that, they became totally incapacitated. that airplane would stay at that altitude and on that heading until it would run out of fuel. >> reporter: that low altitude could have been set by the pilots when they realized the plane was in some kind of trouble or by auto pilot. this revelation that the plane was flying faster than expected supports the notion the pilots may have been trying to get the plane down as quickly as possible to the nearest airport. the role of the pilots wasn't something more sister. suzanne malveaux, cnn,

washington. the families of the passengers on board flight 370, have been upset. some have staged a sit-in in beijing. some family members are still clinging to the possibility that their loved ones might be alive. >> translator: there is still hope. he didn't say all the passengers are dead. >> for those families, the last weeks have been a nightmare from which they cannot escape. david mckensie sat down with a family member. >> to me, it was a message it was over and all of the hope and all of the energy i had been pushing forward to be positive and hopeful had been wasted and it was done. i think i crashed into a point of crisis. then i was listening to the

press conference itself. i'm thinking, he is not really telling us anything. i started to have a little bit of a nugget of disbelief. i have to keep moving forward. life has to go on. i want life to go on with philip back in my life, but the reality is life has to go on without him. >> sarah, do you still feel his presence and spirit? >> i have. it hasn't changed. it is particularly strong. when i'm by myself and the daily patterns of life. i continue to keep up with yoga every morning and he is definitely next to me when i'm doing that. you know, going to sleep and getting up in the morning. but -- you know, whether that's the piece of his soul that is connected to mine that i hope would always be there no matter

what -- or if it's his reach to me to help me keep strong because he is still with us. i don't know where it's coming from, but i still feel it. >> wow. that's david mckensie speaking with sarah, her partner phil wood was on flight 370. there is a look at what the relatives of the passengers are going through, but meantime, the captain of flight 370 has been the focus of a lot of scrutiny. investigators are wrapping up the data from zaharie shah's flight simulator. paula brown has more on what has been found so far. >> reporter: the man who helped captain zaharie shah build his home flight simulator offering cnn a glimpse into the pilot who sources say remains a mysterious key figure in the investigation

of flight 370. >> it is not unusual to have a simulator at home. he is just a very passionate for his hobby. he wanted to make it close to reality. >> reporter: he sold shah some parts to build the simulator. he tells cnn 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 simulate the cockpit. he says he doesn't believe shah could have been involved. >> he was very serious and down to earth guy. even if he was flying. he's a pilot. i won't think he would go that far 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 told the wall street journal both lived ordinary

lives. one described shah quote, as ideal pilot. neighbors of hamid said the 27-year-old first officer was friendly and well mannered and seldom socialized within the community. investigators are focusing on both men, especially shah. for no other reason, he was in charge in the cockpit. >> they are interested in his state of his marriage, his views of malaysian airlines which he was unhappy with what he perceived as mismanagement and corruption. they are looking at his views of his son. he was unhappy with his son for recent unemployment. >> reporter: sources have not confirmed those issues with cnn and interviews with shah's family and home and forensic operations of his hard drive have not explained anything of the disappearance. a lack of evidence indicating pre-mmeditation doesn't rule ou

one pilot could have snapped in the cockpit. >> it doesn't mean that individual did not have an episode that led them to do something that they would not normally otherwise do. that happens all the time unfortunately. >> reporter: we want to stress there is no evidence of involvement of the pilots. the investigators is ongoing. on friday, the ceo of malaysia airline did not speak about the pilot or co- pilot. all pilots of the airline go through a psychological examination. pamela brown, cnn, washington. still to come for you here on cnn newsroom, at least 17 people lost their lives in last week's landslide in washington state. we'll bring you one woman's heart breaking story next. everything your mouth does in a day is building up layer, upon layer, of bacteria. and to destroy those layers?

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i'm errol barnett at cnn center. i want to give you the information just in to cnn. two explosions have been reported outside of afghanistan's election commission compound. this is according to a commission employee in kabul. this is new video we just got in to cnn. this official adds the military engaged the attackers in a fierce firefight. at this moment, we are waiting for word on any deaths or injuries. the headline in to cnn, two explosions outside the afghanistan election compound. now, southern california got another jolt friday night. meteorologist karen maginnis joins us. karen, this is the second small quake in a while. >> it is. they are referring to it as a swarm because it is so close together. after the earthquake has

occurred, we are seeing the smaller earthquakes. it unnerves people. although it is not as strong as the quake that struck around 9:00 p.m. local time on california's coast, right around this area. here is los angeles. this is the area. brea. it was a magnatude 5.5. look at the video from southern california. a car flipped over. it wasn't that strong. because a rock was thrown off the hill, that car tried to dodge it or ran over it and the car flipped over. apparently the person was injured from some of the reports we are receiving. loss of power and outages being reported. we have a number of windows and things were tossed off shelves. errol, it is very unnerving. a fairly shallow earthquake. two kilometers deep. they had about 20 or 30 aftershocks already. >> wow. thanks, karen maginnis.

an update on the l.a. quake. moving on further up the west coast in the u.s., hundreds of rescue personnel dig through the mud and muck of the landslide in the small town of the u.s. state of washington. they are still trying to find 90 people listed as missing. six days ago, a massive wave of mud swept over the rural community. 17 people are known to have been killed. officials say the death toll, though, will be much higher. there can be few things more devastating in life than losing a child. what about losing a child and a parent at the same time in that landslide? here is gary tuchman with the story of the woman. >> reporter: nastashia is staying with family. >> first grand baby.

>> reporter: this is her baby sanoah and the baby's mother christina. this is video of the two of them with her stepfather. this past saturday, nastasha went to yoga. her mother was baby sitting when the mudslide hit. >> when did you find out they were missing? >> when they were talking about the houses. >> reporter: her mother's body was found right away. baby sanoah's body was found five days later. >> when i went up there and i got to hold her and i maybe dropped a couple of tears because i was so excited we found her and all i could do was grin because we found my baby and it might not be the best time to smile and it might not

be the best time to laugh, but sharing memories about my mom and holding baby sanoah out there. it was perfect and coping. my mom, the way she told me to stand up to be strong for myself and told me to -- showed me. after spending 26 years of showing me how to walk tall and proud and search and try hard and love and be loving and be kind. >> i think you are an amazing woman. >> thank you. >> and we give you our condolences. we are sorry for you. >> thank you. you know, part of the reason i'm able to stand up here so tall and proud is because there's people supporting me. people on my side. people that i don't each know right now searching for other people that helped find my baby. >> reporter: what do you do

next? >> go and help them. go and help the people that helped me because i don't know how else to return that favor. it means so much. i would spend the rest of my life up there shoveling mud if it was to help someone else because they helped me. >> reporter: gary tuchman, cnn, arlington, washington. >> wow. such a strong young lady there. we have something from birmingham, england. not far from where i was born. remarkable footage of a woman who had been deaf all of her life hears for the first time. take a look at this. >> i'll say the days of the week again. monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, sarday, sunday. how does it -- be careful you don't knock them off.

can you hear my voice coming through both sides? >> yes, yes. >> just incredible. you are watching there is 39-year-old joanne milney was born deaf, but able to hear after a life-changing surgery. the video shows the moment when cochlear implants have been turned on. she said it was an emotional time of her life. she asked a friend to make a compilation of songs. what play list do you make for someone that has never heard before? remarkable story from u.k. we have more from cnn newsroom for you after this short break. stay with us.

we're three weeks now into the mystery of malaysia airline

flight 370 and not a single trace of the boeing 777 has been found. authorities on our focus on the search area in the southern indian ocean more than 1,000 kilometers northeast of the previous one. at this moment, planes and ships are hoping to relocate objects spotted friday in the new zone. a new image captured by a new zealand military plane. this aired on chinese television and shows an unidentified object that a ship will attempt to locate and take aboard. chinese news agency spotted three objects in the southern indian ocean. a pilot back from the search zone said as of now, no objects have been confirmed as parts of the missing airlines. malaysia's acting transport minister made a comment of hope after meeting with the passengers today. for investigators to get the clearest picture of what happened to flight 370, they

need to examine the jet's wreckage. if possible, the flight data recorder. cnn's alexandra field reports on finding the answers. >> reporter: picking up the pieces. it has been done by investigators before. the question is in the mystery of malaysia airline flight 370, will it be done again? >> get salvage vessels in the area to have the grappling equipment that can lift potentially large pieces of airplane, not only off the surface of the water, but if need be, drop cables long enough to reach the wreckage at 12,000 feet. >> reporter: july, 1996, twa flight 800 crashes eight miles off the coast of long island, new york in waters 200 feet deep. investigators spot pieces of the boeing 747 right away, but still

takes three days to find the bulk of the wreckage. after finding 97% of the plane, crash experts reassemble it in a long island hangar. >> you can place pieces of the aircraft back together again so you can see how they relate to each other and the impact related. >> is that kind of reconstruction still necessary? >> well, there is obviously debate about that. >> reporter: that is because data recorders like the one on flight 370 are now more sophisticated. the older model on flight 800 could record only 18 indicators. investigators needed to investigate because the data gave a partial view of what happened on board at the time of the crash. >> essentially, speed, altitude, heading. it was not that helpful in the determining what the probable cause was. >> reporter: the missing data recorder from flight 370 captures 82 separate indicators,

significantly more information, but will it be enough? >> if there is something conclusive on the 82 parameters, it will narrow the accident down to where they may not have to reconstruct the entire aircraft. >> reporter: they could choose to recover a few pieces and reveal the rest of the puzzle. alexandra field, cnn. >> cnn has learned boeing has a system to fly a plane by remote control from the ground in an emergency. as brian todd reports, the incident might have turned out differently. >> reporter: a lost signal. a vanished plane. on the ground, a feeling of helplehelp lessne lessness. an idea has circulated on remote control in stressful situations. in 2004, boeing applied for a patent for uninterrupt able auto

pilot. >> the ground control could take away the pilots' control. this would be handled by the ground. everything now the pilots try to do would be inconsequential. >> reporter: with the idea, pilots could flip a switch and sensors could go off in the cockpit or sensors on the cockpit doors if force were used. ground operators could take control of the plane using radio or satellite and steer to the airport. flying like a drone. if flight 370 was hijacked or a member of the crew did something to alter the path, could this have saved that plane? if they determined that it was a problem and they tried to get in touch with the pilot and co- pilot and they could not, if that system were in place, it seems as though the ground

controller could have landed the aircraft. >> reporter: right now, auto pilot systems are manually switched on and off at the discretion of the pilots in the air. auto pilot cannot land or takeoff. this potential solution could present a new problem. >> this is not necessarily hack proof. >> not hack proof. terrorists may be able to get into the data stream and force the plane to land or do whatever. >> reporter: has boeing advanced the idea from ten years ago? is the company still testing it out? we tried to get information from boeing on the project. the company would not speak to us about it. brian todd, cnn, washington. that is cnn newsroom. i'm errol barnett. thank you for spending your weekend with us. for you in the u.s., "new day saturday" is next. for everybody else, "cold war" is next.

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♪ are you even out of bed yet? you don't have to be. sit back and relax. we've got you covered. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's 6:00 on "new day saturday." we're beginning with breaking news overnight in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. a chinese plane now, you see it there, has spotted three suspicious objects today in that new search zone for the missing airliner. >> this latest sighting comes a day after five other pilots saw a few other objects in the same vast swath of the indian ocean, although