all right. stick around, everyone, because, again, we're awaiting that news conference. this is a cnn special report. the mystery of flight 370. i'm don lemon. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. the mystery of flight 370. i'm don lemon. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. we have breaking news tonight. we're awaiting a news conference from royal australian air force base pierce with the man in charge of the hunt for flight 370. we're expecting that to start at any moment now and we're going to bring it to you as it happens. meanwhile, searchers are working feverishly to answer the questions that the world is asking. have we finally found a trace of flight 370? a tow pinger locator on the australian ship "ocean shield" picked up signals over the weekend that are being called the most promising lead so far. and ever since, they have been searching and re-searching the area, trying to pick up those pings again.

but officials warn, the process could take days. so let's get right to cnn's matthew chance. he is in perth. also, richard quest is here with me in new york. good evening to you. and good evening to you, matthew chance. matthew, we're expecting a news briefing from the joint agency coordinate, center chief, angus houston, along with the minister for defense, senator david johnson. what are we expecting to hear from this news conference? do you have any word for us? >> reporter: not yet, no. we're expecting it to start any time. now we understand that the aircraft carrying the defense minister has already landed. they're a bit behind schedule at the moment, but, yes, it could potentially be significant. the last couple of press conferences we've had with angus houston leading them have been extremely interesting, giving us some fascinating detail on how this multi-national search has been proceeding. we may get more of the same this time. certainly, at the very least,

we'll hope for an update on the status of this search to try to re-acquire, i think is the internship they use, to re-acquire these electronic signals they tracked over the weekend. so far, the word we've been getting from the "ocean shield," that australian vessel where much of the focus is right now, that despite their efforts, and we've been looking at live coverage of its movements on the internet, over the course of the past hour, it's still moving up and down, making turns, going around this area. it still hasn't managed to re-acquire, as far as we're aware, the electronic signals it recorded over the weekend. so that's worrying, that's concerning, but still the best hope they have in this investigation, don. >> and we must say, matthew, that's the search for the pingers, right, that they mentioned over the weekend? that they talked about last night. there are still other searches going on. update us on that. >> yeah, there are. there are a couple of areas of focus. there's one search area now, that instead of a separate area,

there's one search area that has been dramatically reduced in size, from 90,000 square miles or thereabouts, down to 30,000 square miles. so two-thirds, they've shaved off of it, because of the leads that they're investigating. but there are a couple of different search areas within that, in the north of that area, that's where we're seeing the "ocean shield" scan the ocean bed, to try to recapture those electronic signals. in the south of that area, still the chinese vessel there, which detected those apparent pings as well. different pings, we understand, possibly. 300 nautical miles away. that's still there being assisted by "hms echo," the very sophisticated british survey ship. there's also flights taking place in the skies above that whole search area. 14 aircraft, civilian and domestic aircraft, flying in the skies, scouring the surface of the indian ocean, to try to find any sign whatsoever of any debris that may have been spotted, to try to spot some more debris, to give us a clue as to where this plane may have come down.

so far, absolutely nothing, really, from the air, of instance, we understand, has turned up. so still lots of areas of interest, but the main focus, i think, still remaining this place where the "ocean shield" is doing its survey work. >> matthew chance, stand by. we'll be depending on you throughout the hour. just as soon as that press conference gets started, we'll bring it to you. richard, should we read anything into this, angus houston, and a group captain may be at this press conference as well. what should we read, if anything, into the? >> i think we've already seen the setup of the press conference. it's not in its usual place. i think it's actually outside and it's going to be with military hardware behind. i'm usually wrong on this, as you discovered last night. >> last night. a couple of tweets, people were saying, richard was wrong on this one, this one time. >> i'm happy to admit when i'm wrong, but i think this will be more political than information. i think this is going to be a case of the defense minister thanking people. >> initially i thought the same thing. we were in agreement on that,

because the last time he came out, it was the same scenario, thanking everyone. but once i got word that angus houston was going to be joining, that may be quite different. >> nope, i still think -- angus houston is there because his boss is there. it's his boss that's having the press conference, and i'm still thinking it's more political. >> however, he is the man with the plan. i want to bring in the team of the experts. richard quest is with me. geoffrey thomas, editor in chief of airlineratings.com. lieutenant colonel michael kay. jeff wise, the author of "extreme fear: the science of your mind in danger." jim tilmon, a retired american airlines pilot. and steven marks, an aviation attorney, who represents the families of another disaster, air france flight 447. again, we're expecting that news conference to happen at any moment now from the joint agency coordinate, center chief angus houston, along with a minister for defense, senator david johnson. geoffrey thomas, you're there in perth. >> am i still needed? >> yes, you are still needed. >> i'm still on.

>> you didn't introduce me. i thought i was talking to your producer, i apologize. >> you need no introduction, bill nye. we're going to need you as well. >> we can find an airplane in the middle of the ocean, but we can't know whether or not we're on camera. >> that is your issue, at this point, bill nye. so thank you, we appreciate the comedic moment there. but let's get back to business. geoffrey thomas, you're there in perth. what k you tell us? richard and i are going back and forth about the significance of this particular news conference. >> reporter: look, i agree with richard on this, if it had just been the senator, the minister of defense, it would probably be domestic political. however, angus houston joining him, it may add a little bit of credibility to it or a little bit more weight to what we're going to hear. there might be a little bit more significance. but as richard says, if angus' boss is going to be there, they be he should be there as well.

i'm not actually that hopeful that we're going to get something major out of it, was you never know. because this is such a dynamic search that information is coming through all the time and it may well be that what they're going to announce will be superseded by something that comes through at the last minute. >> at the very least, i would expect him to take questions as he has been very transparent with the media thus far. we may get something, if not out of a direct announcement, but that of questioning by the media. and i should mention that bill nye, correctly, you are former boeing engineer, so you know a lot about the mechanics of what's going on with the airplane. so thank you for joining us. so, listen, jeff wise, i want to

go to you. let's talk about the handling of the search by the australians. how do you think the australians are handling the search and the distribution of information? and again, what can we expect from this particular briefing? >> well, i think the australians have done a good job of releasing the information as it's come in. i think they could perhaps be faulted to the degree to which they have cheerleaded the significance of the information, perhaps. from the very beginning when the australian prime minister got up in front of parliament and said this was the best lead to date. i mean, when we look back on this now, it seems kind of ridiculous, because when you find some debris floating in the indian oceans, to jump to the conclusion that it's therefore wreckage from mh370, you know, obviously, that turned out to be too much of a leap. but, you know, they've made a big deal out of this acoustic pinger signal, and as i've indicated earlier, i feel like there's a lot of problems with this data. so hopefully they'll just give us the facts and not try to promote too much the conclusion that they feel that we should reach. >> jeff wise and everyone, stick around. again, i want to tell our

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we're awaiting for tonight's news conference, live from perth. back with me now is geoffrey thomas, bill nye, michael kay, jeff wise, steve tilmon, steven marks, and richard quest. they're walking out now at the press conference, about to be held in perth, australia. and there you see them introducing -- let's listen in. >> -- to see how everybody's traveling, and to thank our defense team and the international contributors and of course, to thank an gust houston for the work he's doing. as you all know, we have a positive lead. today, we have ships and aircraft over those sites, flat-out trying to enhance that lead and to deliver up something more tangible. but, again, of course, as you've heard me say in the past, this is an herculean task.

it's over a very, very wide area. the water is extremely deep. this is day 32. i want to confirm that we have at least several days of intense action ahead of us. the weather out there today is reasonable. and so you can be assured that we are throwing everything at this difficult, complex task in these, at least these next several days, whilst we believe the two pingers involved are still active. so without more, i'll take further questions, unless, angus, you want to say anything? >> no, no. >> all right, questions. [ inaudible question ] we don't, and that is probably one of the minor considerations at the moment. we are totally focused on assisting our malaysian friends and finding the location of this aircraft and bringing some closure to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board

this aircraft. [ inaudible question ] yesterday's report from angus houston is the most recent report we have. it's a positive contact. we're out there again today, seeking to enhance that contact. [ inaudible question ] that's what we're using, isn't it? >> the towed locator pinger work continues. there have been no further contacts with any transmission. and we need to continue that for several days. right up to the point of which there's absolutely no doubt that the pinger batters will have expired. so it will be several days more. now, until we stop the pinger search, we will not deploy the submersible.

is that clear? we will not deploy it, unless we find, unless we get another transmission, in which case we'll probably have a better idea of what's down there, and we'll go down there and have a look. [ inaudible question ] yeah. the issue is that if we can get more pinger -- well, more transmissions, we can get a better fix on the ocean floor, which will enable a much more narrowly focused visual search for wreckage. that's the issue. if we go down there now and do the visual search, it will take many, many, many days. because it's very slow, very painstaking work to scour the ocean floor.

and of course, depths are very deep and it's very challenging. [ inaudible question ] the advice from the manufacturer is that 33 kilohertz is -- or 33.2 kilohertz is quite credible. the air france locator battery from five years ago was 34 kilohertz. so, what happens, there's a change, with the pressure, on the ocean floor, and the age of the particular batteries, the capacities can change and you get changes in the transmission level.

[ inaudible question ] >> i haven't got the detail on that, but it is a large area for a small submersible that has a very narrow field of search. and of course, it's literally crawling along the bottom of the ocean. so it's going to take a long, long time. that's why it's so important to try to get another transmission. and we need to continue until there's absolutely no chance that the devices are still transmitting. [ inaudible question ] i have no information on the towers. [ inaudible question ]

>> we've deployed more than 20 sonar buoys, data buoys, that indicate the flow of the water. we have a good understanding of where the debris, if there is debris, will have gone to. we are currently very actively and aggressively pursuing where we think that debris field might be. so as to give us further information to recalculate back where the point of entry might have been. now, you know, 133 missions have been completed so far. they go on, with the same intensity that we have carried through to this point in time. and the debris search is obviously vital to us, adding another important piece to this jigsaw puzzle. [ inaudible question ] well, we don't know what the

other possibilities are. this is the most positive lead, and rest assured, we are pursuing it very rigorously. [ inaudible question ] well, i think speculation is not helpful. going back, as angus houston has said, you know, the air france tragedy had a drop in frequency. we think we may have observed something like that. but as i say, let's not speculate. this is the most positive lead we've had, and as i say, we are pursuing it aggressively. [ inaudible question ] well, this is an area of science, we've been doing calculations from the immarcet that have never been done before. so that's why i'm not keen to speculate on what might be causing that, but this is, as i

say, the most positive definitive lead we've had and we are pursuing it. [ inaudible question ] let me assure you that the cooperation across all of the nations involved has been absolutely first class and i want to pause to compliment them on the professional way they have gone about the business. now, we've got, as i say, four ships on the surface, of which seven, i think, are chinese, we have aircraft above and several helicopters in the air. now, one of our wedge tiles is carrying out deconfliction duties to make sure everything is safe. it's a task carried out in the spirit of cooperation, and i

want to pause to say thank you to all of the countries involved here for the good work they've done. but that work goes on, as i say, aggressively and enthusiastically, given the lead we have had in the last 24 hours. [ inaudible question ] >> one of the -- there's a lot of interest in the water conditions. as we discussed yesterday, funny things happen to transmissions in water. some of the false leads that we've had have been actually transmissions from the ship, that was actually searching. and it got its own transmissions back again. so, funny things happen in that environment, and you can't, you can't assume things.

so, in terms of the search, we think the "ocean shield" transmission is probably the most promising one. and we continue to prosecute that to find out exactly what we're dealing with. we need another transmission to better refine the area, and then we need to go down, have a look, and find confirming evidence that that's where the aircraft is. and i can't stress -- i can't stress that enough. now, in terms of the environment, we can't have too many ships in the area, because when you're dealing with these transmissions, you need utter silence. it becomes a very noisy environment if you suddenly have several ships around there or aircraft dropping things in the water. we need to let "ocean shield"

continue its work with the tow pinger to try to find another transmission from whatever is down there. [ inaudible question ] they were -- they sounded like an emergency -- as i said yesterday, an emergency locator beacon. so that's part of the evidence. that's why we are so excited about it. we're very hopeful that we will find further evidence, which will confirm that the aircraft is in that location. [ inaudible question ]

we are looking for wreckage and there's still a long way to go. and i think without wreckage, we can't confirm that this is where the aircraft is. because we haven't been able to hold the transmissions constantly. so there's still a little bit of doubt there. but i am a lot more optimistic than i was one week ago. [ inaudible question ] well, i think there are several days, probably several days more where we will tow the pinger locator around to try to get another transmission. this is day 32. the battery life expires on the device at 30 days. but experience with the kit from around the world is that they usually last longer than the 30

days. so we might proceed for several days more, and then if we don't get any further transmissions, we have a reasonably large search area on the bottom of the ocean to prosecute. and with the device we've got, that will take a long, long time. it's very slow, painstaking work. >> thank you very much. >> so there you have it. that's the press conference in perth, australia, with the minister of defense, senator david johnson, and also angus houston, the man who is heading up the search for flight 370. now we know, they have not made contact with those supposed pingers again. they have not heard any new pinging coming from the ocean. also, we know the next step in this search, if they don't make contact, if they don't hear

anymore transmissions or have anymore acoustic events, they say they're going to play it out as long as they possibly can, probably for maybe 45 days. the batteries can lost from anywhere from 30 to 45 days. once they exhaust that, then they will lower a submersible to the ocean floor, which is a blue fin 21, to do the search. but as angus houston said, that is a tedious, tedious task, and that will take days and days and days. because it is, essentially, crawling around on the bottom of the ocean, back and forth. so the best case is that those pingers, the battery, is still working, and they get another signal, they get another signal, and then they will know which direction to go in. richard quest, what did you get from this? >> very clear. he says, they will continue doing what they are doing for several more days. >> so we're at day 32 now. >> right. >> probably, what, about 40 -- >> your several is my several is angus' several. several more days.

until and unless we find another transmission. and then, thereafter, they'll put down the blue fin. and he said, if they do that, and this is the wording he used, because it's really telling, he said, it would take many, many days if they have to scan the bottom of the ocean. and when he was asked again, he said, a long, long time. so i think what we are in at the moment now, it's very clear what we're in, several more days of "ocean shield" trying to find, using the pinger. >> can i jump in here too? because, also, there were questions about, remember the 32 kilohertz, he said air france came in at 34. so the pressure and the age of the batteries could change the transmission level. no concern about that coming in at 32 rather than -- >> that's right, quite credible, he said. we've got days of this now. >> you have heard our breaking news, the australians say that the towed pinger locator search is still going on.

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