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our breaking news from tonight's news conference in perth, the search for the towed pinger locator goes on, and it may go on for a long, long time. back with me now, geoffrey involuntary manslaughter, bill nye, michael kay, steve marks, and paul ginsburg. paul, i want to get to you quickly, because i want to talk about what he said. we're wondering about the legitimacy of 33.2 kilohertz, was it credible. angus houston said, yes. we have to remember that air france came in at 34 kilohertz,

because of the pressure of the ocean, the depth, the age of the batteries, it can change the transmission level. do you concur? >> well, there's an easy way to find out. i would suggest that we do an experiment as part of this investigation by dropping new working pingers into this part of the ocean, and measure the characteristics, the frequence, and the variation from one to another, to see whether these agree with our observations. in other words, what i'm saying is, let's have a real reference in this part of the ocean, and to see whether what we are observing is something that is credible as a pinger representation, where we are. >> bill nye, as a science person, you want a controlled experiment, so to speak, to make sure that they are on to something and see where they come in.

would you recommend that as well? >> well, if we have the resources. but as an engineer, i would say, if you have this datum from a couple of years ago where the air france pinger changed frequencies at great depth, it's likely this one did too. and with all the errors, it's very reasonable the pinger would change frequency like this. but with that said, if we're right at the limit of the batteries, 32 days, and you've heard nothing, maybe that last little bit you heard was the last little bit that this device could produce at this depth. and also, along with the errors introduced by the different layers in the ocean that form with different temperatures and salinity. and this is all -- we're all speculating. but it is possible that it's -- that that's the last you're going to hear from it. >> michael kay, remember last night, we were talking to, you know, one of the guys out on on the "uss blue ridge," and you were talking about

triangulating. how do you figure out the location? what do you do? do you drop markers or what have you? so if the batteries are gone, it does give them, you know, an area which to search, but as you heard angus houston say, it's a very big area, and there are, you know, the next thing they're going to have to do is drop that blue fin 21 in, and that's going to take days and days and days. much longer if they get another ping or pulse. >> yeah, don, you're absolutely right. this is going to go on for longer than several days. we know that the batteries can last for up to 40 days. and therefore, if i was angus houston, i would be put this search out to at least 42, 43 to make absolutely sure that the batteries had failed. but there's another good reason why it's going to go on for a lot longer. because australia has been leading one of the greatest aviation search mysteries in history. and they're going to want to succeed at this. they've put a lot of time and resource into it so far.

they're going to keep on going. and like you said, if that means sticking a submersible in after 43 days and scanning that whole area and that taking months, i think they'll do it. >> i've seen the marks from a legal standpoint, looking at this as an attorney, when you're looking at liability and exposure and what have you, what do you take away from this news conference, if anything? and from these latest development? >> nothing, really, has changed from a legal standpoint, from the beginning. this is why it's governed by most passengers from the montreal convention. so the liability to the carrier is pretty well known. it's very certain there's some complications under the treaty jurisdictionally, and venue, what foreign law will apply to certain victims, what the recovery system may be. those issues remain outstanding. as far as any third party, well, we haven't gotten any real facts to determine whether or not there's possible claims against third parties. but, essentially, the families are going to have a remedy under the montreal convention.

but what they really want are truthful and honest answers. and some finality to the search. >> jim tilmon, you know, they talked a bit about searching for debris here, not as much as searching for the pinger here. it's been 133 missions so far. do you think the investigation now really focuses on listening to this pinger rather than searching for a debris field? >> i think it has to be two-fold. i think we have to continue to look for a debris, because that's going to make a significant difference. and as i keep hearing, debris can get spread all over the place. so the longer we wait, the more difficult it's going to be, to use that debris to pinpoint something. i want to just caution everybody about something, about the way we discuss debris and how it's handled. today, watching cnn, i heard someone say that, you know, the currents are like a washing machine or a blender. and it does all those crazy things to any debris. understand something. some of the so-called debris

could be human remains. and i think we have to maintain a lot of sensitivity right now. we have to be very, very careful the way we describe anything we say, so it's just a point of mind they just wanted to bring up. >> point taken, thank you very much, jim tilmon. coming up, you heard it at tonight's news conference. the pinger locator search goes on. but just how difficult is that search? we'll show you when we come right back. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. ♪ hooking up the country whelping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead.

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and you'll be ready for tomorrow today. comcast business. built for business. we have breaking news from tonight's news conference in perth. the search for the towed pinger locator goes on. a search that could take a very long time. rosa flores took a pinger out on to rhode island's narragansett bay to show some of the obstacles they may encounter in the indian ocean. >> reporter: this is what a ping sounds like. >> very high frequency. >> the critical sound searchers are hoping to hear in the deep and rough waters of the indian ocean. it's deep and it's dark, it's salty, it's high pressure. it's hard to work. >> reporter: here in rhode island's narragansett bay,

researchers show us the challenges search crews face as they try to hear the ping from flight 370's data recorder. >> so this is a hydrophone. >> we drop an underwater microphone, a hydrophone, off the back of the boat as it moves farther away from a pinger that's already been submerged. and even less than 100 yards away, the ping starts to fade. distance isn't the only problem out in the indian ocean. there are other noises competing with the sound of the pinger, like sea life. one dolphin species sounds like a black box pinger and this is the sound of rain underwater. let me get away from the loudest part of the boat, so i can show you one of the biggest obstacles that searchers have in the open sea. just ship noise. even here, listen to how loud it

is. there are, at a minimum, 15,000 ships, on the world's oceans on any given day, creating even more obstacles in a search that's already daunting. rosa flores, cnn, narragansett bay, rhode island. >> rosa, thank you very much for that. that gives you some idea of just how difficult this search will be. my expert panel back with me right now. i want to start with you, paul. do you usually know a ping sound when you hear one, even at that high a frequency? >> well, there are signatures that are studied and under different conditions, and as we spoke earlier, if you can narrow down the variations in the transmission path, that is, the signal from the pinger to the reception, then you get an idea

of what you're looking for. you can try to filter every other kind of sound out, and focus on exactly what you know you would have, had you found an actual pinger. >> but you heard angus houston if that news conference saying that they need to minimize ship noise. listen, they need the "ocean shield," a very big ship. they need the other ship, i can't remember the name of it, the chinese ship. and how can they do that without having the ship? they turn the motors off, but they need to have the electrical power in order to have it run. >> well, they can put the ship into different positions and turn off everything and listen at each of the positions and take readings. it is very important. we're dealing with something that's a fraction of one watt, transmitting bursts that are very, very short in length.

and you need to eliminate the possibility that anything else is getting into your system. you know, you have to know what you're measuring, and that what you are measuring is what you are looking for and not a result of ambient. >> yeah. geoffrey thomas, we just heard -- we just learned that they aren't deploying the submersible drone until they get another transmission. is that the right move at this point, do you believe? >> look, i think it is, don. and at the same time, we shouldn't underplay the debris search, because now what we've got is we've got what we believe is the location of the ping. now, instead of looking at an area the size of texas, we're now looking at an area the size of houston. so we have a point. and the current around that spot is actually a counter, is a clockwork circle, it's an eddy.

so i believe that the search for debris is now focused very much on this greatly reduced area, where the debris would have spread, too. and it wouldn't have spread too far, either. so there's a very good chance that we can pick up debris here, make a sighting, possibly pick some up, which will give us real certainty that we're on to the airplane. >> you know, the chief coordinator of the search says that he is a lot more optimistic than we have a week ago. i'm wondering why he is so confident, and jim tilmon, even after listening to that last briefing, are you still as confident as you were before? you've been very skeptical all along. this is the most optimism you have had. >> i'm very impressed with the organization of the team now. and the players are playing on a field that's very, very sophisticated, they're very sincere, and they're very, very tireless in the way they're going about it. and the kind of evidence they have been presenting, now that they have this team in action,

has been very impressive. and i'm impressed with their credentials and with their willingness to go the route, to get this thing done. >> stay with me, everybody. when we come right back, i want to answer some of the questions that we have been getting from you at home. 24/7. i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks who will talk to them about preparing early for retirement

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all right. we've got a lot of questions from you. you've been tweeting us by the thousands, you at home, from the developments of flight 370. and i want to get them to my panel of experts right now. the first one we're going to start with is from linda. and linda says, "if and when they recover if flight data boxes, will they be able to see if it was programmed for a destination?" let's give that one to mikey kay. >> don, i knew you were going to ask me. that's one i'm not able to answer, sorry. >> all right, geoffrey thomas? >> it's technically possible that they will have that information, the digital flight data recorder, yes. >> okay. so they will have that. can a -- here's another question. this one is from popcorn. it says, "can a whale or a dolphin recreate or make a similar clicking, pinging noise as the black box?" that one is perfect for paul.

>> well, i don't think so, unless it's a very well-trained mammal, who has good laboratory technique. we can measure to ten thousandths of a second on the repetition rate. and we expect that not to vary. >> and we talked about certain signatures, because you have certain repetition rates and certain signals and all of that. and some aquatic life or ocean life, an animal or mammal would have to do the same sort of thing in order to repeat that and that's highly, highly unlikely. let's move on now. leyla says, "where exactly are each of the black boxes located on the plane?" jim tilmon? >> well, there are a number of places they generally put them. generally, most airplanes will have the boxes in the tail, in the vertical fin. some place, they think, is going to survive the worst part of a crash. a few of them have been, from time to time, put further forward and high in the fuselage, but most are near the tail.

>> all right. "if the aircraft was put down as gently as sullenberg on the hudson, could this 777 sink without breaking up?" that's a good one for you, mr. bill nye. oh, no nye, sorry about that. let's send that one to jeff wise. >> yeah, we've talked about this in the past. it does seem like the consensus is that if this plane was put down very gently, it could remain in tact enough that, indeed, it could all wind up nice and tidy on the ocean floor. that's a big if, however. >> this sounds totally nuts, but could anyone have parachuted from a 777? i can't believe it has come to this. this is a good one for steven marks, but i know the answer is n-o, absolutely not. >> that's correct. you couldn't withstand the pressure. >> you couldn't open the door. >> right, you couldn't open the door, you would have to have an

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i'm back now with my expert team and the final thoughts on tonight's developments in the search for flight 370, especially in light of that press conference. i'm going to start with you, mikey kay. >> i just want to reinforce the intensity of which the

australians and the gacc are throwing assets at this. we heard from the australian defense minister 133 missions have occurred so far. that's over four missions a day. that's impressive and that should reassure the international community and their family and loved ones that they're taking this very seriously. >> paul ginsburg, i hope that's not his satellite going out. do we have paul? >> yes. i would just like to hope that some day we will be uploading flight data to satellite, so that data does not go down with the ship. >> jeff wise? >> the source of a lot of these false positives tend out to be signals from the ships themselves. >> steven marks? >> the coordination of this search, i'm discouraged by the time that's left on the battery life, and i really don't understand why there is such a short battery life on these black boxes. >> all right. i want to thank all my guests for joining us tonight. again, we've learned a whole lot from this news conference. at first, we were not expecting to have the head of this search

joined, but angus houston did join, and as always, provided us some great information. he says we're going to continue to search, look for another ping, as long as possible, before putting us a submersible on the ocean floor. that's it for us tonight. i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. good night.