the ugly, -- >> oh my god, this is all bad. >> a drunk man thinking it is a good idea to ride a bike. but you can see, well, it was a bad idea. thanks so much for joining us today. >> "fox & friends" start right now. >> good morning. it is monday, december 29. i'm elisabeth hasselbeck. a fox news alert. while you were sleeping floating objects and oil spots spotted in the pacific ocean in the desperate search for that missing airasia flight. new details about the flight pilots and what happened in the cockpit straight ahead. >> as the slain officer is laid to rest this weekend, protesters come out in full force. [chanting] >> we have the latest on the growing tension between the cops and the communities. >> you may know me from the

political stage but did you know this, that i could do? ♪ ♪ [singing] >> i'll show you a different side this hour. >> rockin'. mornings are better with friends like you. >> hi, this is kid rock. you're watching "fox & friends." >> we start with a fox news alert for you. an object spotted in the search for missing airasia 8501. the packed plane vanished over the pacific ocean en route from indonesia to singapore and now families are bracing for the worst. we're going to get right to david piper live on the phone from thailand with the very latest. david, good morning to you. what are they saying about those oil spots and pieces that have been floating in the ocean?

>> they have discounted the oil spots but indonesian officials say they have spotted objects during the search. they are saying the debris could be from the plane. and the search has now been suspended at the moment. the search has been focusing on an area about one hour into the flight of airasia jet on the way from surabaya to indonesia sunday morning. the pilot said it was encountering bad weather and requested course change. the u.s. asked indonesia if it needed its help but so far the offer hasn't been taken up. the fleet has naval assets ready if needed to assist. >> before we get to more on this airline, we want to

welcome our special guest this morning. >> thank you. >> nice to see you this morning. >> good to see both of you. >> you have a lot of official titles: colonel senator, all of the above. you say your wife has more for you. >> depends on what mood she's in. whether she's yelling at me or loving me. kids, you know how that goes. i'm honored to be here. >> how do you come without coffee? >> try to get to bed early, drink a lot of orange juice. eat and stay healthy. >> we'll see if you actually have your first cup of coffee with us. glad to have you with us. >> we want to get to the very latest this morning on the airline flight and what we now know about it at this hour. david piper bringing us up to speed on the rescue efforts there as they're looking in that shallow water where that airline may have gone down in the wawr. we now know what unfolded as the airline was climbing into higher altitude because of storms that were in the area and whether or not they could have gone to

an increased altitude. they called traffic control and asked to go to an increased altitude but they were denied the request. >> it leads to so many questions when something as devastating as this occurs. could the pilot have avoided this somehow? should he have gone down instead of requesting to go up in elevation. was there an actual call of distress? why wasn't there if not? we asked who is to blame here and what should have happened in this situation. >> if they requested a different altitude to avoid bad weather, that is very common. they were denied this request presumably because of conflicting traffic. that's also fairly common. but that doesn't mean the plane is going to go flying headlong into a violent storm. the crew can always do what it needs to do to avoid violent weather with or without permission. >> one of the big questions is whether or not he should have ignored air traffic control. he's the pilot. he knows what's best for his crew. >> that is a good question.

at what point does he say i see it, i'm not going to go into that thunderstorm. if these going to increase elevation are his options diminished? a lot of questions. obviously we first need to recognize our hearts go out to the family members who seem to have lost their loved ones. >> there are so many stories emerging from this. we'll get to them later in the show as well. people who missed their flight, decided to postpone and wait for the next one to go out because they wanted to enjoy their vacation longer. >> one woman on board with the family who was taking the last trip together. obviously hearts aching this morning waiting for information with that new oil spot they've run into. they're going to run tests on that and resume as soon as they can. >> a lot of parallels are being drawn between this flight and what unfolded with malaysia flight early this year. totally different scenario. this is a budget airline but they have had an

impeccable record. smaller aircraft compared to what went down earlier this year. tony fernandez is the c.e.o. he bought this airline for pennies. listen to tony. >> [inaudible] >> saying any airliner says you can't lose a life, it is not accurate. he says this is the worst day of my life when he heard about what happened. we still don't know. >> i'm not familiar with this aircraft. we have a ton of experts joining us this morning on aviation with their experiences to explain. apparently five computer systems that operate in this airbus which could have forced the pilot into a situation actually fighting the plane in terms of turbulence. was the plane going too

slow? hearts are breaking right now as this information pours in. the families await this information. they're saying it's likely that the plane is at the bottom of that area. >> the black box what's next? you have to find out what's happened. it's z -- it's easy to second-guess but you need more facts. >> what was unfolding with that weather? we'll get analysts on this, especially maria molina. >> first we're going to turn to cheryl casone who joins us with all that's happening for you. >> good morning, guys. we have a lot of things we're following. a lot of breaking overnight thrug a fox news alert right -- including a fox news alert. a massive manhunt underway in los angeles after two police officers were shot at while driving in their cruiser. so far one person in custody, a second on the loose. none of the officers were hurt. antipolice protesters

come out in full force this christmas weekend. fa-la-la-la! >> protesters disrupting traffic and chanting for dead police officers. the sickening christmas carol coming as a slain nypd officer laid to rest saturday. at that funeral hundreds of officers are seen turning their backs on new york mayor bill de blasio as he spoke. police commissioner bill brat ton acknowledging the major rift isn't over. >> -- officer ramos and to bring issues into that event i think was very inappropriate and i do not support it. >> i think it's probably a rift that is going to go on for awhile longer. >> to make matters more complicated, mayor deebl is expected to speak later this morning at the nypd graduation. another fox news alert for you.

just hours ago the first survivors from the greek ferry fire arrive in italy on board a cargo ship. cell phone video shows the fire burning while passengers wait for helicopters to lift them to safety. desperate rescue efforts continue for nearly 200 still trapped on board at this hour. winds and waves complicating rescue efforts. one person so far is dead. >> gamers hoping to try out their christmas present have been out of luck until now. after three days of disruption that began on christmas, sony's play station network is back on-line. it was overloaded making it impossible for others to connect. xbox live also fell victim to the hackers on christmas day and recovered on friday. those are your headlines this morning. >> that is the worst you get a present and you can't play with it for three days. >> thank you. we mentioned before, we

have a special couch visitor today. scott brown joining us, the senator. it is great to have you here. we have a little highlight who anyone who needs a recap of some of your fantastic moments in the past few years. >> let's go. >> i come to the floor of the senate today to give my first speech as the, one of the senators from massachusetts. i do think it is important to have a military presence in iraq, and you didn't answer. you said we need to provide important assistance to the iraqis. but do you or don't you think that we should have a mill presence in iraq? >> 37 plus of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle using the same fund that we're using the money to pay for this and now all of a sudden it's not appropriate. if people want us to work together in a bipartisan manner, this is a good way to send the message we've turned the corner. the obama administration seems only more confused as things actually unravel. this is what the world looks like without american

leadership. >> there is a highlight reel. >> i didn't quite know what you were going to put up. a lot of good points. more importantly it was an honor to serve. >> i think what was appreciated so much about your character is the ability to cut through and give straight talk when things get cloudy. we're going to have straight talk now about your personal life. >> okay. >> you had a big year. >> your daughter's wedding. tell us what we're seeing here. >> that is actually my two daughters and their new husbands. a country barbecue backyard wedding. that is my daughter ayla in the middle. >> is it harder to write a political speech or father of the bride speech? >> you speak from your heart in that situation. kind of a happy-sad moment. you're happy they found somebody but also sad they found somebody because you are no longer the special

guy in their lives. we're blessed. gail and i have two great kids who have wonderful husbands. >> we have a photo -- look at that. >> that's when we were young, at rye beach with gail and ayla and arianna. they look so young. >> your retirement ceremony in 2014 when you retired as colonel. >> describe that moment for you. >> 35 years, that was at the pentagon. i was the deputy counsel to the chief counsel for one of the joint chiefs. our team rewrote the sexual assault regulations for the national guard. it was an honor to serve with the men and women of our country. they do amazing work under very, very difficult times especially now with the dramatic cuts. to be there and have that ceremony and have general grass officiate it was an honor i'll never forget. >> your daughter ayla is an

incredible musician and athlete. we see her doing so much work with the military. it was a tough pinstripe bowl this past weekend. now i know where she gets it from because you play the guitar as well. what was that like? >> that was one of the highlights of my life playing with rick nelson. rick's a great guy, playing with cheap trick. playing basketball, you have that father-daughter bond. it was gone after that and now i get to play guitar with my daughter. it's a lot of fun. >> got a good dad in you. we thank you for being on the curvy couch and thank all of you for being with us. coming un, continuing coverage of missing airasia 8501. it is one of the more popular planes in the sky. >> you look at a lot of girls, she wanted a

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welcome back to fox news alert. objects spotted in the search for missing airasia 8501 this morning. now officials believe it is at the bottom of the sea. and this type of plane, an

airbus 8320 is one of the more popular in the skies so how safe is it? >> aviation consultant joins us on the curvy couch to discuss the anatomy of this plane. how safe are these planes in general? >> the only abnormality is the flight control system between that and boeing. this is a dinner type of flight control -- a a different type of flight control system where the pilots are outside of the loop of direct control. boeing keeps you inside of the loop. these aircraft are safe. they have had a long history of operation. 8300 aircraft fly by wire have been running around since 1984. >> by out of the loop or in the loop do you mean the pilot on this plane would have less control in certain circumstances? >> yes, because the aircraft itself is telling him that he can't do certain things. for instance, a common thing is let's say he wanted to execute a 40 degree angle, the aircraft would not allow him to do

that because the aircraft computers have determined that the pilot is putting the aircraft at risk. if you were in a boeing fly by wire you could crank that thing over to 50, 60 degrees. >> you could override the system in another plane whereas this plane you cannot? >> yes. >> it seems not to be the safest situation. >> the engineers determine the fact that 75% of the accidents are caused by pilots or are contributory. so they decided the skill levels with the amount of pilots you would need for the future may not be available and so they decided to put an aircraft that was essentially pilot-proof. >> at what point does the pilot say i'm not getting the satisfaction i need. i feel the plane is in danger? at what point does the pilot say i'm turning around and going home? >> the minute the aircraft commander says his aircraft has got a possible danger, that's when you execute and the need to be an emergency

authority where you state i have an emergency authority. i am performing the following maneuver whether that's off course or you're turning around. that is pilot in command. a.t.c. is solely responsible for separation of aircraft. they do not command a commander. they don't do that. i'm on board for safety. you're on board to keep you separate and away. >> a different kind of air scare. new threats by al qaeda. urging terrorists to blow up specific airlines. america's top airlines responding this morning. >> they're not loving t. a new federal complaint blames mcdonald's for how private franchise workers are treated. and who benefits from this one? big union. charles paip going -- charles payne going to explain that for us and what it means for you and workers everywhere.

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welcome back. we have a quick look at your headlines for you. airlines now responding to the latest al qaeda threat as the terror group is calling for lone wolf attacks on passenger jets. so far only british airways and easy jets responded saying they are working closely with governments around the world. the other airlines have not commented. after 13 years the war in afghanistan is officially over. a flag-lowering ceremony marked the occasion at the nato mission headquarters in kabul. 11,000 united states troops will remain in the country to assist afghan forces there. >> the national labor relations board says mcdonald's can be held responsible for the treatment of its workers at

its restaurants even if they're owned by franchisees. but does a worker at a franchise restaurant really work for the mcdonald's corporation or is it working for the franchisee and can complaint redefine the meaning of employee? charles payne host of making money, fox business, joins us this morning. good to see you this morning. >> you too. >> what is exactly the nut of this? we have 14,000 restaurants that aren't operating independently. they are under one umbrella? >> a mcdonald's franchisee who worked 20 years, saves every nickel they had went to every relative they had to buy this franchise it's not mcdonald's' business. it's their business. listen this is what this is. it's a farce a gigantic farce to somehow find a way to spike private sector union membership. 36% in 1953.

about 6% right now. the private sector workers rejected it. they're trying to make this happen. mcdonald's, wal-mart those are your two big targets. >> what the president claimed through nlrb, through noaa they are going to try to do through regulations. >> the agenda still goes forward despite the fact that it seems like it's been rejected at least in whole or maybe completely in the last election. >> mcdonald's released a statement on this issue. mcdonald's is disappointed with the board 's decision to move forward with these charges and will contest the allegation as well as the unfair labor practice charges in the proper forums. the nlrb says there are 86 cases in which the country's unlawful conduct including sanctions about workers, so they're saying you can't treat them individually. it is mcdonald's after all. it is a corporation and stuff trickles down from

the top. what do you say? >> that is not the way the franchise model works. we need to understand hugh dangerous this is. this whole campaign began a long time ago. november late november 2012 the nlrb went after 291 mcdonald's restaurants. they have gotten rid of 86 of these things. they dismissed them. if you look at these protests vastly they're not mcdonald's workers. this is an organized campaign, big money from the outside, and their goal is to ultimately force mcdonald's to unionize these jobs. here's the thing these franchise workers, 10% of our entire workforce, we start to turn that business model upside down we stop a lot of people from becoming authentic small businesses and we hurt a lot of individuals' employment. i think it is dangerous. >> it sends a bad message and deep pockets obviously mcdonald's has deep pockets so they're not only

getting in the door but going after deep pocket. >> these individual franchisees foot their own legal bills for this. >> they sign the dotted line put up personal guarantees, their families lives, everything invested in that business. >> several districts they begin march of next year. >> don't miss making money with charles payne on the fox business network. he brings some of that excitement. to find in your area go to foxbusiness.com/channel find er. >> whalt pilot said before the airasia flight disperiod? a foreman -- a former navy pilot takes us inside the cockpit. >> street racing causing chaos on a major highway organized by social media by the way.

>> first happy birthday to jon voight. he's 76 today.

welcome back. we begin with a fox news alert. family members of the 162 people on board missing airasia 8501 holding on to hope as nightfall forces rescuers to suspend their air search for the day. >> boats continue to scour the java sea. officials report they spot oil slicks in the sea 700 miles from where the plane fell off the radar on the flight from indonesia to singapore. >> the pilot was reporting bad weather and asking to change course moments

before that plane vanished. search and rescue crews believe the aircraft is at the bottom of the ocean. here with more on what the weather looked like when the plane went missing is maria molina. nice to see you this morning. >> good to see you all. i was reading a report from the associated press that one of the meteorologists from indonesia said the thunderstorms in that area at the time the plane went missing reached lels of 44 -- reached levels of 44,000 feet. that is very cold that far up. that is something to keep in mind, another one of the factors that could have played into this plane's disappearance. looking at the weather conditions we saw at the time the plane disappeared we had very strong thunderstorms and they are all associated with something called the itcz it is a line of very strong thunderstorms that go very near the e-- equator around the earth. we saw strong storms in that particular area with lightning, with strong wind gusts, both horizontal and

vertical. that produces all of that turbulence. here's a look at the satellite image at the time the plane went missing. a lot of storms across parts of the java sea. the only good thing about this particular area is we have relatively warm ocean temperatures. that's something else to keep in mind. the forecast over the next several days is a little bit better than we had over the past weekend with strong storms. we should be looking at more isolated activity. there's still a chance for showers and storms. >> maria, thank you for all that info. the pilot of the plane had more than 20,000 hours of experience, so could he have been under pressure to fly into danger? >> let's ask a former fighter pilot and fox news reporter leah gabriel. >> we're hearing about the request to move from 32, 34 to 38,000 feet. we hear there was capacity within the plane tech-wise

that could override the pilot's actual intent. what is your assessment of what could have happened base on the information we have? >> fly by wires, essentially what that means is the pilot puts in control input and those don't go directly to the control surfaces. rather they go to a computer which decides she put in this much input this is how i'm going flight controls. this aircraft limits what you can do because it's a system that limits allowing you to pull too many g's or fly too high, for example, based on your fuel, your loading and other things. in this particular case maria was saying the cloud tops were 44,000 feet. you can't climb above those in this airplane. the surface ceiling of this airplane is 42,000 feet. this guy was apparently trying to fly above thunder clouds that were 44,000 feet in a plane that is not supposed to go above 44,000. the plane may have prevented him from doing that. >> we understand from air

traffic control there may have been a flight above him and restricted his ability to go to that level. what would you have done facing a thunderstorm like that knowing there's maybe aircraft above you and you can't get that high? >> before you take off you should be looking at the weather. there is ntion on how high the -- there is information on how high the thunder clouds go. once you're in the situation you have to do whatever it takes to stay safe. big sky, little airplane. i take my chances against this other airplane versus continuing to go into a potential thunder cloud that could down my airplane. >> what's the pressure? what type of pressure is that pilot facing to make that decision? do i turn around? do i get in the plane to take off? >> tons of pressure. military pilots have the pressure of getting the x. your commanding officer wants you to complete the flight because it's good for their numbers. same thing with the airlines. as the pilot in command you have to make those decisions as to whether it is safe to fly. i think in this situation i

will be very surprised if we don't see there are issues with this fly by wire system. what can happen, i flew an airplane with fly buy -- fly by wire system, the problem is the plane may be problem but your brain may be telling you there is something wrong and you start fighting it. >> are you surprised we didn't hear from the pilot after he was told to not go up. >> no distress call. >> i think the pilot was in distress and you're focusing on flying the airplane doing whatever you can to keep it from crashing. i won't be surprised if we find there was a cheanling situation that the pilot -- challenging situation the pilot ended up in many i hope we find answers for the families. i will say finding an oil slick is oftentimes what you do find. sometimes it is the first thing you do find. there are reports of them finding an oil slick. when i lost my friend who

was a pilot the only thing we found was an oil slick. >> we appreciate your exer tease -- expertise in this area. we turn to cheryl ca sew -- cheryl casone. >> freeway fury, an event organized on social media by a group calling for a takeover. several high-speed chases began as soon as police arrived on the scene dozens were arrested, but police are still looking for many others who took off. the crippling cyber attack against sony may not have been the work of north korea after all. a security firm claiming it was most likely russians waging digital war against the movie studio. it analyzed writing samples from the group guardians of

peace and found the majority of the language matched the russian language. the firm says it is very unlikely the north koreans were involved. not cool, dad. not cool. a young girl extremely disappointed on christmas morning when she got a frozen doll. >> is that what you want snd >> daddy, no! >> what's wrong it's a frozen doll. >> the princess! >> it's a frozen doll. >> instead of a disney character this girl was expecting, her father wrapped up a doll covered in a block of ice. the video ends before we see how upset she got but i'm sure dad hopes one day she's going to let it go. this video got 130,000 views right now. >> she is going to be using that against him for a long time. >> she put it in the microwave and then you've got another problem. >> we're going to turn to one avid sports star.

>> final week of nfl regular season sunday night football. the steelers locking up the a.f.c. north with a big win over the bengals 27-17. both teams are in the playoffs. in atlanta ryan couldn't do it, the panthers become the first team since 2010 to may be the playoffs with a losing record. they crushed the falcons 34-3. carolina will host cardinals in the wild card. here's what the playoff pictures look likes. new england denver seattle and green bay get a bite. coaches tom coughlin and rex ryan finishing their team's respective season while supporting the nypd one week after two new york police officers giants head coach coughlin seen doning a blue nypd hat on the sidelines. the jets rex ryan doing the same, wearing an nypd cap throughout the day.

sunday's game may have been ryan's last with the jets. adam fallin proving he and his fiancee may be the perfect pair. after making the game-winning catch against the chicago bears, he threw his touchdown ball into the stands. can you believe who caught it? it was caught by his bride to be. he says he doesn't know how it happened. >> that was a match right there. that's how tim said he could marry me. he threw me a ball -- coming up, g.q. says democrats are hard to find for its 2014 craziest politicians and they only came up with these three. we're breaking down media bias with a list of our own straight ahead. >> pakistan furious with the hit show "homeland."

they're watching the show and they're saying it gives them a bad rap. but wasn't bin laden hiding right there for years? former c.i.a. commander burnstern spent time in pakistan. he reacts next.

a a a a a ... ... ...

pakistan furious that the tv show "homeland" is giving their nation a bad rap like this scene portraying the c.i.a.'s call for help after their convoy is attacked in islamabad. >> sit tight. we're on our way. >> what are you doing?

>> ten minutes. then you can make the call. the americans have insinuated themselves long enough into our business. it's time to get a dose of their own medicine. >> me? i'm not the one who keeps insisting the enemy is our friend. >> wasn't bin laden hiding right under their nose for years? former c.i.a. commander gary berntsen spent time in pakistan and he joins us now. good morning, gary. how are you? >> good morning senator brown. >> what's your take on what the pakistanis are talking about here? >> they're really feigning outrage here. since 1947 pakistan has had a love affair with militancy. it started off with secular militancy. those were individuals, pakistani tribes that tried

to overthrow the government of kashmir. they would later move to islamic fundamentalists in the 1980's and the i.s.i. would become islamicized. they have been complete lid embedd with terror groups. there have been periods when they worked more closely with us, times they cooperated with us but it is a mixed bag. they have been in this up to their neck. >> you've been there. i've been there. it is a country that has struggles. there's always been the thought they are working both ends against the middle. they could change the middle obviously putting our first amendment rights up. it is a story, it is a show, not really reality. >> there is an elite in pakistan that are educated. many are educated in the u.k. or europe. they're offended by these statements on u.s. television. but the truth is that pakistani political parties have courted the he can --

courted the extreme elements in their society and it's caused death in their society and they have to live with this. >> bin laden was right under their nose and they could have done something. obviously they didn't. it's a very interesting -- now we have all different countries telling us what shows to watch, when to watch, what to say, what not to say. i don't think they quite get that they can just change the channel. >> that's right. they don't understand that our first -- the first amendment is important to us. freedom of speech. >> thank you very much. i appreciate you being here. coming up, new york police department officers once again turn their backs on mayor bill de blasio. so what needs to happen next? we'll ask long-term new yorker donald trump next. >> g.q. says democrats are hard to find for its list

of 2014 crazy politicians. they only came up with these three. ♪ ♪

gq releasing their list of the top craziest politicians of 2014. and according to the magazine system out of 20 of the list were all republicans. the only democrats were texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee, georgia congressman johnson and vice president joe biden. >> were there really no more democrats that fit the bill or is this just once again media bias atask talk show host.

great to see you. >> happy new year. >> doesn't seem like an even divide. >> absolutely not. they're engaging in serious media bias. if they were objective this would have been ten democrats and ten republicans. when they're calling out 17 crazy republicans and only three democrats, this is teetering on propaganda. >> sure. if you took this list and said top politicians and had 17 male and three female, they would be the first to cry bias when it comes to gender. >> exactly. >> who would you have put on the jonathan gruber. he admitted he knowingly deceived the american people. he basically tricked the american people into voting for president obama and obamacare and he manipulated data. he admitted he put tortured language into president obama's health care legislation to pass it through. and he was dishonest. he definitely should have made the list. >> what about in massachusetts? anyone in massachusetts you feel fits the bill?

>> yes. senator elizabeth warren. her claim to fame is consumer protection. and due to obamacare, over 5 million americans lost their health care. she should be protecting americans. those consumers like myself who saw their health care plan canceled and our premiums kay skyrocket. why has she been silent? 5 million americans lost their health care plan, many lost their doctor and hospital. and they suffered financial damages. yet she has gone silent. this screams phoniness to me. >> when you look at craziness when it comes to politicians you have to figure out, what's the definition? to me, it means you're either so far left or so far right away from mainstream america that means you're so-called crazy. when i got to the senate when i was there, the first person that i said was crazy was bernie sanders from vermont. he looks crazy. people shake their heads. many senators we call sound bite senators who just yell and scream at the banks, at wall street, main street dividing

the country. there could be quite a few focus. harry reid comes to mind. >> sure. again, he evaded the list. for someone who has been in all of the headlines particularly as we look forward to 2016, is hillary clinton yet, she didn't make the list. >> she absolutely should have. how much time do we have to go through some her major gaffes this year? the biggest offender was when she said we should empathize with our enemies? how do we empathize with radical terrorists who are beheading children women? they are committing genocide, raping girls selling them off sex slaves. they're crazy barbarians that you can not empathize with. you can not use diplomacy when you use military force. >> when joe biden's name comes up, i know many times i've said hey, this just joe being joe. he gets a free pass. >> he does get a free pass. >> provides a lot of entertainment. >> he does. absolutely. >> so he's on the list. we'll give him that. but three

to 17, not even at all. we love having you here. >> thank you so much. >> let us know what you think about that divide with gq being biased. we will read your e-mail tweets and facebook post coming up. we know the pilot of that missing flight asked to deviate his flight path. but general mcinerny has thrown through that part of the world and says that plane should have never been in the sky. he'll explain all that at the top of the hour. ♪ ♪ can you name one branch of government, high school students better learn it if they want to graduate? we'll debate this proposal coming up next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] when john huntsman was diagnosed with cancer, he didn't just vow to beat it. i vowed to eradicate it from the earth. so he founded huntsman cancer institute. ♪ ♪ everything about it would be different.

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good morning. it is monday, december 29. i'm elisabeth hasselbeck. a fox news alert. happening right now the

desperate search for that missing air asia flight continues. floating objects and oil spotted in the sea as rescuers pray for a miracle. new details about the pilot and what happened right before that plane vanished off of radar. we have those details for you coming up. and to serve and reject. nypd officers turning their backs to mayor bill de blasio again. can he do anything to mend this rift? proud new yorker donald trump joins us to talk about it. he'll be live with us. and is the deadliest sniper in american military history the same as the dc sniper? we'll take you who is making that sick comparison this morning. i'm scott brown and mornings are better with friends. >> hi. this is kathy ireland. you're watching "fox & friends". >> thank you for joining us. you know him as a politician. you've seen him sing and today scott brown is co-hosting with us right here at "fox & friends," bringing the morning

to awful you. this rocking out we're seeing that had to be one of your top five. >> one of the top highlights of my life. cheap trick, one of any favorite bands. >> were you able to do that on the floor of the senate? >> yeah, i don't think so. they don't even let you bring in a water. you have to hide your water. you have to wear socks. richard bird, he protests. so he doesn't wear socks. they go up and say, senator, you have to put socks o. it's like well, the women don't have to. why do i? >> no guitar? >> no guitar. >> if you could write a song what, would the title be describing the status of the senate in congress? >> dysfunction. >> he's going to play that for us later in the show. >> oh, good. great to see you. >> thank you. >> i'm sitting in for brian. first to that fox news alert now. desperate search underway for a plane packed with people. overnight a mysterious object and oil slick spotted in the hunt for the flight. the plane vanishing overt

pacific enroute from indonesia to singapore. now families bracing for the worse. >> our hearts are with them. we'll get to david piper live in thailand with the latest. what are they saying this morning? >> reporter: yes, good morning to you all. several ships are still out in the ocean looking for all that missing plane. but the air search is reported to have been halted for the night. those planes are likely going out at first light. let's talk about some of those issues. we do understand that the oil slick has now been discounted as coming from the plane. indonesian officials say australian planes reported seeing objects in the sea during their search for the missing aircraft. indonesia's vice president says the debris could be from the plane. but other officials say there is insufficient evidence at the moment. the air and sea search has focused on an area about one hour into the flight of the air asia indonesian jet on its way to singapore sunday morning

local time. the pilot radioed in that he was facing bad weather and requesting a course change before losing contact with indonesian air traffic control. the u.s. asked indonesia if they needed help, but so far the offer hasn't been taken up. families are continuing to wait for news at airports in indonesia and singapore. one woman waiting anxiously in singapore says her fiance was on board. >> i listened to the radio and i just -- i browse on internet and i knew that it was his plane. it was supposed to be there. >> reporter: the grim wait continues for all the way through tonight and into tomorrow morning before we find out about where that plane is. back to you guys. >> all right. david piper live for us in thailand thanks. >> that's right. moments before the flight

vanished the pilot asked to climb higher and avoid thunderstorms in that area. but that request was, in fact denied. >> so what in the world could the pilot have done at that moment? >> fox news military analyst tom mcen they are knee has flown in that part of the world and has assessment for us. thank you for joining us. could the pilot have done anything else? what was the role facing this thunderstorm and a denial to change altitude? >> great question, elisabeth. in those particular circumstances, the pilot must do whatever he thinks to make the aircraft and the passengers safer. if he felt that going into that thunderstorm at that particular altitude and he needed to go from 320 up to 380 then he should have done that. he should have told that to the air traffic control center that he was doing that. he could have turned off a

certain heading. he's got to do whatever he thinks for the safety of the aircraft and the passengers. >> excuse me. it's interesting, we've heard a lot this morning about overriding concerns, yet the computer potentially taking overment how does a pilot when you say he needs to do what he needs to do, how can he actually do that when maybe the computer and the controls are fighting his efforts to do just that? >> that's a good question, senator. but in those particular situation that we're describing the airplane is not fighting back. the question where it fights back, the computer does, is if you think you are going down and you're trying to pull the stick back like happened on the air france aircraft out of south america, which they got themselves into a stall. in this particular case, all you do is turn your track course left ten 20-degrees and you start the climb. it's not going to fight back.

>> we heard it was 44,000 feet ceiling. yet this plane was only capable of going 42, give or take, 1,000 feet. how would he have been able to outrun or go over that storm? >> well, he, in fact, probably could not. and that was the question, that would not have gotten him out of the storm. >> at what point should the plane have not been in the sky? could we go one step further and say based on that area action based on the history of storms based on this flight capacity of the air bus, should that flight ever have gone there taken off? >> well, that's another great question. and i operated out there for seven years and used to have squadrons going down from the philippines and okinawa as commander of training in singapore. we would not have deployed under those particular conditions. yes, the military is safer because we have different rules.

we don't have passengers. we're not trying to get revenue. so it is different in that regard. but it's monsoon season. i don't know what picture -- look at the picture you're seeing right now. that picture i would have either gone south or gone a different route. but again, i don't know what the pilot -- so i'm being a little harsh in guessing because i don't know what weather picture the pilot saw. but that is not a good picture. those are very severe thunderstorms. what i do know is that airplane went in to a thunderstorm and it didn't come out. so it had to be a very severe thunderstorm to have an impact on it to where the airplane did not come out, whether it was a flight control problem whether it was a failure somewhere because of the severity of the thunderstorm, we don't know that yet. but we do know it didn't come out of that thunderstorm. >> general, we're also hearing reports they may have been flying too slow.

something we haven't even touched on yet. that he may have been going 100 knots too slow as he was attempting to make some sort of maneuver. what do you make of that? >> could have stalled out potentially. >> yeah. like air france. >> that's a course of action that could have happened because he was trying to climb. he didn't have the thrust. he had been a irrelevant -- airborne an hour plus. so he may not have had -- light enough to have gotten to that altitude and he could have gotten slow. again, we don't know that. there are a whole host of course of action, clayton that people will look at. we'll know when we get the black box. >> we hope to get that soon of the our hearts are with the family. we thank you for your service and your assessment this morning on "fox & friends." >> thanks. >> thank you. let's get it over to cheryl casone with more breaking news from overnight. good morning. >> it's been a busy night for news. we have another fox news alert for you right now. a manhunt is underway right now in los angeles after two police officers were fired at while driving in their cruiser.

city wide alert has been issued. so far one person is in custody. a second still on the loose. luckily none of the officers were hurt. and we have just learned that more people have died in that greek ferry boat fire. the death toll now up to five. the ship started burning more than 24 hours ago, but rescuers are still struggling to save nearly 100 people trapped on board. this new video shows flames while passengers in life vests wait to be rescued. overnight, the first survivors from the ferry arrived in italy on board a cargo ship. airlines are now responding to the latest al-qaeda threat as the terror group is calling for lone wolf attacks on passenger jets. so far only british airways and easy jet responded, saying they are closely work with governments around the world. the other airlines not yet commenting. the terror group praising this man, the underwear bomber. remember him? he tried to blow up a plane on christmas back in 2009.

and this story will make your day. an injured marine gets a very special christmas present that definitely couldn't fit under the tree. >> i got a gift for you guys i want you guys to open it for me real quick. >> he was surprised with a mortgage free home. it's from the charity building homes for heros and specially built to accommodates his disabilities. the best part? another injured soldier also received a home from that charity had the honor of presenting this incredible gift. guys a loft us raise money for building homes for heros. it's great to see that. >> great charity, thanks cheryl. >> speaking of military you understand that for the past 35 years, you have served this

great nation retired this year as colonel in your honor. you actually joined the national guard at the age of 19? >> 19 after the blizzard of '78 if you remember that blizzard. were you even born then, by the way? >> there is your photo. day one. >> joined after the blizzard of 1978. saw the men and women who were doing a wonderful job protecting and serving and rescuing people in massachusetts off highways. that was a storm where they closed down colleges. i was at tufts. they closed down the college the first time they had done it forever. so a lot of fine honor to serve some great men and women serving our country. it was an honor to be part of it. >> you must have seen a shift over that time, join not guilty 1978 to the way in which we revere the military now. you got in at a time maybe when it wasn't the same. >> it wasn't quite the same. mobilizations that you have now. there was a different emesis on training. it was a one army concept one army. you would have the ability to have a soldier a unit a

special team go in and be with the regular army and be fully integrated. that was wonderful. i had great experiences. one in particular was in afghanistan doing my military service. went in as an officer. i said, hey, do you mind if i sit here? he said sure. that's fine. so we started talk. i said what's it like when you have the senators come down and there are official visits? do you get to talk to them? he said it's kind of like a dog and pony show. they don't really get to talk to us. i said, what would you say if you could talk to a senator and tell us what you think? what's could you do? he said, sir, with all due respect, we'll never get that chance. i said, i'm a united states senator. he laughed at me and said yeah, sure you are. thank you, thank you. then i showed him my i.d. and all of a sudden, it was yes, sir and no, sir. a lot of laughs, lot of sacrifice. he staffed to attention. his demeanor changed. it was a telling sign as to what really happens on the official visits versus actually -- you have senator kirk obviously senator graham go down there and

i, we were able to serve at the same time during a two-week period working on various issues affecting the military. >> what a bridge you are between military and citizens, you're one of a kind. >> the men and women who serve are really doing i don'tmen's work for our country. that's why i'm concerned about how the president is treating the military and trying to cut down so dramatically. >> thank you for joining us. >> great to be on. to serve and reject, nypd officers turning their backs to mayor de blasio again. can he do anything to mend the rift? donald trump has worked with many new york mayors and he joins us live next

we come by almost every day to deliver your mail so if you have any packages you want to return you should just give them to us i mean, we're going to be there anyway why don't you just leave it for us to pick up? or you could always get in your car and take it back yourself yeah, us picking it up is probably your easiest option it's kind of a no brainer

ok, well, good talk we just learned that the funeral for officer liu, the second cop executed on december 20 will be held this sunday. it follows this weekend's funeral for his partner officer ramos, where nypd officers turned their back once again on the mayor. >> so can mayor de blasio fix this problem or is it too far gone at this point? donald trump worked with many new york mayors and he joins us now. mr. trump, nice to have you on the show this morning. >> good morning. i have indeed worked with many. many many. i've seen them all. >> so what is the key then to working with them? is there a way that they can mend this rift? >> well, it's going to be hard

because when mayor de blasio, now when he was campaigning, he was very very tough on the police, very tough. and you know, it all started with stop and frisk and it went sort of wild from there and the police were not liking it and they did like stop and frisk. if someone has a gun we'd like to find out whether or not he has a gun before he uses it. and there was a big outcry about that. and there was a bigger outcry for people that want to keep it to be honest with you. it started with that. but his campaign, as scott know because scott watched it. and hello and congratulations. that's terrific. >> good to speak with you. let me ask you a question. how about saying you're sorry? get in the room with the leadership and some of the people affected most dramatically by this because clearly the police are hurting. they're nervous. what about just starting by saying you're sorry and start from there? >> he's true he's got to explain his actions. his campaign was against police. he was a very violent and

vicious campaign against the police and the police have done an amazing job. i remember the city when it was one of the most unsafe places to be and now it's probably the safest place in america. safest big city there is. >> mr. trump, what should the nypd graduates he's going to speak, what should he say? >> well, i think he has to apologize and i think he has to really get down to brass tacks and i think it's going to be very hard because of his campaign. if you saw, you weren't watching it as closely as you do the national scene but his campaign was very very tough on cops. and i think he's going to have to get down and he has to start with an apology and after the apology, has to just break bread and see if he can get it together. it's going to be very, very tough because his campaign against the police was very, very strong. >> should he resign? many have called for his resignation. >> that's a very tough thing to say. that certain israeli up to him. but i see it all overt place. everybody wants that. that's a very different decision. but i will say that he's going to have to do something.

we have amazing police force and they have to be respected and one day you're going to see the police start to protest and then you're going to see something and a lot of americans and a lot of the people in this country love the police and they love the fact that we're protected and don't like what's going on. so he's got a tough position. i will tell that you. >> many in that department feel as though he has already turned his back on them. filing protest there is. >> time to say thank you to a police officer. that's what you got to do. >> thanks. >> mr. trump, thank you always. >> thank you very much. coming up, he's a war hero. but this morning the american sniper being compared to the dc into upper. the guy who gunned down innocent people at gas station. >> can you name one branch of the government? high school students better learn it if they want to graduate. we'll debate this controversial new proposal next. ♪ ♪

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welcome back. time for news by the numbers. first, three days. that's how long sony's play station network was down after hackers unleashed a cyber attack on christmas. sony says the network is now back online and ready for gamers. kids can play with their presents finally. next none. that's how many british inmates will be at guantanamo bay after the final suspect is released in the new year. part of president obama's push to close the base. $41.4 million. the final installment of the hobbit winning the box office. and the interview scored online. they managed to rake in $15 million with streaming. people buying it on itunes and google play store. that's sony record.

elisabeth? >> thank you. don't know much about history a recent study found only 24% of high schoolers had a proficient level of civics knowledge and skill. now there is a push to require them to pass a citizenship test to graduate. north dakota recently unveiled a proposal now in -- a new jersey law maker is jumping on board. here to debate is a civics education initiative sam stone and democratic strategist brian benjamin. gentlemen, thank you for being here. so sam, i want to start with you. is this a great idea for students to be required, a manned, in fact -- a mandate to know the branches of the governments and six out of ten questions? >> absolutely. i think this is the critical basic knowledge that every student needs to begin becoming a citizen and engaged in forming a citizen. this is information chosen very specifically because it is the basics. it's where someone can start growing from. it's critical they get exposed

to this information at an early age and continuously. >> okay. so here is some sample questions and then brian, we'd love to hear from you. name one branch of government. what is the economic system in the united states? another question is, the house of representatives has how many voting members? some idea of what they'd be afterment brian, what's the harm in having questions like this be manhunted? >> the problem when you make that a requirement. we want them to be able to be critical thinkers, and understand how to problem solve. there are so many other things we want them to focus on of the memorizing tests is not something we want to memorize on for a graduation concept n. terms of something they should know, we should start when they're in elementary school. why wait 'til high school? i think it's a good idea, but i don't like the way they're trying to apply it. >> are you afraid it would lead to other things being required? >> absolutely. why not then say we should look at stem? let's look at technology as something that we need. our kids to succeed in the

future, are going to need to know technology. if we want to create jobs we need to understand how to balance a checkbook, understand numbers. why do we pick this and not other things? it starts a whole chain that i don't think will be productive. >> sure. understanding debt would be another thing. but not bad for you. so there are two different things. what's the harm most students can probably know more about pop culture than civics. would it be a bad thing for them to have to know a little bit about our nation and how it works? >> how do we know they're not doing that now? i understand what we're looking at, but we should spend more time studying that in class. that doesn't mean there needs to be a requirement. >> sam? >> obviously you can look at study after study that shows we're not doing a very good job of teaching that right now. as far as it goes, we are failing these kids. and every big problem we have in our society today, whether it is a criminal justice issue entitlement reform the long-term security of our social safety net, all these things can

be made better by students who understand where and how to engage themselves in that process. but also, we have gone out of our way with this to address some of the concerns brian just brought up. in fact, kids can take this test as many times as they need to pass it. they can take it from the first day they enter high school 'til the last day. we want this given in class as part of their regular curriculum. the last thing we want is this on the end of the year test. >> really it's about absorbing the -- absorbing the knowledge. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> let us know what you think about that. we'll read your e-mails, tweets and facebook post coming up. now this, more on our top story about that missing air asia plane. our next guest says a thunderstorm has never caused a jet liner to break up in modern aviation history. so what could have caused the plane to go down? an aviation engineer is with us live to break it down for you.

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go to philips.com/new to save up to $40. innovation and you. philips norelco. welcome back. fox news alert. brand-new this morning officials believe the missing air asia flight is at the bottom of the ocean. >> that's right. families holding on to hope as an australian crew reported they spotted floating objects and oil slick 700 miles from where the doomed plane fell off of radar. but right now they cannot confirm definitely those objects came from the plane. >> we're also learning that the pilot asked the air traffic controllers to climb above the bad weather. but was denied. minutes later, the plane lost

all contact. >> the air search has been suspended for today. but ships continue to search the water. here with more on what the weather looked like when it went missing is our own maria molina. good morning. >> good morning. hi. hello, everyone at home. we are looking at the weather conditions that were in place early sunday morning across parts of the java sea and indonesia because we had a lot of extreme weather, severe thunderstorms in that region and they had very high tops. we've seen some reports that some of the thunderstorms in the area where the plane went missing were as high as 44,000 feet. that's very high up. it is known that thunderstorms in general could climb higher than that. you're looking at very cold temperatures surrounding that part of the thunderstorm when they're that high up. otherwise this is a rainy season. the month of december and january do typically see a lot of activity out there. take a look at other conditions. a loft lightning with these storms and also a lot of turbulence. with these storms you typically see strong winds both

horizontally and vertical. so that's what creates that turbulence that's so extreme with these storms. here is a look at the satellite imagery. you can see a lot of cloud cover, a lot of storms out there. one storm in particular that was very near the plane happened to go up and collapse very quickly. so that will be something else that meteorologists will have to consider. otherwise taking a look at the forecast more showers and thunderstorm activity. it shouldn't be as bad as what we saw early on sunday morning, but any activity or precipitation could hinder any search and possibly rescue efforts. let's head over to you. >> thanks so much. let's bring in mechanical engineering professor at the university of north dakota and author of the book "beyond the black box." george bible. nice to see you. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> what do you make of this news about the weather 44,000 feet for a cloud ceiling, as maria molina reporting on all of this and the plane only able to go

42,000 feet? if indications prove true that he may have been trying to climb anyway, why would he have done that? >> well, first of all, you do not climb above a thunderstorm. they're too high. planes routinely change altitude going up or down seeking calmer less turbulent weather. it has nothing to do with flight safety. it's merely for passenger comfort. and this whole issue about thunderstorms, i'm not sure this is exactly right. a thunderstorm is very dangerous. if a plane wanders into a thunderstorm at 40,000 feet, it can destroy the plane. it can break it up at altitude. but this has never happened in the modern jet air. it's small plane problem. small planes wander into thunderstorms because they don't have radar and they have inexperienced pilots that get lost. >> what about the possibility of a stall? can you explain that theory? >> well, what does happen is the

plane gets tossed around out of position with the weather and again, this is really routine. the pilots know how to respond happens all the time. but if something else happens, like in the case of air france 447 and the tubes freeze then -- and pilots know what to do about frozen pito tubes. that actually happened four times, only once did it destroy the plane. one out of 14 isn't good enough for light and death situations. but -- >> let me interrupt you for a minute. so is it a training issue? is it an act of god? obviously we're speculating at this point and the black box hopefully we'll find it. do we need to talk about training pilots to react to these type of adverse conditions or where do you think we can go from here? >> well that, is an interesting question in the sense there are better training methods.

it's in the pipeline. currently the simulator just simulates impending stall. in other words, the plane is about to stall, but they don't really fly deeper into a full stall. the simulators don't have the capacity to do that. now, if the plane accidentally wanders closer to a full stall, the pilots know what to do. unfortunately, they never get a chance to practice that. the current simulators are calibrated based on test data. they do fly planes into stall for test purposes. but it's very limited. so what they're talking about doing in the next few years is getting a lot more test data and having the simulators fly deeper into a stall to give the pilots practice on how to respond. >> sure. especially after this. depend, our hearts are with the

families, this devastating missing flight now. professor, we want to thank you for your assessment at this time and joining "fox & friends" this morning. >> thank you. >> you got it. >> let's get it over to cheryl casone who is watching all the other news making headlines. >> good morning. let's head to asia because we're just finding out turns out that crippling cyber attack against sony may not have been the work of the north koreans after all. a seattle-based security firm claims it was most likely russians waging digital war against the movie studio. they analyzed writing samples from the hacker group and found the majority of phrasing match the russian language. he is the most decorated sniper in military history. but now the american sniper is being compared to the dc sniper, the man who terrorized the community and killed ten innocent people. max blumenthal is a liberal writer and former clinton aide and wet tweeted malvo, another

mass murdering sniper would not be glorified on prime time. the sickening comparison was made as american sniper about chris kyle hit theaters this weekend. blumenthal didn't even see the movie. a surfer lucky to be alive surviving a shark attack off the coast of central california. a great white shark pulling the man under, biting him on the hip and also bit the board. the surfer managed to use the cord from his surf board to make a tourniquet. two doctors happened to be on the beach and helped him until paramedics arrived. and an old-fashioned grandmother not happy to receive an iphone on christmas morning, but her family had a bigger surprise. >> open it. >> really, not equipped to handle this. >> take a bite out of your phone. >> oh, thank god!

>> okay. the grateful grandma happy to stick with her land line, which is good because that new iphone was made out of chocolate, which she probably liked. >> that looks like a 1990s football. >> i was like, great new iphone. >> they loved her enough to know that's what she really wanted. that's quite sweet. thank you. coming up, so long to the united states military? will private armies fight our future wars? a man who has been on the front lines as an army paratrooper and a private contractor says yes and he'll join us live coming up. next, you're not in disney. a new theme park just opened in orlando for kids as young as 13 years old can shoot real guns. first, your trivia question of the day. born on this day in 1936, this actress starred in a show bearing her name. be the first to join us with the

correct -- the first to e-mail us with the correct answer. ♪ ♪

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to learn more or support the cause, go to huntsmancancer.org. ♪ ♪ 44 minutes past the hour. two quick headlines for you. a grand ole opry icon rushed to the hospital. ♪ ♪ >> music hall of famer jimmy dickens in critical care. 94-year-old was admitted on christmas with an undisclosed illness. his wife requesting prayers from his friends and fans. all over the world. former president george h.w. bush spending his sunday relaxing in the hospital, watching some football. bush 41 cheering on the houston texans as he continues to prove. a spokesman saying doctors are discussing possible discharge dates. he was hospitalized on tuesday after experiencing shortness of

breath. we wish him a speedy recovery. senator? after more than 13 years the u.s. officially marking the end of combat operations in afghanistan with a ceremony in kabul. this morning questions over whether our next major conflict could look totally different. at the start of this year, there will be nearly 30,000 more private contractors in afghanistan and iraq than the u.s. military. so what does this trend mean? let's ask former paratrooper, sean. he's also the author of "the moder modern mercenary." good morning. good to see you. let me ask you a question, what do you think the drawbacks will be to going to a so-called mercenary or contracted army versus increasing our military forces you can getting better, well-trained army personnel in those conflicts?

>> there will be many drawbacks. first of all, the u.s. military itself generally does not like working with contractors. they're considered lower grade soldiers, even though many are ex soldiers. and probably a lot of americans don't like the idea of outsourcing warfare. this is not how states should fight wars. so that's some of the disadvantages. >> you have some financial benefits potentially for having private contractors, when the conflict or battle is over, basically contract is done, versus keeping our military in peacetime. it obviously costs a tremendous amount of money. however, my question to you and many others who are considering this is how do you deal with the ucmj issues? how do you deal with the status of forces agreements? are they part of it? for example what, if somebody does something as we've had in the past in another country, what are their rights and privileges and protections and ha are the drawbacks? >> well, it's amazing after over a decade of war, we still don't have good regulation or any

regulation on this industry, an industry that can outsource violence. typically if a contractor does something overseas like kills a civilian in iraq they get aisle or window on the way home. >> that's actually not quite true. if they're attached to the military, they fall under the ucnj. do you think in the fewer we'll be fighting our wars with private contractors versus using our military and the trained forces that we provide? >> we're going to -- we're seeing a trend towards that. world war ii contractors made up only 10% of military forces in overseas combat zones. in iraq, it was 50%. one to one ratio between contractor and soldiers. in afghanistan, it was even higher. so trend lines seem to indicate that increasingly we'll see more contractors on the battlefield. >> on one hand you have cornses who say listen, we're not going to call on the military every time we've problem. we're going to try to protect our personal interests. they will hire contractors.

on the other side, you have private corporations hiring people to fight their battles and at what point do they cross that line and say oh, my goodness, we have to bring in now the u.s. military. so it's going to be an interesting question for future leaders. >> that's exactly right. the question is reall other nonstates use this industry multi national corporations, but even regimes in other countries use this industry? and can that create more war? and can that suck the u.s. into wars overseas? >> all great questions. we appreciate you being with us. >> thank you. next, you're not in disney world anymore. a new theme park just opened in orlando where kids as young as 13 years old can shoot and get this, real guns. first, on this date in 1845 texas becomes the 28th state. 1937, the irish free state is replaced by a new state called ireland. and in 1975, the bay city rollers had the number within song in america with "saturday

night." ♪ ♪ you're here to buy a car. what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. truecar has pricing data on every make and model so all you have to do is search for the car you want there it is. now you're an expert in less than a minute. this is truecar. [coughing] dave, i'm sorry to interrupt...

i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil. the nighttime, sniffling sneezing, coughing aching, fever, best sleep with a cold medicine.

welcome back. the answer to today's trivia question is mary tyler moore. our winner is art gould from georgia. you'll get a copy of brian kilmeade's book "george washington's secret six." congratulations. move over, disney world. machine gun america is the new theme park in orlando, florida where kids as young as 13 years old shoot guns, including ak 47s. joining us is safety director of the park. thanks for being with us today.

>> good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> let me ask you a question, when people are wrestling with the safety concerns obviously by also having a wonderful experience fighting a battle and using a firearm that was used in the old westerns or something that was used in the hey day of al capone how do you stimulate that feeling of having a good exhilarating time, balancing that with the safety concerns? i know people if they don't want to participate just don't go. so they don't have to obviously go and support these situations. but how do you balance that safety concern with having a good time? >> basically it's just the implementation of the policies and the rules that we have in effect that are really behind the scenes. the facility is a very accommodating facility. we want people to be there and relax and have a good time. but we also want to keep our safety as the paramount issue.

>> how does it go with a 13-year-old? they come in, who is with them? for how long? what are they able to do? >> that's the good question because it keeps coming back to just the 13-year-old. it's got to be with a parent or with a legal guardian and it has to be with their authority and they're with them as well as one of our range safety officers 100% of the time. >> and are they shooting the same guns that an adult would be shooting? >> that really all depends. everything is done at the discretion of the range safety officer. the idea is steer an individual to a firearm or a caliber or an experience that is probably more conducive to them their size, their experience level and not try to scare anybody and not try to have them have a bad experience while they're will. >> so you have a situation where you have lanes where you can actually have simulated fire through lasers and you have live fire lanes. is that correct? >> absolutely. we've got the state of the art simulators that are used around

the country in a multitude of law enforcement agencies. only the scenarios that are playing out are a little more fantasy based. there is a zombie apocalypse, an old western shoot scout. >> something for everybody there. it's interesting because for as much critique as come down the pipe with this place that you can go with your kids shoot a gun, families have been showing up together. is that right? >> since it opened on the 20th, it has been droves of fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandson, mothers and daughters. in fact, our highest population coming in the door are females. we're at 40% of the customers right now are women coming to shoot. >> are they doing live fire or simulated fire? where are they spending a lot of their time? >> they're want to go do live fire. they're wanting to experience everything. >> that's what i would do. >> i love to try. good luck. hopefully pays the bills and have support and be safe up there. >> thank you for joining us

today. >> thank you. >> let us know what you think about that on e fail, facebook and twitter. this coming up, more on our top story, the desperate search for that missing air asia plane continues. how did another plane just vanish into thin air? and from homeless kids to country star jimmy lane has seen it all. his amazing story and a special surprise you have to see and hear. >> you're right about that. ♪ ♪

hey! guess what day it is?? >>hump day! hummmp daaay! it's hump day! >>yeah! >>hey mike! mike mike mike mike mike! >>mike mike mike mike mike. hey! he knows! hey! guess what day it is! hey! camel! guess what day it is! >>it's not even wednesday. let it go, phil. if you're a camel, you put up with this all the time. it's what you do. (sigh) if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. ok... good morning. it is monday, december 29. i'm elisabeth hasselbeck. a fox news alert. happening right now the desperate search for that missing air asia flight continues. floating objects and oil spotted in the sea as rescuers pray for a miracle. plus, new details about the

pilot and what happened right before that plane vanished right off the radar. and saved at sea. dramatic video just in shows passengers being air lifted from the ferry that caught fire in the middle of the ocean. more on that story. senator? >> and all she wanted was a frozen princess doll for christmas. and that's exactly what she got. a doll frozen in ice. literally. thanks dad. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> hey there, this is kellie pickler. you're watching "fox & friends". >> thank you, that's right. >> i love her voice. we have somebody special with us. not just you clayton you're special, too. >> it's senator scott brown. nice to see you this morning. >> nice to see you. >> you know about the politician, he's co-hosting with us on the curvy couch all morning. >> there he is rocking out. senator, earlier this morning you don't drink coffee, you said. i'm sticking with juice. i'm not going to make it through the show. >> you were nice to get me a

juice box. thank you. i'm moving on up. >> we challenged him to see how long he could go without asking for coffee while doing this morning program. >> we have an hour left. i think i can do it. >> thank you. we're going to get back to that fox news alert. a massive search underway for a missing air asia plane packed with passengers. overnight, a mysterious object and oil slick spotted in the pacific. >> that's right. we're going to get to david piper who is live in thailand with brand new information. david, thanks for being with us. what can you tell us right now? >> reporter: good morning to you all. we understand that indonesian officials have been testing this oil slick, what's found in the search area earlier today. no information yet as to whether it -- also the search is continuing through the night with many nations out there on those rough seas. but the air-sea search has been suspended, i understand

until -- indonesia officials say australian planes -- >> david piper live for us there and they're in the middle of monsoon season. so having some issues right now with that satellite transmission there. we'll get back to david when we can. >> what he noted was that the samples of the oil that they're going to be collected analyzed to see if they're collected to the missing plane. so far indonesia advising that some officials are saying that there is insufficient evidence thus far to link those objects and that oil to the search plane. >> i wonder, apparently the military offered to help and they're saying, not yet. at what point? i would think they would want to get involved like right now. >> that's what i was going to ask you. with experience on the floor of the senate, what would you do or would the administration have to do, how much autonomy the united states reaches out and says hey, we really need to be there. there is americans on board. >> how frustrating as someone who served for 35 years in the national guard, you're one of those who would be out there willing to do the good work to try and help as much as you can.

how frustrating is it to hear no, we don't need you right now? >> we're a country of good. we help people. we're the most philanthropic people in the world. obviously there must be a great sense of frustration. i'm not sure why they don't want the military. i would think all eyes, all assets on the ground, in the air, on the sea immediately. >> yeah. understanding more information about just what unfolded before they lost communication with this aircraft. lieutenant general tom mcinerny was on the show earlier because we talked about what a pilot must do when they've asked for the ability to go higher. he wanted to increase his altitude to avoid this thunderstorm that was unfolding in front of them. >> request was denied. >> it was denied. what must the pilot do? this is what the general said. >> those particular circumstances, the pilot must do whatever he thinks to make the aircraft and the passengers safer. if he felt that going into that thunderstorm at that particular

altitude and he needed to go from 320 up to flight level 380, then he should have done that. he should have told that to the air traffic control center that he was doing that. he could have turned off a certain heading. but he's got to do whatever he thinks for the safety of the aircraft and the passengers. >> so the one of the questions this morning, what does this aircraft look like? what can it do and handle? the air bus going up. it's one of the most popular planes that airbus makes. there is over 3600 of them in operation. it's one of those single aisle planes. it's different than what we saw last year with the malaysian flight 370 that had double aisle, very large aircraft. >> it's the work horse of the aviation industry. >> which is why it's used so much. the same plane has been one that actually -- sully landed safely on the hudson river in january of 2009. we actually went to a former pilot aviation consultant who said that the plane is actually designed with its systems to be

pilot proof. take a listen. >> engineers determined the fact that 75% of the actions are caused by pilots or contributory. so they decided that the skill levels with the amount of pilots you need for the amount of aircraft may not be available of the so they decided to put an aircraft that was essentially pilot proof. let's say you wanted to execute a 40-degree angle of bank. the aircraft would not allow them to do that because the aircraft computers have determined that the pilot is putting the aircraft at risk. if you were in a boeing fly by wire, you could crank that over to 50, 60 degrees. >> if you're just joining us, we learned the cloud ceiling on this thunderstorm 44,000 feet. that aircraft only designed to go as high as 42,000 feet. so there would have been no reason for him to try to go above this thunderstorm. there are questions this morning as to whether or not this aircraft stalled. there are reports that they may have been going too slow according to radar reports 100

knots too slow, which could have stalled the aircraft. >> the last communication from the cockpit to air traffic control was at that point of question moving that airbus from 32,000 to 38,000, which was denied. we will keep you posted with all of the latest happenings as they're continuing to search and evaluate that oil slick. >> lot of speculation, lot of concern for the families. praying obviously. doesn't look good. >> no, they're holding out hope and our hearts are with them. we turn to cheryl casone with is morning. >> good morning. we're also watching some news coming out of california. a massive manhunt underway right now in los angeles after two police officers were shot at while driving in their cruiser. a rifle was picked up at the scene. so far one person is in custody. a second is on the loose. none of the officers were hurt. and we have just learned that the funeral for officer liu, the second cop executed on december 20 will be held this

sunday in brooklyn. in a few hours, new york city mayor de blasio will speak at the nypd graduation ceremony. this coming after tensions boiled over at the funeral of officer ramos where hundreds of officers turned their backs on the mayor as he spoke. police commissioner bill bratton acknowledging the major rift isn't over. >> funeral was held on officer ramos and to bring politics, to bring issues into that event i think was very inappropriate. i do not support it. i think it's probably a rift that is going to go on for a while longer. >> and even after the two nypd murders, antipolice protests continue across the country over christmas weekend. that's sickening parody christmas carol being sung by protesters in portland, oregon, as they march through the

streets. and we're getting another fox news alert right now. rescuers off the coast of greece are battling stormy seas and darkness as they struggle to rescue 100 people still stuck on a ferry boat that caught fire. video just in shows passengers being air lifted to safety. teams have been working to get to them for more than 24 hours. we learned five people have died. dramatic cell phone video shows passengers wearing life vests while flames burn nearby. we want to leave you with this. not cool, dad. a young federal extremely disappointed on christmas morning when she got a frozen doll. >> that's not what you wanted? >> daddy no! >> why? what's wrong. it's a frozen doll. look at it. it's a frozen doll. it's frozen. >> okay. instead of the disney character she was expecting, her father wrapped up a doll. covered it in a lock of ice.

thanks, dad. the video ends before we see how upset she got. but i'm sure dad hopes one day she'll let it go. >> i don't think she'll let it go any time soon. >> blackmail. >> he's going to pay. >> yeah. >> spoken like someone who knows daughters quite well. >> oh, yeah. >> scott brown. >> and they remember forever and ever and ever. >> did you ever try something like that? >> i'm a guy who said his daughters were available on national tv and i paid for that. obviously they're married now. so they don't want to hear that again. >> i remember actually that home of the we have a photo right here. you had a big year. you had a couple weddings. this is a photo right there. >> that's them again with gail and me and their husbands. jimmy and keith. >> it's interesting, you play the guitar. but i actually thought that you taught her how to play. but she played first and you learned why? >> she played basketball. we would break into gyms just to play hoop and when they lose

that opportunity to go visit playing basketball and watching them play, i wanted something to try to reconnect and bond. so i taught myself how to play guitar, took some lessons and now kind of teaching ayla and i say let's worken this song. >> a highlight for you, playing with cheap trig on stage. how did this happen? >> i did a lot of work on music pirating and copyright issues. he and musicians came in. it's a real issue, how musicians aren't getting paid properly. they're getting ripped off. >> millions of plays on pandora and they get like a penny per song. >> i want to circle back. a penny for your thoughts on raising girls. you have a very specific philosophy on what's worked for you and your family. >> we treated them like boys. when they fell you get up. you're fine. ayla was the captain of the boys football team for years. as a result, got a full ride to boston college. committed at 15 years old to

play hoop there. a lot of fun. ariana does horseback. we kept them busy, busy. no times for boys. remember, boys are bad. >> smart move. i'm taking notes. i have a two-year-old girl. keep them busy and they won't pay attention to boys. >> congratulations on all of your new family members. >> yeah. >> thanks for being with us. coming up here on the show more on our top story. the search for the missing air asia plane continues. what technology are these airlines using to track their aircraft from takeoff to land? we'll talk to an aviation expert and pilot negative. and a terrifying new discovery, hackers can steal your fingerprints by looking at your photo online. you think it can't happen? it already has [thinking] there i was. another holiday...

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do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips tongue or throat or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. a fox news alert. objects spotted in the search for missing air asia flight 8501 this morning and now officials believe it's at the bottom of the sea. a brand-new map right here of the search area that crews are currently looking at. >> the mystery putting the tracking systems of commercial airlines under scrutiny.

is there a stapped technology used in the united states that differs from what's being used in other countries? let's ask aviation attorney and pilot, always great to see you. welcome. >> good to be back. >> let's talk about this technology onboard this aircraft. what facts are we able to pull from what the air traffic control, able to monitor this aircraft from takeoff right now, what do we know? >> we know they had pretty much radar contact throughout the entire flight. so they knew exactly when the aircraft left the radar screen. that give us a nice small foot print. >> what sort of information is pinging back, letting us know changes, because if we were relying on the pilot to get on and talk to air traffic control. >> there was no final distress call. >> right. so it's really the plane telling us this information. >> well, sometimes it is. but it's the radar blip. it's the transponder that's giving information back to the air traffic controllers. it will tell the direction of the aircraft, it will tell the altitude of the aircraft.

in this case, he was asking for higher altitude. why? we don't know. that's big question. >> he was asking for 38,000. >> the assumption is that he was trying to outclimb a thunderstorm. most pilots know you're not going to outclimb a thunderstorm. >> in terms of tracking, how does it differ in what our capacity is in the united states versus what we're seeing here in other nations? >> certainly on the mainland of the united states, we have radar almost everywhere. believe it nor not, there are some gaps even within the continental united states. but when you get over to the oceans, when you get over waters to malaysia and 370 disappeared we had giant gaps in radar coverage there. so you can't rely on radar alone. there has to be other systems and that's where the first malaysian plane -- >> does it strike you as odd in the delay of asking the united states military to get in there and assist? >> yeah. you know what? i would want all hands on deck the minute this thing happened. especially the people who know how to deal with this the besting issues which would be

our country. >> we've been hearing stories this morning about the pilot almost having to fight with the systems on the wire inside the aircraft and if you have to plug in information to deviate from a flight path, that the system may fight you back. you're almost fighting with the controls. what do you make of that and would that have been the situation in this flight? >> you're asking a pilot. the pilot wants to have control of the aircraft all of the time. and so the airbus mode is to have a fly by wire system where the aircraft tries to save from you yourself. but the reality is most pilots are so well trained are so into what they're doing that they are the best line of defense of any of these kind of problems. >> that system was put into these planes because 75% of the errors were marked as pilot errors. so they said this is going to override what we -- see as a general mistake. >> 75% of the errors are what people want to say are pilot errors. very often it's a prenight error. very often it's something else that eventually gets blamed on a

pilot. >> was this a preflight error? we know it was a short flight and if there are this type of thunderstorms in your flight path, should they have flown at all? >> if you had radar working on board and you could pick yourself through these kind of thunderstorms, pilot december it all the time, as long as you maintain a 20-mile radius. what we know about these particular types of storms, they're very fast moving,s have developing. they could have developed enroute to the area that he was in. they very quickly dissipate as well. so the picture you're seeing at takeoff is not going to be the picture you're going to see down the line. >> great insight. thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. now this coming up pakistan is furious at the tv showhomeland" for portraying them as bad guys. >> and jimmy wayne went from homeless to a nashville star. ♪

♪ >> scott brown shares his journey from food stamps to the senate and they're both here to tell us their stories and maybe play a tune together. dueling banjos

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welcome back. a quick look at your headlines. airlines responding to the latest al-qaeda threat as the terror group is calling for lone wolf attacks on passenger jets. so far only british airways and easy jets responded. they are working with governments around the world. the other airlines not commenting. in a shocking new report, there is all that is needed to

steal your fingerprint is a photo. a security expert was able to recreate the fingerprint of germany's minister of defense just by taking a few photos of her and plugging them in to a piece of software. fascinating. elisabeth. >> our next guest, jimmy wayne went from homeless to finding fame in nashville. ♪ ♪ >> jimmy wayne is now opening up about his journey in the book "walk to beautiful, the power of love and a homeless kid who found the way." he joins us now. thanks for being thanks for having me. >> your book is powerful. i'm sure it was a powerful journey to write but also for those who have gone through the foster system and know that journey too well. why did you want to write it? >> well, i wanted to take the next step in my journey of raising awareness for these children who have grown up in

foster care and primarily aging out at 18 years young. in 2010 i walked halfway across america to raise awareness. writing a book made perfect sense. i co-wrote it with 15 "new york times" best selling author ken abraham, master writer. >> it's interesting, we spoke offline, i can't imagine what it felt like to have your mom and your stepfather at that point drop you off at a bus stop no money, nothing. and how did you feel? how did you reconcile? are you reconciled now with your mom? there are so many questions just read being it. >> i grew up in the system, in and out of the system. couch surfing, sleeping at friend's house, strangers' house and ended up homeless when i was 13. my mom married a guy when she -- she had just gotten out of prison. married a guy and he committed a crime, took me and my mom with him on this long run from the law and sleeping at rest areas and eventually pulled into a parking lot in the middle of the night in florida, made me get

out of the car and they drove off. >> it's interesting, i can certainly relate mom and dad have been divorced and married four times each. mom on welfare. a lot of violence. you were telling me that, a lot of violence in your family t. a blessing in disguise that your mom actually said okay, we're done. so you didn't get caught up into that? >> absolutely. and my story pales in the light of the majority of these kids that are growing up in the system now, in and out of the system. it's just i've been given this opportunity, this platform to share my story. >> i think what's interesting to the story is resilience and strong character really tribulation. you have to have someone come in at some point with opportunity and rescue, your foster mom. >> absolutely. 16 years old living outside again and was looking for an odd job. and i saw a doorway open on a wood shop. there was an elderly man standing this cutting wood and i asked him if he had a job i could have and do and he said you need to ask the boss. and he pointed toward his wife.

75-year-old woman allowed me to cut their grass and eventually move into their home and that saved my life. >> i know that obvious leer they're not with -- obviously not with us anymore and you've gone from struggling to being a well-known country singer. i've listened to your stuff. you have an amazing voice and a wonderful story. >> toured with brad paisley. success story for sure. >> none of that would be possible had it not been for this family. we talk about the man who took me in, gave me a chance to go to school college gave me a chance to pursue my dream. played at madison square garden. >> mirror we g. my daughter and wife are freaking out. my wife says i should play songs in this century f this century. i've gotten up to the '70s and '80s. >> i'm going to try. ♪ ♪

>> "dream police." >> yes. >> is that right? >> i didn't even get started on any solo. is that it? ♪ ♪ ♪ he is good. >> enough of me. one of my favorite songs, hall and oates, "sarah smile." please, we'd be honored. love to you play that song. ♪ baby hey, the woman's eye ♪ ♪ i can feel you watching in the night ♪ ♪ all alone with me, oh waiting

for the sunlight ♪ ♪ when i feel cold, you warm me ♪ ♪ feel i can't go on you come and hold me ♪ ♪ it's you and me forever ♪ ♪ . >> unbelievable. >> that is great. >> what a gorgeous voice. >> just made our day. >> we're going to take a lesson after. coming up, officials now say that the missing plane is at the bottom of the sea. with rough weather in the area, what are the odds of finding that plane at all? >> clayton? >> follow that local and oat -- hall and oats. gq says democrats were hard to find for its list of 2014's craziest politicians. all they came up with these three.

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welcome back. fox news alert. officials believe the missing air asia flight is at the bottom of the java sea. this shows the new search area. >> that's right. we could have more answers coming your way soon. authorities now testing oil and objects spotted just 700 miles from where the plane fell off of radar. >> we're also learning the pilot asked air traffic controllers for permission to change altitude and course because of bad weather. he was denied. minutes later the plane lost all contact. >> so here with more on what the weather looked like when the plane we want down and went miss

something maria molina. we understand it's monsoon season right now. so what does that look like? >> december, january very wet periods across that part of the world. and so we really typically do see a lot of showers, a lot of thunderstorms. very strong thunderstorms at that across that part of the world. so that in itself isn't really unusual. this particular thunderstorm they're estimate had a height of 47,000 feet. there are storms that go taller, exceeding 50,000 feet. so again, just a lot of rough weather. that's not too unusual for this part of the world. there really could have been a very bad situation where the plane was located and what that storm particularly did. a lot of lightning with it, a lot of strong winds going up, updraft with storms, and horizontal strong winds and even if the pilot tried to go around the storm system, we could have been looking at some turbulence surrounding that storm. that's something else to keep in mind. here is a look at the satellite image. early on sunday morning, you can see a lot of showers and thunderstorm activity, a lot of cloud cover.

over the last six hours, we have seen a decrease in activity. so that, good news. we want quiet weather. this is a stormy time period in that part of the world. >> they're shifting in the air and at sea as they look for possible wreckage that could affect everything. maria molina, thank you for that detail. we turn to cheryl casone with the very latest for you this morning. >> good morning. we're following headlines out of los angeles. an illegal street race shutting down a major highway in los angeles. the event organized on social media by a group calling for a quote, takeover. several high-speed chases began as soon as police arrived on scene. dozens were arrested. but police are still looking for many others who took off. turns out the christmas cyber attack against sony may not have been the work of the north koreans after all. the security firm claims it was

most likely the russians waging digital war against the movie studio. they analyzed writing samples from the group and found the majority of phrasing matches the russian language. and pakistan is furious about the hit tv show "homeland requesting," saying it portrays the country in an ugly light plagued with terror. but is the show more than just fiction? former c.i.a. commander spent time in pakistan and here is what he told us earlier. >> they're offended by these statements on u.s. television but the truth is, pakinstani political parties have courted the extreme elements in their society and it's caused a lot of death in their own society and death to us and they have olive with death. >> pakistan says it got no reply after complaining to the show's creators. those are your headlines. the show is pretty good. >> i'm still catching up. >> spoiler alert. >> so good. >> you'll have to watch.

thanks. this is a gq put out a survey here and named the craziest politicians of 2014. they had difficulty, though, in naming them to be even hand. they listed 17 out of 20 were republicans. so the craziest politician, 17 out of 20 -- >> you guys are the crazy ones. yep. >> and they're going to be in charge of the senate in a couple of weeks. we'll see how crazy things get then. >> sheila jackson lee, hank johnson of georgia and vice president joe biden were the three democrats listed. i said earlier if they had said we're going to find the top politicians of 2014 and only named three women liberals would go wild saying this isn't balanced. oh no, boston herald columnist had something to say about it and she joined us earlier on "fox & friends" and gave us her suggestions to even out that

list. >> clearly, gq is engaging in some serious media bias. if they were bipartisan objective, this list would have been ten democrats, ten republicans. but when they're calling out 17 crazy republicans and only three democrats, i mean, this is teetering on propaganda. >> who else should have been on the list? >> she said gruber. >> absolutely. misled the american people. took money, has not been held accountable by m.i.t. i believe he should have been brought up in front of the ethics board at m.i.t. based on that activity. >> i'm surprised wendy davis, remember that horrible ad against her opponent, greg abbott? >> how about harry reid? >> how about elizabeth warren. >> we have a history, but you can't have sound bites all the time. you have to do work. massachusetts has a history of problem solvers from ed brook, me, senator kennedy senator kerry, can't just keep throwing bombs because we've already had six years by the presidential eight years of division,

divisiveness, name throwing bomb throwing, we need more. >> topping her list was hillary clinton for empathizing with the enemy. we asked you what you thought. gary said this, consider the source because they meaning gq, have no sense of right and wrong or unjust or reliability. >> gilda says, how about all of congress who stood on the steps and held up their hands saying don't shoot? >> interesting there. >> jeffrey on facebook, you have to be crazy to think you can change the world. so maybe being on the list isn't a bad thing at all. >> we love those thoughts. keep them coming. we love to read them. now this, coming up, breaking news, from the nfl one of the most outspoken coaches just axed. we'll bring that to you. and president obama's approval rating in a junior slump. that's not stopping the white house from comparing him to ronald reagan once again. what numbers are they looking at? larry sabato here to investigate. ♪ ♪

a fox news alert. breaking news from the nfl, one of the most outspoken coaches just axed. the jets letting rex ryan go. this year they were 4-12. ryan has been with the team for six years and lost more games than he won. so he's out. how about the other teams? the steelers locking up the afc north with a big win over the bengals 27-17. both teams make it to the playoffs there. in atlanta the panthers become the first team since 2010 to make the playoffs without a -- a losing record. and adam dalen proving he might have the perfect pair in his wife. she actually caught a ball that he threw out there.

can you believe that? all that fox news coming up, more for you ahead. a fox news alert as well. you have more to tell us about this missing plane. correct? >> yeah. look at your screen now because you can see the map where crews are searching for right now. objects spotted in that area floating on the water. this could be missing air asia flight 8501 this morning. an oil spill that they're looking at right now also spotted there. the plane believed to be at the bottom of the sea at this hour. brand-new map showing the search area. crews are looking in it right now, now that the weather is clearing a little bit there. so is the weather to blame for the plane's disappearance in the first place or could it be pilot error? our next guest is a pilot and says it might be both. joining us is former fighter pilot lieutenant colonel dan hampton. nice to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> let's talk about taking off. we know that the pilot -- there

was not a lot of communication between the pilot and air traffic control in the first 40 minutes. what must have been going through the pilot's mind as he approached and saw that thunderstorm approaching? we understand it was quickly moving. >> well, thunderstorms are a nasty situation. and let's get this straight, i'm still not convinced that's all there is to it but if we're assuming that that's the primary cause of this it's a pretty fair assumption, i guess at this point. and the pilot being a commercial airline pilot, is going to want to try to go from point a to point b on time and deliver people safely. so he's going to get a weather briefing. he's going to know everything to date anyway, as soon as they take off. air traffic control will inform him as they go if there is any problems any issues. it's still up to him ultimately to make the decision. so the whole issue about him changing course and asking to climb and all that, that's really nothing out of the ordinary. guys do that all the time to avoid weather.

so could weather be the problem? yeah. does anybody really know what happened at this point? no. the pilots are all commercial airline pilots military pilots are well-trained, ifr instrument qualified. so they can handle this. but ultimately it's going to be up to him to decide hey based on my experience and training, can i get around this deviate or do i need to turn around and go back? he didn't do that. >> i want to talk about the wreckage now, possible wreckage. we know during the malaysia airline crash were all kinds of false positives. oil slick that were not the case, all sorts of things floating in the ocean that turned out to have nothing -- shipping container, garbage floating there. why haven't they been able to find anything on this one? it seems he followed the flight path, whereas in malaysia flight, we didn't even know where he went. >> yeah. and there is things about this incident that are a lot -- will make it a lot easier in theory than the malaysia flight. it's a shallow area, more

confined. he was flying up the java sea. we had a pretty good idea of where he went down. what's a question is what you said, why haven't they found anything based on the last information that they had? why haven't the elt's, the emergency locator transmitters, been located? either they weren't activated or the indonesians know more than they're letting out or haven't been able to locate them. or the plane is not where they thought it was. >> still so many questions sort through this morning. >> yeah. and like you brought up, the sea is a big garbage can. there is lots of stuff floating out there. and oil slick are probably the first thing you find in an aircraft accident. but just because they found one does not mean it came from this aircraft. >> they're testing it at this hour. we'll update our viewers as we get in more information about this. david piper with the latest. we appreciate you joining us this morning. thanks as always. >> always a pleasure.

coming up here, president obama's approval rate not guilty a major slump. that's not stopping the white house from comparing him to ronald reagan. what numbers are they looking at? larry sabato here to investigate those numbers. ♪ ♪

recent poll shows president obama's approval rating inching upward. current lie at 48%. the approval rating ties president reagan's at the same point in his presidency, the six-year mark. is this a real trend or just some holiday cheer for the commander in chief? larry, it's good to see you. director of center for politics

at the university of virginia. larry sabato. is this a false premise, should be thrown out the window? is this the obama presidential machine, pr machine going to work? what's your take on this? >> yeah, it's cherry picking polls. it's an old game. both sides play it. you take a look at the two dozen most recent polls and you pick the couple that come closest to saying what you want them to say. that's exactly what they've done here. let me tell you the way it should be done. i think most people know this about polling. you go to the real clear politics site and you do an average of all the polls taken say in the last month. there are a couple dozen of them. it shows one you average out those couple dozen poll, president obama has a 52% disapproval rating of 42% approval rating. that's minus 10%. that's much more reliable than picking one or two polls that

have president obama well up, saying what the white house wants to have said. >> actually it's not a surprise if you look at what's happening right now. you had a year and a half of basically people throughout the country running on the president's policies. he said he and his policies were up for review during this last election. there was a resounding and overwhelming turn in the senate obviously and many house and senate races throughout the country and governorships and now you have a situation where ads have stopped. he still has the bully pulpit. actually in a couple weeks, you'll have the republicans have an opportunity to now get their message out. you think they will see a down tick when you have a competing message against the president right now? >> yeah, probably. look, the positive for obama right now is that you have a lot of favorable economic statistics being released. gas prices are dropping and so on. naturally that has an uplift for him. but he's going to run into a

massive roadblock starting next week when the republicans take control of both houses of congress for the first time in his presidency. and what you just suggest is absolutely true. there are polls and then there are elections. elections are always 1,000 times more important than all polls put together. the ultimate poll was held november 4 and that's when republicans took over the senate and added to their majority in the house. >> that's correct. >> that's the problem that president obama will have and it will make a difference in his popular iterating over the next two years. >> you take into consideration his overuse i think and many others think of his executive authority, the memos he's putting out on immigration, what he's done with cuba. there will be a check and balance ask that starts in the house and senate with the purse strings. i want to thank you very much. coming up, we hope you had a very, very merry christmas. we certainly did.

can't you tell? check out elisabeth with those reindeer ears. time to take them off now. that's a nice one. you got to get rid of that one. ♪ ♪ . .

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me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. before we go, we have one for the road. christmas time, how did you spend it? >> i spent it with my daughter atth coo with her new husband and his family. it was a crowded house, a lot of fun. that's her and our baby yorkie. there is the family. my cousins. a lot of fun. >> adorable. now you get to split your time between your girls. >> everyone knows those challenges. the initiative is there to get together. we'll see if it happens next year. >> what about you? >> we were just hanging around playing ring toss.

that's the kids decorating the tree. i never want to forget that moment right there. that's how it started and went downhill when i put on the inflatable antlers. we played ring toss on them. stays it all. >> awful lot of special beverages to get our family to play that. >> i'm not denying that at all. >> you can mock me all you want. this is the first time i've ever seen "home alone." i watched it for the first time with my kids. they loved it. there is like five of them now. >> give us another one. go ahead. >> then my son his favorite gift was a bow and arrow. he's firing arrows all overt place. >> that's so cool. i want to learn how to do that too. >> how it your christmas go? >> we went to midnight mass and hung out with my fiance. that was really nice. called mom and dad in florida. how about you? >> i was in arizona with the family and it was beautiful gorgeous sunny weather. now i'm back here. >> tomorrow on the show cheryl

will have your top jobs of 2015 and four new dog breeds are being recognized by the american kennel club. >> captain heat hegseth will be here. >> fox news alert now. a search for a missing passenger jet on hold after crews spot suspicious objects floating into the sea. they're talking about debris and oil slick. airasia flight 8501 disappeared on sunday. i'm trace gallagher in for bill hemmer for "america's newsroom." tracy: trace so great to have you here. i'm leah gabriel. it vanished dropping off the radar and disappeared over the java sea after the pilot requested to fly