weather tomorrow for sure. >> spring has sprung. >> early. >> thanks for joining us. nightly news is next. on our broadcast tonight, the mystery of flight 370. after three days and several false alarms, the expanding search for the plane over water and now land. and what we're learning about the passengers on board carrying stolen passports. without a trace. how is it possible for a jumbo jet to disappear with no sign it was in trouble or off course. it's all about technology, and there are limits. breaking his silence for the first time since that awful day in newtown, connecticut, the father of the gunman speaks out about his son and what he did. and ice age. how it took a winter this severe to bring these sailors out of hibernation and back to a sport we rarely get to see, that is not for the faint of heart. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. tonight people the world over are asking the same question, how is it possible that a jumbo jet has disappeared without a trace? tonight the search has expanded over a large area for a large aircraft, a boeing 777, among the safest ever made, this one with 239 souls on board. there were false alarms over the weekend, a fuel slick on the water, what looked like an aircraft door, but they did not pan out. and now because they have to chase down even the wildest possible theories, the search continues on sea and on land in case this aircraft went on flying even though it left no electronic trail behind. tonight the search is being conducted by 10 nations, 34 planes. 48 vessels have been deployed in this. we begin our coverage tonight among our correspondents and experts domestically and overseas with nbc's tom costello.

tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. the mere fact that they have not found any trace of this plane is raising the possibility that they have been looking there the wrong place. now with day break, the search zone is expanded to include the west coast of malaysia and the waters off indonesia. off the coast of malaysia, the search for flight 370 now has entered its fourth day. dozens of ships and helicopters and planes are running a grid-like searches in the waters between malaysia and vietnam. so far nothing. the debris spotted over the weekend turned out to be false leads. now the search is expected to get more difficult. commander william marks. >> it will make search conditions more challenging, but i can tell you our radars are very advanced and they can actually negate a lot of that surface clutter, but it does present a challenge for the big international effort. >> reporter: the last reported location for the boeing 777 was over the water halfway between malaysia and vietnam.

but with malaysian military radar suggesting the plane may have started to turn back, the search zone is expanding to include malaysia's mainland, and now the waters to the northwest. >> our aim to find aircraft will be intensified. that is very, very important. >> reporter: among the questions tonight, why would the plane not turn back, and why didn't the crew radio air traffic controllers? a former senior ntsb investigator says a sudden loss of cabin pressure could have incapacitated the crew and passengers within seconds while the plane continued flying. >> you really have to start looking at a trajectory path, at a speed and altitude that they were at, how far could this airplane go? well, of course it had seven and a half hours of fuel left. but you have to be realistic. you have to come up with at least a rated descent. >> reporter: if the plane went down on land, an emergency transmitter beacon should be sending the signals.

but if the plane went down in the sea, underwater pingers attached to the black boxes should be sending a homing signal. >> these devices are designed to activate in the water. once active, they produce a brief pulse once a second for 30 days at a depth of up to 20,000 feet. >> reporter: meanwhile, the fbi is helping to analyze the thumb prints of two individuals who were thought to have used stolen european passports to board the plane. nbc justice correspondent pete williams. >> authorities say an iranian businessman who used to live in thailand bought the tickets for the two men, but they say he wanted the cheapest fair possible, that he did not mention any specific flight. even though this man was from iran, u.s. officials say there is no indication so far this was terrorism. >> again, the malaysians believe this plane had seven hours of fuel or more on board when it disappeared. so it greatly expands where this plane might be. still no reports from my

eyewitnesses of a plane crash or debris. brian? >> tom costello covers aviation for us. starting us off from our d.c. newsroom, tom, thanks as always. and tonight, we're joined by greg fife, a veteran of these investigations. as a former senior air director with the ntsb, also happens to be a veteran pilot. greg, you're in the business of ruling nothing out. though if this were submitted as a hollywood script, it would be rejected for being too incredible. if we're looking for this over land, doesn't that mean that we're kind of theorizing it could have been a situation like the pro golfer payne stewart on board that small aircraft? they were overcome by something and the plane went on flying, although in this case, with no electronic trail. >> absolutely, brian. and you bring up a good point. with the fact that if this airplane had an explosive decompression and incapacitated the crew and the airplane was still capable of operating, the

airplane could continue on any number of tracks. because if it goes into the jungle it can be enveloped into the dense jungle and not be seen readily. >> we have a whole report on this later in the broadcast, but are you as frustrated by the limits of technology in this day and age as we civilians are? >> absolutely, brian, we have had this discussion over the years in the industry. now, there is new technology that is being incorporated into the airplanes all day adsb, or automated dependence surveillance broadcast. it is updated, gps but it is not mandated universally around the world right now. >> greg feith, formally of the ntsb. thank you very much for being with us again tonight. for the families of the missing on flight 370, as you can imagine, this has been an awful few days. imagine not having a shred of information about a family member on that flight.

nbc's keir simmons is at the airport in kuala lumpur from where flight 370 originated. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. those who had loved ones on flight 370 have been waiting at this airport for many days now, but not just here. many more have been waiting in beijing, the aircraft's final destination. for family members of those on the missing plane, no answers, no comfort. for some, the frustration was too much. water bottles thrown at airline officials in beijing. "malaysians are liars", one man shouted. others pleaded for calm. most aboard were chinese or malaysian, but there were passengers from a dozen other countries as well, including three from the united states. philip wood of texas works for ibm. his brother said on "today" he had just recently been home for a visit. >> it was a gift that we did get to see him a whole week and we

got to spend some quality time eating a dinner or two together. >> reporter: mai ling ching lived in pittsburgh. neighbors are heartbroken. >> i have been crying since i got the phone call. >> reporter: greg candelaria of houston was booked on the flight but canceled at the last minute. >> i consider it the absolute providence of god. by the grace of god i was not on that plane. >> reporter: hundreds of others were, and here in kuala lumpur, candles and prayers for the missing. but what people want most are answers. and at first light we plan to join one of those search and rescue aircraft over the ocean, looking for clues, brian, of exactly what happened. >> keir simmons in kuala lumpur, and again later in the broadcast a special look at the frustrations of technology here. now to what has been our top story here much of the last two weeks, the ongoing crisis in ukraine. there were shots fired at a

ukrainian naval post in the crimea region today. reports say an unidentified man fired into the air before taking over the base. it's the latest confrontation since russian military groups seized control of the peninsula. meanwhile, today nato announced it will start reconnaissance flights to the south and west, monitoring the ukrainian board were awacs aircraft. ukraine is not a nato member but russia's actions have alarmed countries that are part of the alliance and were once part of the soviet union. we turn now to syria, where the brutal civil war is about to enter its fourth year and where the devastating toll is being felt especially hard by the children caught up in the conflict. a new report out says over four million children need humanitarian assistance. more than one million have fled to neighboring countries. tonight as we kick off a series of reports on the forgotten children in this war in syria,

our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman has made her way to lebanon just across the border. she is at a hospital caring for the youngest of these victims. nancy, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this war has brought a decimation to the hospital structure in syria, and that's one more reason why many of the syrians are crossing into lebanon. i'm in a small, 32-bed hospital with 27 incubators which tells you this is now a pediatric crisis. mothers are not getting prenatal vitamins. they're coming in malnourished. they're having preterm deliveries and babies are very vulnerable. in the last days i have been here, i have seen more birth defects than i saw during my entire residency when i was in pediatrics. it is an astonishing health care crisis, that if we don't fix this soon as a global humanitarian crisis, i'm not so sure what the future of syria is going to be. right now, almost 18% of the people who cross the border are seen at the hospital and it is

bulging at the scenes. we're going to take you behind the scenes of this hospital and surrounding refugee camps, brian, for a first-time look with amazing access to highlight the forgotten of this war, syria's children. brian? >> dr. nancy snyderman who has made her way to lebanon. dr. snyderman, thank you. our series of reports starts tomorrow morning on "today" and across all the broadcasts and platforms of nbc news. in this country it has been 15 months since a gunman walked into sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut and started shooting in classrooms that were full of 6 and 7-year-olds before killing himself. tonight for the first time we are getting new insights into adam lanza from his father, peter, who spoke with journalist and author andrew solomon for an article in this week's "new yorker" magazine. we get our report from national correspondent kate snow. >> reporter: adam lanza killed

20 young children, 6 staff, himself and his mother. how does peter lanza live with that? >> it is incredibly difficult. he is full of sadness. he only wishes he could go back in time and change it or fix it. >> reporter: peter lanza sought out andrew solomon after reading his book "far from the tree" in which solomon wrote a chapter about the parents of children who commit unthinkable crimes. does he feel like he is to blame? >> he doesn't feel like he is to blame. he says even with all the information that has been put together since then, he doesn't see how he could have possibly seen it coming. >> reporter: solomon interviewed lanza over 25 hours, the father painting a picture of a little boy who loved hiking, calling him just a normal little weird kid. at 13 he was diagnosed with asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. his divorced parents worked for years to get him help. peter lanza now thinks the asperger diagnosis masked deeper issues.

lots of people have asperger's or autism and don't commit a horrific act. >> absolutely. and i think his parents failed to realize and perhaps the doctors failed to realize how much darkness and evil was brewing in him because they were distracted by the autism. >> reporter: as adam grew more withdrawn, his father says his ex-wife nancy lanza wanted everyone to think everything was okay. he didn't know she was communicating with him by e-mails, his windows covered in black plastic. i didn't understand that adam was drifting away, peter told andrew solomon. he continued to write adam birthday cards, but he last saw adam two years before the newtown shootings. he knew there were guns in the house but he wasn't concerned. >> he described teaching adam to drive. he said he was the most cautious person he ever met. it never occurred to his father he would break the rules. >> reporter: peter lanza wishes now he pushed harder to see his son. even if it had caused fights it could not be worse than what did happen. you can't get anymore evil,

lanza told solomon, adding he wished his son had never been born. >> do you think adam hated his parents? >> in the end, i think adam hated everyone. i mean, he killed his mother and his father said i know he would have shot me in a heart beat if he had the opportunity. he said the reason he shot nancy four times was once for each of us, once for nancy, once for ryan, once for me, and one for himself. >> reporter: peter lanza has met with two of the victims' families and has offered to meet them all. he told him he wants all parents to be afraid that it could happen to them. on our website we posted what he said are lessons for parents. >> maybe the most disturbing story in recent memory, kate snow, thanks for your reporting tonight. still ahead for us tonight, as the search intensifies for this missing jetliner, how it is with 2014 technology that it left without a trace.

we're back as promised with more on this disappearance of flight 370. and the question that has emerged from the start when we first learned about it friday night, how it is possible a wide body aircraft has disappeared without an electronic ping, without a locator beacon, without a trace of any sort. nbc's stephanie gosk on the limitations of our technology. >> reporter: the last known location of malaysia airlines flight 370 was over the china sea, after that it disappeared. but here is something many people don't realize. every flight crossing a large body of water disappears, at least for a little while throughout the journey. tom casey is an international pilot for american airlines. >> the only way in certain parts of the world where they can locate your position is by knowing where your last position was and what your next position was predicted to be. >> reporter: here is why. radar only tracks planes when they are over land, or at least within 120 miles of land. take a flight from new york on

its way to chicago. radar can pinpoint the plane's location at all times along the two and a half hour trip. seven different control towers track the flight. but when a flight takes off from new york to london, once it's beyond 120 miles offshore, the plane uses gps to determine its exact location, and then has to communicate those coordinates to controllers on the ground. for many routes around the world, the gap between communications can be as long as an hour. flight awareness tracks them all hours throughout the day. >> the reality, they're finding them with all sorts of technology and getting the data back to controllers is difficult. >> reporter: the technology does exist to track planes every second of every flight, but it's not an easy solution. >> it will require a lot more satellites and less expensive transmission of data on satellites, which isn't really on the horizon. it doesn't seem viable. >> reporter: so tonight what

happened to malaysia airlines flight 370 remains a mystery. does it make sense in 2014 that we are talking about this? >> no, it doesn't. it doesn't make sense. that's what has everybody scratching their heads. >> reporter: knowing where it went down is only part of the battle. they still have to figure out why. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. we'll take a break. we'll be back in a moment with the story of a man who actually got to drive a ford with the original henry ford.

some remembrances tonight, starting with william clayford, who died over the weekend. he was the last surviving grandchild of henry ford, and once famously steered a car while driving in his famous grandfather's lap. he was a yale grad, a navy veteran who married a member of the firestone family. while he owned the detroit lions, he never ran the company that bears his family's famous name. his older brother did instead. he was a company man, though, a major stockholder.

served on the board of ford motor for 57 years. william clay ford was 88 years old. and bill guarnere has died. the men who served with him in easy company at the 2nd battalion, 101st airborne during world war ii, knew him better as "wild bill." their exploits were popularized in the hbo series "band of brothers" in which he was played by the actor, frank john hughes, he lost his right leg rescuing a fellow soldier. he was awarded the silver star, two bronze stars and the purple heart. south philadelphia native "wild bill" guarnere was 90 years old. when we come back tonight, one upside to what has been a brutal winter for most. the need for speed on a frozen sheet of ice.

finally here tonight, it was in the 70s in the dakotas this weekend, only to fall 40-plus degrees with the next front, and the east coast could get at least one more snowstorm before this is all over. for those in the thick of it, it has been a miserable winter, from the great lakes to many major rivers, so much is still frozen over. but that in itself is rare good news for one exotic, beautiful,

and thrilling sport. tonight, nbc's katy tur reports on the ice boaters who are having a great season. >> reporter: on a cold march morning the frozen hudson river was transformed into a playground. >> unbelievable. >> awesome! >> it's a rush. >> reporter: that is when you can get it at all. it has been a decade since the ice was a foot thick and strong enough to hold the big boats on the hudson. nearly a century since the rocket sailed. built in 1988, the rocket was once the fastest thing on the planet. a body like a crossbow with 50-foot sails, all supported on three thin metal blades. such a marvel. thomas edison filmed it in 1905. what's it like to see it do this? >> oh, this is fantastic, especially when you work on it so hard. >> reporter: in the basement of new jersey's ice boat and yacht club, bob pulch led years of restoration, piecing the craft back together. and with the crack of the

champagne bottle, it was off. >> there we go! >> reporter: you hit the right winds out here, you can go 30 to 40 miles per hour. and if you're lucky on a turn, the breeze will pick up and you'll go up on one side. conditions don't have to be just right, they have to be perfect. first, you need a whole lot of cold. then some snow, then some rain, then even more cold. >> then you have to have wind and can't have too much wind. >> reporter: and that precise combination almost never happens. >> you have to be awful stubborn. >> yes, you sure do. >> reporter: they have been chasing a strong wind and hard freeze on this river for generations. here, when every gust of wind, every pull of the ropes, every ride could be your last -- >> waited my whole life. >> reporter: -- you learn it's now or never. katy tur, nbc news, red hook, new york. >> okay. so that's one good thing about this winter.

that's our broadcast on a monday night. thank you for being here with us as we start off a new week. i'm brian williams. we of course hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. right now at 6:00, blue skies after several days of gray. as the weather changes, the south by's biggest water providers want customers to make changes. i'm janelle wang in for raj mathai who is on assignment. >> i'm jessica aguirre. millions of san jose water company customers will be asked to follow the toughest water restrictions in five years. marianne favro looks at the guidelines and how the company is hoping to get the customers to stick to them.

>> reporter: in january, the reservoir south of san jose was so shallow you could see a car stuck in the floor and after the rain, water covered the car but it won't stay this full for long, which is why last month the santa clara water district board asked users to cut use by 20%. it's up to san jose water companies to make sure it's 1 million customers conserve. >> we're regulated by the public utilities commission and we're filing an application to enact rules that would allow us to get to the 20% target. >> reporter: if approved, san jose water would ask customers to repair leaks within five days, stop washing downside walks and patios, only water on assigned days based on your address and stop watering during the day. the reason san jose water companies are asking not to water the lawn so much is half of all water used by a household goes to landscaping. san jose water