and taken out on a stretcher. the airbus passenger jet with 162 people on board was heading to singapore when it lost contact with air traffic control. there were high winds in the area and the pilot asked for approval to change the flight's path and elevation. tony tony fernandez tweeted. let's go to nbc katie tur a little bit delay live from singapore singapore. singapore. >> the latest are what you said. it's been a sad day across southeast asia. three days of searching and they spotted debris off the coast. confirming relative's worst fears when they saw the debris. they saw the bodies about 40 so for a. they're going to continue working through the night to recover as much as they can

possibly can. as you were talking about they had a news conference to report all of this. in the news conference, they showed these bodies floating in the water. there were relatives there at the time. many of them not expecting to see that collapsing screaming out, and now they're bringing out more body bags. it is a heck tech scene right now as people try to wrap their heads around what happened. there's no confrimirmation there are any survivors. no confirmation there are not any survivors. they're going to keep looking until they are 100% sure they found everything. they see a dark shadow underneath the water. it's the java sea. the so the recovery process shouldn't be too hard. they shouldn't know what happened with the plane until they recover the black boxes. unclear if they'll be spread out. the debris field could be quite big. a heartbreaking morning on the east coast. a heartbreaking day here in

southeast aasia it is probably the air asia flight they're finding in the java sea. >> to be clear, the family members found out from local tv as they showed pictures of bodies on the surface of the water? >> that's what we're lead to believe. you know, we thought we learned the lesson for mh 370 when they sent a text message out saying there were no survivors for the plane, which they haven't found. it seems to be the case they found out at the news conference. or if they didn't find out at the news conference, they were at the news conference when they showed bodies on the screen. the sensitivity seems to be lacking. especially when you consider how asia handled this. the ceo went down there to comfort finallyamilies. they're going to charter a plane, tomorrow to fly the

families and loved one over the sea to where the plane was last having contact with the control tower so they can pray for their loved ones. this press conference was run by indonesia began officials not by air asia. >> extremely insensitive. there's 90 minutes until sunset until it's dark over the search area. any word if they're going to try to continue through the night? >> i think if they can they will. but it gets very dark. it's also the weather is not so great right now. there is are still concerns of some lingering showers or some bad weather in the area. there has been that nonand off all day. it delayed some of the searching. if they're able to safely bring things up with ships. i don't believe they'll be able to fly the helicopters and recover the bodies. if they're able they'll continue to do it as long as they can. they don't want the currents and winds to be dragging things

farther away. it would make the recovery process even more difficult. >> katie tur live from singapore, we appreciate the report. to the phone, anthony roman. a licensed pilot. what are you taking from the latest news? >> caller: good morning. i would like to say that our prayers are with the family of flight 8501. but this is an extremely important development. it appears they have located a preliminary debris field, which should, once the currents are evaluated in terms of direction and speed, will help the search parties find the main debris field. where, in fact the black boxes are located. as we all know the black boxes are actually large and they emit a locater beacon signal. they provide the cockpit voice recorder, and the flight data

recorder. so the electronic equipment on the planes, the radio on the planes and the ships will be monitoring frequency 121.5 to attempt to locate that signal and once the black boxes are recovered, then we will have a much better idea of what happened to this ill-fated flight. but at the moment, the primary importance is, since this is still a search and rescue mission, is to locate any possible survivors as slim as the possibility may be. thereafter, to recover the bodies then begin to locate the main debris field, recover the black boxes, and recover the debris. >> anthony, the fact that assuming that, you know all of these early reports, the information some of it may be, you know 100% correct. some may be not. if we're hearing reports and they're accurate that 40 bodies

have been found in a relatively quickly period of time along with significant debris field. does that tell us anything of the condition of the plane when it likely impacted the water? >> well, we don't want to be too speculative this early and create a scenario in which we're suffering from investigative bias. in other words reaching a conclusion before all of the facts lead us to that conclusion. here is what we know so far. that three minutes after the last communication with the flight which was in an area of severe to extreme weather, communication was lost and radar tracking was lost. that suggests a catastrophic event. now whether that was an arrow die -- arrow dieynamic stress that

would result in an impact to the ocean in which the main body of the debris should be reasonably intact that a condensed area. however, if the plane encountered severe baseball or softball sized hail which is known to occur in these extreme weather conditions then the glide path would have been a bit longer and the debris field spread out much farther. if there was a loss of control due to severe disturbturbulence, we would have a completely different scenario. the aircraft could have become inverted. it could have exceeded the design limits it could have begin to suffer from a varied amount of structure failure. a this juncture that's the scenario. the debris would be spread over a much wider field and be more difficult to locate. however, the concentration of

bodies if the report of 40 bodies is accurate that suggests that the debris field would be reasonably condensed. >> so, you know you can almost lead to believe that possibly the plane may have come down in larger pieces or maybe in one whole piece instead of as you said breaking apart in the air. i guess we'll find those facts out as we go. we also learned from the air france flight, you know, even at the high speed and high impact that plane stayed intact >>well that was not a high speed dissent. we have to be careful relative to our understanding of what happened to airfrance. airfrance suffered an arrow dynamic stall. the wings lost lift. that is a relatively low speed

but high vertical dissent rate. in other words it virtually is going straight down at a veried flight angle and very low air speed. but a very high rate of dissent. that would produce a more condensed debris field. >> excellent. thank you so much anthony roman for your expertise on this. we would like to bring you in and get more of your expert opinion. appreciate it. now with us on the phone mikey kay a former correspondent and pilot of jets and helicopters. from the facts you've been able to take in this morning, what is your take? >> caller: good morning. the investigation such as this concentrate on three main pillars. it's the where, what and the why. at the moment what investigation authorities search and rescue authorities are trying to do -- what is important about this

that hasn't been established is they're trying to establish the where. at the moment it looks ominous but we are hopefully starting now, the procedure of understanding the where. the debris field has yet to be 100% confirmed or linked to 8501. it is in the vicinity of the last contact, and the indication indications lead to the proximity and the amount of debris and -- it is leading authorities down that part and sad and tragic as it is air accident accidents are never easy especially for the families. it's always a sense of relief here in we have actually potentially located the wreckage

wreckage. we move on to the what and the why. the what will be established in terms of what happened when we can identify the two black boxes. the black boxes being the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. but what i would say is during your previous discussion and anthony is spot on. this is just the beginning of the process. what will be absolutely critical to the investigation is locating the two black boxes. and this will help investigators to start to understand what happened. the flight data recorder will give critical information. it will tell investigators what happened to the aircraft in terms what was on the flight instrument, what was the rate of dissent, what were the situations like? what were the engines doing? what were the temperatures? what was the rpm of the engine.

what was the pressure of the cabin? all of this information will start to tell investigators how the aircraft came to its -- to the crash site. >> mikey, let me get your expertise. we're heading toward sunset into the evening hours. you're a helicopter pilots for many years. they're primarily doing the rescues of the body and searching for anyone that could have survived the impact. what are they going to be through as we go throughout the night? >> i heard the previous report from katie. it's an interesting question. as nighttime falls, it will make it very difficult. it will depend on the experience and the capability of the military crews have. so, for example, hovering at night over sea without night vision goggles, for example, is something that is very very

hard to do. most of the crew will be probably operating on light which is bright lights over the helicopter shining down on to the ocean or the land depending on where they're trying to hoover. that will allow them to carry-on with the rescue and recovery process. it depends on the skill set and the capability that the helicopter crew and the pilot has. indonesia is a country with around 250 million to put that into context. america has up to 30 million. america spends $538 million on defense. indonesia spends $8 billion on defense. this is why you see the global community rallying around. everyone in the global community is sending military assets

military capability to the search area to assist the indonesia begans which have a relatively small military capability. >> hopefully they'll continue through the night but it makes -- as you're saying 100 times more difficult than the daylight hours. mikey kay, thank you so much for your expertise. again, we'll be joining back with you as we go throughout the morning here as we continue to get developments on-air asia flight 8501. new breaking news we'll bring you that. as the sun gets redady to set in indonesia.

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welcome back to "way too early." we're continuing to follow developments on debris found in the java sea. let's get a check on the other top stories. steve skacalise is drawing criticism for speaking at the white sprem cyst conference.

it dates back to 2002 when he was a state representative and reports of the first meeting broke on a louisiana politics blog. he wasn't aware of the group. had ties to neo-nazi activism. the group was founded by cormer kkk grand wizard and louisiana politician david duke. in an interview with the new orleans times scalise said he spoke to all kinds of groups to oppose a tax plan. i detest any kind of hate group. for anyone to suggest i was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous. he never saw duke at an event adding he was a state representative before me. everyone knew who he was and i would not go to any group he was a part of. but in the early morning hours, robert costa of the washington post reported this. david duke told the paper his long time political adviser that kenny night had a relationship

with scalise himself. that is why he was invited. and why he would come. kenny knew scalise and scalise new kenny they were friendly. he was elected majority whip but some democrats are calling into question whether scalise should remain in leadership. other colleagues are offering their support including bobby jindal. michael grimm is calling it quits. the republican lawmaker resigning after pleading guilty to felony invasion. it will take january 5th. he said, quote, this decision is made with a heavy heart. i enjoyed a special relationship with my constituents. whom i care about deeply. however, i do not believe that i can continue to be 100% effective in the next congress. and therefore out of respect for the office and the people i so proudly represent, it's time for me to start the next chapter of my life. the new york daily news report

the announcement came hours after he spoke with john boehner. he was indicted on 20 charges earlier this year he vowed to stay in office. even after pleading guilty last week. he'll be sentenced in june. could face up to three years in prison. let's get a check on the forecast. we have a very cold bitterly air mass that come down from canada. we're going to be watching some of the coldest air we've seen in nearly a month across the country. the worst is coming down from areas of the north dakota area all the way through the west. it's still supposed to snow on new year's eve in las vegas. dangerous windchills are mostly found there montana, wyoming, minneapolis, green bay. as far as kansas city negative one is cold enough for you. snow in kansas but that's not all that bad. your forecast for the tuesday if you're traveling east no problems whatsoever. a little bit of rain in orlando.

the only snowy weather is in denver and billings. as far as the forecast goes even for new year's eve watching good travel conditions. but it will be cold. we'll be back with more on "way too early" and the search on-air asia flight 8501. i'll speak with a former member of the ntsb. ♪ ah, push it. ♪ ♪ ♪ push it. ♪ ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby. ♪ if you're salt-n-pepa, you tell people to push it. ♪ push it real good. ♪ it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. ♪ if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. ♪ i'm pushing. i'm pushing it real good! it's just ordinary fleece but the comfort it provides is immeasurable. the america red cross brings hope and help to people in need every 8 minutes every day. so this season give something that means something.

welcome back to "way too early." an update to the breaking news

overnight for the search for air asia flight 8501. indonesia confirms that debris from the plane and dozens of bodies have been found in the java sea. a spokeman from indonesian navy tells 40 bodies have been recovered. crews on ropes are being lowered into the sea to search for additional victims. the debris includes red and white materials, the color was air asia's aircraft plane door luggage, life vests are visible. with us now former senior air safety investigator greg fife. >> for the families it's going to help them get through this mystery. waiting is always very difficult. we found that with mh 370. now they can start to at least move to the next phase of their grief process and trying to get closure to this. what they have found, the fact they're recovering more than 40

body bodies i'm glad the search process at least slowed down to the point we know with the main wreckage debris field is. >> what mysteries overnight were solved. what remains unsolved? >> the biggest mystery was where it was. we had a general idea. they sent the assets. -- >> there was a report of an aland with a fire. >> absolutely. you get the stories, but these guys, they found a lot of debris and of course the bodies in the ocean. now they still can't stop the search because there could be some evidence out on some of the smaller islands in the area. for investigators, they can start to hone in. trying to map where the debris is and try to go back on a drift pattern. most likely that main wreckage debris field is not the same area where they're finding the bodies. >> because they would have drifted as the plane would have spunk to the bottom. >> we're three days in there's a likelihood most likely the

airplane has broke into pieces. we have bodies floating out of the cabin floating. >> i'll ask you the same question. since they found 40 bodies in a relatively short period of time. does it tell you anything about how the plane was when it impacted? what condition it was? >> most likely the airplane was likely intact. we won't until we get the cockpit voice recorder and make sure we gathered all the parts of the airplane or located as many as we can. the airplane can go in a high speed dive have a high speed of dissent and start shedding parts. not large parts and spread the debris over a large area. with the wave patterns in the area, the fact we have bodies in close proximity and parts. there's a high probability the plane was relatively intact.

>> it didn't appear it did a glide? >> we won't know exactly -- >> it's an assumption at this point. >> absolutely. we don't know what the vertical path was. we don't know if the airplane was flying in a vertical path or falling in a vertical path. >> thank you very much. we appreciate your help. thank you for joining us on "way too early." we'll have more coming up on the search for air asia flight 8501 and all the latest developments coming up on "morning joe."

♪ good morning. it's tuesday, december 30th and with us this morning, we have nbc news foreign correspondent, eamon mohyeldin, political correspondent, kasie hunt. co host of "the cycle" and former air safety investigator with the national transportation safety board greg five. michael steele and sam stein both with us in washington, d.c. but first we start with this morning's news. the search for