this is more credible, according the to australians. they have had experts look at the satellite images. they didn't show the media what the images looked like or describe them particularly, except to say there were at least two objects. and during the news conference, the maritime authority in australia indicated that - seemed to indicate there may be additional objects seen, but the two main ones, one about 79 feet long, so a good size, actually. but, again. they are being cautious. they say this is the best lead they have had so far. they have been very clear that they've been down this road before with other investigations, and unfortunately you get to a point where you think you'll find something, and it's not what they were hoping to find. until they do get a close are look at these objects, they can't be certain they are from the aircraft. that is the hope, this they find a clue after 13 days of looking. >> you bring up an interesting point. >> do you get the sense that authorities may have been holding back a little? >> i think

here is the air commodore john mckrary of the royal australian air force. >> the australian maritime safety authority is coordinating the southern corridor search for the missing malaysian airlines aircraft with assistance from the australian defense force, the royal new zealand air force, and the united states navy. rescues coordination has received satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the missing aircraft mh 370. we've received an expert assessment of that satellite imagery this morning, 20th of march. the images captured by satellite, they may not be related to the aircraft. >> john young speaking with us on what it is that the australians have found. so, where are we? well, quite frankly, we're not sure. but we can tell you that the australian authorities believe they have found two items of significance. one of them, about 24 meters in size, or 78 feet across, or up and down. they're frankly not sure. another object of significant size, plus a number of smaller objects. so they didn't tell us exactly how many. they described to us what we would call a

the second australian orion departed royal australian air force base pearce at 2:00 pm this afternoon and will be on scene at 6:00 pm this afternoon. the new zealand orion is due to depart at 4:00 pm this afternoon, and should be on scene at 8:00 p.m. a royal australian aircraft cis 30 herbinglies has been tasked to drop marker boys. these as rcc australia by providing information about water movement to assist in drift modelling. they will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects is protracted. a merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast issued by rccs australia on monday is expect to arrive in the area about 6:00 pm, having been diverted by rcc australia. the royal australian navy war ship hmas "success" is on route to the area but is some days away. she is equipped to recover any object located and proved to be from flight 370. the focus or a m.s. a is to continue of the search operation with all available ships and aircraft. the ships and aircraft are searching for any signs of the missing aircraft. weather conditions are moderate in the

we know there's an australian destroyer on the way.ow there are four other aircraft, australian aircraft, new zealand aircraft heading toward the region if not already there. how does this -- how does this play out? >> the investigators are facing a critical junctionture at this point because the first thing they want to do is identify positively whether this is debris from the aircraft or not. if they're able to do that from the air, using the orions, using the satellite images, whatever it might take, trying to get as low as they can to identify this aircraft, if they identify that it is indeed that aircraft, then that's going to take them in a little different direction than if they don't. because if they can't identify it directly they may have to wait until the ships get out there and wait until they get a close examination and get helicopters in to identify it positively. so that could really make a difference in how much time this takes. but we have to remember, though, and set our expectations in the fact that this is 1,400 mil

here is the air commodore john mckrary of the royal australian air force. >> the australian maritime safety authority is coordinating the southern corridor search for the missing malaysian airlines aircraft with assistance from the australian defense force, the royal new zealand air force, and the united states navy. rescues coordination has received satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the missing aircraft mh 370. we've received an expert assessment of that satellite imagery this morning, 20th of march. the images captured by satellite, they may not be related to the aircraft. >> john young speaking with us on what it is that the australians have found. so, where are we? well, quite frankly, we're not sure. but we can tell you that the australian authorities believe they have found two items of significance. one of them, about 24 meters in size, or 78 feet across, or up and down. they're frankly not sure. another object of significant size, plus a number of smaller objects. so they didn't tell us exactly how many. they described to us what we would call a

these are australian satellites above australian waters.eory, they'd be able to zoom in to a very up close location if there were markings for a jet they'd be able to see such a thing. if there are seats they'd in theory be able to see such a thing. it would stand to reason if they were pretty sure the prime minister of australia would probably avoid making open statements to parliament so for those reasons and those reasons alone, we believe this may be a crucial moment in the search for the malaysian airlines boeing 777. so all we have now is that a news kons fren scheduled to begin i want to bring in catherine herridge our correspondentent and producer for that matter in washington. catherine, do you have anything we don't some >> what i wanted to add to it, shepherd is that we reported faa is taking second intense reviews for data associated with the flight. that is data link information that led to the tracking of 21 to the north, one along the western coast of australia. this data given a the flight pattern as they understood it. it t

and also from australian satellite sources, as well. obviously, satellites and radar is an important instrument. [ indiscernible ] more so there is a satellite surveillance facility in the center of australia, which is jointly operated but effectively run by the americans. we don't know what satellite information is coming from there. certainly it's been established from our u.s. sources the southern corridor has been a more likely search target based as well on the simple process of elimination, given that the northern corridor where it consists of at least 11 countries, some of which have very significant radar and technology, such as china, nothing has been seen or reported certainly from the northern corridor. so the u.s. has been deploying assets along the southern corridor and helping australia with the search. >> andrew, stand by. for anybody just joining us, this is the breaking new. the australian broadcasting news is quoting that the prime minister is saying two possible objects related to the search for flight 370 have been i

. >> and these are the satellite images that the australian safety -- australian maritime safety authority has released, showing those objects in the southern part of the indian ocean. right now, aircraft have been sent to that location for a closer look. australia is leading the search in the far parts of this ocean. and a maritime safety officials estimates the largest of the two objects is 24 meters, or 79 feet across. >> the images were captured by satellite. they may not be related to the aircraft. the assessment of these images of provided by the a.g.o., as a possible indication of debris south of the search area that has been the focus of the southern search operation since monday, 17th of march. the image is in the vicinity of the search area defined and searched in the past two days. >> the objects are relatively indistinct on the imagery. i don't profess to be an expert in assessing the imagery. but those who are expert, indicate they are credible sightings. the indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size. >> a malaysian government source says six navy ships and thr

is this australian intelligence? and how long do you think it will be until we get a better picture? will that come from one of the planes flying overhead? i understand commercial satellites are now redirecting their cameras. >> well, you know, there's a variety of different satellites that could be used, but the problem is, at the moment, with the poor visibility, there is no guarantee we're going to get a better image any time soon. those aircraft that are flying out there, they're the best equipped we've got, and with the u.s. navy, australian air force and new zealand air force flying out there, they've got state-of-the-art equipment to do the job. the problem is, it's really -- you've got to find it. and let's not forget, the water, the ocean currents will shift that flotsam and jetsam along, so it's not where it was on the 16th of march. it's moved since then and they've got to actually locate it. we haven't done that yet, and we don't even know if it's still there or sunk below the surface even further, and yo

, the australians are in charge.et's not go there. i'm assuming that they don't think the wreckage is in territorial waters. what happens now is i guess the short answer is it depends. i don't know how deep the water is. we have to look at the currents, the wind, the tides and try to figure out where. it's a big area. once we do that analysis, and that's for the meteorologists and the oceanographers, then we have to decide what equipment or if it's shallow water, we may put divers down. the main thing is to get aircraft out there. you know, destroyers travel at 25 miles per hour, their aircraft at 100, pcs, at 400. the australians have a dozen of those. i hope the u.s. navy - i am sure they would, if the australians ask you. >> let me stop you. we have alan diehl on the telephone, former ntsb, lisa stark, who spent much of her career covering these kind of stories, they'll continue to stay on the phone. we'll take a break and cover the story at least on through the next half hour as it continues to break. but an upda

american and australian aircraft have been diverted to the location.'s david wright is on the plane headed to the area. he filed this report minutes ago. >> reporter: we've been traveling three hours just to get to this site. we'll have three hours close to the water to search for whatever might be down there. and then three hours to fly back. we will be the first plane on-site. and we are just descending through the clouds right now. this plane has some of the highest-tech gear available, much of it classified. and if anybody is likely to find something down there, this plane has a very good opportunity to do so. this is david wright aboard a u.s. navy p-8 poseidon, calcine "rescue 74," about 1,300 miles southwest of australia. >> as we've been talking about, the key is going to be trying to find that black box, at 20,000 feet you can hear it from, that's why they're going to head to the scene immediately. we're going to continue our breaking news coverage of this story on "good morning america." thanks for watching. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it. (

australian naval vessels on the way also. update you on the next step in this process right after this. [ male announcer ] away... is as much about getting there... ♪ ...as it is being there. ♪ [ birds chirping ] away is where the days are packed with wonder... ♪ [ wind whistles ] ...and the evenings are filled with familiar comforts. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. >>> breaking news this morning in the mystery of flight 370, the search. have pieces of this plane finally been found? australian officials reporting two objects possibly related to that missing jetliner have been discovered in the southern indian ocean. we have live, team coverage from all the key locations as only cnn can, breaking down the very latest on this investigation, including how the families are reacting. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm rosa flores in for christine romans. it's thursday, march 20th. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east.

that's entirely why the australian navy was looking in that area. so, if this does turn up to be debris, then i suspect that the indonesians had finally come up with the goods and given this track. now, given that track, that would allow the authorities to narrow down the search area for black boxes, which would effectively be on the bottom of the ocean, unless they're attached to these floating debris, which seems unlikely. so, there you have it, but it's definitely not an area where aircraft would fly normally. >> now, i've got to ask you this. because of the intensity of this investigation, the unprecedented part of this investigation, could this change anything when it comes to adding trackers on planes or adding something so that this does not happen again, where we don't have, you know, 239 families waiting to hear about their relatives and investigators trying, practically, to search an area that is so large that it's almost humanly impossible to find it on a timely -- in a timely manner? >> well, first of all, aircraft are normally tracked t

here is the air commodore john mckrary of the royal australian air force. >> the australian maritime safety authority is coordinating the southern corridor search for the missing malaysian airlines aircraft with assistance from the australian defense force, the royal new zealand air force, and the united states navy. rescues coordination has received satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the missing aircraft mh 370. we've received an expert assessment of that satellite imagery this morning, 20th of march. the images captured by satellite, they may not be related to the aircraft. >> john young speaking with us on what it is that the australians have found. so, where are we? well, quite frankly, we're not sure. but we can tell you that the australian authorities believe they have found two items of significance. one of them, about 24 meters in size, or 78 feet across, or up and down. they're frankly not sure. another object of significant size, plus a number of smaller objects. so they didn't tell us exactly how many. they described to us what we would call a

this finding by australian authorities seems to be more credible, doesn't it? >> yes, ma'am, but the australians who are tapped into the commercial satellites because the commercial satellites have a higher resolution in identifying the object, if it is part of the 777 >> if this is part of that boeing 777, is doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of the plane is nearby though, does it? >> it wouldn't be due to the fact of the conditions and the conditions within the area. we can't tell exactly if the coordinates of the aircraft is located, if it's an aircraft located at that point. >> do you know what the depths of the o here is, and exactly what the - how the search crew goes about locating anything in this part of the southern indian ocean. >> the depth of the area is 600 to 900km, metres. 6,000 and 9,000 metres, and apparently what they will be awaiting is the nearest ship which could be a commercial ship that will arrive and take proceedings of whatever debris that is found within the location. >> okay, that's aerospace expert joining us from kuala lumpur

what more are you hearing from australian authorities this morning? >> well, frances, what we're hearing is that one of those royal australian air force planes that was dispatched to that new search area, little bit south of where the australian authorities had already been looking for that plane, has been unable to locate any debris. and we're also hearing that the conditions there as the rain and also visibility not helping with the search at this point in time. i would also now be approaching darkness in that part of the indian ocean, so it is likely we're not going to get any more word out of authorities, at least for the time being. of course, where this debris may sit is in a very inaccessible area, in the indian ocean. authorities saying it is about 2,500 kilometers or about 1500 miles southwest of western australia. here, the four aircraft that have been searching since earlier on this afternoon. of course, two from australia, one from new zealand and one from the u.s. the latest one saying they have not been able to locate anything at this po

what we saw here with the australians was a little transparency.he didn't give us too much information but it was here are the facts as best we know it. and as much as anything, you had a essential of competency there. if i'm a family member watching that, you have to feel a little bit better. >> i want to go to you, tim taylor. we're talking about this. you've been involved and you have something on the desk. we saw it in the video there. some of the tools and the instruments they will be using. the prime minister spoke about that as well saying that every resource available. they're increasing the resources. this is a small version of what they were using. >> this is a 100 to 200 meter association 658 feet deep. the big ones wouldn't fit in the studio. >> is this part of what is helping him be so confident saying we will get to the bottom of this because of technology? >> yeah. the technology exists and it is a matter of time. if they have the will and they want to do this, and they can narrow the search area down, they can look. they may take ye

by a royal australian air force p-3 orion.'t advise the house that success is on scene and is attempting to locate and recover these objects. the objects were spotted in the search area about 2,500 kilometers southwest of perth at 2:45 p.m. our time. the crew on board the orion reported seeing two objects. the first a gray or green circular object and the second an orange rectangular object. these are separate to the objects reported earlier today by a chinese search aircraft. a u.s. navy poseidon, a second royal australian air force orion and japanese orion are also en route to or in the search area. >>> the smoke you can see is from a marker dropped to note where an object has been spotted floating in the ocean. it in turn helps toe determine the wind speed and current which in turn makes it easier for the ship to make contact. it gives us an idea how the search is being carried out at the moment. more now from lucy williamson. lucy, quite a few developments today. obviously for the families the way it goes on is very diffic

i'm looking at the australians.ggesting, and we heard this from kerry sanders that the first ship that will lay eyes on this will not be a military vessel but a cargo ship and could be due in the area as soon as 6:00, which would be three and a half hours from now. what other updates night you have from there? >> that was what we heard from the officials. they spoke to us a couple of hours ago from the australian maritime and safety authority that they asked a commercial vessel in that vicinity to go ahead and take a look. the australian government saying that one of its navy ships, is on route to that specific search area. it is still days away. hopefully we'll get a little more information as the hours tick by because ir crafts are verging on that search area which is some 1500 miles or two and a half thousand kilometers off the australian west coast in a very remote part of the indian ocean. take four hours flying time for the aircraft that will be departing and have departed from perth on australia's west coast.

authorities, australian authority, as well. as we know there are some 26 countries involved in the entire search area for flight 370. we're going to take a short break, our coverage continuing on what could be the biggest development in this case, in this missing case in many, many days. we'll be right back. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. you're an emailing, texting, master of the digital universe. but do you protect yourself? ♪ apparently not. when you access everything, you give everyone access to everything about you. but that's ok. while you do your thing... [ alert rings ] we'll be here at lifelock, doing our thing. watching out for things your credit card alone can't. [ alert rings ] and relentlessly protecting your identity. get lifelock protection a

but you understand australian politics, the australian leadership a lot better than i do.ment? >> look, that's a very good assessment. i don't think the prime minister, mr. tony abbott, would have got up in parliament unless they were really certain that they were on to something very significant. and don't forget, we've also got the assistance of the united states navy, the defense force, also the new zealand navy. all of these elements are coming together and it's been a very targeted area they've been looking at, very specific. i mean, it's a big area, but in the context of the entire search area, up to china, this is very targeted and all of a sudden we're finding some debrisp about i think this is -- i think this is very strong. >> hold on for a moment, geoffrey. i want to go back to michael schmidt of "the new york times." these satellite images, we've seen the pictures, four days old. what are you hearing about these satellite images? >> i heard what they're doing is overlaying them and trying to see what -- getting down to see every little thing that they can. it's

you can see it's just north of the west australian current.at current moves at about a foot per second. right now where the search area is not much current at all. so this is actually a best case scenario, if it can just stay put where it is and have nothing move it into that west australian current, they can get better visibility, they can get to the spot, see if that indeed is the plane. and that would be the best case scenario, wolf. because if it does get into that west australian current, it is going to be bad news and very hard to find. >> it certainly will be. what about the weather right now? i understand there are storms, strong winds, waves that's really hampered this search in that specific area. >> you're exactly right. they had a front move through yesterday. that's why we keep hearing the visibility was low, a lot of clouds in the area, rain. that has pushed out. now, this area is known for very, very strong winds. but luckily as we move through the next 48 hours we're not planning on winds any higher than say 15 to 25 miles per

australian forces say this is poor disability in this area. we have had many false leads in the last. we had the false lead. it may have been found but a sad and worrying moment for relatives of those who may have been on board. >> maybe we can provide closure for them and at least something. >> katie logan live for us in london. >>> he joins us live in washington. what do we know now about the search area and what happens next? >> well, it seems to be the side of these objects that is really raising alarm bells. they are so public about this raising hopes that in fact maybe something has been found. you heard them talk about this but one of those pieces 80 feet long. take a look at the context of the overall aircraft 209 feet from stem to sterm, wing span 200 feet. even the tail section of the aircraft is quite collaring and it has clear markings identifying it as a malaysian airliner. that could possibly assist if we are talking about one of the surfaces that has been found. consistent with one of the flight pads one of the things they have

the australian authorities and kuala lumpur are -- on the situation and the australian foreign minister the former minister of malaysia. the -- continues coordinating the search of the missing airline aircraft within australia's search and rescue area. with assistance from australian defense force, the new zealand air force and the u.s. navy. rescue coordination center are cc. australia has satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for 370. australia received an expert assessment of commercial satellite imagery today. the images were captured by satellite. they may not be related to the aircraft. the assessment of these images was provided by australian intelligence organization as a possible indication of deadly southwest -- as a result of this information, four aircraft have been re-oriented to an area 2,500 kilometers southwest. the hawaiian aircraft arrived in the area at about 10:50 a.m. another three aircraft have been passed to the area, including rass orien. the new zealand air force orien and a u.s. navy p8 poseidon. the poseidon was expected to arrive early t

what was remarkable was how on message it was with the australians, very much repeating what the australian said in terms of how the search is going. there are four planes that will be conducting the search in that vast southern section of the indian ocean. there's a merchant ship on its way, as well as a naval vessel. the latest information that we have about how the search is going is that the one aircraft that was in the air, looking for those two objects had a turn back to perth because of poor visibility. this is a little of what the acting transport minister had to say. >> for the families around the world, the one piece of information that we want most, that they want most is the information we just don't have, the location of mh317. our primary focus has always been to find the aircraft and with every passing day, our efforts have intensified. >> some of the other information that the malaysian authorities gave during their press conference was that the search is still continuing in the northern corridor, that they haven't abandoned that area. that is an area that stretches from nor

the australian prime minister made this announcement.we heard from maritime safety officials a short time ago talking about the assets they devoted to this. i raised the issue as the satel. when we saw the two large objects found out by chinese satellite. that were released, according to malaysian officials that information was correct. it does appear this is a much more steady set of decisions being made by australian authorities to release this initial information, then give a press conference, then send the asset. it would appear this is a very credible lead. i'm here at this hotel in beijing where hundreds of family members are hanging on every bit of news that we report and others report. they're inside a conference room right now anderson, and i can te-l you the atmosphere is very tense and they are hanging on a large thread of hope that they have with this news, it will certainly be very discouraging to them, given the fact the debris is right there in the southern ocean. >> and kyung lah is joining us from kuala lumpur, as she ha

the debris, of course, was picked up by an australian satellite, and it was the australian governmentthat released the images very early this morning our time. now, one of the pieces of debris is believed to be about 79 feet wide, and the other is believed to be 60 feet -- i say believed to be, because there's not been confirmation -- physical confirmation of this debris, nor new satellite photos confirming it. an australian naval ship is on the way to the search zone now, but it will take a few days to get there. malaysian officials say china has pledged to focus 21 of its own satellites on this search area as well. but that means we need to have decent weather in order to complete this. so right now, we're looking -- right now, we're learning that the search for the 79-foot-piece of debreis in the world's third largest ocean could be complicated by the weather. let me go to meteorologist veronica johnson, and she joins me for that part of the story. the weather could be bad today? >> exactly. they have a lot of cloud cover down there. the other thing, of course, are the wave heights

we did hear from the australian prime minister, as well. around about five hours ago is when we started getting word from australian government officials that they had spotted something. these two objects, one as you point out about five meters long or 15 feet. the other about 24 meters closing in on about 80 feet long. the government here in australia saying it was new and credible information. then we heard from the australian maritime safety authority saying whilst the objects are inzing, they are credible sightings and it did warrant further investigation. they did direct a number of their assets already searching in the southern indian ocean for this aircraft because earlier this week the malaysian government asked them if they would take over the rescue mission in that southern corridor. there are two zing trajectories that aircraft may have taken, one over the north up to kazakhstan, the other one off the coast of australia and down into the indian ocean. three of those four aircrafts are now in that particular area searching. anothe

what the australians have seen are two objects. they are in the right place as far as the search zone is concerned and perhaps even more importantly, there is an australian warship perhaps within hours of finding that. that could absolutely be critical. nato adds what australia has seen is separate to what the chinese have spotted hours ago. it's a broad pattern which is slowly emerging. it's blurry but starting perhaps to come into focus. >> what you said is important. we have a satellite image but it's four days old and we've had to try to get eyes on it. but now you have a sighting from an australian plane and a ship in the vicinity. they say they could have it in their possession within hours. the latest is early tomorrow morning. that seems optimistic, though this could be an object unrelated to flight 370. >> absolutely right. it's also important to note the air search and sea search is ramping up significantly. the biggest air force out today, ten planes, they are covering more ground and more focused ground. the more that g

awe australian authorities took this area over.cked up the main portion of that search and recovery mission. so they said that it was just south of the areas that they have been looking at. and, as i said, a long way still from the mainland of australia. >> we have seen over the past week or so that the size of the search area had grown. and then just late yesterday, and i'm talking east coast time here, it seemed like they were trying to focus a little more tightly on a search area. how big is the area that they've been looking at? this is about four hours off the coast? >> right, it's about 2500 kilometers. i'm not sure what that is in miles. it is a long way off the coast. >> it's abo ee's about 1550 mil. and that piece of debris, which you said was 25 meters, just for folks in american sensibility, is about 82 feel. it's a pretty sizable debris. but go ahead, continue, matt. >> right. so as i was saying, it is a very remote part of the australian coast, west coast of australia. the search zone is wide. and as i stay, it's south

and navy and the australian air force are very used to working together.is all sorts of coordination going on. my guess is what will happen now is you'll have the p3 and p8 which have satellite communications. will go over, if they find some wreckage, see some wreckage, they will take pictures and send that back via satellite. i think that we will get an i.d. pretty quickly here. we saw the australian prime minister, tony abbot, called the malaysian prime minister with this news a couple hours ago. to me, that's a pretty clear signature that this is something they think they have found. and the courtesy call means that this is probably what we've been looking for. i think if they have pretty good beliefs that this is it, i think they are probably dispatching ships to the area. we heard in the press conference that a merchant ship had been sent to the area. yes, we want to find wreckage. yes, we want to confirm that this is in fact the aircraft, and that we have the area, but now, as david said, we need to do some forensics and do some meteorological and oc

you heard there from australian maritime safety officials.re asked has it been a waste of time? the response was, it was the information we had at the time. richard quest, all that satellite data which we just showed, they don't even want to say it's debris. >> since he said -- since he said that the ships are being moved to the new zone, and the four planes are already there and the later planes are going there, so nobody is going down to look at those satellite image objects, we must assume they're basically saying no, it's not relevant anymore. what i'm confused about tonight, amongst other things, the debris -- the new search area, we had assumed before the news conversation that this was the debris field allowing for drift of 20 days. but he said in that press conference that this was the crash point. >> i believe what he said was -- he indicated they were both. which either he misspoke or the only other interpretation is he believes the debris, given the currents hire, which are not as strong as in this other area, are closer to the cra

the australian authorities believe there was some sort of suspect debris in the area. the p8 with the most advanced technology on earth, to look down and cover 10,000 square miles, they did not find anything that confirmed debris, much less debris that is suggestive of something from the missing boeing 777. so that aircraft was on station which is the military term for in the area for almost four hours, and now it's making its way back to perth with no sort of suggestion that there is really any debris in the area that the australians said to take a look. there are p3 aircraft, propeller planes. they travel slower. one from the new zealand military, one from the australian military. they're headed to that area. i don't have a timetable on that aircraft yet, but they will continue to look. they have similar technology, not quite as advanced as the p8, but they do have technology that can look down if they spot something. they'll continue to search the area. it's a very discouraging sign that the australians initially thought there was satellite imagery that could be deb

this time, it sounds like the australians, the australians are more confident.f this impending cyclone, this storm, how important is it to retrieve actual parts of this debris to find out if it's a plane? >> well, it's very important, christine. and i guess i would -- the families would look at this two ways. the families who have seen this terrible suffering. one is that if it clearly is identified as part of the aircraft, well, perhaps that brings some closure, but at the same time, it would strike down their hopes that this airplane could possibly have landed someplace. so, it's very important. i listened to the prime minister. they say they have sighted a circular object and a rectangular object. let's hope that it's something that brings us closer to the resolution of this great mystery. there are a lot of circular and rectangular objects floating out there in the ocean. >> i think a lot of people now are really coming to grips with how much stuff is out there, also how difficult it is to find. white caps, broiling seas, now a storm coming. steven wallace,

navy and australian navy are assisting in the search.the satellites were taken on the 16th and the objects may be difficult to locate. here is what we do know. here is what we do know about these images. one may be as wide as 78 feet, the other as wide as 15 feet. poor visibility in deep waters could hinder the recovery efforts for those specific pieces if they happen to be debris from that flight. we'll continue to update you right here. we'll also speak with retired american airlines pilot flight instructor tom casey coming up in just a moment. first we want to check on your weather with nbc meteorologist veronica johnson. i know this area is of concern to you as you're watching the weather indicators and what it could mean to the shifting water patterns. >> that's right. just to the north of this impact field, there's an old area of low pressure. so the circulation right there where we're searching now has more westerly winds. it is quite possible that off to the west of that area is where whatever that was came in or has been driftin

these are brand new images from the australian government. they show a possible piece of debris from the plane. a short time ago, australia's prime minister tony abbott announcing that their navy and the u.s. navy are now rushing to that location. >> a location they described as 1500 miles off the coast of australia but he warned the public not to jump to conclusions. >> i should tell the house, and we must keep this in mind. the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult, and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight mh 370. >> so let's listen in now to the press conference that was held earlier this morning. >> the maritime safety authority is coordinating the southern r malaysian airlines aircraft with assistance from the australian defense courforce, the new zeal air force and the united states navy. we have received satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the missing aircraft, flight mh 370. the rcc australia received an expert assessment for that salt light imagery this mo

. >> reporter: credible sightings, australian officials call them. two large objects captured on satellite photos, one about 79 feet long, the other about 16 feet. >> we need to get there, find them, see them, assess them to know whether it's really meaningful or not. >> reporter: what gave the australians confidence to see these two blurry objects may be parts of the plane? these images come from a colorado based company called digital globe. imagery analyst tim brown says digital globe satellites fly at four miles a second in a polar orbit snapped huge swaths of pictures at a time. how would the searchers have taken these satellite images and determined that this was debris? >> what they're looking for a r bright objects against the dark sea. sometimes they use detection software to do that. other times they have the human eyeballs and in the case of the australians they have lots and lots of eyeballs. >> reporter: google earth satellites can take very detailed pictures like these of planes at reagan national airport. but these satellite pictures o

and australians are look at. they said the real key here is not between what's classified and nonclassified but the angle of the satellite. that these satellites are unlikely to be over this stretch of the earth. so they're more likely looking at it from an angle kind of out of the periphery which makes them less clear images. that's really the difference between the kind of clear images we would expect. look at your house on google earth you can spot who's inside. these look like they've been taken from a million miles away. >> we had our hopes dashed -- we thought we had something with that chinese satellite picture it seems like e eons ago that turned out to be nothing. what's the latest with the fbi scrubbing the computers of the pilot and copilot that flight simulator. >> reporter: cnn told they can find things on those computers. some files had been deleted from the logs from the pilot's flight simulator that he had in his home. but they feel confident they can piece that back together. kind of like putting

the australian prime minister standing up in parliament to reveal the findings, the australian maritime agency calling them credible sightings. >> well, i think the first sign that this was a potentially important finding was that tony abbott stood up in parramatta, not only for australia, but the whole world, the fact that he stopped the working day to make an indication that this was a big development. >> two hours ago now, there was a press catholic church, and they went into detail about what the satellite images show, floating on the ocean surface. here is a little of what they said. >> the objects are relatively indistinct. i don't profess to be an expert, but those who are indicate they are credible sightings. the indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size, and probably awash with water bobbing up and down out of the surface. >> reporter: do we know the size, like a basketball or seat kushion or larger than that? >> larger than that. the largest image i have seen was assessed as being 24 metres. >> and another - a number of other images in the general area of the b

australian authorities have found two objects that may be related to the plane. they were spotted by satellite about 1,500 miles from western australia. aircraft have been sent for a closer look. malaysia's prime minister has tweeted that his government is now awaiting confirmation from australia. with that in mind, sara is live in kuala lumpur this hour to tell us more about the malaysian government's response to what could be a breakthrough in all of this. >> i think the response is extremely cautious, john. that is because, as you know, all of the different roller coasters, emotions that have been coming out of these families because information has been coming in and it's disputed sometimes hours or a day later, and it's just been very difficult for them. i think the government has sensed that and they're being very cautious. however they did have a conversation. we know the prime minister talked to the prime minister of australia, tony abbott when this all happened, before the press conference, to alert the malaysian authorities that these two objects in par

the second australian orion departed royal australian air force base pearce at 2:00 pm this afternoon, and should be on scene at 6:00 pm this afternoon. the new zealand orion is due to depart at 4:00 pm this afternoon and should be on scene at 8:00pm a royal australian air force c130 aircraft has been tasked by rcc australia to drop data marker buoys. they say marker buoys assist rcc australia to provide information about water movement to assist in drift modelling and will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects becomes protracted. a merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast issued by rcc australia on monday is expected to arrive in the area at 6:00 pm, having been diverted by rcc australia. the royal australian war ship hmas "success" is on route to the area, but is some days away. she is quick to locating any objects located and proven to be from flight 370. the focus for a m.s. a is to sustain the search operation with all available ships and aircraft. the ships and aircraft are searching for signs of the missing aircraft. weather condit

the australian maritime safety authority has advised that objects have been located by a royal australian air force p-3 orion. i can't advise the house that success is on scene and is attempting to locate and recover these objects. the objects were spotted in the search area about 2,500 kilometers southwest of perth at 2:45 p.m. our time. the crew on board the orion reported seeing two objects. the first a gray or green circular object and the second an orange rectangular object. these are separate to the objects reported earlier today by a chinese search aircraft. a u.s. navy poseidon, a second royal australian air force orion and japanese orion are also en route to or in the search area. planes and ships continue to search the area for any sign of the missing aircraft. i caution again, mr. acting deputy speaker, that we don't know whether any of these objects are from mh-370. nevertheless, we are hopeful we can recover these objects soon and they will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery. this is an extraordinary mystery, absolutely baffling mystery. but as i've said m

at the same time, a p-3 goes out from the australian military. looks and he doesn't see anything and has additional problems because of the technology they are using with the weather. the u.s. doesn't really sort of have that problem but they don't see anything and now that aircraft is returning. i don't know the status of the p-3 from the new zealand navy. in addition to that, there is a c-130, a hercules, it flies low, slow, it's ugly, but what its goal is to get into the area where, hopefully, there is this debris and it can drop down drop sounders that mark the area so they don't lose the area. at the same time, there is a naval vessel from the australian vessel steaming there but it's slow and it will take days to get there. they are on the radio contact with a cargo ship that's in the area and they have requested the cargo ship to divert. would you go down to this location where we believe the debris is? the cargo ship has accepted that responsibility and it may actually be arriving there relatively soon. the problem is as you can imagine,

the second australian oryan departed pierce after 2 p.m. this afternoon and should be on scene at 6:00 p.m. this afternoon. new zealand oryan is due at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon and should be on scene at 8 p.m. a royal australian hercules aircraft has been tasked to drop data marker buoys. these marker buoys assist rcc australia by providing information about water movement, to assist in drift modelling. they will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects becomes protracted. a merchant ship that responded on monday is expected to arrive in the area about 6:00 p.m., having been diverted by rcc australia. royal australian navy warship is en route to the area but is some days away. she is equipped to recover -- and from mh-370. the focus is to continue the search operation with all available ships and aircraft. the ships and aircraft are searching for any signs of the missing aircraft. weather conditions are moderate in the southern indian ocean where the search is taking place. however, poor visibility has been r

and australian search planes could not spot it.laysian officials cautioned that this satellite imagery, now almost a week old, may prove to be fruitless, the malaysian minister gave a very guarded comment today on why this imagery may be different from that provided by the chinese last week. >> the information that we have received from the australian authorities was actually corroborated from other satellites. >> nbc news aviation correspondent tom costello joins me now. tom, can you first explain where this data comes from and why it's so important? then explain to us why the imagery is being treated differently than that satellite imagery we got last week which turned out to be a false lead. >> good point. okay. let's go to the telestrator. it is as you mentioned in the south indian ocean. one piece of this debris is said to be about 79 feet. 79 feet long. another piece said to be about 16 feet long. those are two very large pieces. but the 79 foot one in particular, the wingspan of a triple 777 is about 200 feet or so. so it is

this is a distance of 2,500 from the australian coast. it takes four hours for the search planes to get there and they have fuel for two hours before turning back to shore. a lodgistical nightmare when it comes to searching the area. ships on the way, there's a commercial vessel close to the area. that has been diverted and will be around the area now, and an australian naval vessel has been redirected to the area, but it will take days before that boat arrives. if there are objects to be found, if they are in connection with the missing airliner, it's that naval vessel that will bring them on board and back to shore. i must add, we don't know yet whether it is debris from the missing plane. >> that's andrew thomas joining us from sydney, australia. >> while malaysian authorities are meeting australian counterparts, here is what the acting transport minister in malaysia said earlier. >> aircraft and vessels are there, you know how huge the area is >> reporter: how long will it take? >> every lead is a hope, we are conscious and want to ve

and so this is similar to the image on thes a australian satellite image. the families of those on board are so emotional. responding to the the ainnger a the emotion, the malaysian officials are promising to do a better job of keeping the desperate families informed, and we can't forget about the search for the plane on land. right now, malaysia is asking kazakhstan to have permission to search the northern corridor. we have teams on every angle of the earth searching for the missing airliner. from kuala lumpur, australia and malaysia. we have news of the p8 scheduled to take off for the search area. and can you talk us through the assets up in the air today, kyung lah, and how are they zeroing in on the japanese satellite image and if it showed what could be part p of the plane. >> the target area that they want to fly over, and look at it, and what they are doing to d today is that the australians are coordinating all of this, and adding more air assets and not just australia and the u.s. which is rejoining after a couple of days on the ground, but also

this australian news conference.ou can just imagine after 12 plus days of waiting, and still, holding out hope that somehow their family members could still be alive. you want to know what happened, the devastation of believing there may have been a crash, let's go back to that news conference from earlier today and the announcement about this finding. >> you might recall on the slide here, the two yellow arrows pointing to analysis done by the united states national transportation safety board. about the movements of the aircraft. that has focused searching and we have now seen satellite imagery of a number objects there. i don't want to draw too much attention to that. this is a lead. it is probably the best lead we have right now. we need to get there. find them, see them, assess them to know whether it is really meaningful or not. >> to that point, to get there, we've been talking about this p-8 right over that area. let's go back to kerry sanders who has been in touch in real-time with the folks on the uss kidd.

the australian authorities were saying the weather is, you know, hazy or foggy. so i'm not sure if they'll be able to get any photographs just yet. i know there's a ship headed that way, a merchant ship and an australian warship headed that way. i suspect we won't know anything for several hours and i would think after 10 or 12 - i think it's night as we speak. it will be a while. >> dealing with a number of challenges. alan diehl, former investigator with the national transportation safety board joining us from albuquerque. appreciate your time and knowledge this morning. >> you are welcome. >> as soon as we get additional word, we'll bring it to you. we do want to turn to other news. russia's military might in crimea took its toll on ukraine. kiev says it will evacuate military perm -- personnel from the region, 25,000 members and their family will be relocated back to ukraine. they have been facing increased aftermath. >> also in kiev, a violent backlash against the head of ukraine's state television. at least three members of ukraine's parliament attacked the