let me go back to andrew stevens in kuala lumpur. andrew, you're there in malaysia, and there has been some criticism of malaysian authorities for not sharing all of this information with other countries, with other investigations that have now been under way. are they sensitive to some of that criticism? we're hearing about the malaysian investigation. >> reporter: they're definitely sensitive to it. and they come back and say we have been as open as we possibly can, wolf. and they are, quote -- one of the u.s. commanders in the fleet is saying how impressed he is with their handling of the rescue or search operations and the fact that there does seem to be a reasonably open line of communication. but certainly there has been a lot of criticism, particularly from the family members. want to go back to what jim was saying about leaving the door open on the two passport holders. malaysian police over the past 24 hours or so have been steering the line of this investigation into much more of a -- this more likely a people smuggling oper

we are joined by andrew stevens there in beijing, and andrew, for those people there, a gutting and painful moment for them, and are they getting any new information and has anybody

no news yet. >> thank you, andrew stevens. we know time is of the essence.ause the technology is waiting to go under sea waiting to -- but they just don't know where to put it. >> exactly. finding any piece of debris connected to flight 370 is critical to locating the plane and finding that data recorder. take a look at this exclusive video of the high-tech autonomous underwater vehicle, auv, being sent to the area by the military. it's sophisticated sonar that can detect wreckage at depths of 15,000 feet. the the pentagon says it's there just in case they use it. >> in addition, searchers have hydrophones at their disposal. these are microphones used under water to identify the ping and hope flip the wreckage. then the sonar comes in with a 3d map of what's on the ocean floor. our stephanie elam off the coast australia has a demonstration. >> reporter: it's a difficult task i'm talking about. i'm joined by james coleman, he's going to show us the hydrophone, first of all, show us the difference between this and the sonar. let's start with the hydrophone. ho

cnn's andrew stevens live in perth, australia, for us. andrew, first, let's start with these suspicious objects. we have seen now three countries' radar spotting something relatively large floating in the search area. what do we know about these suspicious objects spotted and whether they could be part of this missing plane? >> reporter: what we know at this stage, christine, is pretty much what you've been describing. two relatively large objects and several smaller objects in a radius of several miles. now, i was talking to one aviation expert, and he said that could indicate a debris field. what we can say at this stage is that this is another piece in the jigsaw. we don't know what the full picture's going to be of this jigsaw. it might be a bank, it might be when revealed fully the location of mh-370, but it all fits. it's all moving in a similar direction. satellite pictures first from australia, two days later the chinese picking up also satellite pictures. a corporate jet two days ago picking up a debris field or several small obje

i would like to go back to andrew stevens. andrew, it was just yesterday that the australians were saying that this search of this area could take up to weeks and now they have narrowed it down to what could be a matter of hours. in fact, we are expecting some kind of statement from prime minister tony abbott maybe in about 25 minutes from now. >> i think the key here is the information and where it's coming from. this is satellite information, so the physical search in the absence of any specific information about pin pointing areas by satellite, which have taken several weeks, even though it has been significantly refined as we now know, it still would have been several weeks to comb that area. now, though, satellite information, we don't know where that's come from, but it is very sophisticated satellite operations, operated jointly by the australians and the u.s. in central australia. so the information obviously coming from satellites, that allows them to pinpoint this area and as richard said, given the number of false st

let's get straight to andrew stevens. he is live for us in perth, australia. andrew, the only positive part of this seems to be the fact that this new search area is pretty significantly closer to land, which means that those aircraft, the p-8, p-3, et cetera, will have more time over the search zone. is that correct? >> reporter: that's correct, poppy, and that is crucial, because the more time they get on, the more eyes they get on in this area, the better chance they have of actually finding something. at this stage, no satellite information at all. satellites are being repositioned to look in this area, which is some 700 miles north of the earlier zone. there are aircraft there and there are ships on the way. this is an area the size of poland. it's about 120,000 square miles, so it is still a very big chunk of ocean. but it has been quite an extraordinary day here. the focus, as we all know now, has been so much on this far southern end of the southern corridor. we've had numerous satellite pictures showing some sort of objects on the surface of the sea. y

i want to bring in andrew stevens, he's in kuala lumpur. nick robertson is in london for us. andrew, to you first. walk us through this new information. what does this mean? >> we can't reveal his identity because he's not authorized to speak to the press. but this is what we are hearing. it does tie in with suggestions that have been floating around for the last couple of days. the plane took off from kuala lumpur. its last known point where it was in contact with ground control, just as it was entering vietnamese air space. the information was being sent out via transponders. this is equipment which actually identifies the specific aircraft so you know exactly what it is you're looking at. at that point, those transponders stopped working. we don't know why. but primary radar, which is a less sophisticated radar being used by civilian and military, continued to track this blip which the plane had now become. it turned, it did almost a u-turn and headed back towards malaysia. remember, this was an hour into the flight. so it's clear the malaysian mainland, it is now heading b

andrew stevens on the search process, he's in perth, australia, for us.ng here, evening there. you've had search crews out all day. what is the latest? have they found anything? >> reporter: not that we're aware of, but, remember when it comes to releasing information it is pretty tricky controlled. it does come out through the search coordinators. not all the planes are back at the moment. there's probably another two hours or so of daylight left. so 12 aircraft going up today which is the biggest fleet of aircraft so far in this search. and they really have to maximize their efforts when they can because the weather is not playing its part. today, it was okay. it wasn't great by many means, and there was still quite a lot of cloud in the area but good enough to get all their air assets up and over that search zone. we're hearing that the weather is likely deteriorating in the next 24 hours to the degree where they have to cancel the flight, we don't know yet. but we're still waiting to get information back. there was a royal air force due to arrive back

andrew stevens is there. andrew, what can you tell us?porter: well, those images we are looking at, which have been the center of what the maritime officials are calling the strongest lead so far, actually came from australian satellite intelligence. they picked these up, and they were described, actually, at the press conference with the coordinators of the search as being indistinct, and they certainly are indistinct. we know the biggest measures about 80 feet long, but we can't get much more detail than that. now, what happens now is that actually, commercial satellites will focus, retune their footprint into that area to try to pick up those objects again and get much more high-resolution pictures. so, that's what we're waiting for. we're not quite sure how big a process that's going to take. while that happens, though, planes from here, from the air force base, australian air force base -- i'm outside, just on the outskirts of perth -- have been using this base as a staging post. we've got four long-range surveillance planes which ha

cnn's andrew stevens live for us in perth, australia. andrew, what do we know about these suspicious objects in the ocean? >> reporter: that's right, suspicious objects. that's what they're being called by shin xinhua, the chinese new agency. what we know is frustratingly vague. there are two relatively big objects surrounded by smaller white objects over an area of several square miles. nothing more specific than that. aviation experts i've been talking to say that could tally with a debris field from something like a downed plane, but could is the operative word here. we just don't know. now, you said that a p-8 poseidon, a u.s. plane was diverted to that area. it's got to the area. and frustratingly, it can't locate that debris field which the chinese saw. now, what we are learning through tweets from the search coordinators is that the chinese aircraft was actually just heading back out of the search zone on its way back to perth when it saw these objects. it sounds like they saw them at quite a high altitude, 33,000 feet, perhaps. we

andrew stevens joins us live. what impact is this expected to have on that debris? will they be able to find it? >> reporter: they are the key questions. and at this stage can't give any agree of certainty as to what happened to that debris when it is in the middle of a storm. this will be the second storm in two days of significant enough strength to drive airplanes out of the area and two days ago to drive ships out of the area as well. we heard from the australian defense force chief talking of conditions there then he was talking of waves 20 meters high and this debris field which was photographed by satellites two days before the first of the bad weather swept through it could have spread quite widely. we can't be any more certain than that at this stage. this has been a common theme throughout the search down here. the objects that have been picked up by the satellites and spotter aircraft may have sunk. the pictures are taken of objects in the water. they are spotted from aircraft. but they are never relocated. so far, nothing to link anything, any debris, an

let's bring in andrew stevens monitoring the search. what are the latest developments, andrew?> reporter: good news is, the search did bring a lot, poppy. 12 aircraft, all of that include five of the corporate jets they've been talking about, the ultra-long range jets. two are returning, military, in the next two hours. and we are hoping to get some sort of word of what has been spied today. nothing so far. but as you say, very important now, they've got ships in the area. two ships in the area. and three more chinese naval ships very close by. so the search is being defined still, still, tantalizingly there is no evidence. there is nothing yet that we know of that suggest they have relocated these two promising areas. the chinese and australians bond found two areas indicating significant size objects. that was two days ago now. nothing new. >> and we know that some of the key search equipment from the united states has arrived but that's only useful if they're able to locate debris or at least a smaller field where it may be. tell me what the prime minister has said about the

let's get to cnn's andrew stevens. he's live in perth, australia. shifting the focus of that search, andrew. this is going to allow the australia-based aircraft more time over the zone. it's actually closer to the continent, isn't it? >> reporter: yeah, that's a very important point, christine. they are quite a lot closer, about 1,800 kilometers, versus 2,500 kilometers away from this new search site. the planes can get there quicker, and as important, more important, they can stay on site longer. on top of that, you've got generally better conditions. the seas aren't so rough. we're out of those very high southern latitudes where you get very big seas, very big storms rolling in very quickly. where the new search site is, it's much calmer, conditions are much more gentle, and that is certainly going to help. it's still a very deep part of the ocean between two and four kilometers, perhaps 1 and 2 1/2 miles deep, so they've still got a lot of work to do, but it is an extraordinary change, given that we have been fed this constant information about cr

we are joined by andrew stevens there in beijing, and andrew, for those people there, a gutting and painful moment for them, and are they getting any new information and has anybody from the airline used the word crash in their discussions with the families? >> not so far, jim. they are being very cautious of any linkage of the fuel slick that is spotted by a vietnamese reconnaissance plane and the crash of mh 370, and so they are not linking the two together at the moment. as you point out, having that sort of evidence in that region, does give a very, very worrying tone to the developments which will occur over the next few hour hours. what we do know is that two chinese warships have been dispatched to that area. one of them is called a dock loading ship, and it is basically amphibious assault ships in the navy of the chinese. it is carrying underwater detection equipment, and divers and helicopters, and the area where the slick is, it is act l actually shallow and up to 70 meters or so deep which could make it more quick to discovering wreckage on the seabed there, but certainly the fam

i want to go quickly to andrew stevens in perth, australia.tainly, andrew, according to what australian officials have already said, they have already done what china says they are hoping that they do in terms of dispatching ships, dispatching aircraft and even redirecting satellites. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, anderson. a warship has been dispatched about 15 or so hours ago from perth. it's about 1,500 miles to get there. it's going to take several days. the australians saying over the past day or so there have been images in the search sector in that southern end of the indian ocean that they haven't proved anything yet but the debris we've been you can thatting about which has been described as incredible new information by the australian prime minister is slightly to the south of the southern end of that search grid. but with the ships due to go into the far end. it will be interest iing to see. that will be diverted down much further south than where it has been located. if it's in that vicinity. and also obviously the military asse

andrew stevens monitoring developments in perth, australia, this morning. frustrating for these pilots, frustrating for australia, because they want to get out there. it's just simply too dangerous. so, this search for wreckage has been suspended now. what can you tell us? >> reporter: the search is expected to resume within 24 hours, but probably closer to 15 hours, christine. that's what we can tell you at the moment, but it really does obviously depend on conditions on the ground. it's not just the airplanes that have been suspended from flying, it's also the sea vessels as well. there's an australian warship on station down there. that actually had to leave. it had to stay about 80 miles south, away from that target area because of the weather conditions. gives you an idea of just how bad it is. i mean, this is regularly a very, very treacherous piece of water. listen to what the australian defense minister had to say about it. >> the world, the southern ocean, has shipwrecked many, many sailors in our history in western australia. it is rough. sea stat

andrew stevens, thank you, andrew. we'll let you get back to that presser, talk to that captain so you can find out just what they saw out there. now, experts say the search for flight 370's flight data recorder could take years, and there's a good possibility it may never be found. now, even if it is, as we've been reporting to you, the crucial communications investigators will be looking for could very well be erased. that's because the black box records cockpit conversations on a two-hour loop. we want to know what those pilots were saying, but it's a two-hour loop. it deletes all but the final two hours. the key to finding out what happened to the jetliner likely lies in the first two hours of that flight. so, that's an important wrinkle here, what we're looking for, those voice communications, poppy. >> yes. >> but it could very well be literally dead air on that tape. >> one hopes not. it took two years to find the so-called black box after that air france flight, 447, went down. >> yep. >> and they did recover i

andrew stevens is live in perth with more. andrew, you heard from the air marshal a short time ago basically saying that they don't have a haystack, they're still looking for that to search in. >> reporter: yeah, john. it was quite a sobering judgment from someone who definitely knows. before i get on to that, interesting listening to saima talking about the families who are looking for some facts, for something they can hold on to, the truth about the flight and why the malaysian prime minister made this call that the plane did go down in -- somewhere in the southern indian ocean yesterday. that question was pretty much put to the australian defense minister today, just how confident are you that the plane did, indeed, come down here and he said i'm confident based on the information we have available. so there is still very much a slither, a tiny, tiny percentage of doubt. there has to be because it's still based on technical data, on information until they get a positive i.d., a firm sighting on a piece of debris that links

andrew stevens is joining us now from beijing where relatives of the 154 chinese nationals onboard are gathering at a hotel complex. so andrew, what are officials telling the family members right now? >> well, they really can't tell them too much at this stage, fredricka, because we just don't know exactly what the facts are. what happened to that plane. as you say, the loved once of the families and friends of the people onboard that flight have gathered in a hotel in beijing and malaysian airlines itself, gave a press conference at a separate hotel a short while ago and said they were doing everything in their power now to care for those people who had loved ones aboard that flight. now, we don't know at this stage when we are going to get some firm evidence about exactly what happened at that -- in mh 370. we do know that that plane disappeared from radar, disappeared from air traffic control just two hours in to the flight. it would have been at grcruisin level, described as the safest part of the flight and sud think was a very, very instantaneous event by the looks of it that cut

andrew stevens joins us live in perth, australia, where tonight's flight mission over the southern indian ocean is originating. he's got the latest on the search. andrew? >> reporter: natalie, we're standing now inside the pierce air base here on the outskirts of perth. it's a much, much clearer day than it was 12 hours ago and that's good news for the searchers because it had been bad weather hampering visibility, hampering the search yesterday, that vital first day after we received this credible and new information about the floating objects from the prime minister. so the weather over the search zone is good for military aircraft in the air or about to take to the air plus one civilian jet over the area as well. so we've got the search covered at this stage, nothing from the search crews. and also the australian prime minister after talking about credible information yesterday is said to be backtracking somewhat on whether this is actually linked to missing mh-370. he's on a trip to papua, new guinea and he was being asked by journalists about whether he released this information prem

andrew stevens is monitoring developments in perth this morning. good morning, andrew. well, winter is setting in, the upstream currents very, very difficult right now. that's going to affect the location of any potential debris, correct? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. so frustrating for all the search crews here that they can't get out again today. and they may have been on the brink of making a vital breakthrough, a turning point, some people are calling it, which is, of course, linking a piece of debris to actually the flight, the downed flight. there was evidence yesterday from a royal australian air force plane that saw two objects in the sea, which provoked a lot of interest. they were described as a green, a gray, circular-shaped object and an orange rectangular-shaped object. there was an australian, maybe defense vessel, actually in the zone when they made that sighting. it steamed towards where they had reported it. the airplanes actually dropped flares in there, but they still actually couldn't find it after four hours of searching, so frustrating for them,

and andrew stevens is joining us now where he is near the international airport in beijing, and that nation of the flight. so it is sunday morning where you are, and andrew, the passengers have been frustrated throughout, and is there any new information to give to the families or hearing anything from the airline? >> the only new information, jim, is that china has sent two warships to that area where an oil slick was reported by a vietnamese air reconnaissance team, but other than that, nothing at the moment, because the facts are very, very thin. you mentioned freescale there, and looking at who was on that plane from freescale, 12 malaysians and 8 chinese nationals wo worked for freesca freescale, and obviously, a massive tragedy for the company. but the relatives and the friends of those who are on board still continuing to arrive here in beijing, and 120 family members of people on board are now at the hotel. there were 154 chinese nationals in all, and malaysian airlines is saying that one of the key priorities is obviously looking after the families and offering whatever they

andrew stevens is live for us from perth this morning. good morning, andrew. >> reporter: good morning, poppy. we're actually here inside the perth air force base, just waiting for the australian flight to return. it didn't get down there. it was turned around halfway down because of that bad weather. now, you can see behind me, here's one of the p-3 orions, one of the australian planes. usually at this time of the day, this place here is pretty much empty of search aircraft, but as you say, bad weather over that scene has pulled all the aircraft back. and remember, this is the second time that this has happened in two days, so losing valuable time over that search target. i can tell you, though, that there are ships in the area, poppy. they haven't been driven off the target by this storm, but you have to wonder just how much they'll be able to devote to looking for the debris and how many people are going to be needed to actually get this ship sailing through this really, really bad weather. earlier we spoke to the u.s. air force about t

our andrew stevens is joining us now live from kuala lumpur, andrew, who are officials saying about the importance of this flight simulator? >> reporter: well, at the moment, it's key to this investigation because this very clearly has been put forth that the pilots are an integral part of this until ruled otherwise. we know there was deliberate action take up in the cockpit. we know it was deliberately disrupting the flight and that the communications were turned off, fredericka, so the simulator in the home of the late pilot is critical at the moment. we know the police have disassembled it and put it back together looking at it. we are hearing from the police that they have not found anything yet. reuter was running a story saying there were programs on it showing flying in different conditions, different weather conditions. they were, reuters said, a normal sort of program. so we're still waiting to get more on that. and the investigation on the ground here in kuala lumpur is focusing on the manifest of who was on the plane and who they were. this is a diplomatic and political issue

let's get the latest now from andrew stevens live in perth, australia. andrew, about 1,400, 1,500 miles from where this debris has been spotted. >> that's right. it is a four-hour flight from where i'm standing. i'm at the pearce air force base in australia. it's about a four-hour flight to get to the zone where these objects have been found. they've only got about two hours on target time before they turn around and head back for the four-hour return flight. now, we know there are four aircraft involved in this, four surveillance aircraft, comprising australia, new zealand and u.s. assets, and the first flight understood to have gone out about 6:00 this morning, so it should be coming back fairly soon. these flights, we're being told, were diverted, obviously, to this area where these objects were found. the australian prime minister, as you say, is coming out and saying this publicly, briefing the parliament, which does suggest that this evidence, which he describes as credible, indeed could be that link we have been looking for after so many days. now,

andrew stevens joins us now on the line from perth, australia. the sighting of these two relatively big floating objects with the other smaller objects could very well prove to be a break through in the search for flight 370. but how long is it likely to take to confirm what these suspicious objects are exactly? >> reporter: that's the question, rosemary. if you look at what -- it could be longer than we think. you remember back to two or three days ago when a jet spotted debris in the water. that was two days ago, yet we still don't know anything more about that debris. but i can tell you this obviously -- [ indiscernible ] it is in the target zone. it is in the area of interest. it is not far from the satellite images which have been released by the australians and the chinese. the chinese aircraft took photographs of those two objects you're talking about. that aircraft is now returning to perth here. and other military aircraft have been dispatched to that search zone. so at this stage, it could be a breakthrough, if it's still -- [ indiscerni

andrew stevens is monitoring developments in perth, australia, this morning. and andrew, it has got to be so frustrating and so dispiriting for the pilots who knew sort of where this debris was, especially because of the pings that were picked up, the last ping being in the indian ocean. the odds of finding this promising debris, it's got to go down significantly, no? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, so close and yet so far on that debris. it was spotted by an australian air force plane. they dropped flares nearby. there were two shapes of interest and they actually gave the colors, a green-gray round shape and a rectangular orange shape. they put flares in. they had a navy ship close by. that was combing near for four hours before night set and then the dirty weather set in and they didn't find it. very frustrating for air crews that they can't get back out there and search. the australian defense minister paid a surprise visit to the air base here in west australia, where i am, and there's a lot of whispers going around the press crew here that he was going to give

andrew stevens live for us this morning in perth, australia. >> of course, right now, as andrew talked about, how bad the weather is. everyone is waiting for the weather to clear so that the air search for flight 370 can resume once again. jennifer gray is tracking conditions in the south indian ocean for us. and i know in a moment, you're going to get to wave heights, which is one of the many problems. >> yeah, it is one of the problems. and you have to remember, in the southern hemisphere, we're going into fall and winter, so it's going to be even more rare to get these windows of opportunity as the weather continues to deteriorate over the next couple of weeks. so, we need to get in that area as soon as we can, and it looks like we're going to have a clearing as we get into the weekend, which is good news. we had a very strong front move through. it brought in some very heavy rains, brought in low visibility, very high waves. and then you have to add on top of that the swells as we go through the next couple of days. conditions will begin to

cnn's andrew stevens is live with me right now. where you are, a difficult night for all those family members. i know there was a lot of frustration early on, they weren't getting any information. what is the malaysian airlines passing on to families now? >> reporter: what they're saying to families is we are here to support you. what they can't say is what happened because they just don't know. they're saying they can't rule out. but they're being very cautious about what they are saying. they've told a news conference about two hours ago that they have got in touch with the next of kin of everybody on that plane. and they're offering to fly them either to kuala lumpur or here to beijing. they've got nearly 100 people up here now from malaysia looking after the people, 154 chinese nationals were on that flight. they are in a hotel. they're being looked after by malaysian airlines. they've been kept away from the press. there's an enormous press pack outside that hotel. there was frustration earlier. obviously that comes from just t

i'm joined by andrew stevens, live in perth, australia. andrew, now two satellite images, new satellite data from france focusing and showing some possibly large pieces of debris in that area. has that changed the search or increased any hopes that they're going to find something? >> it's increased hopes they're going to find something, jim. the australian prime minister was sounding very hopeful this morning, talking about the credible new leads in the satellite images coming from china and also the debris that pallet you talked about. now we have the new information coming via malaysia from the french, tantalizing, though, we don't know whether this new satellite image, this new object is in the same zone close to where the australians located their two objects and the chinese two days later saw their single object. we don't know how close it is to that. certainly there is a sense here and it has pretty much kept up through the day despite the fact that all planes returned blank, empty handed from the search, there is a sense of optimism

andrew stevens is live in perth. andrew, what's the latest?ou that that new zealand airplane has now landed at this airbase behind me. we don't know what were on those images. the pictures were taken. we need the eyes on identification. they won't get there until late tomorrow afternoon. there have been so many twists and turns in this story. today a radical new turn. this morning a major shift in the search for wreckage. australia moving their focus just over 680 miles northeast of the most recent search area. australian authorities crediting the shift to what they describe as new and credible radar information. >> this continuing analysis indicates the plane was traveling faster than was previously estimated resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing the possible distance it traveled south into the indian ocean. >> this revelation moves the search hundreds of miles closer to australia's coast giving reconnaissance planes more than the previous one to two hours of search time. >> the new search area, although more focused than before, rem

. >> the search operation is still based in perth australia and our andrew stevens is there live with the latest. and quite a surprise from the folks running the search there when they made this announcement a couple of hours ago, andrew. >> that would be an understatement, natalie. quite an extraordinary turn of events given that there was so much effort and energy being focused in that -- in an ever-narrowing area of the southern end of the southern corridor down there in the indian ocean. then to suddenly come out and say that, in fact, the real area of interest is some 700, 1,100 kilometers north is now due west of perth so that is a major, major move and this is what they australian transportation investigation chief had to say about the reasons behind it. >> the new information is based on continuing analysis of radar data about the aircraft's movement between the south china sea and the strait of malacca before radar contact was lost. this continuing analysis indicates the plane was traveling faster than was previously estimated resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing th

andrew stevens joins us.e know that there are already planes in the air over this new region. >> reporter: we should point out this is about the size of poland. about it is 320,000 square kilometers. there are planes on that scene. we don't know whether they've seen anything. this new search area is quite a lot closer to the mainland of australia. so search planes can stay on location longer but it is an extraordinary new twist. we've been talking about credible new information from the southwestern part, where that search has been focused. for the past week we've been getting a steady trickle of satellite images coming to us. objects being spotted in the sea. so for the families, it must be bewildering to suddenly see these credible leads all amming to nothing. the whole search switching. 600 miles away. that question was actually put to the australian authorities a couple hours ago about that search in the southern sector and whether it was worth it at all. this is what they had to say. >> we have not seen

our andrew stevens on the scene in perpth, when the first plane came in after a disappointing search. >> reporter: it's day two now of the australian-led search for missing flight 370, deep in the southern parts of the indian ocean. and what we're looking at here is the first of the search planes returning, about 4:00 this friday afternoon, after a grueling 12 hours searching. at this stage, we don't know whether they have actually seen anything, but indications suggest they haven't. as we wait for the crew to get off this plane, we're going to start moving down to where we hope the pilots or spokesmen, at least, will make a statement on what they saw today. as you walk along here, this isn't quite a remarkable sight. the media has actually been allowed inside the perimeter for the first time. usually we have been kept right outside the base. but the royal australian air force has allowed the media to come in, and not only to come in, to actually -- what it looks like, get access to the pilots, to the crew. >> we are going out on station today and had really good weather, actually, co

andrew stevens is in perth, australia. obviously the weather not helpful. what happens tomorrow in terms of the q and whether these flights can go? >> reporter: well, we wait and see whether these flights with cake off the in the morning, candy. at this stage of the day, it's just turned midnight p -- so another trip out tomorrow for at least air aircraft that will be joined by two chinese aircraft as well. but it's interesting talking to the pilots coming back and our own brooke baldwal kate bolduan off the final delight tonight, she was out for something like two hours for the flight there and back, and she was saying the weather -- visibility in some states were virtually zero, cloud right down to sea level. that's something'd heard from other pilots as well. then it clearcleared. so it's still patchy. those planes are rugged workhorses, particularly the military ones. the corporate jets going in, these military workforces, they can get a lot of sophisticated radar, but we keep hearing from australian officials it's all about eyes on. they want visual th

let's get andrew stevens on the line. it seems these objects were spotted by an air crew. what are the details? >> we are getting details now, john. this is from the shinia news agency. and the crews reported seeing two relatively big objects with smaller ones around in a radius of several kilometers. that would be a big debris field. objects of great interest at the moment. that plane, that chinese water plane is heading back to perth. controlling that target zone. and for more planes to go back where it was. trying to verify what is in the water there. this is the second eyes-on report, if you'd like, we've had in the last two or three days. we had a corporate jet, with debris, including a wooden pallet, that hasn't been identified since. now, the chinese, they're sorting out in the area, two of their long-range spotter aircraft. have found something out there. they call it flotation objects in the southern indian ocean. we don't know how far away those objects are from previous sightings. but the debris and the satellite images that have been provided by the australians

cnn's andrew stevens is in perth, australia, the hub of the crew. andrew, the weather was good today. we were hoping for something. >> reporter: that's right, carol. the weather was better than good, it was excellent. visibility really, really good out over that search zone, but the five aircraft who came out there all came back empty handed. not a sighting of anything resembling a piece of debris which fits what we know about those two objects lying in the water somewhere in that zone. a very disappointing day. the pilots themselves expressing disappointment. also saying they're ready to get out there and do it all again tomorrow. now what we have been hearing today to add to that disappointment is the australian prime minister, carol, seems to be dialing back a little bit. 24 hours ago, a little bit longer than that, he said there was credible new information about these objects. today he was saying -- admitting they could be a shipping container. he said i had to get that information out there because the families of the people who are missing des

we are not much further forward than 24 hours ago. >> andrew stevens reporting from kuala lumpur. 48 aircraft from the refer on friday. it is early saturday morning in malaysia. tom forman has a virtual look at the search efforts. hello. >> it is getting bigger and bigger. we will talk about this a little bit. the search area that we thought would be small has gone bigger and bigger. it took off here and you orient yourself to where you are and it vanished less than an hour in. since then the search area exploded. you would think it would make sense, but then as the other reports came in t started spreading across land to the other areas over here. now the andaman island is a string of islands that stretch for about 500 miles. about 500 islands too. one of the big questions you have been sdhag is a gosking iss the bits of information come in, even if it were true and the plane went that way, could it do so unnoticed and could it wind up in another part of the sea? this is a satellite image. there two air fields in the andamans that are big enough for a plane like this to land. this i

for more on the search, let's get back to cnn's andrew stevens in perth, australia. rustrating. more resources on the way. the sun has set here. do we expect a similar search tomorrow? >> the p-8 is still in the air and it's going to be landing very, very soon, kate. as you say, it has been a frustrating and disappointing day here. the really worrying thing about this search that no one saw any object during is the fact that visibility was very, very good. conditions were just about perfect. that's what the pilots have been telling us today. we've got some rare access to the great conditions. nothing in the water. with that good visibility there are still enormous challenges facing the searches. >> reporter: the search intensifying overnight in the southern indian ocean, one of the most remote locations on earth. five planes scouring the area to get a closer look at pieces of debris revealed in these satellite images. four military aircraft, including one u.s. navy p-8 poseidan plane dispatched on staggered intervals, some 1500 miles southwest of perth, australia. it

let's go to andrew stevens in kuala lumpur.action to this news, this information from the chinese government, and tell us as somebody who covers that part of the world and the chinese government what your best guest is in terms of what this vetting process was before the chinese government would release this information. >> well, that's the interesting question. i was actually in beijing. i went to beijing when the flight disappeared. and it was very quickly apparent that this was going to be from a top-down approach a major priority to sort out what was going on by the chinese. the chinese president himself, xi jinping, said he wanted an all-out effort to find this plane. what strikes me is if these images were taken on sunday, it is now wednesday and now surfacing. my question is has the malaysian government been made aware of them before? i was at a press conference here about four hours before. the chinese ambassador was sitting in the front row of that press conference. he wasn't talking, wouldn't say anything about how th

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>> andrew stevens reporting for us from kuala lumpur. this flight, 370, the search crews, they're facing a daunting task looking for the aircraft. they're combing the vast indian ocean right now for traces of the plane. they'll be guided by lessons from past air disasters. cnn's pamela brown has been looking into this part of the story for us. what are you learning? >> we're learning every crash is different, but we've been speaking to aviation experts and planes are like tin cans, when they break up or fill up with water, they sink, but there are enough parts of the plane with buoyancy that could provide clues as to where the wreckage is. it was called a miracle because u.s. airways pilot sully sullenberger pulled off the seemingly impossible safely crash landing his passenger-packed jet in one piece on the hudson river. >> kudos to him, man, did a great job. >> reporter: most of the time is wreckage is not in one piece, debris scatters, some sinking, some floating. >> life jackets could be in there, seat cushions, anything in the bins

thanks so much, andrew stevens in beijing. we appreciate it. >>> joined now on the phone by cnn aviation expert richard quest. richard, i am intrigued by the notion that's now popping up in various stories that this plane might have and could have disintegrated in air at 35,000 feet. >> candy, pretty much from the moment this story began, those who cover those sort of things pretty much say this was a very real possibility. and the reason for that is the lack of information from the aircraft itself. no mayday warning, no call from the cockpit. but also no telemetry being sent automatically by the aircraft. these planes are built and structured so they're constantly sending information to air traffic control, radar, and to the airline itself for maintenance. the complete lack of information, even on this term, the malaysian royal air force is talking about, this rumor that the plane or that radar track that the plane turned around, that should have been telegraphed out by the plane. and so what's coming to -- what people are st

. >> thank you, andrew stevens from just outside perth. we'll be speaking with andrew in about 30 minutes from now for yet another update. meantime, we're following developments in kuala lumpur. i guess this is an emotional roller coaster ride for the families and the friends of those who were on board this plane. relief and all sorts of emotions now running through their minds. >> yeah, they've had their hopes raised and crushed so many times. so i think they're taking this cautiously, this news. what we understand what the further of one of the passengers on board, he spoke briefly to the press, saying simply that he and other family members have been notified of this finding by malaysia airlines authorities, but they have not been fully briefed. they will get a fuller briefing later tonight is our understanding. he also said he couldn't speak for other family members, that he personally still had some hope of finding everybody on board safely, but obviously with this latest news, they are also preparing for the worst. he said whatever ha

i want to bring in andrew stevens live in perth, australia. this is the closest land point to where this search is now going on, some 1,400 miles, andrew from where that debris has been spotted. >> reporter: that's right. it's still a long way from where that debris was found. i'm at the pearce air force base here, just on the outskirts of the state capital, perth. and this is the staging post for the surveillance aircraft. there's australian aircraft, new zealand, and u.s. aircraft involved as well. by our reckoning, the first flight went out at 6:00 this morning, and these are round about ten-hour flights, so the first flight should be landing fairly soon. we haven't heard anything in those ten hours from the actual flights, which are over that area, what they have seen. the only thing we've heard is a tweet saying that radar images had picked up something from the u.s. p-8 poseidon aircraft. that was a couple hours ago. we haven't heard anything since. there are eyes on the area, not necessarily on the actual floating objects yet, but we kno

let's start with andrew stevens who is live in perth, australia, where it is a race against time to get visual confirmation of what those objects are in the water. andrew, you were telling us that the planes are still out there but what do we know so far from your vantage point? >> well, it's been interesting, kate. that tweet you mentioned, that's really frustrating development for the searchers, rain and low cloud hampering visibility there. we've had four planes from australia, new zealand and the u.s. out on that target area. the area that the australian prime minister says is new and credible. underlying credible information. that's come frgt priing from th minister's office, the highest office in the land. there is a lot of hope this will lead to something. there is still that hope that something will be found. >> all right, we lost andrew for now. the obvious question is does this debris actually mean crews are any closer to finding the jet liner? if it is the plane, what does it say about how it got there? let's bring in richard quest. >> goochlt. >> good morning. >> the most im

andrew stevens is live in perth, australia, where the search operation is based. esources now being diverted to find this new object? >> they will be when the search starts tomorrow, no doubt. the search has ended for the day here. it's now 11:00 in the evening. all of the six aircraft that went out came back empty handed as it were, but that was well before we got this news about the chinese picking up this object of interest. not that far from where the satellite pictures were taken by the australians of those two other objects. now, remember, that it's been six or seven days now since the pictures were taken of those objects still no news on that which does suggest that this still could be a long haul. certainly the crews will be out early tomorrow. interestingly, randi, there are two chinese aircraft, military aircraft, right here at this australian air force base just outside perth. they're going to be joining the search tomorrow. their cape bls is optical equipment so if they can establish where this large object is, they may well be able to identify, as well

. >> australia's search operations are centered just outside perth and andrew stevens joins us there live with more on this. where does the search stand right now? which planes are in the air and how far away are the naval assets? >> there's a total of four planes on this search now, john. and as we stand here, three are still in the air. the idea is to keep eyes on that site. those two objects in the deep southern indian ocean, to keep eyes on them as long as possible. at the moment, there's a us poseidon plane on that site, but they can only stay for two hours. they have to get back to base, which is a four-hour flight. so they're staggering the flights out of this base behind me at the moment on the outskirts of perth. got about five or so hours of daylight, and they'll be using every available second of daylight to try to locate these objects, this debris. still a very difficult task. john young did keep coming back to this point, that it's still a very difficult task, not helped, john, by weather conditions there, either. poor visibility, the actual sea conditions have been desc

andrew stevens reporting for us from kuala lumpur. all of this certainly leaves loved ones of the passengers in excruciating limbo, uncertain of what has become of those on board flight 370 and 239 people were on board that flight. david mckenzie is joining us from beijing. you spoke with the partner of philip wood, one of the three americans on that aircraft. she tells you she believes wood is still alive, right? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. she's certain he's alive based on her logic and on her gut feel. sarah bajc is a former high powered businesswoman, she's now a teacher here in beijing. they were planning to move together to kuala lumpur soon before -- soon after this plane vanished, and she says she believes he's alive and well somewhere out there. >> the entire u.s. population is reliving things like 9/11 in this experience, right? if an unthinkable thing can happen even after we've taken all these precautions, what could happen next? this is a planned activity. somebody wants to do something and make a message out of it.

andrew stevens, if i can start, how jarring, how