minister saying he's confident this is the black box they are hearing, but then you have, you know, angus houstonhappening. what's going on here? how confident should we be in any of this information? >> i think the head investigator angus is the person you want to take the details from. what you are getting from the prime minister is a general statement that all of the information taken together gives him -- he didn't say it that clearly but i think what he is trying to say is a politician's sort of high-level take on the investigation. they are confident that what they are seeing now is the black box, even putting the fifth ping, potential ping aside. you are looking to the chief investigators for the details. we now learned the fifth ping is not likely from the black box. we have seen the search area sort of constrict. it gets tighter and it does give us, from what we are seeing, confidence they are narrowing in on the appropriate area where they will be able to recover it. >> mike, you have had data. you have been stresses mrsat data. you heard the family member saying he wants them and boein

i still think -- angus houston is there because his boss is there. it's his boss that's having the press conference, and i'm still thinking it's more political. >> however, he is the man with the plan. i want to bring in the team of the experts. richard quest is with me. geoffrey thomas, editor in chief of airlineratings.com. lieutenant colonel michael kay. jeff wise, the author of "extreme fear: the science of your mind in danger." jim tilmon, a retired american airlines pilot. and steven marks, an aviation attorney, who represents the families of another disaster, air france flight 447. again, we're expecting that news conference to happen at any moment now from the joint agency coordinate, center chief angus houston, along with a minister for defense, senator david johnson. geoffrey thomas, you're there in perth. >> am i still needed? >> yes, you are still needed. >> i'm still on. >> you didn't introduce me. i thought i was talking to your producer, i apologize. >> you need no introduction, bill nye. we're going to need you as well. >> we can find

angus houston said, yes. to remember that air france came in at 34 kilohertz, because of the pressure of the ocean, the depth, the age of the batteries, it can change the transmission level. do you concur? >> well, there's an easy way to find out. i would suggest that we do an experiment as part of this investigation by dropping new working pingers into this part of the ocean, and measure the characteristics, the frequence, and the variation from one to another, to see whether these agree with our observations. in other words, what i'm saying is, let's have a real reference in this part of the ocean, and to see whether what we are observing is something that is credible as a pinger representation, where we are. >> bill nye, as a science person, you want a controlled experiment, so to speak, to make sure that they are on to something and see where they come in. would you recommend that as well? >> well, if we have the resources. but as an engineer, i would say, if you have this datum from a couple of years ago

we really heard a difference there from angus houston. he was basically lowering expectations saying, they might not find anything. >> i think obviously he is very cognizant of the relatives, of those on board. very, very careful about the rhetoric. possibly we have not appreciated the interest from around the world. i'm talking about the politicians here that have been sort of saying, look, i'm very, very confident of this or that. i mean, we have literally hundreds of millions of people hanging over single word that is uttered by a politician relating to this disappearance. and the malaysians as we know have found themselves in a little bit of strife over this. so angus houston is very, very careful to keep a lid on expectations. because, and also, preparing us for the fact this could be a very, very long search. >> that's the way it is looking. many thanks to you for joining us and showing your analysis. i want to go to malaysia now for reaction to today's press conference. nic robertson is in kuala lumpur and joins us now. it was a co

. >> air chief marshal angus houston there calling this a great lead. he is now confident that they will in fact find what is left of the aircraft in the not too distant future. and that timeline really depending on how much time they decide to devote to continue to try to find anymore pings from what they believe to be black box or flight data recorders. once they determine that there is no more point or anymore trolling along the surface of the water using the devices that they have, they will deploy the autonomous underwater vehicles to use the sonar to try to map the floor and bring back the wreckage. i want to bring back david souci, boeing captain, and aviation analyst, and private pilot, miles o'brien, former inspection director mary sciavo, and a former cnn analyst, david gallo, he co-led the search for air france flight 447. let's put the map up that was just released in that press conference on the screen. i mean, richard as you look at this what jumps out at you? explain what you're seeing here. >> right, what you're looking at is the various

that is the man in charge, angus houston -- hold on. let's see what he has to say. >> on the operation of the underwater vehicle, captain matthews, mark matthews from the u.s. navy has kindly made himself available for one-on-one interviews. thank you very much. >> all right. so basically, the reporters who are in the room will be able to get personal interviews with some of the people involved in the search. lots of information coming out from this. i will introduce my panel and then go over it. joining me now is paul ginsburg, less abend and brian todd is on the phone with me. let's go over some of this information and then discuss it. he said, 38 days -- or 39, depending on how you're counting here, no sound of a -- it is day 38 but it has been about five days since they heard anything that was an acoustic event here. the four signals are the most promising lead that they have. he said the "ocean shield" will cease to use the towed pinger in that location. they will pull that towed pinger up and they will drop the blue fin 21 with th

angu. houston's comments. what was said. >> today, i can report some very encouraging information which has unfolded over the last 24 hours. the pinger locater deployed from the australian defense vessel, ocean shield has deequitected signals consistent with those emitted from aircraft black boxes. two separate signals occurred in the northern part of the defined search area. the first detection was held for approximate approximate lyly tw minutes t ship then lost contact before attempting to reacquire the signal. the second detection on the return leg was held for approximately 13 minutes. on this occasion, two distinct pinger returns were audible. significantly, this would be consistent with transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. i need to be honest with you, it could take some days before the information is available to establish whether these detections can be confirmed as being from mh-370. in very deep ocean water, nothing happens fast. the satellite has essentia

angus houston that he was optimistic. his concern that the wreckage would be found on the ocean floor. that could still happen but angus houston is a man that isn't given to raising false hopes. he said it is the next best option but it will be a long and tedious process. as i say, to search that for one day, i mean, if people have been to manhattan, for example, imagine looking for a laptop that might be buried. we're talking about these black boxes. imagine looking for a laptop that maybe built in silt in the dark over the whole area of manhattan. that's just one pass. they've got their job cut out for them. i suppose their biggest hope is that they might find a large piece of wreckage. that will give them something they can work with. the ocean shield does have the assistance of hms echo. it has a two kilometer wide scanning ability. looking for anything hard on the ocean floor that could prove to be wreckage. >> the magnitude of this search operation is just extraordinary. hard to grasp statements. making holmes repor

we saw angus houston's press conference last saturday. that then led to the australian defense prime minister having a sort of smaller press conference. and now we see tony abbot on the international stage talking with increased optimism. i'd also say that i don't think we will be seeing tony abbot with this optimism if he hadn't consulted with those other five countries that form part of the team under this investigation. that is the u.k., u.s., china, malaysia, and france. >> okay. jeff wise, let me ask you this then -- is there -- is there the chance, of course there's a chance, but how likely is it that angus houston would not have the same information that tony abbot had, and that was lead to this breakdown and conflict in messaging. >> it's hard to understand personally to understand the nature of the messaging that we're getting from the australians. you know, objectively speaking, this is day 35 of what's shaping up to be the most expensive search for an aircraft in history. and what do we have to show for it -- nothing. we've got

wyy@ angus houston there. and also new analysis of the first two signals indicate they did come from an electronic device, and are consistent with the ping of a flight data recorder. the location of the pings has officials tightening the focus of the search under water and on the surface. >> but they're still throwing many assets at this today as we speak. 14 aircraft and ships are working in about a thousand square kilometers. >> but authorities say it is still too soon to deploy the navy bluefin robotic vehicle. they wanted to find the search area with as many pings as possible before the batteries in the beacon die out. >> that is correct, let's get more information from perth, australia, where we find erin mclaughlin. truly, erin, an incredible turn of events. we are right at the edge of battery life for the black boxes. just walk us through what mr. houston announced moments ago. >> that is right, errol, very encouraging news announced this morning. they are now confident houston says that they are search

angus houston will hold a news conference. expect any big announcements from this press conference? >> hi, don. well, no topic for this press conference was given, but angus houston doesn't call a press conference every day. when he has in the past, it's intended to have involved some rather dramatic announcements. now, we know from a joint agency coordination center press statement this morning that there have been no new acoustic detections in the past 24 hours. and that the ocean shield, the australian vessel continues to comb those water, searching for any signs of pings. but many people here are wondering if it is, in fact, time to deploy the u.s. navy-provided blue fin 21, the underwater autonomous vehicle capable of searching the ocean floor for actual wreckage. now, australian authorities have not been in a rush to do that, saying they want to be absolutely certain the black box batteries have completely expire they have detected every ping there was to detect. why? because the more pings they can detect, the more info

here's angus houston. >> okay. good morning. i'm accompanied by the same team as on previous occasions. i'm pleased to be here to brief you today. today i can report some further encouraging information regarding the search for missing flight mh-370. on monday, i advised the pinger locater deployed by the ocean shield had detected signals consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes on two separate occasions. i can now tell you that ocean shield has been able to reacquire the signals on two more occasions. like yesterday afternoon, and late last night perth time. the detection yesterday afternoon was held for approximately five minutes and 32 seconds. the detection late last night was held for approximately seven minutes. ocean shield has now detected four transmissions in the same broad area. yesterday's signals will assist in better defining a reduced and much more manageable search area on the ocean floor. i believe we are searching in the right area, but we need to visually identify aircraft wreckage before we can c

angus houston said, yes. we have to remember that air france came in at 34 kilohertz, because of the pressure of the ocean, the depth, the age of the batteries, it can change the transmission level. do you concur? >> well, there's an easy way to find out. i would suggest that we do an experiment as part of this investigation by dropping new working pingers into this part of the ocean, and measure the characteristics, the frequence, and the variation from one to another, to see whether these agree with our observations. in other words, what i'm saying is, let's have a real reference in this part of the ocean, and to see whether what we are observing is something that is credible as a pinger representation, where we are. >> bill nye, as a science person, you want a controlled experiment, so to speak, to make sure that they are on to something and see where they come in. would you recommend that as well? >> well, if we have the resources. but as an engineer, i would say, if you have this datum from a couple of y

we saw angus houston's press conference last saturday. this then led to the australian defense prime minister having a sort of smaller press conference, and you in we see tony abbot on the international stage talking with increased optimism. i'd also say that i don't think we'd -- we would be seeing tony abbot with this optimism if he hadn't consulted with those other five countries that formed part of the team thunder investigation. that is the u.k., u.s., china, malaysia, and france. >> okay. jeff wise, let me ask you this then. is there the chance -- of course there's a chance, but how likely is it that -- that angus houston would not have the same information that tony abbott had? and that, you know, that was leading to this kind of breakdown and conflict in messaging? >> it's hard to really understand. personally, to understand the nature of the messaging that we're getting from the australians. you know, objectively speaking, this is day 35 of what's shaping up to be the most expensive search for an aircraft in history. and what do

i want you to listen to angus houston. this convinced him to take this seriously. >> this morning we were contacted by chinese authorities and advised that "haixun 01" had late yesterday redetected the signals to 90 seconds within just 2 kilometers of the original detection. >> this is what's heading to the place where the chinese ship heard those pings, the "ocean shield" with a very high tech navy detection device on board. headed to the area maybe. it's going to stay in the area where it is now because it, too, picked up a pink in its search location. one it investigates that, then it will possibly move to the new area where the chinese picked up two pings. also moving that way, the british navy ship "hms echo." that ship is about half a day away. officials stopped short of saying they were optimistic about these leads -- well, i think they said they were optimistic. angus houston said this is an important and urgent lead and we have to be careful with it. i think that's optimism. he did call these events an important a

that may be what angus houston may state again. or the situation may have changed. we don't know. >> tony abbott spoke a time ago and urged caution. >> my understanding is that they're unconfirmed and, look, the point i make is that -- we are hopeful but by no means certain. this is the most difficult search in human history. we are searching for an aircraft which is -- is at the bottom of a very deep ocean. and it's a very, very wide search area. so it's a very, very difficult search. and while we certainly are throwing everything we have at it and while the best brains and the best technology in the world will be deployed, we need to be very careful about coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon. >> tony abbott, the australian prime minister making those comments in tokyo. it's a huge search area but the search area is different today, the size and location. how do they decide where to send the boats and the ships especially after maybe hearing the pinger. >> they have been refining the search area based on updated analysis based on the data from the inmarsat

angus houston, the man responsible for coordinating this multinational search gave a press conferencearlier today in which he expressed his optimism. take a listen. >> but if you had asked me, let's say, when i arrived last sunday night, i would have been probably more pessimistic than i think now. i'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft. in the not too distant future. >> reporter: houston went on to say that the signal detected was weaker than the detections on saturday. and he said that was most likely because the battery of the black box pinger was likely expiring. has a shelf life of some 30 days. we're now on day 33. so the focus of this mission very much on the australian vessel, the "ocean shield" equipped with the american-operated towed ping locator, which is still out there scouring the waters trying to reacquire those signals. and that's really key to this effort right now. the more detections they have, the more information they have about the source, the location of the signal source. and that allowed them to narrow down a potent

at the same time, search leader angus houston says a fifth underwater sound heard thursday is probablyated to the plane. houston says as far as he knows there's been no major breakthrough. >>> the search continues today, 15 planes and 13 ships are covering about 47,000 square kilometers. >> tourists and residents are evacuating cities and towns along the northeastern coast of cuban cuban. and others -- of australia. and others are preparing for the arrival of a powerful cyclone. the storm has been upgraded to a category 5, the maximum, with wind gust up to 305 kilometers an hour. that's around 190 miles per hour. the cyclone's expected to make landfall tonight local time, north of cannes. forecasters say the torrential rains could cause widespread flooding. >> yeah. a a story we'll keep an eye on. >>> tech news now. google offering a special one-day sale on its internet-connected i wear, but it will not come cheap. it's allowing the public to buy google glass tuesday for $1,500 a pair. pretty steep. until now it's been available by invitation only. one important catch -- the deal appli

we just heard from angus houston who spoke about four hours ago now. but significant detail and time for people to absorb and digest what exactly it all means. talk to us about what people are saying and how this is affecting morale for the search, as well. >> reporter: this is a very encouraging press conference this morning. we now know that they are confident about -- they have even more confidence other rather, in the area that they are looking. angel yus houston saying that they've been able to reacquire the signals they first detected on saturday not once but twice. he did note that the signals that they detect read noticeably weaker -- detected are noticeably weaker than saturday's detections which would indicate most likely that the battery life on the black box pinger is expiring. it was set to actually expire at the 30-day mark. we're now day 32. so as a priority of of this mission, the "ocean shield," the australian vessel equipped with the american-operated towed pinger, locator, rather, is scouring the ocean very methodically, trying to re

angus houston, the man responsible for spearheading this international search effort say they have been able to reacquire those signals. first detected on saturday, that brought new hope to this search effort. they detected those signal, not once, but twice. the first time yesterday afternoon for some five minutes, 32 seconds. the second yesterday evening for a total of seven minutes. now, houston did note that these two signals were noticeably weaker than the signals that they detected on saturday. he said that that was most likely because the battery life on the black box pinger has expired. it was set to expire at 30-day mark. and it is now 32 day since this plane went missing. but at the moment, the ocean shield, the australian vessel is currently still out there combing the waters, equipped with the american-operated toad pinger locator, trying to reacquire this signal. they need more information, rather, they want more information to be able to narrow down this potential search feel. they're going to exhaust that effort until they're absolutely certain until the black box pinger h

angus houston, the man spearheading this multinational search effort saying these two new detection, the signals are noticeably weaker, were noticeably weaker than the prior detections made on saturday. he said that's most likely because the battery life on the black box pinger has expired or has reached its expiry date where it's set to expire in some 30 days, and we're now on day 32. so he said the priority now is for the australian vessel, the ocean shield to continue combing the waters equipped with that american-provided toad pinger locator, trying to detect any further signals. they're trying to get as much information as possible until they're absolutely certain that battery has completely run out. only then they say will they deploy the blue fin 21, the american provided underwater aton mouse vehicle to go down and try to look for any potential wreckage. but certainly, they are more confident about this location as being the most likely place where they'll find some wreckage. >> as you pointed out, the signal is getting weaker, and that's understandable given 33 days now. and

so angus houston was making the point in the news conference that it's going to take time. they will have to the wait at least 24 hours before ocean shield arrives in that area, before possibly we can get some more definitive information. >> let's talk a little more about they tried to control the information and have it come in one place out of australia, yet the chinese ended up breaking the story. >> yeah, they ended up breaking the story with the cctv reporter on board the "haixun 01" and there's a shanghai reporter on the ship. we started getting reports from the xinhua, the chinese based news agency and also from the reporter on board the "haixun 01." there was a question about the flow of information and why it was coming out of china first. and angus houston was saying, listen, when you've got reports are on ships, embedded on airplanes, he said he accepted the reality of that. but he was also diplomatic saying relationships are good, said he was very satisfied and very happy with the way both countries are sharing information. but to put this into context, natalie,

angus houston is there.haps you have some information that you might want to share with us before he comes out and gives his press briefing? >> yes, don. look, there is a sense that this announcement may have something to do with what the ocean shield has found or not found. the sense is that possibly it has found something or it has reconfirmed what i've found yesterday. approximately 12 hours ago, sorry, 24 hours ago, it located an anomaly, an acoustic event and it was left in the area. there is a bit of a sense that this announcement is going to relate to the ocean shield, whether it's actually found something or not. and maybe, maybe it has. maybe it has. >> yeah. we'll see. again, i think what is important and what is interesting here is that he said i will come out and brief you within the next couple days, he said, or when i get something new or worth telling you. richard quest, you picked up on that. we were both listening to him last night as he gave the press briefing around this time. >> it wouldn

angus houston was asked about that in the press conference earlier. he responded by saying the manufacturer says the findings are consistent with what we would expect from a black box pinger given the fact they are deep waters, 2.8 miles deep, as well as the fact that temperature could be a factor. the battery life also a factor. they still consider in the most promising lead they have so far. >> of course the focus has been on the efforts of the ocean shield an the u.s. pinger locater, but there are other searches underway in other areas. why is that? and explain to us what is going on. >> that's right. you have the chinese find from days previous. they detected their own signals them hms echo out there investigating that. right now authorities in perth are saying the ocean shield's finds are the most promising lead. 14 planes and 14 vessels out there scouring the waters in search of di debris. no sign of the plane so far. the efforts continuing in full force here in perth. people are hopeful we will eventually find this wreckage. rosemary? >> indeed

angus houston said they had some data that arrived only recently. did it sound to you they add new information and new line analysis on this old data? >> it does. like the other experts on the panel, great confidence in what we had. it was very measured, it was of beet and from what i am hearing, they are getting new data, being refined. and there seems to be an air of confidence that it is a big notion but we're getting closer and closer to where the airplane might be. >> i'm interested, you keep saying it is a real milestone in the investigation. specifically what bank is used in said to make you be so optimistic. >> you talk about the planning

we heard angus houston saying, look, everybody just take a breath.tion and say just because we're using the bluefin doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to find something. also we really was cautious in the way he talked about the area itself. once again, talking to us about this area being a search area that is new to man. >> right. it's very interesting. we're trying to parse the significance of this tone. last week he was on a very different note really saying he was very optimistic that this was, in fact, mh 370, really raising hopes. then we had day after day go without further pings and it seems we're in a different place emotionally right now. bear in mind also that the prime minister of australia went to china, spoke with the premiere there and he bore this message of hope, very crucial given that over 150 of the passengers are from china. there was a very hot emotional issue, bears directly on relations between australia and china, between malaysia and china. so it's very freighted, very important. >> so much at play here. mary, when we

got to see it to believe it, effective to what angus houston is saying. says from the outset he's got to see a sort of evidence, wreckage floor, on the ocean floor to believe it. consistency with that. >> thank you. it's been 37 days and no sign of malaysian airlines flight 370. what happens if the search comes up empty? my panel will discuss. that's next. discover card. hey there, i just got my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score... is that new? yup, you have our discover it card, so you get your fico® score on every statement. and, it's free. that's pretty cool of you guys. well, we just want to help you stay on top of your credit and avoid surprises. good. i hate surprises. surprise! whoa. is it your birthday? yep. cheers. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. free fico® credit score. get the it card at discover.com. ♪ led to the one jobhing you always wanted. at university of phoenix, we believe every education- not just ours- should be built around the career that you want. imagine that. crestor got more high-risk patient

angus houston said they had some data that arrived only recently. did it sound like they had new analysis on this old data? >> yes, it does, don. like the other experts on the panel, we have great competence in the address that we had. it was very measured. it was upbeat. and from what i'm hearing, they are getting new data. it is being refined. and there seems to be an air of confidence, that, sure, it's a big ocean, but we're getting closer and closer to where this airplane might be. >> i'm very interested, david, souci, you keep saying you think it's a real milestone in the investigation, and specifically what angus houston said to make you have that -- to be so optimistic? >> you talk about the planning and everything that was going into this and we've been suffering through that and the families have been suffering through that. but i want people ton when you're in an investigation, it's the planning that is so painful. now we have everything in place. it's a breath of fresh air at this point. at this point everything is in place, all the tools

angus houston specifically saying he did not believe it was from ships. however, there are other parts of the machinery that does have oil, more traditional oil. >> i guess my question is let's say it test positive. and there are other reasons you might have random fuel slicks around. so could they tell, well, this fuel pump filled up this jet, and therefore we can back into this is fuel from this flight? >> they will get very close. >> okay. >> there is not a -- they're going back to look at the origin and the source. of course, it's all gone now.

they have given up now, and as angus houston said, it's time to go under water. have a listen. >> the deployment of the autonomous underwater vehicle has the potential to take us a further step towards visual identification, since it offers a possible opportunity to detect debris from the aircraft on the ocean floor. i would caution you against raising hopes that the deployment of the autonomous underwater vehicle will result in the detection of the aircraft wreckage. it may not. however, this is the best lead we have and it must be pursued vigorously. >> it is a tedious process, too, as angus houston was cautioning people. it's a 24-hour effort to get this thing down, 2 hours down, 16 hours at walking pace, where it maps the ocean floor using that side-scan sonar, 2 hours back up again and another 4 hours to download and analyze the data it gets, then they start all over again. the first sweep will probably be about 40 square kilometers, you know, 15 square miles, say. but when you think about it this way, it's like looking for, when you talk about a black box,

i want to play a clip for you, this is the australian air chief marshal angus houston talking.to what he says. then we'll discuss. >> a short time after the sixth exchange, there was another exchange with a slightly different signal. this was a matter of, i think, about eight minutes after the sixth ping. and the expert team considered this as very significant. they think something happened at that stage and we assess that that's about where the aircraft would have run out of fuel. >> so the pings that were detected by the u.s. navy towed ping locator approximately where the plane probably would have run out of fuel, this sounds like they're on to something extremely significant. >> absolutely no doubt. what he's talking about where the famous inmarset handshakes. we know they were at every hour except that last one, wolf. that last one was just eight minutes later. we also know from handshakes earlier that there was a handshake every hour all where there's some event. possibly major change in altitude. where the airplane tries to reconnect to the satellite. what he's saying is

another one says, i mean, listen to angus houston last night.hink that the way he put it, he will not go that final leg and say, this is the place, until he has seen real hard debris. and he says that because the families deserve the closure and the closure only comes with the certainty. but you have to be -- there comes a point, i think, when you've got to say when you'vera experts saying it is not -- it's manmade, it's electronic, it's 1.106, it's in the right frequency range, and it is consistent with a flight data recorder. it would be perverse of nonexperts like me to say we think they're wrong. >> good point. richard. our chief national security correspondent, jim is in beijing with the secretary of defense, chuck hagel. they spoke about this search. listen to what the defense secretary said. >> it's an immense search area. we think it's been narrowed, but i can't give you a forecast on what they may come up with, what they may not. there's been some new evidence here that maybe these new and emerging sounds will lead to something, but it'

>> i feel a more confident listening to my colleague angus houston.ays ago when they were talking about larger areas, i thought it would be quite remarkable if they found this black box. you've got to remember the air france aircraft that went in, we knew where it was within a couple of days. it still took something on the order of two years to find the black box. even when we find the wreckage, we still have a job to find the black box. originally the reports were that the water was very deep. i don't know whether the new search area is that deep, but it's hard to search at those depths. so if they do find it, i think it will be remarkable. >> david soucie, if it has been submerged, what is the chance that the beacon is still sending out pings? let's take a listen to the sound and we'll talk. how likely are they to hear that, david? >> well, i'll tell you what, that sound you're hearing, don, is just a simulation of what's heard. that's not really what the pinger locater hears. it's a loud sound, and it can be sensitive down to a very long distance.

how did angus houston answer those questions that journalist saying that if it isn't the black boxesrom mh-370, what could it possibly be? >> he did point to the fact that sound travels strangely in these deep ocean waters. so they want to be certain, he is insisting that they find the actual wreckage, and that will be verification that this is in fact, the missing plane. rosemary? >> and that is is certainly the next part of this investigation. it's just after 3:00 in the afternoon in perth, australia. thanks to you, errol? >> how are families of passengers reacting to the latest developments. the story broke, and the relatives, as we have been talking about now, they have seen debris in the south china sea and the southern indian ocean all turn out to be nothing. i'm curious how relatives are responding to this news? >> it's been a roller coaster ride for them. and they have had their ups and downs and their desperations today, some were already saying with this news, i have lost hope. others hear the news and they want to believe it and they say, i'm not convinced until and unless

much more optimistic yesterday than they were a week ago, with the words of angus houston, the official who's heading up the multi-national search teams. but there's going to be a news conference here over the course of the next hour with the australian defense minister. he'll be giving a statement as well, after meeting with base officials and meeting with the search teams as well, getting a briefing from them. he'll be answering questions from the media. an gust houston will be next in and potentially give us some detail as well. so we're hoping to get some more clarity in the coming hour or so about what exactly has been found, have they managed to verify it, at the moment, we understand from the u.s. seventh fleet, which is, of course, the part of the u.s. navy that lent the very sophisticated monitoring quimonitor ing equipment to the ship that detected these pings, that so far they haven't managed to reacquire those pings. they can't find them anymore. they monitored them for 2 hours on one occasion and 13 minutes on another occasion, but that was a day or so ago, and there haven'

at the same time, search leader angus houston says there has been no major breakthrough.ursday is unlikely to be related to

>> it is interesting, angus houston, the man heading up this search. it was interesting he saw the search winding down in the next few days. well, it continues, there is another pace. with planes up there, and in fact we have a crew on one of them. and we'll get more on the report from miguel marquez about that flight. and crews had searched before where you remember a chinese vessel reported a ping which turned out to be nothing. but they're going down there and re-visiting that particular area because of the sea patterns and the way the currents have moved, they have shut that down. no word on they have found. >>> and nic robertson in kuala lumpur. we saw numbers, nic, in terms of the cost of this search. nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. is that a projected cost or is that up until right now? day 42? >> reporter: yeah, that is the projected cost, bill. it basically says look, when this current search area which is a limited area is done, if nothing is found there then there will be another search area back along the arc of the sort of satellite

what the head of the search operation, though, here, angus houston, is saying that so far, throughout the course of this day, there's been no real significant breakthrough in the search. they're still continuing to scour the indian ocean by air, and of course, in that very much more limited search area about 1,000 miles or so off the coast of western australia, john. >> so, angus houston leading the search, sort of tempering the enthusiasm right now at the same time that the prime minister of australia really seems to be raising hopes that they are getting very, very close. matthew chance for us in perth this morning. thank you so much. >> so, as for the investigation into why flight 370 flew off course, this morning malaysian officials are poring over data after revealing to cnn that the jet dropped altitude and disappeared from radar after crossing over malaysia. senior international correspondent nic robertson broke this part of the story. he's been working it ever since. he's in kuala lumpur for us this morning. looks like his shot is a little dodgy. are we going to get nic? sound

remember, this is an area unknown to man, as angus houston said. they don't have accurate charts on just how deep it is, so it was probably a surprise to them when they realized, wow, this is deeper than we thought. >> i want to go back to perth, jeffrey thomas is joining us from perth, editor in chief of airlineratings.com. what's the latest you're hearing as far as this underwater search is going on? you're there on the scene, jeffrey. >> reporter: indeed, wolf. look, the way it's been described to me is that this first mission that was aborted, this is more of a shakedown mission to see what the operating environment is at the very bottom. echo has actually been in the area for quite some time, over a week, and it has been with ocean shield. as ocean shield was towing the pinger through, echo would follow it and do some mapping, although its echo sounding of the bottom is not nearly as accurate as sending something down right down to the bottom, 4,500 meters. and as described to me, they are adjusting bluefin-21, they are tweaking it, and, of co

angus houston stepping up to the podium now. let's listen in. >> okay. good afternoon. first of all, i'd like to start by introducing. i have mom door petey, the commander of the task force that is is doing all the great search work out at sea. armstrong from the atsb. and mike barton from amsa. over on the left, i also have our subject matter expert on underwater salvage and rescue. and that's captain matthews from the u.s. navy. he will be available for one-on-one interviews at the end of the press conference. well, good afternoon. yesterday i outlined a number of leads we were pursuing in relation to the search, the missing malaysian airlines flight mh 370. namely, the electronic pulse signals detected by the chinese ship haixun 01, and an acoustic noise being pursued by the vessel ocean shield in her current location. i stated that the ocean shield would be delayed from going to the approximate area where the haixun 01 had detected the signals while she continued her own investigations. today i can report some very encouraging information which has unfolded over the

angus houston didn't go that far. you know -- >> can i finish the point -- >> no, i need to get jeffrey because we're going to lose him. we will learned that this piece of sheet metal found on the coast of australia doesn't appear to be part of the plane. do you expect more cases like this, jeffrey thomas, as time goes by? >> look, as time goes by, i'm actually certain that on the coast of western australia people are going to start picking up bits and pieces as we go along. but getting back to what you're saying, don, and backing up here, i mean, everything leads us to where these pings are. and certainly 90% of the strongest ping, we haven't found something. there's wing pun -- ping one, ping three, and ping four. there's a long way to go before we write this off as the wrong area. i think we need to give it a little more time. >> i wanted to make sure i got jeff flee there. michael kaye, what did you want to say? >> jeffrey is absolutely on the money. we've not checked this area to the full extent. if you look at t

angus houston is the chief coordinator behind this multinational search operation. he gave a press conference earlier today in which he talked about these new detections. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i can now tell you that "ocean shield" has been able to reacquire the signals on two more occasions. like yesterday afternoon, and like last her time. a detection team yesterday afternoon was held for approximately 5 minutes and 32 seconds. the detection late last night was held for approximately 7 minutes. >> houston saying that those detections noticeably weaker than the signals detected on saturday. and he says that's most likely because the batteries on the black box pinger likely to expire. they have a shelf life of 30 day. we are now on day 33. he said the priority right now is for the australian vessel, the ocean shield, to continue combing those waters, with the american towed ping locator to try and get more information to narrow down that potential search field so they then can deploy the bluefin 21, the u.s.-provided autonomous underwater vehicle t

angus houston has been in contact with some of those family members and he is being as cautious with them as he is being with us, but at the same time he is saying these leads will be categorically and methodically either verified or discounted and it's so much more than we had just a few hours ago. so definitely the last 24 hours very crucial in this investigation. natalie? >> yes. and 24 hours ago we were automobiall saying, well, according to what we know about the batteries, this could be it, it could be in the final hours of finding anything. that's really remarkable. you've been talking to some of the families and you interviewed a wife missing her husband. what has been the response of the families lately of the back-and-forth they heard and how might they be handling this? >> you can imagine just what a roller coaster it is. danica weeks, who i spoke to the other day and who i've been in contact with through this entire week, the roller coaster, her last words to me were are they even looking in the right place? now she has least some hope that they are. danica had a conversa

i mean angus houston is really a man of few words. he will only draw us together when he has something significant to announce. at the same time, a lot of the information has to be processed and analyzed. i think clearly when they have something to say they will say it. i don't want to sort of raising false hopes or that sort of thing. so i don't think there's anything significant at all. from what i'm hearing, off the record, they are absolutely certain they are above the final resting place of mh-370. clearly they want some definitive thing, like a piece of wreckage, a piece of debris to say yes we have absolutely found it. off the record, they are absolutely certain. >> mike dean, what does your gut say -- were yesterday's pings the last pings we are going to get? how much could be left in the batteries? >> certainly could be more battery life and we hope they are not the last pings, but again as we continue to track and try to triangulate to a smaller search field, it's very encouraging that we are still getting some feedback from

earlier there were comments from the head of the australian search team, angus houston.e a listen to what he had to say. >> we have not searched everywhere where the aircraft might have gone. i mean, we are concentrating in an area that has been developed as a consequence of the analysis. >> reporter: so, it's what they're calling the area of highest probability. it's a huge area still, more than 80,000 square miles. it's vast and it's very remote. and of course, after 28 days, despite their efforts, they still found absolutely no trace whatsoever of this missing airliner. >> no trace. just, you know, ocean garbage, basically. all of these things we've been watching and tracking. it must be so frustrating for the pilots when they're coming in. >> reporter: yeah, incredibly frustrating. in fact, over the course of the last few hours, an australian -- sorry, a japanese search team here in australia has been briefing journalists on what they've seen. they say that since the beginning of their search efforts, they've spotted a number of objects and then reported them to the

another headline was that angus houston said they had spotted in the area an oil slick.sample to be analyzed. here's what he said. >> "ocean shield" detected an oil slick yesterday evening in our current search area. a sample of about 2 liters has been collected, and it will be a number of days before it can be landed ashore and conclusively tested. i stress, the source of the oil is yet to be determined, but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 meters down wind and down sea from the vicinity of the detections picked up by the towed pinger locator on the "ocean shield." >> reporter: urging caution, too, angus houston there saying we don't know what that is, we're checking it out, that oil slick. one other point to come out. you know, we've been talking about the dozen planes and a dozen ships that daily are out there searching a few hundred miles to the west looking for any debris that might have been carried there by the current. well, angus houston saying that in the next few days, it's likely that search will be wound down. that search for surface debris. he said it's

angus houston is the man responsible for this multinational search effort.e gave a press conference earlier today in which he detailed the nature of these signals detected on board the australian "ocean shield." take a listen to what he had to say. >> the towed pinger locator deployed from the australian defense vessel, "ocean shield," has detected signals consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes. two separate signal detections have occurred within the northern part of the defined search area. the first detection was held for approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. the ship then lost contact before conducting a turn and attempting to reacquire the signal. the second detection on the return leg was held for approximately 13 minutes. >> reporter: houston went on to say that these signals are consistent with the characteristics of an inflight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. so, incredibly promising development, but at the same time, they're urging caution. all of this still needs to be verified. they still need to find actual physical wre

as far as we know it is still investigating another lead another acoustic event as angus houston who coordinates the efforts here worded it acoustic event 350 miles away. limited details about that. when we asked our source they said they can't talk about that. they are probably trying to avoid any premature speculation. we need to know there's another lead being looked into at a totally separate location. again, we need to be careful. as was pointed out during this investigation, just like we saw a lot of objects not kented to flight 370, the same could be true with these underwater sound as well. >> australians not using the word pulse but instead an acoustic noise that ship may have picked up. thanks so much, will. appreciate that. i want to bring in sonar expert arnold carr president at american search and survey. mr. carr helped find ss portland in 1989 and was involved in the twa flight 800 recovery. mr. carr that british ship due to arrive at any moment we'll see, at an area where the pulses were detected according to the chinese vessel. we understand their technology may be a