i want to discuss that with former ntsb vice chairman bob francis. so, bob, good to see you. explain these challenges that lay ahead when this pinger -- unless it has already -- dies? >> i think that they're just going to have to get the vessels that are capable of getting down there, and spend, and i believe it's going to be a lot of time, because there aren't that many resources. fortunately, the pingers having come on gives a better idea of where this -- these things should be, but it's going to be a long, long time, and i think people, everyone's going to have to get used to that. >> and when you talk about these pingers, at least the four pingers that were heard in the last week, and the distance between them being about 17 miles, is there a way without that sound, without hearing them to be able to kind of pinpoint where the focal point of those sounds could have been? >> i think if they don't have the data now, probably the answer to that is, no. on the other hand, there are a lot of really smart people that have been working on this, and somebody may come up with a wa

let's bring back the panel, bob francis, mary schiavo and robert carr. s a case of internal agencies not working together or is it that it's an unusual set of circumstances and not everyone is communicating at their best? bob, you first. >> well, i think the malaysian performance since the beginning has been -- has been very, very unfortunate and weak. one of the things i was thinking about today is i wonder how specifically they have worked with the french after the air france accident or the u.s. after the swiss air accident and really talked to them in a meaningful way. i know that there is an ntsb group out in kuala lumpur and i would wonder, given the way that the malaysians are acting, whether they are benefiting from that as much as they might. >> so mary, is there a way in which the malaysian authorities can recover from this? because certainly it's been very messy at the beginning and i guess it could only worsen but at what point and how can they recover from this since there are still no clear answers about anything -- the circumstances of this

bob francis is a former vice chairman of the ntsb and mary schiavo is now an aviation attorney who representss suing airlines in crashes and disasters and rob mccullum is a cnn analyst and vice president at williamson and associates and captain van gurley is a senior manager at metron solutions. we've had five days since the last confirmed ping. rob, at this point does this simply cement the point that the batteries are likely dead and it's time to think about other assets in which to introduce to this area? >> yes, i think so. i mean, the manufacturer is being very clear about the battery life and, you know, every good effort is being expanded and it's now looking like the batteries are fading and it's time to start mowing the lawn, start to scan the sea floor. >> and captain gurley, it seems that the battery is either dead or it's dying. if they haven't heard anything in five days, i mean, why wouldn't they already have made the decision either publicly or at least to send the bluefin into the water. >> well, the usaustralians have wanted to give every possible chance to pick up the ping. t

bob francis, former ntsb vice chairman.nd tom fuentes, our cnn law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the fbi. how concerned should we all be that they haven't recreated or heard those pings since the initial pings were spotted, heard, over the weekend? >> i think the biggest concern is just how long this is going to drag out now, to try to find a better refined search area before they can put in the bluefin sidescan sonar. so that's the main concern. >> bob, they're pretty convinced the pings they did detect were consistent with the two black boxes. one going for nearly -- about two hours-plus. one going for about 15 minutes. two different locations but near each other. they're pretty convinced that those were actual signals epn e epemanating from the two black boxes. so how difficult should it be, even if the batteries are now dead, to go ahead and find those two black boxes? >> as i understand it, the area that those signals do have come from is extensive. and assuming, and i think it's a fair asumming to

you know the former ntsb chairman bon bob francis mentioned there is a cost to the way malaysia handledn. what would you estimate that cost to be? jim till mon talked about it a little earlier? >> i have to disagree with jim a little bit. in that while it did cost time, i was thinking about in the other day and if someone came and armchaired the investigations i have done i'm sure there would be a significant am of waste in those because it takes a while for a team to gel. i have to have empathy with them and i believe that is what happened here. it is an inexperience to some degree. now we have angus houston, the chief air marshal heading up this thing, it's going to the point and things are getting down. i don't think i could speculate how much waste there was. there certainly was, i agree with jim with that, but is it necessary, it is possible it that was in my mind. what lessons have we learned from the hunt for night flight and how can we be sure nothing like this will ever happen again? and it feels like your lifeate revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about

francis presided over rome's coliseum. tomorrow morning norah o'donnell fills in for bob schieffer on face the nation. we will have timothy dolan and massachusetts governor deval patrick. >>> it was a royal role reversal. princess kate said no to prince william to sit in the back of a fighter jet. she climbed in front of the controls of an f-18 jet in brisbon. prince william a former royal search and rescue air pilot. >> there's nothing i don't like about her. everything is good. >>> it is time to show you some of this morning's headlines. the guardian reports australian officials believe the underwater search for the flight recorders of the missing malaysian jet should be completed in a week. that's because it's scouring a six mile area of the indian ocean. earlier reports of the search could last for months. >>> "the wall street journal" says the u.s. and saudi arabia are teaming up to arm syrian rebels with advanced weapons. officials briefed on the plans say this first round of aunlt-tank missiles is described as a pilot program which could lead to additional shipments. the white house had no comm