certainly doesn't necessarily lead one to assume that it was pilot suicide. >> let me go back to david funke, our very experienced pilot. taking all this new information, what do you think as a pilot is now the more likely theory to be correct? >> like david and mary, i lean towards the mechanical, electromechanical problem that caused whatever it was, captain turned left towards land. there's a bazillion way-points out there around the world. so your likelihood of flying by any one of them on any given flight is very good whether you have it programmed or not. he turned left towards land, towards the nearest airport. he probably used the mode called flight left change or flch if you remember the asiana crash in san francisco that was the mode they had set the auto pilot in. dialled up 12,000 feet. hit it. now, somewhere around 27,28,000 feet as he's descending at point mach 83 or 86 whatever the cruise speed was programmed that, that plane is going to revert to an air speed mode and drop in somewhere around 275 knots. and when it gets to 12,000 feet it's going to level off on that heading

we're going to put that question to mary schiavo, david soucie, david funk and bill waldock our panelof experts here. david we'll start with you. this is reminiscent of course of payne stewart. how long did that fly? like four hours or something? >> at least four hours until it ran out of fuel as well. that was the result of depressurization in the cab anyone everyone lost consciousness? >> it's debatable whether depressurization or overpressurization followed by depressurization. the outflow valves stuck on that aircraft. there's a safety valve behind it. so if the outflow valve stops, the safety valve doesn't open, all the pressure from the engines that's supposed to be bleeding off stops. and that overpressurizes the aircraft, basically taking you from a cabin altitude of say 8,000 feet down to below sea level immediately. and it causes physical damage to you at that point. and then back up again after that up to 30,000. >> david funk, what do you make of this theory? i guess it could be also smoke or some sort of fume that would knock these guys out in the cockpit or i guess a str

and david funk. good morning. a new day, a new shift in the investigation. david, first to you. this new search area, some 680 miles northeast. we're now almost three weeks in. does this surprise you. >> it really doesn't that much. i was so hopeful that those were parts. in fact, i had convinced myself i had saw aircraft parts in there. >> why doesn't it surprise you? >> because of the fact -- in fact i'm pleased about the fact that this group is starting to work together, really analyzing data, going back and rechecking themselves. you have to make sure that every day you check with each other, am i going off the wrong path. and to have the knowledge and the ability to re-evaluate this huge undertaking of going south and saying, look, we were wrong, let's move on. that's a huge advancement on this team. >> i want to talk about this question about were we wrong, wrong or refining the search. david, this came from, they believe, continued analysis that showed that the plane was traveling faster than previously was thought. if it's traveling faster, how is it traveling a shorter

. >> well, thank you for saying that, david funk. difficult process and one here that malaysians say that they are going to be re-evaluating going forward. david funk, long-time northwest pilot, thank you for joining us. >>> when we come back, coping with grief when there's no finality. what's the toll on the victims' families when they refuse to give up hope? dr. sanjay gupta joins us next. >>> one teenager has an idea that could save the federal government 4$400 million. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. that's a man interviewino.for a job. not that one. that one. the one who seems like he's already got the job 'cause he studied all the right courses from the get-go. and that's an accountant, a mom, a university of phoenix scholarship recipient, who used our unique --scratch that-- awesome career-planning tool. and that's a student,

a retired airline pilot david funk is joining me. thanks so much for joining us. the u.s.? the pilots need to disclose personal problems to their employer, hey, i'm having trouble with my wife, i have an unruly child? >> you don't have to disclose anything but when you're a hy r high performer, which most all of them are, suddenly you see a change in personality, the guys that know him are going to pull them aside and say, hey, what is going on? or they will talk to the chief pilot and bring him in for a cup of coffee and make sure that he's okay. you want to return them to being a productive employee for the company. let's face it, there's no upside for malaysia airlines to hide this kind of thing and i obviously feel terrible for the daughter. >> so there isn't necessarily a check to make sure that people are doing okay on a regular basis? >>. >> other than jury six-month medical checks and, of course, if you're seeking counseling, you'll have to report that to the faa as a part of that check. no, jake, it's not. however, you're flying with the same people all t

david funk, david soucie, thank you very much. mic. >> much more ahead.nt to return to the breaking news out of russia. vladimir putin has now officially completed the annexation of crimea signing legislation that makes crimea part of the russian federation. in the meantime, president obama targeting putin's inner circle with a new round of sanctions over russia's annexation of crimea. moscow meanwhile has responded with its own black list. cnn's michelle kozinski is live. >> it's a strange situation. you see the back and forth with the u.s. and russia. it seems ridiculous, childist. the sanctions are serious and what it points to is how serious it's become between russia and the u.s. and russia and the whole world. >> reporter: freezing assets, barring entry to key russian officials and others. their first reaction was to laugh calling the moves hilarious, an honor, saying they don't have any property abroad. one top aid said he wants to listen to two pock sha cure and doesn't need a visa for that. the cronies, the white house calls them, with lots of ca

david funk is a pilot and former international captain for northwest airlines. tom fuente is a cnn law enforcement analyst and former fbi assistant director. welcome, gentlemen. >> good morning, carol. >> tom, i know you've already poo-pooed the line of failure of imagination thought. but is it possible there's something about this mystery investigators have not considered? >> carol, i have watched cnn for 19 straight days, morning, noon, night and the evening shows have covered that this was something from god. other supernatural causes. a black hole in space. aliens, flew into the bermuda triangle or zombie pilots and passengers. >> i'm not talking about that stuff. i'm not talking about that kind of stuff but there are -- >> investigators are -- >> investigate scenarios that investigators haven't thought of? >> and they have. the problem is that one theory then gets discounted by other alleged facts. so, for example, if the idea that the plane flew off down, sideways, down to 12,000 feet, then it couldn't have gone as far as they believe it went in this south

joining me now is david funk.you're looking at the information and from the map, what do you think happened to this plane? >> they made a turn back for some reason, we don't know yet, whether it was because of interference in the cockpit or massive electrical failure. until we go from this being a search and rescue operation to a recovery operation, i don't know. and it's kind of bad, you feel bad for the families because they just don't know and you want to be very sensitive to that as an investigator. but let's make sure we know what's happened to the airframe and the folks that were on it before we start to suppose what happened. >> captain, good information. captain funk, thank you very much. i want to get straight to cnn's tom foreman. you have a better picture of exactly what happened. >> well, like all of us, we're trying to figure out what happened here. it seems like all of this evidence is almost not helping us. this was the original flight path. it takes off, it's going up here. been talking about this

joining me is karleen petit, david funk, pilot and former captain for northwest airlines.is is your theory. you suspect there might have been someone in the jump seat at takeoff. >> absolutely. initially i thought somebody came into the cockpit because we heard it was an hour out before this happened. but if you look at the timing, it departed at midnight 41 and seven minutes after the hour, they had the last acars report. that acars report was sent with a position report. if the information is correct that that position was input in the computer that they stated was between the pilots, i'm assuming it was in the number three fms. that would have been a jump seater. the timing, there wouldn't have been enough time for somebody in the cockpit to take over and input it. so i'm fairly certain. now i heard there was a flight engineer on the manifest. so there could be your third person right there. >> okay. david, point, counterpoint? >> not buying it, here's why. the engineer was a mechanic, not someone that was familiar probably with the 757 fms. number two, if i'm a captain

joining me now by phone, david funk, pilot and former international captain for northwest airlines.e helped investigate the crash of twa 800. thank you for coming on. we know -- >> thank you. >> we know that investigators are doing background checks on everyone on board. but what about workers on the ground at the kuala lumpur airport? this is something that tom fuentes our legal analyst mentioned earlier. that it's not just the people on the plane, but all the people and many more who touched that plane who took off. is that right? >> that's correct. not just today, or excuse me not just the day of departure, but probably for the few weeks prior. because if you're going to place a device to be used by someone later on, you know, hide it somewhere under a panel, you know, hide it as a part of the seat cushion, for example. when you have an idea that you know what your assigned seat is going to be for someone on the airplane. you know, someone has ill intentions you have to look back quite a ways. actually this background check doesn't just include as you mentioned the passengers and

form international captain from northwest airlines david funk."why planes crash daylight savings time, david susi. and law enforcement analyst and former fbi assistant director. david, i want to start with you. the news this morning that's broken over the last few hours, australian planes spotting what they say could be debris in the ocean. these are planes not satellite, people on these planes spotted pieces that were orange and also some circular white items that could be some kind of colored drum. it could turn out to be nothing. but the fact they are spogt this by plane and 0 not four day old satellite is this significant? >> significant in that they have something to search for. it doesn't sound to me as though the description they are giving fits anything that would be on or part of that aircraft. but the good thing is by plane so they can quickly get down low, take a look and see probably tomorrow what specifically it was and at least -- i'm sure they have a sonic buoy to track that material. >> do you think any of these objects ascribed b

cnn aviation analyst and inspector general and david funk, former captain for northwest airlines.ou are asking me about auto pilot. let me read the questions from kathleen. is it possible if the cabin depressurized and pilots succumbed, the plane flew on auto pilot the entire known flight path? to you. >> absolutely possible. after it passed the last waypoint that was programmed into the flight management system, it will go into the mode where it will fly the last assigned ground track and keep going on that heading until essentially what will probably happen or may have happened, until the airplane runs out of gas. it wouldn't require inputs. it's an automatic mode. the boeing and rockwell and honeywell built into that system and that's what it will do. >> that's a good question. that is being talked about. the next one is for you. this tweet from marie. she writes what is the range capabilities of the black box ping. how close would a searcher have to be to hear it? >> pretty close unfortunately. depending upon the conditions, to three miles maybe. they have to go back across it

thank you david funk. i appreciate it. >>> could the pilots have attempted a water landing?ow exactly would they go about that? we'll take you to our 777 flight simulator next. everything your mouth does in a day is building up layer, upon layer, of bacteria. and to destroy those layers? you need listerine®. its unique formula penetrates these layers deeper than other mouthwashes, killing bacteria all the way down to the bottom layer. so for a cleaner, healthier mouth, go with #1 dentist recommended listerine®. power to your mouth™. also try new listerine® naturals. the only mouthwash that combines the power of listerine® with naturally sourced ingredients. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business. how much money do yo

let's bring in aviation analyst and former dot inspector general mary and from iowa, form pilot, david funkavid and john here with us as well. it's great to have a lot of great minds on this because we need it. let's start with what we absolutely know. u.s. assets. they moved the u.s.s away. they've been asked to help finding the black box. what does this mean other than the obvious? that the malaysians believe the best chance the plane hit the water in that area? ? the process of elimination, there's discussion the plane, especially if altitude numbers are right -- we don't think they're completely accurate. they were flying low up and down. they didn't have the fuel to go over the him lay yans and take the northern route. >> they say we were tracking a flight, think it was 370 because of the direction it was going and wasn't transmitting data. how helpful is this in limiting the search area? >> very helpful. radar has a definition, a range, that you can clearly see things. this was primary return. that's well known how far the signal will travel. that's going to be very limiting on the no

. >> as you mentioned, this is still an investigation david funk. area of focus is now that we're not hearing about. the backgrounds of everyone on that plane. still the investigation and background of the pilot and co-pilot. >> absolutely. we we want to know about everyone on the airplane, everyone that serviced the airplane, airplane records, everything to reduce the likelihood that it was an event or point us in the direction when we find the wreckage -- i believe we will find it -- when we do that we'll know where to start looking. >> will we find it in time? that's the question. the clock is ticking to find the black box, cockpit data a recorder. i'm reading here the pinger locater won't arrive in the search area until april 5th. if you do the 30 daytiming on how long the battery sends out the ping, they don't have much time here. >> they don't. it can go past the 30 days. that's the regulatory requirement to make sure it goes there's a safety feature built in. it can go further than that. we looked for 447 after the fact. it took years. we had