the egyptian navy, u.s. navy, hot bed of terrorist activity in the entire region. there are a lot of different things that could occur. it could be something catastrophic with the aircraft. it may have nothing to do with a terrorist or terrorist-related activities. we will have to wait and see. i think what is important to listen for is what the controllers on the ground, what authorities are saying about what contact there was with the aircraft in the last few minutes of flight. i have heard heard of people trying to find the black box, if you are able to find it, it is great because of the information there. but in something catastrophic happened in the air it maybe a long time before the black box is found. >> let's revisit the altitude of that 37,000 feet, which is what was last reported. if they were 80 miles outside of that egyptian air space, and they were approximately 37,000 feet of an altitude, and was only a short time left of that trip, as a pilot, does no sound right to you? could they still be that high and still be on track for the proper landing to

i point to this recent incident with the egyptian navy. to point to the fact the navies in that region are facing threats and are having to deal with threats. navy ships in that region, egyptians, europeans, would have capabilities. that could shoot down aircraft as well. again not to speculate at this possibly but it is very unusual for an aircraft to disappear off radar like that at 37,000 feet unless something catastrophic happened. an explosion. >> and no distress call as well. and we did want to make sure that we reiterate for everyone at home that there has been no claim of responsibility and no specific connection made with terrorism or any threats made at this point. but we are discussing it because obviously this entire area has been on high alert due to isis related incidents. as you were just discussing. >> of course, glad you mentioned that. pointing to the recent aircraft accidents that have happened. we have to consider this. in naims, italy, i know from my experience, that we constantly have ships in the mediterranean. the e

the egyptian air force, the egyptian navy, egyptian coast guard, all resources available are searchingare told from the egyptian military as well as egyptair that they are on-site of the area where they received the last signal from the radar. they are searching this area. we do not have any more information about if they found anything, if they've found any debris or any survivors. we just know that they are on-site, and they are receiving help from the greeks. >> ian lee is in cairo for us. it's approaching 9:00 a.m. there. daybreak. they are searching 280 kilometers north of egypt's coastline, rosemary. that's what happens at these early stages of a breaking story. officials will report small bits of information as we try and make sense of it. but it still looks very ominous for the passengers on that flight right now. >> it does. and weather has been something we've looked at. of course we know that weather more than likely did not play a role when it came to the disappearance of this plane. but it may very well play a very big role in the search and rescue effort. we want to turn

so the egyptian navy is out in force today. we know the sun is up and planes out on mediterranean right now. all efforts focused on locating the wreckage. but they failed to give us a specific search area yesterday. all they said was that area will expand. by how much we're not sure. the u.s. and brits have offered to help the egyptian navy here is taking the lead and greece is also out in force with their helicopters standing by, as well. >> molly, back to the scene in cairo where you are. we're taking a look at the facilities there. where are the families being held and any idea what any of them are saying right now? >> families are all staying at an airport hotel. egyptair has said they will host the families for as long as necessary trying to get them the necessary information. again that information flow is very slow. we spoke with families yesterday. their anguish visible, their pain very raw as you would imagine. they're seeking accountability and seeking information and answers that egyptian officials so far have been u

egyptian navy finds passengers' belongings and debris from the plane. now a note of caution. rd yesterday that the egyptians thought that wreckage from the plane had been found. and then the greeks clarified that in fact on closer inspection that had not turned out to be debris from the plane. so again, nbc news has not confirmed the reports but in egypt it is being reported that debris and passengers' belongings have been found during this search of the mediterranean as they try to find the plane that took off from here in paris and went down about 30 minutes before it was supposed to land in cairo. >> i know the information is still coming in, but does it specify at all where it was found? >> reporter: i haven't seen any reports yet that tells us exactly where it was found. no, sorry, i'm just reading another bulletin here that says the reporting says 180 miles north of alexandria, so that is alexandria in egypt, so off the coast, quite a long way off the coast there. we do know they were searching around the island of crete. they're not far from egypt so the mediterranean i

>> so basically the news coming in from cairo is that egyptian military and navy forces have found some information from the plane indicating that there was smoke in the aircraft right before the crash. egyptian minister in a statement said that it was too soon to know exactly what could have caused the smoke and if terrorism was involved in any way. egyptian authorities throughout this crisis asked not to speculate or jump to any conclusions until this investigation is over. this comes among statements made by egyptian foreign minister claimed this could have been a suicide attempt by the pilot. also, coming in now the egyptian authorities have been retrieving body parts of the victims and identify the victims but egyptian state tv indicated they are in the process of sending the body parts to cairo to be looked at and to try to identify the victims and maybe find more clues. the families of those involved in the plane crash have been camped out at cairo airport awaiting for further news and instruction. people are at the airport waiting in hopes of getting their loved ones back for bu

the greeks are involved in this search, as is the egyptian air force, navy, coast guard, looking for any sign of this flight. we should mention that egyptian officials are saying that they have received no distress signal. no signal whatsoever. really dialing back from the reports earlier in the morning. that potentially some sort of sos signal, an emergency beacon was received. they're now saying absolutely not. they're cautioning against any of these reports that we've been talking about over the last couple hours saying we don't have an official statement on whether or not this plane has crashed as yet. and asking media outlets to solely go by information they released. as you know, it is conflicting. egyptair has put out these reports about distress signals. we've heard different reports about the civil aviation authority. it is a little confused. cautioning against any reports that any distress signal was received. >> thank you very much for that clarification. greg, earlier tonight you were talking about how these planes, the a-320 and other planes are so technologically advance

the report from army officials that the egyptian navy has found the belongings of passengers on board that jet, as well as a piece of the fuselage. alex? >> as you reported, secretary of state john kerry had offered help to president el sisi. whenever there's a crash on land usually that is the country -- the agency that take the lead. but in something like this in the mediterranean where it is international waters albeit those off the coast of egypt and in the waters between greece, they'll take the lead. but it has to be a multinational investigation given the nature of this. potential terrorism. that plane having gone in five different stops. >> that's absolutely right. one of the things going on right now and it's happening here in france as well is anyone who had any access to that plane, anyone who worked for the airline, anyone who worked for any of the airports, anyone with any type of access at all, they're continuing to do background checks. this has already gotten under way. they're looking at when they were in contact with the plane. who were they with when they were in co

the egyptian navy has found debris floating in the mediterranean.t could the wreckage tell us about why the plane went down to mark this: the floating debris is the first step in a long investigative process. it will help localize the search area so investigators can locate the wreckage on the ocean floor and the pattern of that wreckage in -- and mapping of the wreckage will begin to tell us what happened in this tragedy. is it spread over a large area? if so there is a likelihood of an in-flight breakup. if it is in a small area it is more indicative of their plane being in a single piece when it hit the water. this is the first bit of hard evidence that we have got that say ifg to definitively the airplane broke apart in flight. once we get remote submersible vehicles to take pictures to start looking for the recorders, then we can start to understand the breakup sequence if that occurred. suggests thatar the planes were violently and then plunged 20,000 feet before disappearing altogether. what does that suggest to you about what i have happened

the egyptian navy will begin to bring some of those pieces back here and that will be put to further analysis and test. meanwhile we heard today from the egyptian president, he put out a statement offering his condolences to the victims of all the countries that have been affected by this. he thanked the countries that are offering assistance in this investigation and in this search and recovery process. and in addition to that he promised that they would establish the truth in this investigation. but, craig, we're also learning a lot more not just about the investigation itself but also the victims of this tragedy. some of the names that are starting to come to light and some of the stories of those who were onboard. we learned one of those individuals was on vacation with his wife and his two parents. they had spent about two weeks in between germany and france. they were set to come back home to cairo yesterday. they were onboard that flight. they left behind their two young daughters who are now in the care of his brother. i had a chance to speak to his brother. he was very distra

crash, it would have crashed into the mediterranean, we can expect some sort of water search, egyptian navy and coast guard involved there. >> to the time line, exactly what we know. the flight out of paris, at 11:09 p.m., paris is in the same time zone as cairo. four-hour long flight. scheduled to land at 3:05, we are told by the airline, they lost contact at 2:45 a&m 20 minutes before it was due to touch down. it was at 37,000 feet, as you say. 10 minutes into egyptair space. this plane would be coming into the airport and right now, if you do the math, it is coming up to three hours overdue. >> it seems like it will be a search for a downed plane. three hours overdue is unlikely anything else could have happened. i have been on this flight path many times, if they haven't started, they will start to plan, over the medterraini, i hd major terb bans coming into cairo from paris, it has always been a fairly smooth flight. these are all things they are going to look into. all of these possibilities, what happened, to could have happened to this flight. to know what exactly happened. three ho

the egyptian navy leading the charge but greece, france, the uk, cypress and italy part of the searchort. yesterday massive confusion. an announcement that wreckage had first been found by the greek and then the egyptians confirmed that and then late thursday night had to walk that back saying no wreckage had been found but family still gathering here at the cairo international airport coming with questions that right now egyptian officials say they can't answer. the anguish visible, the pain raup as families arrived landing to the news of the likely crash. but they say they know little else. they want accountability above all and the search goes on while the families here desperately wait for answers. kendis diane. >> thank you molly. and get this. one man who was supposed to be on that doomed flight had changed his travel plans at the last minute. he considers himself really lucky. he said after hearing about the crash, he got a knot in his stomach and it's been there ever since. >> back here in the u.s. the san francisco police department has a new leader after the chief was forced

it is a joint operation between the egyptian air force, the navy, and the french government. xpecting two news conferences on both sides. there were saudi, u.k., french, and egyptian citizens on board. the first news conference may happen in the next hour or so. we have a second news conference in about two hours and a half from now on the egyptian side. we just know there was this egyptair plane that vanished overnight with 66 people on board. communication was lost at 2:30 a.m. cairo time. we also have conflicting reports on whether egyptian armed forces received a distress signal. it is in operation, search-and-rescue, that is ongoing. we will bring you any breaking news. there is a number you can call to check if it is safe. "surveillance" is next. ♪ ♪ francine: the minutes show a fed prepared to hike interest rates as the data improves. defending deutsche. the first meeting since last year's shakeup and i almost 50% drop in share prices. and egyptair flight disappears with 66 people on board. we have the latest from cairo. i am francine lacqua in london with tom keene in

but there was a pullback egyptian navy is fully involved, so they are going to pull up, as much debrisut of the water, positively identify for but this will take days, and i think though if -- if this is in the fact 804 did he debris that we are very close to finding piningers once we find them will developmental rapidly. >> we know abrupt sweshdz on final descent turned 90 left full circle to the right plummeted what do you make of that? >> yeah, that -- for an aircraft of that type and altitude flying 37,000 feet that is extreme because it is operating near the top, of the operating envelope, meaning the air is so thin up there, that if you course the airplane around from control flight may have happened when they made that hard turn, the aircraft could have departed control flight meaning, the air going over the winnings no longer affecting control surfaces the plane is totally out of control like you took a plastic model toss it out. >> a question only another second left. >> just asking quickly thousands of feet deep how do they get down there? is it possible, at what point is it

the egyptian navy is responding as is the greek navy. but jose, in a situation like this, the stakes here, as you expect, are very, very high. and the conditions here very concerning because it is not normal that you simply have a plane lose all communications like that and go down in the ocean. if you give me a second, i need to re-establish my communications so i can hear you. >> tom costello. that is the nature of live audio. there are issues he just brought thaup are important to under line right now. 37,000 feet is the average altitude of an a-320 that is flying in this route from paris to cairo. it left from charles de gaulle airport. no indication of problems on board. tom, you talked about 37,000 feet. it's the first thing i thought about when a plane disappears from radar screen. no distress call. 37,000 feet. it sounds like an average routine flight from paris to cairo that happens day in and day out. the plane had no distress call. the average height that one expects at this point in the flight. it's so routine sounding, tom,

the egyptian navy is a serious navy, robust navy.say i think it's the 6th largest in the world. they have had a lot of threats to their navy bioterrorist organizations cyanide peninsula in particular the isis affiliate there. you have a russian port right over here in syria, that's the port they essentially maintain ships there and they also have aircraft staged south of that location in syria. it is a very challenging area. very bad security situation in the entire region right now, heather. >> specifically where they are searching and they believe this beacon went off is about 175 miles in the mediterranean sea off the coastline of egypt, north of the mediterranean port city of alexandria. so where in that particular area would that be that you were just discussing? >> well, at this point to try to be specific on this map would be challenging, but what we can talk about is what would be in this area. you have lots of ships you have u.s. military ships greek military ships you have a lot of different assets. you have just the immers

the egyptian navy, which is a huge navy, the sixth in the world in terms of the number of their ships. very, very, very advanced navy. there have been past situations where miscalculations occurred where aircraft were shot out of the sky by ships in the water because they believed them to be hostile. i would point back to 1988, the u.s. vincennes did that with an iranian passenger plane. so there are a number of things that could have happened. the russian plane you mentioned, they believe there was a bomb on board that. then you look at malaysian 17 that was shot down over dou. >> there was at least one person, a americaen tile ship captain who uses the words "flame in the sky" the but i want to ask you what you were talking about, when that amount of security, there would be a high amount of traffic, you would think, a highly populated area, so you would think more than one person would have seen what happened if it was in fact an explosion. >> yeah, you know, very high trafficked area, but i think that if that actually did happen, we probably will hear reports of other witnesses th

this is a part of the mediterranean that should be at this point swarming with egyptian navy and egyptian air force. we know that both have been deployed to this area. we know that the sun is coming up. we know that the security situation is tenuous in egypt at all times. so they would have been semi at least prepared to go out and do something like this, especially on those waters, because they have to be prepared to go out and do anything in that water at any given time. and that's what makes these flights more interesting. that's what has changed in recent years when you're talking about a flight from paris to cairo. it's about a flight from paris to cairo, it's a different flight today than it was five or six years ago. when you land at the airport in cairo, it's different than five or six years ago. and that holds true this paris as well. the airline told us there were three security members on that plane. that is not unusual because of the situation in e egypt. as this unfolds and as we unpack, for example, the satellite images that will come out in the coming days from the egyptian

that's where we have the egyptian military searching the area. the navy is out there. the coast guard is out there. they are cooperating with the greeks to find what is left of the plane. so hope of a possible survivor. right now, this very much is a search and rescue operation and the families behind me waiting to hear the latest updates. they are expressing frustration. rightfully so. >> ian, eight hours after the flight disappeared now. the french foreign ministry has shared condolences over what the egyptians have stated is a fallen airliner. we have not ruled out any kind of cause at all. >> reporter: that is right. it is still open to what could possibly bring down this plane. what we know is the record of this aircraft and the pilots. egyptair has released this is a plane they say that received regular maintenance. there were no problems that were detected on this plane. the pilot didn't tell them of any issues that he had come across. the other issue is the pilots. these are very experienced men. they have over, the pilot had over 5,000 hours of experience on t

the egyptian navy now has located debris from the missing airliner. also passenger belongs.nd they located it about 180 miles north of alexandria egypt. the country's defense ministry says the wreckage will be brought to egypt for analysis. we'll keep you updated. >> the executive edge now. federal authorities announcing thursday the insider trading charges against the former chairman of dean foods and billy walters and golfer phil mickelson was named as the relief defendant in that case. eamon jafrs was the latest. >> the documents laid out by the government depict a triangle of golf, gambling and business between the three men. yesterday held a news conference to explain the scheme. he laid out the cost of all this. >> as alleged for over five years davis repeatedly and systematically fed material information about dean foods to walters who in turn benefitted handsomely to the tune of about $43 million in profits made and losses avoided from his trading in dean foods stock. >> the charges with are filed against former chairman thomas davis and gambler billy walters. davis

we saw in those debris, that the egyptian navy has scooped up from the sea.he airline seats mangled. the twesed metal. the cushions tattered. a woman afs purse p's purse per. there seemed to be a fire on board and disintegrated that plane at all the tuesday. so important to get the black boxes. another clue overnight, isis issuing a 30-minute diatribe, voug attacks during ramadan but not mentioning flight 804. >>> and at home, the the security concerns. look at atlanta hartsfield airport. lines were two hours at times. mary bruce has more from reagan national in washington. >> reporter: good morning, george. until congress acts, the tsa says the long lines are likely here to say. they're dealing with more massive lines, marathon delays, and some seriously frustrated flyers. now, some airlines are taking matters into their own hands. american is using $4 million of its own noun tackle this problem. and flyers are flocking to precheck. enrollment in that program is skyrocketing as passengers look for some edge here. congress has approved $34 million to hire hun

say the egyptian navy searching for 804 black box recorder when they found the debris field which includes passengers' belongings. as investigators from france and air buys arrive in cairo this morning, effort to locate wreckage belonging to flight 804 have so far turned up empty. airline officials were forced to retract claims that debris including life jacket found near the greek island of carpassos belonged to the doomed flight. debra hersman says crews now bracing against time. >> first 24 hours, really focused on search and rescue or recovery trying to really nail down all of the perishable evidence. >> greek defense minister said the plane traveling par toys cairo veered wildly in the air before crashing into the mediterranian sea. as crews focus south of crete, what brought the plane down is unclear. >> egyptian aviation says terrorism may to be blame. >> cbs news senior security contributor mike morrell says no evidence terrorism brought down the aircraft, but nothing can be ruled out. >> i think there is two possibility, right, one is a bomb, either placed on the aircraft, somewhe

the egyptian navy says its ships recovered personal items with what is parts of the plane such as seats, they found human remains, too, a sad confirmation that none of the 66 passengers and crew is likely to have survived the crash. the debris was discovered 180 miles north of egypt's coast not fart signal from the flight was. picked up. the next step is to locate the main body of the aircraft, something this u.s. navy plane is assisting with and as always, it will be crucial to recover the black boxes. so far, these have not been located and any data which can be recovered from them obviously will be vital to the investigation, but search efforts in these deep waters is going to take some time. and if this new data indicating a fire on board proves to be accurate, it will be a big leap forward in that investigation, but then the next question, if it was a fire that caused the crash, then what caused the fire? tucker? >> thanks a lot. joining us with reaction from commercial pilot and aerospace journalist kathleen bangs, aviation expert sal lagonia and national security staffer gillian

now, earlier today egyptian navy ships retrieved some personal belongings and wreckage.y also found human remains, sadly confirming that none of the 66 passengers and i crew is likely to have survived that crash. there is no sign yet of the main body of the plane. the wreckage found so far is located around 180 miles north of the egyptian coast, not far from where the last signal from the doomed flight was picked up. it's spread around a 40-mile radius indicating perhaps that the plane had not broken up in midair. this oil slick was also picked up by satellite images not far from that crash area either. it may have come from the plane. it appears this oil did not catch fire and other satellite images don't indicate an explosion onboard the plane. other than this there is still very little information on what may have caused the crash, why it swerved suddenly. its cruising altitude remains a mystery. the plane was flying in good weather. the pilot had around 15 years' flying experience. none of the passengers were on terror watch lists and no terror group has claimed the

and the latest from egyptian officials is they deny reports that a distress signal wass received from the play. so we're efforting to gather more information for you. the navyand egyptian air force are said to be at the last known location of the plane in the mediterranean. stay with cnn as we continue to cover this breaking story. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> and we want to update you on our breaking news. an urgent search under way for egypt air flight 804. it disappeared early thursday as it traveled from paris to cairo with 66 souls on board. officials tell reuters they believe the plane probably crashed into the mediterranean. >> now, egypt air says some sort of distress signal was sent from the vicinity where the plane disappeared but it could have come from another vessel. the airbus a-320 was flying at 37,000 feet, about 280 kilometers from the egyptian coast when contact ended. egypt's prime minister said there is no confirmed information on the status of the plane right now. >> and our journalist joins us right now from athens. now we know that greek authorities, they were the last ones to have any communication with this egyptian air flight

navy and egyptian navy continues to spot, that debris could have been swept far from the crash site and where those black boxes landed in the last four days. so the egyptians and contributing countries continue 0 spot debris. yesterday as you mentioned the u.s. navy spotted more than 100 pieces. but as that submarine goes out, as that french navy ship goes out today, they're hoping for more while investigators priority is the black boxes the data recorders which could have the answers, the civilman sister last night made clear to families that finding it the human remains was his top priority. diane, phillip. >> molly, we saw families gathering at the airport, those first few days hoping for answers. then those emotional pictures of memorial services on going. where are those families now? >> reporter: those families are mostly still in cairo. more families from paris arrived over the weekend. the minister of civil aviation met with families. 306 those passengers were egyptian 15 were french. still no answers for the grieving relatives. the families told us the hardest is not knowing. a

so knowing egypt, it's likely, if this plane did go down in the mediterranean, that the egyptian navy is already out there, patrolling, looking for this plane. we don't know much about what happened to it, in terms of what could possibly have caused it to come down. there have been a lot of theories, but we're not hearing anything from egyptian authorities. right now, their main concern, from what they're saying, is that it's to find this plane, to locate it, and take it from there. figure out what happened. there were 69 people onboard. 59 passengers, 10 crew members, so, their main priority is trying to find what happened to those people. but, again, this plane just coming in to egyptian air space. this is what we're hearing from egypt air. flying that route, a number of times, coming to egypt. the plane is about to start its decent, if it hadn't already started its decent. so what elevation it could be at, we don't really know right now. >> okay. >> we're waiting for that. but, again, early and we're waiting for egyptian authorities to update us with more information. >> i want to

we do know that they're out there right now, the egyptian military, the air force, the navy patrollingthat area looking for any sort of wreckage, and we're talking to family members who are coming out of this hall. they are being told -- given updates by the egyptian authorities as well, but even they aren't getting a lot of information, and that has been frustrating for a lot of them. they want to know exactly what happened to their loved ones, and when you talk to them, a lot of them still are holding onto hope that they can be found alive, although as the hours pass, it does seem less likely, and we heard from the minister of civil aviation just a little while ago saying that it is more likely to be a terrorist attack than a mechanical issue, and if that is the case, then any sort of recovery, any sort of survivors makes that also seem less likely. but family members still holding on to hope that something, a miracle, will happen. someone will be found alive, but it seems like right now egyptian authorities trying to recover the wreckage of the plane, but also at the same time tryin

we know the navy there, egyptian military spokesman saying the navy found some of the passengers belongings. they are sweeping the area and looking for the plane's black box. they are saying they found part of the debris from the flight. now the investigation, you assume, once they begin bringing pieces of the plane out of the water, they can try to figure out what happened to that flight. it still must be agonizing for the families. we know yesterday they heard word they found debris. turned out not to be true. the military, becky, saying they do believe this is part of egyptair flight 804. they found this, becky, 290 kilometers north of the mediterranean coastal city of alexandra. >> reporter: fascinating. okay. the area it was being searched was 230 kilometers south/southeast of the island of crete. this does make sense. you rightly point out indeed if this is the case, this now moves very rapidly from a search and rescue operation to a recovery operation. what we do know, this is significant to what happened to this plane. we do know here in egypt that the case, the file as it were, has

the egyptian navy is steaming toward the site to collect the debris. greeks, cyprus, the uk, and egypt are involved in the search. it covers massive area. the search area covers from a few miles south of here all the way to the egyptian coastline. earlier, we saw the mediterranean from a chartered plane. it's good flying weather. very hard to spot things below even from an altitude of about 2,000 feet. while you can spot debris, what you're not going to be able to see are heavier pieces, like the fuselage. a trench begins a few miles south of where we are. it goes 10,000 feet down. it's feared that's where the black box and some of the wreckage went. george? >> thank you, matt. >>> now to the brand-new images of the pilot and co-pilot of the flight. authorities have released their names and these photos. abc's david kerley is in washington with the latest on the investigation. good mornlgs, david. >> reporter: good morning. already the debris we're hearing about is going to yield clues as investigators work to find the wreckage. we're learning more abo

egyptian aircraft and navy ships are taking part in the search. greece has joined the search as well this morning. ten crew members and 56 passengers were on this flight. egyptair says those on board including three egyptians, 15 french passengers, one britain, two iraqis, one kuwaitis, one saudi, one chad, one sudan, one portuguese, and one algerian and canadian there was a child and two babies on board. family members have started to show up at cairo international airport waiting word on their loved ones. translators and psychiatric support are on the ground as well. at this point the focus is on the search. officials have not the commented on a possible cause about what went wrong. egyptair says the plane's pilot had 6,000 hours of flying, co pilot had close to 3,000 anything hours. >>> now this is not the first time egyptair has made headlines back in march an egyptair plane was hijacked and divert todd cypress by a man mentally unstable this morning the search for this plane is underway. there were early reports that the plane had crashed, but

the investigators are out there now with the egyptian navy on the sea, coordinating the area that they'reo recover will be brought to an egyptian military base where they will be gathered and then ultimately brought here to cairo where they will be put together. we're hearing also from egyptian authorities that they hope to have a preliminary report ready within a month's time. so kwequite a long time to go. the submarine, just the latest tool in the toolbox for these searchers and investigators. >> on loan from the oil ministry, headed to the eastern mediterranean to continue the search as the investigation and search continues. i understand, ian, memorials are being held for the victims of the crash, and this is happening, even as the bodies have not been recovered. >> reporter: that's right. and according to egyptian tradition, the bodies, once they are they hear that someone has died, within three days, they have a funeral where they pray for the dead as well as receive condolences, even though the bodies haven't been recovered. the egyptian government is telling the families to be pa

we know the egyptian air force and navy is involved. they are at the site where the plane was last detected. we know there was an emergency signal of some sorts. we are being told this happened two hours after the plane had disappeared from radar. we heard this from two sources within the egyptian government although the military has come out and said that they did not receive a signal. we are still trying to verify exactly what that signal is. we talked to the vice president of egyptair. he said that signal could have been from the plane after it had gone down. it is possible to detect a signal after a plane has crashed. he is not saying for sure the plane has crashed. he is saying they are in the investigating stage. they are looking for the plane trying to figure out where it is and what happened. we need to remember that there were 66 people on board this flight when it disappeared. there were 56 passengers, including two infants and one child. there were also ten crew members, including three security personnel on board this plane

, and the first officer were in the cab bin when the plane disappeared. >> we know that egyptian air force and navyyed to the area. time is of the essence. we are being told, they are saying that the plane disappears north of the egyptian coast. this is a story that cnn will stay with you for that. >> >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> hello and welcome, everyone. you are watching cnn breaking news. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. our special coverage continues. an urgent search and rescue operation is under way at this hour off the northern coast of egypt. this comes after an egyptair flight from paris to cairo disappeared from radar. that plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew members. egyptian aviation officials tell reuters

we went to follow the egyptian airplane that crashed carrying 56 people and bring in navy fighter pilot leah gabriel joining the conversation. we know this is an airbus a320 manufactured in 2003. what can you tell us? >> the pilot had 6000 hours, it was do for regular maintenance, just recently had maintenance check. it sounds as if it was properly maintained, those are things we won't find until later down the road. what happened to this airplane? will we find a black box? what indications might we piece together as far as the controllers on the ground? maria: two things that strike me, let me know what you make of this, witnesses saying they saw fire in the air and there was something of a distress call being debated right now two hours after we lost radar? dagen: leah has been talking about the difference between a distress call and no distress call given the altitude of the plane is the difference between a catastrophic event and explosion, whatever caused the explosion and mechanical failure. of a distress call suggested mechanical failure. >> we don't know that there was a distres

these are very, very important right now for the egyptian navy to have these. right now all our focus is on the seabed. thousands of feet below the mediterranean sea, the search for egyptair 804 continues. egypt, deploying a submarine, scouring the bottom of the ocean floor, 200 miles off the coast of alexandria, hoping to retrieve the plane's black boxes in waters nearly 2 miles deep in some parts. this is audio recordings of the two men flying the doomed flight released, the pilot making this final, now haunting call into air traffic control. >> thank you so much. good day. good night. >> just minutes before falling off radar. >> 804 this is turkish air 814. do you read me? >> smoke alerts near the cockpitb minutes before the crash, smoke indicators providing a new clue for investigators. was it mechanical failure or something deliberate, like terrorism, that made flight 804 suddenly drop 38,000 feet out of the sky? >> certainly an important element in a jigsaw puzzle that has to be fully compiled. >> reporter: french official telling passengers' families tha

the egyptian navy is out in force, ships and planes out on the mediterranean but george, no exact search area has been given. now here at the airport families are gathering, searching for answers visibly anguished but have been told to sit tight and wait for a phone call, george. >> the officials are going through the passengers manifest. are they paying any attention to a particular passenger? >> reporter: no red flags yet but they are certainly running those names through a processing center through a new security profiling process to make sure absolutely nothing is missed. >> okay. thanks. >> we turn to abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross. as you have been reporting authorities are looking into the possibility of a bomb onboard and whether this could be terrorism. >> officials says terrorism is more likely than a mechanical failure and french authorities are studying airport surveillance video at charles de gaulle airport operating on a theory that a bomb was smuggled on to the plane. aviation officials have been warning of possible bombs hidden in laptop computers. ter

a search was initiated almost immediately, the greeks and the egyptians and navy plane from naval air base and sicily joining the search as well. the results of that search so far as i mentioned are just these couple of pieces of possible debris have not been confirmed as part of this flight 804, andrea. >> kelly, thanks so much. now turning to our panel of expert, former chair of the national chair transportation safety board and our ntsb investigat investigator. debra, first to you, one of the first things, first thing they'll be looking at in terms of airport security and baggage and any kind of insider job if this does turn out to be not a mechanical failure but something far worse terrorism. >> you know, any investigation they want to lockdown the evidence as soon as possible. these are things that could go away with the passage of time. they want to make sure they locate individuals they may need to interview. really important to them regardless of the outcome or the cause of this crash is to get some of those devices that could really give them actual information that they can

you have obviously the egyptian army and navy out there with the fighter jets and ships.ned in on the search as well as france, that's pledging boats and planes to assist in the search as well. what about the united states? lea said her contacts are saying that hasn't happened yet. will that happen? >> it will happen. the u.s. six fleet has a number of ships on station. at the moment they're involved with nato operations working with the migrant crisis in the aegean which is proximate to the location that the aircraft has disappeared. i think you will see rapidly see the u.s. involved. we need to look at better technology. this is biometrics, constant vetting of personnel, there's a lot that we can do together to alleviate and prevent this kind of incident. >> you know, we had the aviation minister of egypt giving a press conference before. he's concluded and he said he think has the plane was taken down not by a mechanical error. but by an act of terror. so not by technical failure. admiral, having said that, could an act of terror also be labeled, do you think in the ve

. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> egyptian navy now reporting it found deborrow on the missing egyptian airplane, we hope it'sn the plane is the bigger question and how can we face that possibly right here? joining us right now to discuss it is the major general distinguished chair of military theory at marine corps university, dr. sebastian gorka. we're trying to find out what happened to those 66 people. what do we need to know for america's counterterror threat here at home? >> we need to understand that counterterrorism, effective counterterrorism is a constant game of trying to outwit and out imagine the bad guys. 15 yeergeds -- years ago, it was box cutters and mace on the 9/11 attack that was the methodology, attacking the cockpit. since then, we've had the liquid bomb plot out of europe that was foiled. we've had the somali case, the laptop explosive device. we had the printer cartridge plot, if you remember, the al qaeda printer cartridge plot, and then we've had this alleged attack which seems to be linked to the earlier plane that went down, the russian airliner that went down in egypt. that was, s