it's mayday, mayday, mayday airbus and they will say mayday call acknowledged, whatever the call sign was, request your intentions. that's when the pilots will say intentions diversion, nice or wherever it is. then they will alert the destination airfield and then they will clear the circuit. they will tell all of the jets in the area to clear occupantut of the way. >> i want to go back to jay who is an experienced pilot. jay, talk to me about what is going on. we were seeing the weather, now you're seeing the actual conditions on this from france 24 our colleagues there. talk to me about when there is an emergency on board and you're dealing with it what does this tell you as far as the conditions, the visibility? >> well we don't really know. again. again, we don't know what kind of a profile they were flying other than there was an average descent of 3,000 feet per minute. we don't know if they were returning or changeing the air speed deliberately and that was an average or held straight at 3,500 feet a minute all the way down. the notion that it could be two engines out is a stro

. >> we heard the captain screaming mayday, mayday. >> reporter: while other boat stood by, they moved in. >> smoke was billowing out of the cabin. right away our options were really limited. it was either the passengers on that boat either going to have to be in the water or they're going to get on our boat. >> reporter: as soon as the small boat pulled up, everyone got off except the cabin. he was still onboard. >> then we heard the seventh was missing and that was the captain. >> what did you do? >> i ran through and right up and brought that wonderful captain down. >> reporter: in the end no one was missing, no one was hurt. >> we're not out there just to do our thing. we're out there to help people when we can. >> reporter: today the boat is sitting at the sausalito coast guard dock where an investigation will determine exactly what happened. thanks to some pretty quick thinking fishermen and the fast response of the coast guard what could have been a terrible tragedy ended up being an heroic rescue. in sausalito don ford, kpix 5. >> in addition to coast guard rescue crews from ti

what puzzled investigators is why the crew never radioed a mayday. >> they didn't provide a stress call, anyway, shape or form a problem with the aircraft. that's very unusual given that they were at 38,000 feet they would have been in complete

i'm stephanie ramirez at the 16th street bridge where you'll want to remember that call for help mayday because may is when if you're a commuter, you'll want to help yourself. may 1st is when ddot announced today the new 16th street bridge will arrive and this will be shut down, but even before that drivers should look at alternative routes. march 27 is when ddot tells us 16th street at military road will go down to one lane each direction. there's other changes on military road. this is starting phase 2 of the massive estimated $15 million bridge replacement project. that's expected to be a nightmare for thousands of commuters. >> we want people to think about their commutes, especially our neighbors to the north in maryland. >> much needed work. so people who have to travel this route, we just have to be patient. >> they're fixing the bridge which is great and very needed, but there's no traffic management. >> reporter: thousands use this route daily. that's why the mayor and ddot director's said they're pushing to finish the replacement part of the project in four months. >> there wi

. >> it seemed like it was just sinking, and then he reported mayday, mayday! >> when they tried to pull the nets into the boat, tinky's foot got stuck. alvin said he tried desperately to get tinky's foot out of the net, but he was unsuccessful. >> he said he wasn't going to make it. he had asked god to take care of his son. >> tinky told alvin to try to save himself. >> so i told him i was going to go try to get some help. that's when i started swimming. >> just moments after alvin jumped into the water, the boat slipped below the surface. >> like that, the boat was just gone down. >> alvin said he managed to grab hold of a piece of wood and swam for 14 hours until he was rescued. >> i was doing everything i could to try to catch my -- keep my head above the water. you know, it seemed like i was swimming forever. >> he's told his story. he tried to save his captain. it was tender. it was endearing. it could have happened to anyone. >> but alvin didn't want accolades. >> i don't see myself as -- i feel that what i was doing, i couldn't get no help to get him. >

what puzzled investigators is why the crew never radioed a mayday. >> they didn't provide a stress call, anyway, shape or form a problem with the aircraft. that's very unusual given that they were at 38,000 feet they would have been in complete communication with air traffic control. >> reporter: among the scenarios investigators will have to consider, was there an emergency that forced the crew to program a rapid descent, a fire or smoke or sudden loss of cabin pressure? if that was the problem, the pilots should have leveled the plane out at 10 sthou feet where there's plenty of oxygen. instead it kept descending. were the pilots and passengers somehow incapacitated perhaps from lack of oxygen. captain john cox once flew the a320. >> something obviously occurred that said as soon as they got to 38,000, within just a few minutes, they needed to come down. xat exactly that is i don't know. >> the airbus a320 is among the world's most heavily used planes more than 6,000 flying. a computerized plane with a very good safety record but there have been recent high-profile accidents. in decem

mayday had been received by tower control.ayday or sos or urgent or alert from the pilot was received, by the control tower. and there was no response, no response was made or heard from the air controllers. today, the way we can interpret this after now, 30, ie, 48 hours after the crash, the way we can see and given the investigation and i insist that we careful the interpretation for us as investigators and talking on behalf of those from the air transport research the most plausible interpretation is that the co-pilot through a voluntary action, had refused to open the door of the cabin to the pilot, to the commandant, and the pilot and let him in. and he act eded the key so to trigger the plane to go down. the altitude was between 10,000 and 12,000 meters altitude. he operated this key and this button for a reason that we don't know yet. but we can analyze it that the intention was to destroy this plane. these are the last elements of the inquiry that i can let you know and once i have more we have asked elements from germ

a among them after craig's mayday call from the basement the standard roll call procedure was in the done to account for any missing fire fighters and their locations. philadelphia fire fighters union president, joe shoely. >> these fire fighters in the street if they knew somebody was down they would be doing everything this they could to get to that member immediately there would be no delay. they would have been in there to get her out. >> reporter: report also found delays in response times from various responders. >> it took 18 minutes for ladder eight to arrive on location which is a serious cause of concern for everybody involve. >> reporter: other problems, include inadequate water supply and inadequate ventilation. >> i think most certainly potential exist had there been more training this tragedy may in the have occurred. >> reporter: deputy chief davidsonnies recommending training in fire ground communications, mayday procedures, ventilation techniques and basement fire training for all department personnel. >> hopefully this is a great first step for the department now to

. >> i was saying mayday, mayday, we're sinking. and he was saying, what rank are you? i said i'm not actually a rank. i'm a guitarist. >>> five kids plunge into frigid waters. >> if you don't do your job the best that you were trained with no hesitation, a child will die. >> a baby falls into a well. >> heartbreaking. you just wanted to reach down and pull them out of the ground. excuse me. >>> lives on the line. >> police. >> these are the passengers of the airplane that is caught in the power line. >> cameras recording all the drama. >> all i remember is screaming for oxygen and an ambulance and rope. >> amazing tales of survival. >> i knew that there's no way i was going to make it to the surface in time to get a breath. >> "caught on camera: close encounters with death." >>> when life hangs in the balance, when quick decisions make the difference between living or dying, it's rare for cameras to be there recording all the drama. in this hour, you'll see six different stories, death-defying experiences that unfold with cameras rolling. in our first story we head dow

they were the ones that made the mayday call. the mayday call did not come from inside the cockpit.radio silence inside the cockpit. the part of the black box that was recovered last night had the voice recorder. presumably, they've been going over that. they might have a better idea of what was happening in the cockpit. the big question everyone is trying to ask is, if there was a stall out, the descent would have been more rapid. that would have meant the plane was no longer on a flight path and it would have been dropping in 3-4 minutes area -- minutes. it could have still been in some sort of glide path, and yet no radio contact. we are being moved from this area, where some of the headquarters of the staging efforts are being taking place. we will be moving elsewhere in a little bit. as you can see, the weather is holding up. at least the weather is allowing for good recovery efforts. we've got about five knots of wind. helicopters can fly in this weather. it is roughly the same conditions we had yesterday. clear skies, not too windy. it does not look like weather was a factor

normally with maydays you get them sent out fast. aircraft circle for hours and land. it often comes to nothing. when something happens this quickly, it suggests something catastrophic has gone on with the aircraft. you are not going to be able to land an airbus a 320 on a flat piece of ground. >> search and rescue more difficult being at 2,000 meters. >> the height shouldn't matter if there are roads going up. it's easier than when they have to find aircraft all over the sea like with the air france crash in 2009 and the mh370 as well. i think in those terms, it's a relatively straight forward recovery. they will find the black boxes and built to with stand crashes. they should find out quickly what is going on. >> richard scott. >> thanks very much. let's speak to the travel expert who joins us by skype now. this isn't supposed to have to a company like germanwings, ever is it simon? >> no, it isn't. let me tell you about germanwings. it was set up really to compete with easy jets and ryan air flying from the hub airports of munich and frankfort. this is a very impor

mayday mayday?hat is the biggest question in this for me, and it kind of smacks of an accident in 1972 of the l-1011 flying into miami and they had difficulties and were distracted by the fact that the landing gear wouldn't go down. they were so focused on that three people in the cockpit, they didn't notice that the autopilot had tripped off and the aircraft desaendcended into the everglades. so this seems that it may fit that profile, that the aircraft was descending but they were zrablgt distracted by another emergency and couldn't take corrective action until it was too late. >> why they wouldn't try to land at marseilles which has a huge runway. we're getting new information on the investigation into today's deadly airliner crash. we're also following other important stories here in "the situation room." breaking now, israel denies spying on nuclear talks with iran. coming up what happened when president obama was asked about this issue earlier today. you can't predict the market. but at t. row

right now absent a mayday and the aircraft goes down it's got to crash, so you need a reactive systemhings. one when the aircraft grossly departs from its flight plan and it doesn't answer atc or the other one is it grossly departs from its aerodynamic envelope and the pilots have no transmissions. then it starts transmitting. it doesn't need to be on all the time. those two reactive forces instead of, you know any time an airplane crashes a mayday, or it crashes and maybe you start getting the signals, but by then the airplane is overdue so you find it and maybe find the debris. thanks. >> thank you very much, leland. >> shannon? >>> coming up, he somehow got to the top of this iconic building. you'll never believe where he is. hmm. >>> plus commemorating a historic march that altered the civil rights movement forever. >>> hi shannon. another rally is taking place on the edmond pettitte bridge you me. in the meantime, eric holder delivered a speech to a local church here in selma. i'll bring you highlights when we come back. [announcer:] what if one stalk of broccoli could protect yo

>> in eight minutes, there is plenty of time to hit the switch and mayday, mayday, and in that eighte ground kon el troll was constantly demanding what happened? this is not any of the other incidents, because it is highly controlled air space, and the moment that plane left 38,000 feet and in danger of going through other airways, air traffic control wanted to know what is happening? what rare you doing? why? no reply. >> so any sign of a deliberate action to take down the plane, because you might know if it was steady or kon e troeld or e rat erratic, and any sign of deliberate action to take down the plane? >> we have no evidence whatsoever, but am i taking itoff of the table, not at all. and lufthansa aircraft well main tandtained and well controlled air space, and the safest part of the flight and you cant not take anything off of the table. excuse me. >> and we should know? >> well, it depends upon what it is, but it was the cockpit voice recorder, you will know very soon what was leading up to the event that took place. >> and richard, standby, because i want to bring in some

we don't know what happened because there were no distress calls or mayday calls or nothing xgt but we're left to assume that something very serious happened because they were trying to get the plane down so quickly. here's the other thing that's per plexing. if you have a decompression event, if you lose oxygen in the cabin, generally you try toe get the plane down to 10,000 feet so people can breathe. why did the plane continue to descend? were those pilots in some way incapacitated? clearly that's a question investigators will look at. 150 people on board all presumed dead. this is a very remote area that we're told is about two hours from the nearest village. and the airbus a-320 we would quickly remind you is a workhorse of a plane that is flown around the world. 6,000 of them in every continent in most major countries and this particular flown by germanwings was a 24-year-old plane that just had a maintenance check yesterday and captain had 10,000 hours. they are owned by lufthansa, of course one of the best records in the industry with pilots who are very well regarded. so you can

to a sudden catastrophic event so quick that it doesn't look like the pilot had time to radio in a maydayr look for the nearest runway. across the world, airbus a320 takes off or land every three seconds. the key question for investigators, is there a problem that could crop up in other aircraft? laura: for more on this incident and the search for answers, i'm joined now from denver by aircraft accident investigator matthew robinson. blackbox recorder has already been found. how's the second is that in -- how significant is that this early in the investigation? matthew: this is nothing but good news, and relatively speaking, this investigation is going much quicker and smoother than the previous publicized crashes. that blackbox, or as we refer to it, the flight data recorder will be taken to the laboratory and the system downloaded. you want to make sure you are not erasing any of the memory. all of this nice data is recorded from -- all of this nice data are recorded from the various systems. that is merely a good starting point, and the whole investigation should not rely solely on tho

there was a mayday. a series of unexplained turns might suggest someone was at the controls. experienced pilots have had a year to mull it over. for captain simon hardy this strange looking maneuver around the island of an yang hints at a delivered action by the captain. >> there were three turns, not one. left, a wide turn, left again. someone was taking a long, emotional look at penang. the captain was from the island of penang. >> but stephen landau says no one explanation offers all of the questions. could there be a fire aboard? then the pilots would have to leave the cockpit. but if that were the case, how could the plane remain flying so long? it's very, very unlikely. this is where the search is ended up. a brutal remote corner of the southern indian ocean. sonar maps reveal a range that would force the alps. for families, life remains in limbo. >> i do not know how we cope. we have not told my mother. we are lying to her. my brother is everything. we want to find him, but where do we find him? >> she may be facing worse news. the us trillion prime minister is hinting

what puzzles veteran crash investigators is why the crew never radioed a mayday. >> they didn't provide a distress call, they didn't indicate in any kind of way, shape or form a problem with the aircraft. that's very unusual given the fact they were at 38,000 feet. they would have been in complete communication with air traffic control. >> reporter: among the scenarios investigators will have to consider, was there an emergency that forced the crew to program a rapid descent, a fire or smoke or sudden loss of cabin pressure? but if that was the problem, the pilot should have leveled the plane out at 10,000 feet where there's plenty of oxygen. instead, it kept descending. so were the pilots and passengers somehow incapacitated perhaps from lack of oxygen? captain john cox once flew the a320. >> something obviously occurred that said as soon as they got to 38,000, within just a few minutes, they needed to come down. and what exactly that is, i don't know. >> reporter: the airbus a320 is one of the most heavily used planes. more than 6,000 flying. a computerized plane with a very good safe

harrowing scene caught on tape a firefighter falls through the roof of an ungufld building causing a mayday alert. >>> iran putting its foot down with america over nuclear talks as negotiations approach tomorrow's deadline. >>> it's scary hard landing for passengers aboa canadair bus a320. plus new details about the pilot who killed 149 people in the lufthansa crash and much more ahead on this monday march 30th. "early today" starts right now. >>> good morning. i'm milissa rehberger. the video is heart stopping. a california firefighter is clinging to life after falling through a burning garage. a warning, the images you're about to see are graphic. the tape shot by a neighbor started out as normal with fire on the scene of a two-alarm house fire in fresno then a firefighter scales the one-story garage. he is walking and all of a sudden the roof collapse. >> oh, my god. >> oh, my god. >> after a terrifying eight seconds, the camera pans back as firefighters spring into action. they hacked spot garage with axes. after almost three minutes he was pulled out. this morning the firefighter remai

now ddot engineers told me to remember the call for help mayday, both because may is when the new bridge is coming and to help yourself by pucking out those new alternate route -- picking out those new alternate routes early. the project is supposed to be ready in about four months. back to you guys in the newsroom. >> that's a busy street. it's going to be a rough couple months. thank you. >>> if you are angry or whatever you are with d.c. did not of motor vehicles, they will listen to my concerns you have about this -- any concerns you have about this project. there's a live web chat scheduled for tomorrow. we've got a link on www.wusa9.com or on our wusa9 app. >>> this video was shot heading south on old georgetown right near the woman's club of bells da. we reported this location because the maryland state highway administration is the agency responsible for fixing potholes. you want our pothole patrol team to help you get rid of a pothole? please include a city or cross street block number for that pothole location. >>> up next how a microphone mistake landed a suspected killer befo

two good samaritans heard the mayday call nearby, sprang into action, pulled all seven people into their smaller boat. >> smoke was billowing out a contain. right away our options -- a cabin. right away our options were really limited. it was either the passengers were going to be in the water or get on our boat. >> the coastguard is looking into what will wrong. >>> only on kpix5 we discover -- went wrong. >>> only on kpix5 we discover black market bars popping up all over the bay area selling alcoholic drinks like these. tonight we're there as federal agents move in. >> saving this raccoon just cost a bay area contractor his job. tonight hing its us why his boss fired him -- he tells us why his boss fired him. >> califo >>> tonight the college frat boys linked to a racist chant could be expelled from university of oklahoma. the cell phone video has gone viral. it shows members of the sigma alpha else lon fraternity singing about lynchings. today the university president closed the fraternity. the students have until tomorrow night to get out. some could ulcer also be -- could also be e

moments before the crash this was his mayday message. >> engine failure. immediate return. >> reporter: authorities say the 72-year-old lost nrg power wane and was attempting a return but the plane couldn't make it. >> he clipped the top of a tree and came to rest on the golf court. >> reporter: an eyewitness described the scene. >> he was able to speak. he expressed that he was in pain which was no surprise. he had a significant head wound. >> reporter: the plane ford was piloting was built in the 1940s. he once told barbara walters about his love of flying. >> i love the places you go i love the people in aviation. the people i meet in aviation. i love seeing the world from an airplane. i'm in love with flying. >> reporter: and as the recovery for ford is under way he is here his spokesperson saying he is expected to make a full recovery but the investigators looking into all the reasoning behind the crash. >> jon, it wasn't too long ago we were talking about harrison ford and recovery from a different type of accident. >> reporter: i mean it's -- yeah -

two good samaritans heard the mayday call nearby, sprang into action, pulled all seven people into theirwas billowing out a contain. right away our options -- a cabin. right away our options were really limited. it was either the passengers were going to be in the water or get on our boat. >> the coastguard is looking into what will wrong. >>> only on kpix5 we discover -- went wrong. >>> only on kpix5 we discover black market bars popping up all over the bay area selling alcoholic drinks like these. tonight we're there as federal agents move in. >> saving this raccoon just cost a bay area contractor his job. tonight hing its us why his boss fired him -- he tells us why his boss fired him. >> in a race, it's about getting to the finish line. in life, it's how you get there that matters most. like when i found out i had a blood clot in my leg. my doctor said that it could travel to my lungs and become an even bigger problem. so he talked to me about xarelto®. >>xarelto® is the first oral prescription blood thinner proven to treat and help prevent dvt and pe that doesn't require regular blo

[ inaudible ] >> i cannot comment on that. >> can you tell whether or not there was a mayday from thelane? there's been conflicting reports about that. >> this is why exactly i cannot confirm it yet because we are waiting for the investigation and only then we will disclose this information if it's really clear and 100% so we can disclose it. >> have you informed the relatives? >> the -- you might know the information that we have about passengers is their names, we have of course the list that doesn't necessarily mean we have all of the addresses and relatives, but there were many relatives that contacted us and then it's usually the case that we verify whether they are connected to know that these ones are relatives. >> we've been listening to lufthansa give a press conference and spokesperson taking questions after giving a brief statement saying they are unable to confirm all nationalities of those feared lost in the crash that happened earlier today of germanwings flight 9525. the initial information that we have about the nationality of people on board, there were 150 in total,

his mayday call. >> yes?failure -- immediate return. >> ford's wife calista flockhart today. >> "extra" on the scene with new video and eyewitnesses. >> i heard a tremendous noise. >> then harrison the aviator. >> i like to fly all kinds of airplanes. >> and from ford to cruise to angelina hollywood's celebrity pilots. >>> lady gaga's security scare. her bodyguard caught on camera fighting off a man. >>> kim kardashian's new outrageous bedroom confession. jada pinkett smith breaks news. why she's leaving "gotham." then with the toast of broadway. larry david, where he got the idea for his crazy new comedy. plus, lights, camera juliette lewis. >> are we on right now?

this is in charleston harbor after hearing the mayday call he rushed his taxi and eight passengers to. they pulled the unconscious man into the taxi then raced for shore. >>> well take a look at this here. this is just going to be a shame if this has to happen. officials worried they may have to torch a mansion in north texas. another one just like they did last summer. a huge crack if you can make it out in a lakeside cliff. one mansion you're seeing the video from last summer was burned to the ground rather than wait for it to tumble into lake whitney. army corps of engineers say it's worried about public safety including that of boaters. >>> well new restrictions in california. want a glass of water? you will have to ask for it in the restaurant. not going to bring it out to you automatically. one of the new regulations approved as it ownerenters its fourth year of drought. they're also new restrictions on watering lawns. >>> now to a surprising new study showing how bad american children eat. researchers at northwestern university study the die yets of 9,000 kids. fewer than 1% of

it dropped already 3000 feet in just eight minutes without a single mayday call. the ceo of germanwings airbus company lufthansa. >> but for now, in this dark hour, our thoughts and feelings and prayers are with the relatives of the passengers and of course our crew. cory: spanish and german officials are joining hundreds of french firefighters and police trying to recover bodies. the search will resume tomorrow morning. the plane went down in a remote area that is difficult to access. president obama backed off from plans to cut the size of military force in afghanistan. the president agreed to keep troop levels at the current 9800. president obama: it's the judgment of general campbell and others on the ground that providing this additional time frame for us to be able to help the afghan security forces succeed, is well worth it. cory: the president is still sticking to his timetable to withdraw nearly all u.s. troops from afghanistan by the time he leaves office in 2017. the president spoke also about the iranian nuclear deal in talks in switzerland this week.

examining should explain this mystery why the plane went into a descent of ten minutes why there were no maydaysrom the pilots. victims from all over the world. angela merkel. as you mentioned three from america, including a mother and a daughter. the families of these and other victims now are going into their long wait. it is expected that it will take days before all the bodies are recovered from this very treacherous site. also weeks before they're all identified. one more thing, tom, they're still looking for that second black box, the data recorder. they think they found a casing, but they haven't found the mechanical stuff inside. very important stuff. back to you. >> it was interesting to see the one that was damaged. to hear they were able to get something from it. originally they said they would be pretty fast with releasing that information. because of the damage, have they given a new eta of when they'll release the data from the cockpit recorder? >> we were pretty interested in the fact they could information today. they basically explained what they were doing. they say in the comi

what puzzles veteran crash investigators is why the crew never radioed a mayday. >> they didn't provide a stress call. they didn't indicate in anyway shape or form a problem with the aircraft. that's very unusual, given the fact that they were 38,000 feet. they would have been in complete communication with air track control. >> reporter: among the scenarios verdicts will have to consider, was there an emergency to force a rapid descent, if that was the problem the pilot should have levelled the plane out at 10,000 feet where there is plenty of oxygen. instead, it kept descending. so were the pilots and passengers somehow incapacitated perhaps from lack of oxygen? captain john cox once flew the a-320. >> something obviously occurred within just a few minutes at 38,000 they needed to come down and xa exactly that is i don't know. >> reporter: the airbus a-320 is among the world's most heavily used planes more than 6,000 flying. a computerized plane with a good safety record. in december an airasia a-320 crashed into the java sea killing 162 on board. the cause is still under investigatio

it dropped already 3000 feet in just eight minutes without a single mayday call.germanwings airbus company lufthansa. >> but for now, in this dark

lincoln boulevard about a quarter mile from the ocean, and immediately his engine failed, so he made a maydayack to the santa monica airport saying engine failure, engine failure. and immediately turned back around. if you fly out of the santa monica airport, one of your standard operating procedures is this you use the penmar golf course which is actually in venice, the town next door. you use that as emergency landing place that's exactly what harrison ford did. he turned around, flying this vintage fighter plane. he turned around and clearly could not make it back to the airport. if you panned out and you saw the plane in relationship to the run way, it's maybe two to 300 yards he just didn't make it back. what happened is he this h to land in the grass. this is an aircraft that does not have retractable wings. what happened is the landing gear digs into the grass as well as the propeller and it tipped over forward. there were two doctors on the golf course playing golf at the time. luckily for harrison ford they ran to help him out of plane. he had cuts on his face. he was taken to we bel

one of the unanswered questions, why no mayday signal over a period of eight minutes.terms of the plane being grounded 24 hours before the crash, we understand there may have been a problem with the nose door for the landing gear but it was checked and found safe. all the same there are reports some air crews in the region are refusing to fly on a320s. so worried about they about this mystery. back to you. >> keir absolutely right. germanwings cancelled a few flights because crew members say some of them they feel unfit to fly following the deaths of their colleague. >>> and we are following another story for you, but we go to you first, melissa. >> out of california. a man suspected of shooting and killing a police officer found dead now. police found the man with at least one gunshot wound on his balcony in san jose overnight. it started when officer responded to a call about a man threatening to kill himself. officers arrived. no word whether the suspect killed himself or was shot by police. >>> italy's high court deciding the fate of american amanda knox. she and h

>> there is no switch you flick while you're fighting to control the aircraft, like an automatic maydaythere is one that you could put a code in if there is a hijacking of the aircraft. >> but nothing automatic or anything like that. >> no, nothing like that. >> the software program that follows particular flights i think it's called flight 124. >> flight radar 124. >> flight radar 124 it bottomed out, but then by but by then it was too late because of the mountains. >> when i looked at the flat rate of 24, the information from earlier today, it looked like the aircraft was begin to go level off at that altitude. the reason why the pilot it's would want to level out is if the aircraft is undergoing decompression, the loss of cabin pressure. the pilots have been trained to get to 10,000 altitude where there is oxygen-rich air for the passengers to breathe. >> is it quite possible that in the confusion and state of mind that they were trying to stop a massive jet rocket hurdling to the ground that they would have been unaware of leveling out at 8,000 feet in a mountainous area is as bad a

one of the unanswered questions is why there was no mayday signal over a period of eight minutes. in terms of the plane being grounded, 24 hours before the crash, we understand that there may have been a problem with the nose door for the landing gear but that it was checked and found to be safe. all their same there are reports some air crews in the region are refusing to fly on a320s so worried are they about this mystery. back to you. >> it is a mystery. >> yes it is. >> well, the eyes of the world are once again on amanda knox as her case goes before italy's highest court. >> will the murder convictions of knox and her former italian boyfriend be upheld. here's peter alexander. >> amanda knox's former italian boyfriend arrived in court this morning for what could be the final hearing in their infamous murder trial. the panel of judges will decide whether to uphold the guilty verdict or send the trial back to yet another appeal. knox's legal team remains confident. scl are you hopeful that their decision is going to be overturned today? >> yes, we're looking for an overturn. >>

where the project is about to enter phase 2 and engineers want you to remember the call for help maydayl get to that, but first we begin with breaking news out of prince george's county. look at this water main break. crews are working to repair this issue at cunningham drive and o'sage streets in berwyn heights. the water is on the roads flooding streets and lawns. wssc is on the scene. we're not sure how many customers are affected, but we will keep you posted. >>> fairfax county police are investigating the death of a man found in the woods. the bold was found in herndon today in folly lick stream. the man trauma to the upper body -- had trauma to the upper body. we don't know low of is or how he -- who he is or how he died, but his death is called suspicious. >>> two cabbies landed in d.c. superior court today. thanks for joining us tonight. i'm lesli foster. >> i'm derek mcginty. investigative reporter russ ptacek is here with us now to talk about

and second of all, why the pilots did not send out a mayday warning. there are more than a dozen countries from which the victims came, including america. today, we learned that three americans were on that plane and are victims of the crash. time ly finally, it is a tough wait as we wait for answers and wait for recovery, which could take weeks of all the remains. one final note, we heard from the officials, neil, looking into the black box data, and they are ruling out mid-air explosion. they're also ruling out depressurization in the cockpit. but they also said they don't know what caused it yet. >>> in the meantime, i wanted everybody to look at this. this is the black box on the left that's the one that was recovered. it's not black, it's orange but that's the name it's stuck with. the one on the right, that's how they look when they come out of the box. you say that's all that you need to see to propose a change. what do you propose? >> we've had this technology since the introduction of 777. i was fortunate to fly one of the first triple 7s in t

the strangest thing is that there was no mayday no distress call.d out what happened and the pilots just did not answer. there is some theory that says they may have been incapacitated in some way. >> thank you for that update. i appreciate your reporting on this story today. that is it for "now." >>> good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" live from new york. let's get to work. tonight, a student at the center of a racist chant is about to speak out. >> i don't believe he is a racist. >> later -- >> one of the good things about obamacare. >> i like green eggs and ham. >> ted cruz eats his own words. >> we'll be getting new health insurance on the federal exchange. >> and smog defender. >> burning the constitution of the united states cannot be part of our national energy policy. >> if you control carbon you control life. >> plus new details on the

his mayday call. >> failure. >> ford's wife calista flockhart today. >> "extra" on the scene with newdeo and new eyewitnesses. >> i heard a tremendous noise and the houses were shaking. >> then harrison the aviator. >> i like to fly all kinds of airplanes.

and there was no mayday call, chris, from either of the pilots. now, that could mean one of two things. either they were just too busy in those eight minutes to make any kind of radio call, and some experts are saying that is most unlikely, that they wouldn't have time to call, or at that point, they were simply incapacitated and could not call, possibly by oxygen deprivation. so the mystery remains. the good news, if there is any good news in this, is that, as you say, one of the flight recorders, that's the cockpit voice recorder, has been recovered. and that will tell air accident investigators what the pilots were saying, not just to air traffic control, but to each other, and it will pick up any ambient noise in the cockpit, including any flight attendants who may have come in to report anything untoward in the great body of the plane. but at the moment, here, the search is suspended, a somber mood here. and it will resume at first light, for the remains of 150 people who have died onboard that plane. chris? >> nbc news chief global correspon

and over that entire period never key your mike, never say to traffic control we have a problem, maydaynothing of that order at all. we had an initial, early report in fact there mavis a computer coded message, via the transponder of a distress call, but that turns out to not be the case. it appears there was literally radio silence from this plane all the way down until it hit the mountain. that would therefore suggest to some investigators and some pilots that the crew simply was either so busy dealing with whatever emergency was on their hands that they couldn't talk on the microphone, or they were incapacitated, maybe due to hypoxia or a smoke event? if it was hypoxia, if they had a decompression event and they realized it at 38,000 feet, the normal course of action is don your oxygen masks immediately, telling the people in the badge, your passengers to get the masks on, and you drop down to 10,000 feet and level off, because people can breathe the air at 10,000 feet. why did that not happen? why did they continue to descend? was it because, if they realized they had an emergency,

we know that the plane did not put out a mayday signal. no emergency indicated to the control power. they are simply trying to work out what is going on as this plane descends into silence. so, there are going to be many questions from this but in the moment. just absolutely shock here, really, about what we are finding out about why that plane dropped into this mountain range. >> keir, thank you very much. let's bring in tom costello who covers aviation for us here at nbc. this is a very disturbing turn. the co-pilot alone in the cockpit sitting silently although you can hear him breathing right up to the moment of impact. >> i think we're looking at a mass murder investigation. that's what this boils down to. this individual killed 149 people. the question is going to be, of course, why. i think the other question is going to be from a security standpoint, how is it possible that that first pilot left, we believe the captain left the cockpit and under normal protocols at least in the united states, a flight attendant comes into the cockp

so investigators will be combing down the mayday call and as well as getting eyewitness accounts.gation still in the very early stages. back to you. >> miguel almaguer will have more on the "today" show. >>> and we've had pets and kids and creative hats. >> and there time around the snow stick challenge is getting back to the basics. snowman. best snowman maker gets his or her own pat collins stick. if we're lucky, there is the last snow stick challenge of the year. we'll announce the winner tonight. >> we had enough snow to build a lot of snow men yesterday. >> and seeing adam tuss on that mountain of snow is amazing. we had about 5 6 inches in the metro area. these are the final tallies of the snow totals that we had from yesterday's storm. we had about 7, 8, 9 inches north and west. there were a few spots as we look at the snow totals off to our north and west where up to a foot of snow fell in the northern shenandoah valley. parts of the panhandle of west virginia hagers p town had about 10 inches before and then farther to the south and the east it came in later in the day. s

over the course of that time did the crew never talk to air traffic controllers, never radioed a mayday. in fact why did they order that descent to begin with? was there something going on at that eight attitude that was of great concern to the crew? was there some sort of event, fire? smoke in or a rapid decompression event that caused the crew to realize they needed to -- we simply don't know. slamming into that mountain after only about eight minutes or so. if the crew was trying to get away or get lower because of the decompression, the standard protocol is to get down to 10,000 feet where you have plenty of oxygen then talk to controllers, decide which airport you're going to divert to but that didn't happen. the plane kept descending. >> so what are the main working theories right now? >> i think those are the two i've laid out. the possibility there was some sort of a cat trophic event and the crew somehow became incapacitated and wasn't able to communicate. they now have the cockpit voice recorder, now looking for the flight data recorders. they will use that information from th

mayday pan pan -- we're going down. the descent.lled descent. over the course of 8 minutes, it's not as if this is a plane plunging out of the sky. >> this didn't plunge out of the sky. this was a float into the ground. >> terrifying. everybody stay with us. we'll continue this after the break. also, we learn more as karl penhaul mentioned. the flight and two opera singers on their way home after performing in barcelona. i talk to a friend and colleague of one of the singers. ice tool to help you find a price that fits your budget. uh-oh. the name your price tool. she's not to be trusted. kill her. flo: it will save you money! the name your price tool isn't witchcraft! and i didn't turn your daughter into a rooster. she just looks like that. burn the witch! the name your price tool a dangerously progressive idea. nobody told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuil