why is it so significant, nic?it's believed to be significant to investigators because whoever had that last communication would give the appearance of being the last one in control of the aircraft. it was within two minutes of that that the radar locating information, the secondary systems if you will, the satellite transponder were switched off and when the radio communications ceased. investigators have now played the air traffic controllers recorded conversations with the first officer and the captain, played those to friends and colleagues. now investigators say that so far the friends and colleagues with not identify who it was that had that last piece of the conversation, who said, "good night malaysian 370." we do know the first officer as protocol would dictate would have been the one talking to air traffic control on the ground. once the plane is airborne it could be the captain or the first officer and this is why it's so key to the investigators. knowing who gave that last transmission is an indication

we're joined by nic robertson in kuala lumpur. nic, right now, this investigation does turn on finding the data recorders? >> reporter: it does, most certainly. the most senior official here tweeted, the acting transport minister, he's cautiously more optimistic, he says that he prays that this information will help move everyone forward. he's also -- he prays on the lead of the investigation there, in the search in australia. angus houston describing him as a professional for the malaysian officials here. they won't say about any of the developments they're making on the investigation because they say that really the black box information is going to be critical to their investigation, to filling out some of the unknowns that they don't have at the moment. if we think about it, the malaysians have organized their investigation to sort of three separate areas. one of those areas deals with the voice data. and the data recorders. but there's another -- another group within the investigation, the medical group, which will also look

thanks to nic. coming up, we'll look at what might have happened inside flight 370's cockpit if the pilots intentionally did take that flight down to a lower altitude. what would it feel like? why might they do it? stay with us for that. >>> all right, this morning, as we mentioned, australia's prime minister is in china, where he's set to talk about the flight 370 search with the chinese president, xi jinping. most of the passengers on the jet were chinese. their families say all they want are answers. they're watching every single development, including this latest news. pauline chiou live in beijing. pauline, what are the families saying this morning? >> reporter: well, christine, they're very much going to be watching this meeting between tony abbott and president xi jinping, which will happen in about an hour from now. now, prime minister abbott did say that he will update president xi on the search, but it's unclear whether or not he had any more information than what we're getting out of pert

are we going to get nic? sounds like no. okay. we're going to take a closer look at all this new information when we come back. nic has some incredible reporting over the past couple of days about just what this flight was doing, what might have happened inside the flight 370 cockpit. >> you know, this morning we mentioned how the prime minister of australia says that he's getting much closer, he thinks, to finding these black boxes. this has an enormous impact on all the families of those some 239 people on board the flight looking for any answers, waiting for all this time now for any answers. that prime minister was in china meeting with the chinese leader. a lot of information coming out. let's go to pauline chiou. she's been in beijing talking to the families. of course, they want answers. pauline? >> reporter: well, john, the families here are aware of the comments from prime minister tony abbott, but they're also aware of the comments coming out of perth that say that there has been no major breakthrough, so it's a bit of a

nic robertson is live in kuala lumpur. nic, what are these employees saying?er: well, what they're frustrated about, john, even angry, is that they're being asked to do what they consider security measures on board the aircraft. for example, when one of the pilots leaves the cockpit, somebody from the cabin crew has to go into the cockpit, and if you will, sort of monitor what's happening there, what the pilot is doing, if you will. also, they're being asked to block the galleyway when one of the pilots leaves the cockpit to go to the bathroom or leave for whatever reason. what these crew members are saying is, look, we're trained for emergency procedures, we're not trained for security duties. they think they're being sort of put in the front line of security, and they say that they haven't even been consulted, that malaysian airlines hasn't even explained to them why it's putting in place these new measures. they've, of course, all come after this situation aboard malaysian airlines flight 370, and many crew members feel they're all part of essentially a fam

appreciate it, nic. thank you. >>> president obama taking on russia this morning, blaming the kremlin for the crisis in ukraine and promising new sanctions. we're live with what the president's been saying overnight. >>> and jeb bush giving perhaps his most revealing comments about 2016. is he ready for a run for the white house? that's next. you're comfortable here, it's where you email, shop, even bank. but are you too comfortable? these days crime can happen in a few keystrokes. american express can help protect you with intelligent security that learns your spending patterns, and can alert you to an unusual charge instantly. so you can be a member of a more secure world. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. >>> president obama is in japan this morning, where in just over an hour, he'll take part in a state dinner with the emperor, but first, the president again taking aim at russia. white house correspondent michelle kosinski is live in tokyo, traveling with the president. what d

hi, nic. >> reporter: hi there, don.ical and key to finding out who was in control of the plane during its last moments. who was speaking? the captain or the first officer? more on that after this break. (dad) just feather it out. that's right. (son) ok. feather it out. (dad) all right. that's ok. (dad) put it in second, put it in second. (dad) slow it down. put the clutch in, break it, break it. (dad) just like i showed you. dad, you didn't show me, you showed him. dad, he's gonna wreck the car! (dad) he's not gonna wreck the car. (dad) no fighting in the road, please. (dad) put your blinker on. (son) you didn't even give me a chance! (dad) ok. (mom vo) we got the new subaru because nothing could break our old one. (dad) ok. (son) what the heck? let go of my seat! (mom vo) i hope the same goes for my husband. (dad) you guys are doing a great job. seriously. (announcer) love a car that lasts. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. what does an apron have to do with car insurance? an apron is hard work. an apron is pri

all right, nic robertson in kuala lumpur.thank you, nic. >>> ukraine this morning is teetering on the brink of civil war, many believe. the government now is asking for international peacekeepers to help it deal with pro-russian militants, and those militants have taken over government buildings and refused to step down. and despite promises that ukrainian security forces will move in and force them out, no major operation has begun yet. last night, president obama and president of russia, vladimir putin, they spoke, trading barbs over who is behind the escalating violence. phil black is live in kharkiv, ukraine, with the latest. phil, tell us more about that conversation and what you're seeing there on the ground. >> reporter: the conversation, victor, is one with two very stark, different positions, one where russia says that the actions, the uprisings that are happening here are organic, they are grassroots, they are a result of the poorly functioning new government in the central government in kiev. the united states' pos

nic robertson live in kuala lumpur for us this morning. nic, what are they saying? first, how is the airline changing procedures inside the aircraft and what are the airline workers saying about it? >> reporter: christine, what the airline has done is told now that whenever a pilot leaves the cockpit, that somebody of the air crew on board has to take his place inside the cabin. and also, they need to do sort of blocking procedures, if one of the pilots is leaving the cockpit to go to the bathroom or whatever. they're saysaying, the crew mems are saying that they haven't been trained for this sort of security procedure, that they are trained to help people get off the aircraft in the case of an emergency. but really, what they're saying is they've been put in the front line of security, they don't have the training, they haven't been consulted on this, and they believe that air marshals should be doing this sort of job that the airline really isn't handling this properly. we've also heard other critic m criticism, and this is coming from family members of air crew w

nic robertson's live from jindo, south korea, this morning. nic, at this point, is this still considered a rescue mission? >> reporter: it is, and that's what authorities say. they're not ready to give up yet. there's still that hope that some people may be holding out in air pockets aboard the ship, according to all the experts, and the families here know this and understand this as well. the probability, possibility of that is very, very unlikely. people just don't survive this long, almost a week now, in such conditions. dehydration, other issues set in. but this is still a rescue mission. the pace of it does seem to be picking up. the recovery of bodies we've seen at the harbor side today more and more bodies being brought ashore by marine police vessels and then loaded slowly, solemnly into ambulances, and then ambulance after ambulance lining up to take these bodies away. so, you can see how the divers are becoming more effective. yet, they still have so many more missing people to account for. alison. >> and obviously, you know, officia

let's start with nic robertson live in kuala lumpur. nic?s of malaysian airlines who knew the pilot and copilot listened to the flight recordings between air traffic control and the cockpit, the last recorded message that says "good night malaysian 370." they say it came from the pilot. this is new information. they also said there was no third person in the cockpit, no sounds of distress, anything abnormal when that comment was made. two minutes later the transponder on board the aircraft was switched off. we also now know that the aircraft dropped in altitude once it flew back across the malaysian peninsula, dropped in altitude for a distance of about 120 nautical miles, dropped to about 4,000 to 5,000 feet. that's a best assessment made using malaysian military radar. we also understand that after the malaysian air force heard from malaysian airlines that flight 370 had gone missing, they put in the air what they're calling search aircraft according to one source. another source said they were jets, but search aircraft put in the air to s

nic robertson is live in jindo, south korea. nic, what's the latest? john, the millionaire without a face. that's how this reclusive owner of the shipping company is known. his offices, his house, many of his business premises have been raided by police. he's not been charged but we've learned from the south korean lawmaker that the shipping company, it had an extension built on the seawall ferry to add a capacity of an additional 117 people that it could carry taking its total from 804 up to 921. one of the effects of this extension, this additional building work that was done last year was to make the ship higher. now we had heard about this from one of the ship's crew who was taken to court and charged. and interestingly, that same crew member also talked about some steering issues that the ship had. we haven't heard investigators talk about that yet. but this particular crew member said these steering issues on board the ship predated this extension that added the extra capacity for carrying people. made the ship higher, john. >> i think we'll hear

nic robertson is live in kuala lumpur. nic, why haven't we heard much in recent days from investigators? >> they seem not to want to prejudge anything that will come out of the additional information that the black boxes will provide them. they've heard from the acrie a transport minister here, saying the passengers on the flight who had been ruled out by the police chief, he says they can't be ruled out until the black boxes are discovered. pretty much whatever they're finding out here, they're not sharing. basically, they don't want to prejudice the investigation. but it gives the very clear impression that in terms of precisely who was responsible and what happened, they don't want to get ahead of themselves, because they don't have a lot of concrete information to go on. it all took place in the sky, somebody taking control of the aircraft, somebody flying it to a very remote destination. beyond that, they really don't have a lot. it seems that they just don't want to get ahead of themselves. they really want to see wh

nic robertson. thank you, nic. >>> now to ukraine, a country on the brink of civil war. pro-russian militants this morning continue to hold government buildings in the eastern part of ukraine. and despite calls for them to give up their arms and leave, they do not appear to be budging. president obama and vladimir putin spoke last evening. they traded barbs over who is behind the escalating violence. as ukraine's acting president is asking the u.n. to send in peacekeepers. phil black is live in kharkiv. what's the latest there, phil? >> reporter: well, victor, clearly, there is an ongoing trend here that the government in ukraine and kiev is powerless to stop, and that is, its authority leaking away here in this eastern region. across nine cities and towns, there are now key government buildings, pieces of infrastructure that had been occupied by pro-russian supporters, protesters, and indeed, militants. some of them are certainly armed. and nothing that the ukrainian government has said or threatened to do has shown any sign that it has the ability to dislodge these occ

he's nic cage. so, we show up.ecause he's -- that was the other thing. sometimes people come and they've read the script and they're like, "it's hilarious. i can't wait." >> right, right. >> seth: they kept saying, "he hasn't read the script." >> yeah, showed up cold. [ laughter ] >> seth: so, you had to go in and read it with him the first time? >> yeah, yes. and to be like, maybe he's even never seen it before? >> seth: right. >> like, this might be the most insulting thing i've ever done to a person, to their face. >> seth: and you're talking about things like his musk. >> yeah, yeah. >> seth: like how he smells. >> yeah, and like the -- "i've got the thick, leathery skin of a cigar store indian." >> seth: yeah. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: things that people might not necessarily take as a compliment. >> i threw some impression into the interview. >> seth: it was you and rob klein whose -- you had written it with. >> yeah, yeah. >> seth: i came for no other reason than just i thought, like, if

i want to go now to kuala lumpur and talk to cnn's nic robertson.ficials allowed some people outside the investigation to hear specific control tower recordings. who was that and why did they hear it? >> friends and colleagues of the first officer and captain is what we've been told by officials here, don, this is in an effort to identify which of them was at the controls of the aircraft -- which one of them said "good night malaysian 370." key for the investigation because it's not long after that communication that the aircraft then deviates from its planned route to beijing. an important clue about what was happening on board the aircraft. the crew is still the focus of the investigation here for the investigators. but it is unusual for them to share this information. we do understand that it would be normal to allow and help with identification for friends, colleagues, people who knew them well, knew the first officer and captain well to be played this recording to help with that identification. but because the close way that the investigators h

>> nic robertson in jindo, south korea this morning.ks so much, nic. >>> meantime, there are new worries this morning that north korea could be closer to conducting a nuclear test. let's get to andrew salmon, who's live in seoul. so, let me ask you this. the timing of this, this possible movement from north korea, kind of curious. >> reporter: kind of curious, you're right. what we can say is it's still spring here on the korean peninsula. always a tense time. this is when the south koreans and the u.s. carry out their joint maneuvers. two main exercises are finished, but even today and right through friday, there is the largest ever air defense exercises with aircraft from both the u.s. and south korea drilling in the skies above the peninsula. so, the north koreans are extremely sensitive to this, and we've seen on north korean news today kim jong-un himself visiting a north korean air unit and encouraging them to be prepared to defend their country. but of course, also in even bigger news, u.s. president barack obama will be travelin

let's go straight to nic robertson -- actually, we do not have nic. we'll have more later on that. again, three arrests because authorities say that those three people tried to destroy evidence tied to the investigation of what could have caused this ship to sink. at this hour, 189 bodies found deceased, still more than 100 missing. we'll get to nic robertson right now. we have him back. let's go to nic robertson there with us in jindo, south korea, for the very latest. first, nic, tell me about the arrests, three more of these arrests made. >> reporter: yeah, these are people that were arrested at the korean shipping association. they've been accused of destroying documents that belong to the company or relate to communications with the company that owns the "sewol" ferry, so, this is a clear indication of the investigation widening. we've also heard from the prosecutor's office here saying they are also investigating now the 911 emergency phone line service locally to see if they responded fast enough. they've also opened a line of investigation into the local coast guard here to

nic, what's going on with this? >> reporter: well, john, for the investigators, this is important, that they can draw some more conclusions about who was in control of the aircraft, what they were doing and what their intent was. what the malaysian officials are telling us is that with help of neighboring countries, they've been able to look at the different radar plots and talk to these different countries about what their radar systems have seen. what they're able to say now is that the plane flew, came back across the malaysian peninsula and then flew northwards around the top end of indonesia before turning southwards down towards the south indian ocean where that search effort is ongoing right now. and they also say that they believe from the way that it flew, from the position that it flew, that it was trying to avoid indonesian radar, and the conclusion they are drawing is that the pilot or whomever was at the controls of the aircraft was intentionally trying not to be seen by that radar, trying to fly to a r

our nic robertson joins us from kuala lumpur with the details. nic, what are we learning today? >> reporter: well, there's an international arms fair on in malaysia or just being set up in malaysia right now. there are going to be 27,000 delegates attending it. some 300 v.i.p.s from 28 different countries according to government officials here. the man who is overseeing it, the defense minister, also the acting minister of transport here, the man heading malaysia's investigation of flight 370. we went along today to see if we can get any more answers about the investigation. this is how it went. hello, good morning. nic robertson from cnn. sir? >> i'm having a pc later. i'm just doing my walkabouts. >> reporter: we requested an interview many times. with that, the man heading the hunt for flight 370 is off. he's hosting an international arms fair. from helicopters to tanks to guns. reporters invited along. some questions apparently not so welcome. when precisely were the -- you don't have to push. as his tour continues, his aides advise us to wait for his press conference. that'

it's a story first reported by senior international correspondent nic robertson. he's live for us this morning in kuala lumpur. so, nic, does this change the focus of the investigation right now, the significance of this drop in altitude? >> reporter: it certainly gives investigators something more to go on. the concerns initially, way back in the beginning of the investigation, mechanical failure or somebody taking control of the aircraft. this seems to add up in the direction of somebody intentionally taking control of the aircraft, the aircraft itself not undergoing such mechanical stress that it couldn't perform this maneuver. what we are told is that after the aircraft flight 370 flew back across the malaysian peninsula, out over the malacca straits, it disappears from military radar, reappearing about 120 nautical miles further northwest, and they're saying, what we're being told by our sources here is that they believe that the aircraft, therefore, dipped down to about 4,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level, getting below the military radar there, flying way b

. >> let's go to kuala lumpur and talk about the families with nic robertson. the families feel like they're not getting the information they need. what is a primary complaint on the part of the families with this investigation? >> reporter: that they're not getting enough data from the investigators. they would like to know the exact routing of the aircraft took when it turned back, did it turn left or right, what was in the cargo hold, they want to be able to listen to the air traffic controller's conversation with the cockpit, with the first officer, with the captain. they want to hear that. all of those things they've been told, that's subject to investigation. that won't be disclosed by the investigators. they've been told a route that the plane took. that doesn't satisfy them. they don't believe or they're up sure whether the investigators believe or can trust the data which led to this south indian ocean off the coast of australia. of course, that is leading to conspiracy theories. one theory is did the plane get hijacked, did it land in diego garcia. wa

i want to ask you about nic's reporting. but first i want to ask you about a new report in the wall street journal that is saying poor coordination cost three crucial days do. you believe that aspect of the investigation was mishandled? >> look on the surface of it, yes, it does appear that way. it seems extraordinary that teams trying to work out where this airplane had gone were work independent of each other. this is not normally what would happen in a crash investigation, say, run by the ntsb in the united states. they would be bringing together all of the experts in various fields and saying, okay, here's the problem. how do we work it out? for teams to work independently of each other seems extraordinary hi. and three days, and that is three precious days that were lost. >> every moment is valuable here. and a possible new map possibly shows a new radar track for the flight. what do you make of that, geoffry? >> it's very interesting, don. and i believe this map the came from chinese relatives. it may well be they are

. >> let's go to kuala lumpur and talk about the families with nic robertson. the families feel like they're not getting the information they need. what is a primary complaint on the part of the families with this investigation? >> reporter: that they're not getting enough data from the investigators. they would like to know the exact routing of the aircraft took when it turned back, did it turn left or right, what was in the cargo hold, they want to be able to listen to the air traffic controller's conversation with the cockpit, with the first officer, with the captain. they want to hear that. all of those things they've been told, that's subject to investigation. that won't be disclosed by the investigators. they've been told a route that the plane took. that doesn't satisfy them. they don't believe or they're up sure whether the investigators believe or can trust the data which led to this south indian ocean off the coast of australia. of course, that is leading to conspiracy theories. one theory is did the plane get hijacked, did it land in diego garcia. wa

nic robertson live in kuala lumpur. nic, you've been speaking to representatives from flight crews. what has them so upset about these new security measures? >> reporter: yeah, one of the new security measures is whenever one of the pilots in the cockpit leaves to go to the bathroom or for whatever reason, he must be replaced by a crew member from the cabin crew. also, when the flight deck's getting their meal delivered, the flight crew at the back of the aircraft is supposed to position a trolley to sort of block the galleyway getting towards the cockpit. what we're hearing from union officials here is two-fold. one is that the crews have not been consulted in this in any way by the management of malaysian airlines. it hasn't been explained to them why they need to do this. and beyond that, they say they're not qualified to do it, that they have training to help passengers get off the aircraft in the event of a security -- in the event of sort of a security situation on board the aircraft, help them deplane, but not provide security. and they feel that on board the aircraft, they f

thank you very much, nic. back to perth with geoffrey thomas, and robert the editor of "flying magazine." richard quest is back with me of course back with me here in new york. geoffrey, to you first, you see some parallels between what is happening right now with mh-370 and the successful search for air france 447. explain that to us. >> yes, indeed, don. i mean with the search for 447, when they finally triangulated where they believed the wreckage was, they put down a bluefin-21 to have a look. it took them actually eight days, even though they knew virtually precisely where the airplane was, it still took them eight days to find it. the wreckage on the bottom was confined to a very small area, as well, so we're only into day 4, 4 1/2 into this search on the bottom. we have a long ways to go yet before we sort of really completed a thorough search of the area where the pings have come from. don't forget, we have had four very strong pings. we had two fade out pings. according to one of the greatest wreck hu

hi, nic. >> reporter: hi, carol. what we're seeing is a correlation between the actions that have been taken by malaysian airlines to improve security on board their aircraft which is one of the key things that is when one of the two pilots leaves the cockpit, another senior member of staff must go into the cockpit to keep that remaining pilot company. a single pilot not allowed to be inside the cockpit. that comes as the police chief has said all 227 passengers have been ruled out of their four areas of investigation. of course we've already been told that they've checked all their backgrounds to see if there's any link to terrorism, that all passengers have been cleared of that. now we know they've been cleared of the four other areas of investigation being involved in the hijack, sabotage, having a personality issue on board the flight or psychological type of issue. so that just leaves the crew. the triangle of suspicion. the top are the captain and the bottom are the passengers. they've been removed. now we're s

you know, nic robertson, we learned the co-pilot's cell phone was on at the time. and there could have been other cell phones that hit the tower. what are you hearing about any developments on this front? >> reporter: well, we've asked those questions here and we're not getting any answers. we're not even getting any confirmation from malaysian officials about the reports that we've heard the confirmation from u.s. officials that the co-pilot's cell phone made a connection to the tower. officials here don't say anything. they don't deny it. they certainly wouldn't come on record and back it up. and they're not at the moment giving any additional details. we know there is a potential that one cell phone had made connection to a cell tower. there was a potential for any of the other phones belonging to the other 238 people on board to have made a connection. but nothing from malaysian officials. and of course, that is very, very difficult for the families not to get answers, don? >> and nic, some of the families released a lot of questions they had for officials. we'

nic robertson is live in kuala lumpur. nic, why have we not heard much in recent days from investigators? >> reporter: well, it does seem that they really want to keep all their information close to their chest. they do seem to believe that the black box is going to provide vital clues and that anything they say now may prejudice what they may later find out. we do know at the moment there is a debate going on about who will extract the data from the black box. malaysian officials have said that they're not technically capable. we were told over the weekend that the malaysian attorney general was in london discussing that with international officials. they were looking at international law, local law, before it would be decided who would do that most important task of extracting the data. we heard from the acting transport minister over the weekend, essentially overruling what we had earlier heard from the head of police here. the head of police had ruled out all 229 passengers on board the aircraft from the investigation.

nic? >> wolf, officials have now release the transcript or communications between air traffic controllers and flight mh-370. this loss, this communication lo lasts for about 53 1/2 minutes whoch but who is saying it? that's the very big question. malaysian officials finally released the transcript from inside the cockpit. the government took pains to highlight the international investigations team and malaysia authorities remain of the opinion that up until the point of which it left military primary radar coverage, mh-370's movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. the transcript confirms that the final words said by either captain zaharie ahmad shah were, good night malaysian 370. a routine handoff. officials did not say who on the flight deck was talking. a source with intimate knowledge of malaysia airlines operations says that prior to takeoff it is customary for the first officer to handle communications for pushback and taxi. after that, this source s

nic, what can you tell us? >> reporter: the latest news we are hearing from the divers they found no pockets on the third and fourth level of the ship is perhaps going to be a., a grim milestone and b. a turning point. the hope had been the air pockets would be where some of the students would be holding out. they were believed to be on the third and fourth floor. divers haven't searched the whole ship, there may be air pockets aboard somewhere else on the ship. the focus was the third and fourth floor where the students were believed to be. it is potentially beginning to move from a rescue to recovery operation. that is not being said by officials here at the moment. what we are hearing from the divers, really is very bad news for many of the families who are waiting. the divers are only searching the third and fourth levels at the moment. they would be able to bring out bodies. if there was hope they thought there would be people survivoring on other levels of the ship, they would be focusing on that. it's no

no word on they have found. >>> and nic robertson in kuala lumpur. we saw numbers, nic, in terms of the cost of this search. nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. is that a projected cost or is that up until right now? day 42? >> reporter: yeah, that is the projected cost, bill. it basically says look, when this current search area which is a limited area is done, if nothing is found there then there will be another search area back along the arc of the sort of satellite track, 30 miles long, and across. when you get into that and start to work on that that the costs -- this is what the cost projection looks at. so a quarter of a billion dollars potentially. we're not there yet. but of course somebody has got to pay for this. and that discussion is already under way, bill. >> yeah, i'm sure for the families it does not matter who pays as long as they just keep looking there. and speaking of those families we talked last night about them sort of taking matters into their own hands, organizing. listing 26 questions on that. where does that stand? will

we just heard from nic robertson that it's estimated to be nearly $250 million.n terms of operational deployments, we are not in that ballpark and as i said before, to do a detailed sonar search across the area that's being discussed would cost less than 10% of the figure that was mentioned by the minister. >> hmm. david, inmarsat, they helped track the plane earlier in the story, an executive said that they planned to offer free banking services to airlines. i guess this is some good news. could that solve another flight 370 from happening the way that this story has played out? >> well, it's important with any piece of the puzzle, the entire air traffic system is interdependent on each other. so a separate system that does that, i think that could be very valuable but it's really important that they integrate that with the next gen system and the new programs in place in the next 15 to 20 years. we've got to think about how it gets implemented, not just that the tool is available to make it valuable. >> david soucie, rob mccallum, thank you. >>> cold and runnin

nic robertson joins us live from kuala lumpur. nic, you broke this news this morning, the notion that the plane disappeared, then reappeared. lay out the implications here about altitude and what this means now for the investigation. >> reporter: well, this is the first time, john, that we've heard about any change in altitude of this aircraft. this is an important detail for investigators. ist it's something we've been chasing for some time. what we've heard is after it flew back across the malaysian peninsula, you remember it did a left turn back across the malaysian peninsula, it gets out over the straits then it disappeared from military radar, reappears about 120 nautical miles further northwest. now, we're told that this has been deduced, that this disappearance has been deduced by those lack of radar traces, and they believe that the aircraft was downed at about 4,000 or 5,000 feet above sea level, missing, avoiding the military radar. they say the reason this could have been happening is because the airways are quite busy

nic, who exactly listened to these recordings and why?ter: friends and colleagues of the first officer and captain is what we've been told by officials here. we understand from air accident investigators this would be normal procedure that people familiar with these two men would listen to those conversations between the cockpit and the air traffic controllers in the first 50 or so minutes of the flight. the reason being to try to identify who was speaking and when. we know that one the ground it would be the first officer speaking. in the air it could be either the first officer or captain speaking. what officials are saying at the moment is they still cannot determine which of the two men made that final, final communication, the "good night malaysian 370." so friends and colleagues of the two men is what we're being told, don. >> so why wrpt teren't the fami allowed to listen to the recordings first? or now? >> reporter: that is -- or now? and that is something, indeed, that the families here have been asking investigators. why not let

from malaysia now that the search appears to be narrowing in on the possible location of the plane, nicobertson live in kuala lumpur for us. you know, two new pings, very important. a little weaker signal. not a surprise, given the lifespan of those batteries. and now, just this feeling that they really are narrowing in, that they are going to find this plane. what has been the reaction of this latest news? >> reporter: well, cautiously more optimistic is what we've heard from the most senior government official who's in essence the face of the investigation here. the interim transport minister. he's also said that he prays that this new development will help move everyone forward. he also prays that angus houston who's leading that search mission off the coast of australia, describing him and all the work being done as very professional. but we continue to hear from officials here that they cannot talk more about the investigation without the information from the onboard black box recorders. the voice recorder, the data recorder. those are going to be vital to their investigation here.

nic? >> reporter: senior malaysian officials tell us they believe whoever was flying mh370 was trying to avoid radar detection. more on that when we come back after the break. at your ford dealer think? they think about tires. and what they've been through lately. polar vortexes, road construction, and gaping potholes. so with all that behind you, you might want to make sure you're safe and in control. ford technicians are ready to find the right tires for your vehicle. get up to $120 in mail-in rebates on four select tires when you use the ford service credit card at the big tire event. see what the ford experts think about your tires. at your ford dealer. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers

thanks so much, nic robertson.ets focus on the fact the british ship made it to the location where the chinese vessel was and where it said it detected those two pulses on friday and saturday. what's the first order of operation for this british ship "echo?" >> this is an important develop in this investigation. what this is going to do is push thins forward. we don't have answers, as you mentioned. this will bring us closer to getting answers about two possible were pings detected by "haixun 01." what's it's done for a couple of hours is scanning ocean floor, using sophisticated technology to essentially map out what may be down there. this type of technology will be crucial. what chinese did, detected sounds that could have been from flight data recorder according to some experts. again, the key word here, possible. we know the battery on those recorders are going to be running out any day now. we've now passed that 30-day mark for the patry life. to have the echo in this area scanning for any potential wreckage

i want to go now to kuala lumpur and pac to nic robertson. nic, something unusual happened this weekend. this new information was given. they also let the recordings from the tower to the cockpit, they let people hear them but it wasn't the family members. >> reporter: no, it wasn't. it was the friends and colleagues of the first officer and the captain on board the aircraft allowed to hear the recordings because who gave that final communication? was it the co-captain or the captain? not sure why they didn't let family members hear it. of course they may realize it could distress the family members further, realizing the relevance and the role that their loved one played in all of this. so that may have been a concern. also hearing concern from angus houston there in his press conference about the families of the passengers on board the aircraft and indeed of the crew on board as well saying that we should be cautious about getting too far ahead of the information here, saying that it is possible to cause distress for those families and he w

thank you, nic. >>> breaking news in the flight 370.tralia's prime minister is speaking out promising to keep searching for the jet missing for a month and a half. he's saying the strategy may soon change and the search will not go on forever as ten underwater missions are complete with no sign of debris from the boeing 777. today, bad weather is hampering the hunt from the air. planes forced to turn back because of the remnants of a tropical cyclone over the search zone. we are expecting an update from malaysian officials in over an hour. let's go to erin mclaughlin for the latest on this search. erin? >> reporter: good morning, john. three military planes made it up in the air before they decided to suspend the operations. no word on if the weather has any effect on the bluefin-21. no items of interest found so far, which has malaysian and australian officials talking about possible next steps and prolonged search. earlier today, we heard from the australian prime minister, tony abbott who reaffirmed the commitment to solving this mys

michael holmes is live in perth, and nic robertson in kuala lumpur.ick, good morning to you down under. what is the latest on the bluefin mission? ongoing again? >> reporter: yeah, it is ongoing. we're waiting to get the latest update from the search organizers. it should have been in by now, and you think about it now, bill, that is three out of five missions had some sort of trouble. the fifth mission was aborted shortly after launch due to some problems with the navigation system, we're told. that is according to the u.s. navy. since the bluefin did not go to the ocean floor, of course, there was no side scan sonar data to review on that mission. of course, the bluefin-21 was relaunched. we're told it is on its sixth mission. there were no problems with the first five. bluefin-21 had not identified any wreckage, but had when it was working performed pretty well in terms of the detail of that 3-d side scan sonar images of the ocean floor, bill. >> okay, you know, for weeks, we were under the impression, nic robertson, that the pilots turned off the

cnn international correspondent nic robertson talked with one fisherman who still has nightmares fromthat day the ship sank. >> reporter: as desperate passengers are throwing themselves from the sinking ferry, a small blue boat rushes to the rescue. its captain runs forward to help. seconds later he is pulling people from the sea. >> this is you here? >> yeah. literally pulling people. >> there you are running forw d forward. >> reporter: they were screaming for help, he tells me. i can still hear their screams even today. he tells me he does. want to see it anymore. i close the computer. captain kim hrk o is from a tiny island of 100 people, less than two miles t from the disaster. today his tiny blue boat is back to its more humble roots. he and his brother are fishermen as their family has been for generations. and today, as painful as it clearly is, he is telling his story. it was hell. agonizing. there were a lot of people and not enough boats, he tells me. people in the water were yelling for help. the ferry was sinking fast. he says he has no idea how many he saved. i was told

nic robertson, cnn, kuala lumpur, malaysia. >> again, there is a new development that people are waitinghear what perhaps the chinese ship and the other australian ship, perhaps what acoustic sounds they are picking up from the ocean. coming up here right after a break, more on our top story. we'll follow the latest developments out of australia. [ male announcer ] first the cookie at check-in... then a little time to kick back. earn double hilton honors points with the 2x points package and be one step closer to a weekend break. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. >>> as we've been telling you, search planes and ships are heading for an area where chinese searchers have now twice detected electron beiic pulse signals in the southern indian ocean. they also say the australian ship "ocean shield" has picked up some kind of signal as well. here's the announcement made a couple of hours ago from australia's head of search operations. >> this morning we were contacted by the chinese authorities and advised that "haixun 01" had late yesterday afternoon redetected th

what more, nic, are we learning about the investigation as to who should be held criminally responsible for this disaster? >> reporter: well, 29 crew members on board. nine missing or dead. 20 made it ashore. 11 have been arrested including the captain and senior officials. also the company that owns and operates the ship, the man behind that company, a reclusive multi-millionaire if not billionaire here, his offices, his house have been searched by the police. he has not been charged with anything yesterday that we're aware of, but also a number of other senior officials within the company also facing police scrutiny at this time. the investigation is widening but the coast guard here tell us really they won't know precisely what went wrong until the salvage operation to bring this ship up can be completed, rosemary. >> many thanks to nic robertson reporting live from jindo. appreciate it. >>> now to tokyo where u.s. president barack obama is navigating a delicate balancing act. >> he's navigating support while he's trying to maintain relations with china. mr. obama and shinzo abe held

nic robertson is joining us from kuala lumpur in malaysia. at one point, the australian prime minister said crews were within kilometers, kilometers, of finding the black boxes. others you're speaking with there as confident as tony abbott appears to be? >> he's narrowed it down more than anyone has so far. that phrase "win kilometers." we've heard optimism, as we've reported over recent days, from the man leading the search, air chief marshal angus houston. he reported he was also optimistic in his words that the wreckage would be found. certainly with the four pings we had since last saturday, the sort of confirmed pings, if you like, that are suggesting of the black boxes. the search area for the wreckage has shrunk dramatically. and it is so much smaller than it was, just a matter of days ago. whether it is a few kilometers or whether it is 20 or 30 square kilometers or even more, no real certainty on that. certainly with those four ping, and also the arrival there of that british naval ship, the "hms echo," which can look at the bottom o

nic robertson is in kuala lumpur with more of these developments. hi, nic. >> reporter: hi, carol. what we know is investigators played the air traffic recording, they played that to five pilots who knew both the first officer and the captain. they say they were able to identify the first officer speaking when the aircraft was on the ground, but that last communication at 1:19 in the morning was given by the captain. they say there was no third party in the cockpit, no sign or sound of distress coming from the cockpit at that time. of course, who was in control, who was talking through that last communication, a very important thing for investigators. we're also learning after the aircraft did that loop back, flew back across the malaysian peninsula, it dipped below military radar, reappeared 120 nautical miles further away and came up again. what we're being told is the belief is from all the data that the aircraft was dropping down to an altitude between 4,000 to 5,000 feet, possibly they say because it was trying to dodge what is a busy commercial air lane in the sky there. agai

nic robertson in kuala lumpur for us, thank you. >> thank you, nic. >>> realize it's nearly a year after and look at runners here. they are getting ready for another marathon. going to be pretty emotional this year as we think about the folks there. we'll have a report from the finish line for you. >>> also which technology are the searchers using underwater to find the black boxes, maybe some wreckage. how does it work? we'll show you. [ julie ] the wrinkle cream graveyard. if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? this one's a keeper. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®. afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military mem

cnn's nic robertson is live in jindo, south korea. nic, what's the latest? still being called a rescue mission, the divers battling tough conditions inside the ship. the pace of recovery, the success, if you will, is picking up. anxiety among families waiting for news, also high. the arrival of each police boat brings some closure to a few families of the missing. for so many more, the uncertainty continues. the scope of this tragedy becomes more evident with each body brought ashore. as authorities here say most of the people they find are still wearing life vests. the company which operated the ferry posted a public apology on their website saying in part, we apologize to all the people who are grieving for the loss of their loved ones. we beg for forgiveness from the victims' families, and we pray for the dead. the search for survivors in this waters is dangerous. low visibility and debris aboard the ship make it nearly impossible to navigate. divers must first swim down over 100 feet to reach the ship. then the difficult task of breaching the wall of the

. >> i want to go back to kuala lumpur, nic robertson is there. he's been doing some serious investigating. what else are you picking up on this day? >> reporter: we understand that there will be today a briefing, a high level briefing for the chinese families that are here. they will be given access to officials to investigators that they wouldn't get if they were in beijing. this does seem to be an attempt to answer some of their questions. we know they have this air traffic control communication transmission two weeks ago. it does seem to be the same -- it hasn't changed over those two weeks compared to what the government released. we're told families will be talking with the experts involved in the investigation about their methodology, about how they collect the data. it does appear the chinese families will get more of what they have been asking for, more answers. not clear if we will get to find out anything from those briefings. these have been up until now closed door. >> any new information, nic, on that map that chinese families based