also, one of the assets deployed, the p8 orion is basically the 21st century version of the p3 orion, capable, can stay on satisfaction for longer and has more advanced electronic and detection systems. >> when e with talk about the search -- when we talk about the search, we are talking about in the middle of indian ocean. what could the objects be? >> as mentioned before, when objects were spotted in the south china sea, they were sea trash, flot sam and jet sam from passing ships, confused for airport parts. that's a problem around the world. debris falling off ships, sunkan vessels. some can float on the surface for years. it's possible that the objects could, from a distance, look like aircraft parts. as the prime minister pointed out. it could be that this is not a part of an airplane. again. these p3 and p8 aircraft will give a better, clearer picture, detailed picture than a satellite. >> we are certainly waiting on word. todd curtis, al jazeera transportation contributor. stay with us for the latest in the search for miss ing flight mh370. and the latest on the crisis in ukra

an australian orion spotter plane is at the site. three other planes - they are going to the same narrow position where the satellite imagery has been seen. at the moment it's no more than two photographs of - sorry, two objects on a photograph. we had, of course, false leads before. it may be no more than that. tony abbott, the australian prime minister was at pains to point that out in parliament. but the very fact he stood up and said all this in person suggests it could be more than that. >> let me interrupt you for a second. the team is standing by. we'll take a quick break. we'll come back, the news conference is to begin in the next few minutes. we'll be back with that live after this. >> you're watching al jazeera america, i'm john seigenthaler in new york, and we have breaking news to report. associated press says there's a development in the miss ing malaysian airlines flight 370. the prime minister of australia confirms that and the malaysian minister, who says two objects from the jet may have been found out in the southe

by the way the orion, that is the p3. >> that's the p3 orion. >> they have the listening devices.hey have to get something that lands on the water. i don't know if we have a v22, helicopter-like airplanes or a flying boats. we don't have many in the military inventory. we need the parts. maybe a long-range helicopter could get out there. >> how big would the objects have to be for a satellite to see them? >> that's not my area. >> i know. >> i have friends - i have no idea. we know what happened with the chinese. i have a feeling that these are probably reasonable sizes, you know. >> when you say we know what happened with the chinese, in the initial stages of the story there were satellite images that the chinese had that purportedly showed pieces of the aircraft, which turned out not to be true. >> they were way too big to be parts of a triple 7. what i'm saying is i think the australians, if anything, will be careful before yes released information. if these are satellite photos, particularly in they are satellite photos. this is encouraging, but until we get the float sam and

the new zealand orion was due to depart this afternoon.ercules aircraft has been tasked by rcc central you to drop data mark-up buoys to provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects becomes perfected. they responded to shipping broadcast issued by rcc australia on monday, was also expected to arrive in the area this afternoon. the royal australian navy ship "hms success" is on route to the area but is some days away. the ship is well equipped to recover any objects located and proven to be from mh-370. every effort is being made to locate the objects seen in the satellite imagery. it must be stressed that these sightings, while credible, are still to be confirmed. the search for mh-370 is a multinational effort. i will now give you an update on the assets which have been deployed. during the course of this operation, the chief of the defense force has spoken to his counterparts from countries including australia, china, ind india, indonesia, japan, nepal, new zealand, singapore, thailand, vietnam, the uk and the

navy poseidon, a second royal australian air force orion and japanese orion are also en route to or inearch area. >>> the smoke you can see is from a marker dropped to note where an object has been spotted floating in the ocean. it in turn helps toe determine the wind speed and current which in turn makes it easier for the ship to make contact. it gives us an idea how the search is being carried out at the moment. more now from lucy williamson. lucy, quite a few developments today. obviously for the families the way it goes on is very difficult if the plane goes down in the deep waters. >> it seems as if we're always on the verge of a break through. never more so than now perhaps. an australian ship in the area trying to pick up whatever was seen by the aircraft crew and bring it back for assessment. if indeed what was seen apart of the airliner it will be a break through. it will mean we know where it went down, where it ended up. that will help the search for the black box that could tell us the story of what happened. of course none of that is certain yet. more than two weeks after

an orion aircraft expected there in just hours then three more aircraft that have.'re about to learn from the news conference on the left of the screen. >> it's half past midnight on the east coast. half past 9:00 on the west coast this, is fox news continuing coverage of what appears to be a break in the case of the malaysian airlines 777 that went down or disappeared at least some 12 days ago. it's mid day in australia. the australian prime minister has said two objects possibly related to the night have been spotted on satellite from satellite pictures in the indian ocean. and they say an air force aircraft has been diverted to that area to try to locate them. now those involved in this explained to us this is going to be a very complicated and tedious search the area is very broad they're sending in one orion aircraft expected to arrive within the next couple hours. this in canberra. three other aircraft are expected to follow for a more-intensive search in the hours that followed. but the prime minister himself cautioned that the task of lobingiting the object

the p 3 orion. but they also have surveillance equipment on there. and they're long duration, about 13 hours. they have about 1,700 miles to go. so i don't expect them to be on station for approximately five hours. >> you don't expect -- well, we know they have one ship there, one orion on site. it arrived about 1:30 according to the aviation officials, local time, which would have been about now, two hours and 45 minutes ago. it's these other planes, which are going to be a significant assistant, which aren't going to be there for a number of hours and then to get anything on the water is going to take much longer. so it's not like people who are sitting up late at night on the east coast or in the late evening on the west coast are going to see pictures of this jet floating around in the water. we're not there. >> yeah, that's correct. i think the thing to be c cogniza cognizant, the orion is about a 13-hour duration. five hours out there, three hours on station, and then five hours on return. each can spend two and a half hours on station, and the

the second orion was expected to midafternoon.the new zealand orion was due to depart this afternoon. the hercules aircraft has been markup todrop beta assist in drift modeling. they will provide efforts the task of relocating the efforts becomes protected. there is on it to a broadcast australia monday, was also expected to arrive in the area this afternoon. the royal navy ship is en route to the area. the ship is well lakota to recover any -- as well it kept to recover any objects of mh370. every effort is being made to obtain the object seen in the satellite imagery. it must be stressed that these discoveries, while credible, discerned.yet to be during the course of operation, the chief of the defense force has spoken to his counterpart from countries including australia, china, india, indonesia, japan, nepal, new zealand, singapore, thailand, vietnam, and the u.k., and the usa. allwere very supportive and offered their assistance. as the focus of the surge has moved from the south china sea and straight to northern and souther

a japanese p-3 orion. a republic of korea p-3 orion and c-130 hercules aircraft. new zealand air force p-3 orion. a chinese people liberation army aircraft. a united states navy p-8 poseidon aircraft, and one australian civil jet acting as a communications relay. four of the ten aircraft are overhead in the search area as we speak. with a further six planes to fly over the area today. a further p-3 orion has been placed on stand by at the royal air force base in western australia to investigate any reported sightings. six ships are relocating to the new search area, including five chinese ships, and is expected to arrive in the search area tomorrow night. the chinese patrol ship is in the search area. the united states towed pinger locater and a bluefin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle have arrived in perth to assist in the location and recovery of the black box. these will be fitted to an australian defense vessel, which will arrive in the coming days. and the depth of the water in the search area is between 2,000 meters and 4,000 meters. thank you. the atsb, as

anre is one orion, australian air force orion. on and theand ori u.s.n play in an emergent ship eating diverted and an australian naval vessel. but those ships more slowly, obviously, and they will take a few days to get there. it is important to stress, though, the maritime safety authority said this as well -- they are not raising hopes. this object may not even be related to the search. lead,oung called it a and it is the best league we have right now. we have a, when night better idea of what these objects actually are? the sun has gone down in sydney and it will be getting dark in western australia. plus the search area is a long way away. perth is one of the most cities on earth. the search area is 2500 kilometers west of that. the weather down there is good, but the visibility is very poor. in terms of what we might hear something, the maritime safety authority said maybe today, maybe tomorrow. but it is very difficult to tell. once again, they were sort of calling for everybody to keep calm head. there were many false leads before in the search

. >> i took off with squadron 5 on the new zealand air force orion with high tech equipment. it took four hours to reach the search location and we scoured the sea for three hours before making the return journey. weather was particularly turbulent. cloud cover was sitting at 100 metres above the sea surface, so the pilot of the orion had to sit under the cloud cover as eight sets of eyes looked out of windows for three hours scouring the vast indian ocean. >> what kind of technology was used other than eyeballs to try to find the plane. >> well, this orion has been updated with the latest high-tech surveillance equipment, and it's highly classified so you can appreciate i can't go into it in too much detail. i've been sworn to secrecy to what i saw on board. certainly if there was anything there, it would have been detected by this equipment. there were several possible contacts made that once we went down and took a closer look, a hundred metres above the surface of the sea, we had no results. was it disappointing - it was a disappointing return for the squadron. they had h

a royal australian air force orion aircraft arrived in the area about 1:50 pm this afternoon. a further three aircraft have been tasked by rcc australia to the area later today including a royal new zealand air force orion and a united states navy poseiden aircraft. the poseiden aircraft should be on screen now. the second australian orion departed royal australian air force base pearce at 2:00 pm this afternoon, and should be on scene at 6:00 pm this afternoon. the new zealand orion is due to depart at 4:00 pm this afternoon and should be on scene at 8:00pm a royal australian air force c130 aircraft has been tasked by rcc australia to drop data marker buoys. they say marker buoys assist rcc australia to provide information about water movement to assist in drift modelling and will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects becomes protracted. a merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast issued by rcc australia on monday is expected to arrive in the area at 6:00 pm, having been diverted by rcc australia. the royal australian war ship hma

a japanese p-3 orion. a republic of korea p-3 orion, and c-130 hercules aircraft.al new zealand air force p-3 orion, a chinese people's liberation air force. a united states navy poseidon aircraft and one australian civil jet acting as a communications relay. four of the ten aircraft are overhead in the search area as we speak, with the further six planes to fly over the area today. a further royal air force p-3 orion has been placed on standby at the royal air force base in pierce to relay any new sightings, six air ships are sent to the area, including hms ships and five chinese ships and success is expected to arrive late tomorrow night. additionally, the maritime safety ship is in the search area. and i might add that we know her quite well, she visited sidney last year in order to support regional maritime safety conference and we had the opportunity to do a search and rescue exercise with that ship. the united states towed pinger locater, and a blue 21 vehicle have arrived in perth to assist with the location and recovery of the black box. these will be fitte

the p-8 orion, we have just learned from the u.s.avy, will not be taking to the air today, the second day in a row it will have routine scheduled maintenance. wolf? >> what does that mean? maintenance for the second day in a row. are they giving you any information with the p-8, the poseidon will not be involved in the hunt on this day? >> reporter: it's not very clear. they have to have a certain number of hours down and we're not sure why it has to be two days in a row. we need to check in on that and have more information for you. >> kyung lah, thank you. there is a massive hunt for the airliner to try to pinpoint a location. suzanne malveaux is picking up this part of the story. suzanne? >> as you know, wolf, time is running out quick to find the data recorders that are likely deep in the sea. they have a battery life of about 30 days. we're 14 days into this. the malaysian government is asking countries around the world to step in and step up and provide the best equipment to find this missing flight. a robust international sear

navy poseidon, a second royal australian air force orion and japanese orion are also en route to or in the search area. planes and ships continue to search the area for any sign of the missing aircraft. i caution again, mr. acting deputy speaker, that we don't know whether any of these objects are from mh-370. nevertheless, we are hopeful we can recover these objects soon and they will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery. this is an extraordinary mystery, absolutely baffling mystery. but as i've said mr., mr. acting deputy speaker, let me reiterate to this house we owe it to the families of those on board. we owe it to the loved ones of those on board. we owe it to all the people concerned about this aircraft to do what we reasonably can to find anything that is out there to test it and to see what we can learn about whatsoever is one of the great mysteries of our time. >> tony abbott speaking to parliament in australia on the latest on that search. they have seen objects that hopefully will be retrieved by tomorrow morning. justify before we go, we are going to leav

a royal australian air force orion aircraft arrived in the area about 1:50 this afternoon. or further, three aircraft have been tasked by rcc australia to the area later today, including a royal new zealand air force orion and a united states navy poseidon air kraflt. the poseidon aircraft should be on scene now. the second australian orion departed at 2:00 this afternoon and should be on scene at 6:00 this afternoon. the new zealand orion is due to depart at 4:00 this afternoon and should be on scene at 8:00. a royal australian air force c-130 hercules aircraft has been tasked to drop data marker bu s buoys. they are providing information about water movement to assist in drift modeling. they will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects becomes protracted. a merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast issued by rcc australia on monday is expected to arrive in the area about 6:00, having been diverted by rcc australia. the royal australian warship hma success is on route to the area, but it's some days away. she is equipped to locat

this orion is expected to arrive in the area about this time. three more aircraft will follow this orion. they are tasked for more intensive followup search. we're also hearing there will be a press conference coming from sho shortly. the information is coming from the prime minister. it is almost midnight here in the united states eastern time, and it's almost noon in perth, australia. i want to go now to mary schiavo. she is standing by now. again, this is a very significant development. i don't think australia would be doing this if they didn't think there was some importance to this, mary. >> oh, i agree. i am sure they realize how important, even if this is the wreckage, even if it's the very first piece, the clue also tumble forth, was there a fire, an explosion, do they have the pitting p pitting patterns. the evidence can finally start, and most important they can take where the pieces are, reverse the current track, find out where the currents have led over the past 12 days, and then start in earnest the search for the block boxes. >> a

japan has committed two p-3 orions, two c-130s and one gulf stream jet.one c-17 aircraft and another aircraft. they are set from korea, japan and uae are in malaysia awaiting orders from their respective governments. aside from deploying its assets to the northern corridor, china has made arrangements with australia to deploy an aircraft to the southern corridor. i would like to clarify what has been said about acars and the sequence of events before the air turnback. on saturday, we said that based on new satellite information, we can say to high degree of certainty that the aircraft communication addressing reporting system, acars, was disabled just after the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsula malaysia. shortly afterwards, near the border between malaysian/vietnamese air traffic control, the air transponder stopped. these were drafted together with representatives from the lead international investigators, based on the information available at that time. yesterday, malaysian airlines clarified that we cannot determine exactly what acars has be

using the p-3 orion, traveling about four miles a minute. problem is, it only has 13 hours endurance, but that may sound like a lot but this here is a five-hour leg, that is ten hours off. you have three hours on loiter. this area, sean, 100,000 square kilometers. that is a huge area for four aircraft to fly. you have the poseidon aircraft all very useful. we know from the information reports today the poseidon aircraft is concentrating in the information. all that turned up is a freighter and a couple of dolphins. so we have a long way to go. hugely inclement weather, hopefully that is getting better. but having done lots of search and rescue operations in my previous life, what we know is when the rain and clouds come down, the visibility is less and less, traveling less than five k. >> we are going ten miles out, maybe a maximum ten-hour window to search the area in question. and we don't even know then, again, good enough reason to search but we don't have enough information or intel to tell us this is the location where we believe it we

. >> what about the orion, are you going to be flying one of those today. >> we're not, sir. the u.s. only has the signal p-8 here. >> you don't have any orions, australia, japan, other countries will be searching this area in the southern indian ocean, but the u.s. is not involved. what about other naval vessels, anything like, that any ships involved? >> there are at least two civilian ships out there working. i understand there are several different military ships from different nations inbound to the area that may be there at this point. we will be taking off in the morning about daylight tomorrow morning to go out and continue the search. >> did you actually personally fly over this area in the indian ocean, commander? >> i did one mission over. >> what was it like when you were flying the first few days, everyone thought it was in a totally different area. but it looks like those first six days, that entire search was a waste of time, how frustrating is that? >> i wouldn't say that it's a waste of time. we were given areas to go search and we went out and we were able t

he went on to say that this orion ap 3, which is a four engine turboprop patrol aircraft that carries out submarine hunting for its normal work. maritime surveillance and other missions for the australian military is now there and a version of the aircraft is also used by the united states navy. this appeared on satellites that they went back to scour, as kathryn mentioned after the ntsb here in the united states said that it had reason to believe that's where they should be looking. lieutenant colonel dan hampton is on the line with us. it's as good a bit of information from as credible a source as we've received since march 8th when this jet disappeared. >> yeah, that's true, shepherd. and as i said from the very beginning, if i was going to try to lose an airplane, or disappear an airplane, that's where it would be. i think we were all hoping there would be a happier ending. and i need to point out again, that this is all preliminary. >> of course it is. but you've said from the beginning colonel hampton, that this would be the place to ditch it, if that's what you wanted to do, th

he went on to say that this orion ap 3, which is a four engine turboprop patrol aircraft that carries out submarine hunting for its normal work. maritime surveillance and other missions for the australian military is now there and a version of the aircraft is also used by the united states navy. this appeared on satellites that they went back to scour, as kathryn mentioned after the ntsb here in the united states said that it had reason to believe that's where they should be looking. lieutenant colonel dan hampton is on the line with us. it's as good a bit of information from as credible a source as we've received since march 8th when this jet disappeared. >> yeah, that's true, shepherd. and as i said from the very beginning, if i was going to try to lose an airplane, or disappear an airplane, that's where it would be. i think we were all hoping there would be a happier ending. and i need to point out again, that this is all preliminary. >> of course it is. but you've said from the beginning colonel hampton, that this would be the place to ditch it, if that's what you wanted to do, th

. >> this p3 orion did spot the debris.ian officials, they were briefing all morning, very much on the defensive. they say the new search area is based on the best information they have including from the faa and ntsb, also from boeing. they're standing by the fact they were searching in the old search area. they also standby the hunt for debris captured by satellite over the last few days. will the search finally lead crews in the right direction? for the latest, let's go to the ground. andrew stevens live in perth, australia. >> reporter: good morning, john. that's the question. at this stage, no one will be prepared to answer that given there's been so many false leads and false hopes in this 21-day search. the plane that saw those objects is due to arrive here back at the air base behind me just shortly. so we'll keep you up to date on that. certainly, the australians, when they announced the search area was changing, they were clear to point out it wasn't new data. it was actually new analysis of the data they already

navy's p-3 orion plane is airborne again, it will fly near the cocos islands, they're not searching for pinging devices but instead they will use equipment that can see pieces the size of a basketball. the spokesperson said the images seen may have been cargo containers that fell off a ship. the search has cost the military $2.5 million so far. and an official said they only set aside just $4 million for the mission. in a phone call between u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel and his malaysian counterpart, this morning the malaysians asked for high tech surveillance equipment, a type of sonar, sean. >> just to clarify it was about 125,000 square miles that we're talking about? the search area? >> that is the search area that the u.s. planes have been flying since this first started. >> all right, jennifer griffin, appreciate you joining us. now on the phone is the commander, william marks is with us, one of the americans helping to search for the aircraft. and he is also with us. we're going to check in, in just a moment. sir, you're out there with the fleet, tell us the latest from your

we've got orion reconnaissance aircraft coming in, more of them, from the united states. there's already an advanced p-8 as well as a p-3 here. new zealand, australia sending two orions, japan, south korea, all of them are pitching in here. now, i want to clear up one thing, too. there was one rumor, a report that the thai military had picked up a blip on its radar screen. the thais are telling us, john, that's not true, we didn't see anything. and the search goes on. it is more of an aerial search now than anything else, trying to cover as much of that sea area as possible. john? >> yeah, you mentioned the thais are now saying they picked up no radar blip. they join kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, india, pakistan, this litany of countries that say they have no radar contact, no radar indications of any kind showing that this flight passed over their air space. and china saying today they've gone through the manifest of passengers, jim, and found no connection to any one of the chinese passengers on board with any sort of terrorism. they've dismiss eed that possibility. jim clanc

there are p-7 orion, another subcraft air hunter. they have parascopes from submarines and they are trying to spot this debris. it's a long flight. it's a four-hour flight here. they only get a couple hours on site and then another four-hour flight back and when they did this yesterday the weather was pretty bad and they couldn't see anything. once light hits, they are going to head back and have a closer look. >> we talked about there being two search arcs. is the northern arc not being looked at at all now? >> they are still dedicating resources in the north. laos is looking, vietnam, kazakhstan, helicopters are searching the sat lime images. but it's really down here that they believe is the strongest possibility as to whether the plane ended up. and just an idea of the allocation of resources there. 29 aircraft involved in this search. four of them are up here. 25 of them are down here and the chinese are sending another four ships in this direction, too. that gives you a sense of where they really think the most likely chance of

navy is deploying a p 8 poseidon and a p-3 orion. if the plane is in the water, another set of challenges. search specialist helped find the remains of air france flight 447 in the atlantic. he said in malaysia airlines 370 is found off india, a key focus of the search, teams will have to go very deep to recover it. >> the depth range is between 4,000 and 7,000 meters, which was around 12 to 24,000, 25,000 feet. so significant depths. >> if and when the wreckage is found at sea, the crews will then send sup mersables down, either manned ones like this that can take pictures of the black box. that silver arm there is used to recover the black box. only a handful of countries have the heavy equipment needed for that type of recovery, but some of them are involved in this search. brian todd, cnn washington. >> now, these efforts at sea are just part of the complicated operation. much of the search on the so-called northern arc involves vast areas of the rugged, highly populated territory. countries including pakistan and india say their

we talked about the orion last night. five hours to get there and back. not great.here is previous aircraft the australians are using, it can cruise at 500 knots, high altitude, twice the speed. it can get out there in two hours, which gives it more time on loiter. so this has technology stacked inside it. the whole aircraft is a nerve center. it's got synthetic radar, to ping out energy poles and identify a specific type does all of that stuff. thermal imaging display, which is great if you're looking for survivors. unfortunately, in this case, i don't think that's a likely scenario. so they suck up all the communications information. again, not particularly helpful for this scenario, given that it's 12 days after. >> early on, the australian government said it was like looking for a need will in a y haysta haystack. is it going to be that hard? >> this is 125,000 square miles. it has already been going on for five days. it takes forever. let's go to the next map. now, wow, the area we're talking about is is that. that's 125,000 square miles. >> then we got to look

and in addition to that, we have a p-3 orion patrol aircraft and incoming p8 posiedon. the reason they are so important, they give us the longest possible range we can get. we're talking upwards of 1,000 plus miles every time they fly. they fly one long 9-hour or so flight. and over that flight they can cover 10, 11, 12,000 square miles. so when you plook at the xpans, that is the indian ocean, that's why you want the p- 3 and p-8 out there. >> i know the posiedon has the most advanced equipment. dove do they have the ability to run 24/7. >> they are not limited to daylight. they used a very advanced surface search radar and night vision and infrared. so to detect anything on the surface of the water like debris, for example, really all they need is their radar and they will pick it up. >> this is such an enormous expanse. give us a sense of challenge here now that we're talking about the indian ocean and completely different sector? >> this is a huge challenge. i think now is the time to transition. whereas before when you were in the gulf of thailand, you had relative

stop them the second party at orion was expected to depart it's for her for a mid afternoon the news you to read with you into the park this afternoon. afc west that you should use the carpet in cost by darcy smith predicted drop it to make the mako boards two assists in truth wanted they will provide an ongoing reference point of the cost of the gt dubbed it becomes protected. emergency. there is one that should be more cards issued by us use your freedom. monday was also expected to arrive in the area itself. the russian navy ship hmas success is on the area. and something easily. this is broken to cover any object that it is a program to be drawn at eight three seconds. every effort is being made to the cape york to suit contends that the right imagery. it must be stressed that the seconds while credible. i still have the info. four and tasty seventy is a multi national effort. i would not give you an update on the assets which have been deployed. during the course of these operations chief for the defence forces. welcome to stop across from countries including australia china ind

p-3 orion and one korean p-3 orion. there are each chinese ships, the "hyko," the "jinggok," the "haishin," the donghaiju." three australian ships, the "hmas success," the "hmas" and a merchant vessel, which is currently transiting in the search area. the malaysian ship is expected to arrive in the search area on the third of april. the adb "ocean shield" fitted with a towed pinger locator and a bluefin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle is due to arrive in the search area on the third of april. in terms of sightings of potential objects, on saturday, five objects were retrieved by "hmas success" and the "haisun." however it was found none of these objects were related to mh-370. on sunday, an australian p-3 orion made visual sighting of seven potential objects. the korean p-3 orion also made visuals of three potential objects. the chinese ship the "haisun" was tasked on monday to retrieve these potential objects. in my capacity as malaysian defense minister, i will leave tonight for the united states pacific command in h

air assets can only do so much, but we've got australia adding two orion surveillance reconnaissance aircraft, we've got new zealand, we have got the republic of korea offering one up, japan offering one up, the united states has two, a sophisticated p-8 as well as a p-3 orion, all of them looking for this aircraft. meantime, you know, the whole list of passengers being reviewed. they're trying now to go back. they're looking for motive on one hand, but they're looking for evidence on the other. there is no claim of responsibility that we know of, there is no manifesto that's been published. people are at a loss to explain what happened to flight 370. john? >> jim, you mentioned 26 countries now involved with the search, but these are 26 countries very dependent on one country, malaysia, which is, you know, spearheaded this investigation from the beginning, and now there are a lot of questions about how malaysia has handled it, now that a full week plus a few days after the crash, we're now just finding out information they thank you have had for some time. >> reporter: well, they ha

an orion and a hercules.ve been working with international investigators and authorities since day one. china has joined the investigation team. officials from the french office of investigations also joined the team. these authorities are working with malaysian airlines. they can help with the search. saturday, investigations were started into all crew on board, including the pilot and copilot as well as those handling the aircraft. the family members of the pilot and copilot were interviewed. the pilot's flight simulator was taken from his house. the simulator was reassembled. cooperating with the fbi in support and other relevant international authorities. theuld like to address accusations that we have held back information about flight 370. our priority has always been to find the aircraft. we would not withhold any information. we also have a responsibility not to release information until it has been verified by the international investigation team. this is for not only the families, but also to the se

a japanese coast guard jet, a japanese orion and c 130 hercules aircraft, a royal new zealand aircraft states navy posiedon aircraft and an australia civil jet acting as communications relay. four of the ten are overhead as we speak with six planes flying over the area today. a further p 3 orion has been placed on stand by in western australia to investigate any reported sightings. six ships are relocating to the new search area including hma success and five chinese ships and expected to arrive in the search area by tomorrow night. additionally the chinese maritime is in the area. and safety conference we have the opportunity to do a search and rescue exercise off the ship. and policing 21 underwater vehicles have arrived in perth to assist with location and recovery of the black box. these will be fitted to australian defense vessel ocean shield which will arrive in western australia incoming days. the depth of the search area is 2000 meters and 4,000 meters. >> thank you. >> the atsb agency is working with a range of other international expert organizations to analyze available data

there is no either or in terms of sls and orion and commercial crew. i don't know how many ways to say that. >> you answered my question. the chairman will give me another minute. >> if i don't have commercial crew and i can get to lower orbit i don't need sls and orion. >> if i could go to my final question, there was a study, and it concluded in part that income inequality contributes to the classless society. it has come to my attention that the study also states this work was partially funded through nasa grant and that nasa contributed $26,000 to a study on income inequality. why is nasa spending money that should be related to space exploration on income inequality issues? >> nasa did not request such study. we have not reviewed sets ready. the study was done at the university of maryland as an offshoot of a study we did request on another subject. we don't control what a principal investigator chooses to do if they can get additional studies in. >> its $26,000 in nasa funding. are you telling me nasa doesn't control what the money is being spent

navy p 8 orion. if all this air power heading down to this region, four hours to get down there, will spend about two hours and then have to make that long journey back, bill. >> i'm a little surprised the planes didn't leave earlier so they'd get more daylight. but i'm just interested if you know how effective these searches can be. a size of new mexico they're telling us when they only have about two hours out there before they have to turn around and fly four hours back. >> reporter: yes. that's really frustrating. so take out your pencil because i want you to do a little math with me. yesterday the australians had four aircraft in the air, four aircraft. and they covered 23,000 square kilometers, 23,000 square kilometers. the entire search area according to the australian military is 600,000 square kilometers. so if you do the math here, divide the two, 26 days. that's how long it's going to take to search that entire area. now, they do have additional aircraft there. they have one more plane in

the orion exploration. both those vehicles are under development and approaching initial testing milestones. this is the point in a healthy development program that funding should be increased and not decreasing. i expect this is an era that congress would want to address. i am puzzled by the proposed science programs. those programs not only provide exceptional science, but outreach opportunities. we are going to need to look closely at what is being proposed in this budget. finally, i want to know more about the proposed increases in the crew program. those increases are significant. especially in the context of nasa's budget environment. while i want to reduce our dependence on russia, the crew transportation from the international space station has not prepared to provide a blank check to do so. as you know, representative edwards and i expressed concern over privatizing prices of safety in its evaluation of proposals leading to upcoming contract awards. unfortunately, nasa chose not to make any changes

it's been the p-3 orion aircraft. they were developed by the states. they still have sophisticated sensing equipment, both sonar and radar. we have seen them come back here. australians have had three of them out there today on these very, very long trips. the pilots and crew looking pretty tired. they have a long-range jet they're putting out with a different kind of sur advance equipment. and the americans have sent out their most sophisticated plane, poseidon. but they can't do much more than that. the journey is so long out of this area where they think it's worth looking. each time they go and scan these scenes where the debris that they think might have been on the satellite pictures could have moved. if they don't find it then, they mark it off and move to another. we have seen it expand further and further southeast we believe follow the currents as they cover more and more areas in the hope they find whatever it was the satellite pictures show. australian officials are stressing two things. one, you have to be cautious. there's very little to

. >> aircraft, and they need more of the p3 orion. they have several, but they need four or five dozen, a lot more equipment to find the floating debris to start, and sorry just lost me. >> we've still got you, keep talking to us. >> the prime minister needs to call the president and request several squadrons of these p3s. hang on one second. i'm sorry. >> we know you are in high demand since you are a former national transportation safety board investigator. can we throw more questions at you here? great. so you were talking about what steps happened next, keep going with that? the floating debris, if it's from the airliner, with the models, the oceanographers, and meteorologists can look at wind and ocean currents and find the proper haystack to look at the needle. that's when the p3 orions will come in handy to locate it in the area. we know we have, what, 12 days of battery life left. this is kind of like the apollo 13 rescue, a running clock, we need to move and need a lot of equipment. it will take the prime minister calling pre

and then of course, the crew of the p-3 orion located two objects described as gray or grain in a circular object, and orange, rescue tank georgi obje britain's inmarsat gave information that gave the malaysian authorities the confidence to say yes this plane has indeed crashed in this vicinity. so the australian naval ship is en route, and will join in the search to find the wreckage. we have the u.s. ship, pfo for n as well. >>> dan, gray, green, that hardly seems definitive, while we hope they find the plane, loved ones, definitive, that doesn't sound very definitive. >> absolutely, look, it is very ambiguous, these descriptions, i can tell you an interesting experience yesterday when the captain arrived to a media briefing. as the plane landed on the tarmac, the captain came up to the media and then one of his advisers informed us he wouldn't be able to speak purely because he needed to go to a briefing immediately. there seems to be miscommunication and also situations changing very quickly in regards to the search. and also as you mentioned we did see some very hysterical family memb

the orion's design, that is what it is designed for. it has been doing it since the '60s. if there was a piec that big, i would think that if anyone could find it quickly, that orion could do it. it has been finding it since the '60s. >> essentially, it is a spy craft, with the best technology in the region. >> absolutely, without a doubt it is the best. >> i am fascinated by the size of this piece of debris said to be almost 29 feet, 74 meters. again, i go back to air france flight where it was all small debris. is it possible that it could be so indistinct on a satellite imagery that it could be smaller pieces of debris kind of linked together by cables? >> most likely it is, as i mentioned before if there was a ditching attempt where the aircraft had hit the water and depending on how much wave, and form on the top, it can tear that aircraft up in a number of different ways obviously. so i just wouldn't rule it out. i wouldn't rule out there is a piece that big, particularly there is not only wires holding it together. you have cables and structures on this aircraft. yo

among them, four slow-flying australian p3 orion planes which spotted objects earlier in the week. the united states 80 p8 pos sidon is there as well. so is the australian's success and china's supply ship sri long. this is a towed pinger system, weighing about 22 kilos. flown in by the u.s. navy. it usually tracks down u.s. military aircraft. it can locate signals up to a depth of 18,000 feet, 6,000 meters. the likely depth in the southern indian ocean is 10,000 to 13,000. but the pinger locater won't reach the search zone until april 30th. that's close to 30 days since the plane disappeared. it's also when the pinger battery pack on the black box runs out of power. let's go live to perth in western australia to my colleague sharanjit lay oh. >> reporter: the search intensified, resuming after a patch of bad weather yesterday. the focal point being about 2,500 kilometers southwest of where i stand here in central perth. of course, as you said, nik, we've been hearing a lot. a news conference from the acting malaysian transport minister who said new satellite images have been sent

orion aircraft from new zealand is also on the way. a u.s.idon aircraft is in the area now as well. a merchant ship has been diverted, an australian navy ship is on the way as well. that is expected to take a few days to get there. commercial satellites have also been diverted to see if they can get a more high resolution image. the amount of resources suggests this is being taken pretty seriously. >> thank you. we will wait for further details. >> baha'i conference is in berlin today. it brings together top industry executives in startups and investors to advancing the digital future of europe. hans nichols will be there when it kicks off. he joins us now from berlin with more. what are you keeping your eyes on? >> last night, i caught up with peter thiel. cofounder of paypal, a german speaker. i caught up with him. i asked why would someone invest in berlin? >> berlin is probably the place where it is most acceptable to try to do something new. if you say you are an entrepreneur, people don't immediately say, why did you fail at your last j

. >> our best asset is the p-3 orion. and poseidon.hey can cover 10, 12,000 square miles in one flight. >> reporter: also in the area the navy destroyer. based on the evidence so far it seems likely that whatever happened to this jumbo jet was a deliberate act. two different communication systems on the jet went dark app pair rengly at different times. first the system that seconds back information on engine performance then the transponder which tells controllers the location and altitude of the plane. was this a hijacking or a rogue pilot? >> there are four or five possibilities which we are exploring. it could have been done intentionally. it could be done under duress, or because of an explosion. >> reporter: but it does appear the plane may have stayed in the air for sometime after communication was lost. sources say satellites continued to pick up automatic signals from systems that monitor the engines. based on those signals and possible siting of the plane, the jet is believed to have turned far off course and headed west towar

the p-3 orion. then at 8:00 p.m. eastern time is the scheduled departure of the second one.'t heard if they've had a delay or if it has indeed taken off. still waiting to hear on that. but when we spoke to the air base before that horrendous weather, the spokesman was telling us that they are looking at a very tough day. that the people who are going to be boarding have been here for several hours. they were briefed. they were going to board. then it would be a 4 1/2 to 5-hour trip to that area and only two hours to circle to look, then they have to make the trip back. what he kept stressing to us is that this is not easy. it's going to take some work and it won't move as quickly as everyone who is watching this around the world would like it to. >> these are critical hours right now. they've got to find this debris and see if it is the wreckage from the plane. kyung lah in perth, australia. remember, a 1500-mile flight out to where that debris supposedly is. let's bring in our panel of experts. mark weiss, retired 777 pilot here in washington, also michael schmidt of "the n