a pinger locater payload can be adapted to this system. these can be launched to locate pingers. it would come up and you download the data off wi-fi believe it or not and look for pingers as well. this particular payload is a sonar payload. >> how interesting. and david, obviously there was a lot of hope over the weekend that more debris had been found perhaps bigger chunks that could have been the fuselage. we know now one of the pieces was that of a ship wreck. how big of a set back is that? >> it's a huge set back. if all pieces that they had in the area are from the ship wreck which is possible they've got the institute early on that this area is riddled with ship wrecks and aircraft crashes. there's wars fought in this area. it's difficult sorting through hose things especially in weather conditions. >> tim, one of the big issues involving the weather is the very poor visibility underwater for divers because of rough seas. in some places it's zero visibility. could special technology be helpful in those conditions? >> yes, it's getting the technology down there. sonar can l

the pinger activates by water. it's a water switch. and i believe this plane is submerged and there shouldn't be any reason why this was not activating and transmitting. i just think that we simply may not be close enough at this point. >> and when you say "close enough," how close to do people have to be to pick up a signal? >> well i think we need to be within four five or six miles of the pinger. we don't have to worry too much about depth because we have relatively shallow water compared to the indian ocean in the mh-370 situation so it's really left-to-right, forward and back and being organized in how we calm these areas. >> jeff wise, you told me that you believe searchers probably already r now searching in the right area. there's reason to be optimistic. why? >> well i believe that based on the information that we have about the radar returns the last known position of the plane is consistent with what's called a controlled flight into terrain. the pilot got disoriented in the bad weather, perhaps made worse by some kind of me

these pingers were brand new. they were put on the airplane my understanding, almost in the last few months. >> and when you talking about this smaller search area we're also talking about the depth being a little more forgiving than say, the malaysia flight that went missing in the indian ocean presumably last year. how will that assist in the search for it. if this is about 100 to 130 feet deep in this java sea? >> it completely changes the whole process. first of all, this access is easy. so once the weather, the weather calms. being able to do good sonar images. you can do that with sonar around the ships trying to put ships down deep. secondly you really have an opportunity to bring in the kinds of assets you couldn't use for the search for malaysian flight 370. it's just a completely different game. this is relatively simple at this point. >> okay. there are at least two u.s. warships in that area. the "u.s.s. ft. worth" that just arrived. and you talk about the sonar capabilities. the sonar, we understand f

>> at least one of the pingers was manufactured by the same company as the -- the pingers on the, mh 370. these of course the beacons for the so-called black boxes. the flight data recorder. the crucial equipment that tells -- tells you what happened. and will give investigators an idea what happened on the flight. we also know some good news. that the batteries had recently been changed on one of the pingers. the second one. manufacturers say may have been changed for a competitor's model. but that that shows that they may have the full 30 days. the standard 30 days. that the pingers will be sending out that signal. to show where exact low they are. now of course this is goods now for searchers which shows that they still have about 19, 20 days left to find the black boxes. >> good news indeed. paula. thank you. a lot to make sense of. fortunately, david gallows is with us. co-led the search for air france flight 447, david sousi its with us author of "malaysian airlines flight 370 why it disappeared." and cnn aviation correspondent, richard gwest.qwest. we just saw the images may b

in which case you won't be able to find the pingers. and so then you might do a side scan sonar search going up and down and just taking images of the bottom. we heard recently that just today the problem was apparently that visibility is very bad. they sent dives down to try to visually identify the parts of the aircraft. the divers couldn't because the visibility is so bad. sonar should be able to take images nevertheless. they don't require optical visibility. they use sound. they should be able to use the pieces anyway it seems to me. >> and hopefully for the families who are waiting there in surabaya for the answers, they'll be able to employ all the resources to get the victims recovered and salvage the parts of the plane to get some answers soon. jeff wise, thanks for speaking with us this morning. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> now here are five things you need to know for your new day. number one, in about 3 1/2 hours at this point, friends and family are going to gather in new york to say good-bye to officer liu. liu is one of

if the pinger were nearby we'd see a sharp spike at the pinger frequency. >> time is not on the investigator's last about 30 days. if the pingers fail searchers will likely turn to sonar. >> this is the sonar. this is what they'll use to map the sea floor once they have an idea where the debris site is or to search for the debri brooe site if the pinger can't find it. >> reporter: like hide phones sonars work better where the search area can be far more broad. coleman says in shallow water the search can move more quickly. >> shown far is showing us what's at the bottom right? >> exactly. emitting the sound. as the sound comes back off the bottom it's interpreting it in order to draw a 3d image of what's on the sea floor. >> that image will help investigators mark the debris field so the process of salvaging as much of the plane can begin. stephanie elam, cnn. >>> with me now cnn analyst david gallo, the director of special projects for the woods hole oceanographic institution and cnn aviation analyst less ab bin. i'm glad you're here. right now searchers saw this shadow underneath the water o

why aren't we hearing the pingers? the pingers should be close to these major sections of the aircraft. >> i want to go through a couple of things. david brought up weather and such. i want to take some questions from viewers off social media. karen krowzack, "whenever i've flown through turbulence i've always comforted myself by thinking that turbulence will not bring down a plane. that soothing thought is now gone," and kathy delaney says, "aware that the weather was so bad, why were flights still allowed to take off? from reports, the storms were at 50,000 feet elevations and very dangerous." address those two things. >> let's go back to turbulence. it was 50 years ago and 2 generations of aircraft ago that we lost an airplane strictly due to turbulence so don't be concerned. the only problem with turbulence you'll get hurt if you don't have your seat belt on. as far as the other aircraft in the area if we look at the radar, there were airplanes all over the sky over the java sea that day, it wasn't like it was so b

we know at least one of the pingers was manufactured by the same company as the pingers on the mh 370. these, of course the beacons for those so-called black boxes, the flight data recorder the crucial equipment that tells you what happened and will give investigators an idea of what happened on that flight. we also know some good news that the back was changed. the second may have been changed for competitor's model. but that shows that they may have the full 30 days those standard 30 days that the pingers will be sending out that signal to show where exactly they are. of course this is good news for searchers, which shows that they still have about 19 or 20 days left to find those black boxes. >> good news indeed. paul la thank you very much. a lot to make sense of. fortunately, cnn david gallo is here. and david soucie author of malaysia flight 370, why it disappeared and only a matter of time before this happens again and cnn aviation correspondent richard quest. let me start with you, david gallo. we saw the sonar images that kyung showed us that may be part of the plane. i know

is going to pinger locator is going to be gone.will be correct and question narrow the search area but the important thing is finding the bodies so the black boxes are a secondary thing and will be found anyway. >> thank you very much john? >> thank you very much christine. much more on the search for flight 8501. this morning we're mourning the loss of an american giant an we pay tribute to the incredible life of former new york grn mario cuomo next. >>> peace is better than war because life is better than death. >> he's brought the state to this point. >> people and the passion of belief are still more important than money. >> he believed in the power of individuals to achieve. >> there was no one like him. he could have been the president of the united states. he was that great. >> 30 bodies have now been recovered. >> the weather is unfortunately not looking good for the next two or three days. >> 2,000 square mile reaction of the java sea. until we get the data recorder and the voice recorder we're still somewhat in the dark.

a pinger has a specific pulse. it comes at a specific interval and frequency. >> correct. >> but still hard to find. >> yes, it is. >> reporter: forensic audio expert paul ginsburg shows what it would sound like with any competing sounds. but said there is plenty keeping for attention at the bottom of the sea. >> a school of fish swimming currents. echoes from the signal bouncing off different rock formations at the bottom. >> reporter: this signal he said is what an experienced operator might initially hear. >> just as when you're listening to a radio station that's out of your range. >> reporter: he said because the pings come at regular intervals and known frequency, once have it, the experienced audio technician can clean it up to hear this. we asked ginsburg to show how it's done. >> a tone with an annoying tone playing. >> reporter: when he hears it back this is what he works with. >> in this case i will attempt to get rid of the tone. >> reporter: analyzes the tone and using his own software is able to zero

and you may not have the pingers working. in twa, they were not. so it's going to be a methodical search that will be successful. >> so even though they've narrowed the search, that doesn't mean we could find the plane any time soon. that puts it into perspective. mary, i want to go back to you. there were reports that several bodies were found in their seats. what does that tell you? does that tell you anything about the state of the plane or how it hit the water? >> well, what it tells me is that it broke up when it hit the water. they would remain in their seats because in any kind of weather condition like this, the pilots would have had them buckle down and everybody, including the flight attendants, should have been buckled down and probably would have told them to give an extra tug on the seat belts to be securely in. with the three seats a row and several seats probably came loose but not a free fall from altitude because i think that the seats and the clothing on the persons, et cetera, would have been torn up or torn off. >> not to be mor

you have got a pinger here on the one end. that will be activated as it hits the water you will have information coming from the actual black box telling you where you can locate that. most can often be a fairly large debris field. and you have data that come into this normally when it's operating. it is going to have data from what the cockpit is saying what the people in the cockpit are saying to one another and to the ground. >> generally they have to be on top of these boxes in order to hear the pingers. the weather has been a big problem. but as we talk about these boxes in association with the tail wing generally, is there a likelihood or possibility that the pinger which is on the outside there could get damaged and perhaps they could never hear it? >> they believe they have found the majority of the wreckage and once that happens it's only a matter of time before the recorders are recovered and i believe that is what we will see there. ps? >> the newer ones are typically memory chips, something you would be using in a

how do you strengthen the pinger? how do you strength benatteries so you can pick it up at a greater distance. >> hard to believe at this day and age that a little cell phone, they can always detect wherever you are. but on aircraft equipment like this they can't detect -- they may never find these black boxes. >> they may never. and there are ways to solve it. you could have deployable flight data recorders that could float, or realtime streaming. when there's trouble on a plane, send information up to the cloud. the bottom line is regulators have to step in and say, this is mandatory. >> and you get the sense that the international cooperation, all the countries who are involved in this search right now, obviously indonesia, but the united states we know australia's involved all these countries are working together or is there a little competition going on? is there full cooperation? >> i think there's full cooperation. but to go back to miles' point about -- the auto industry had the same protest when people were s

the pingers to locate those black boxes are losing battery power by the minute. analysts are standing by covering all the news that's breaking right now. let's go first to our aviation correspondent renee marsh. she has the very latest. >> well the race is on to essentially recover the critical evidence that will help explain what brought down flight 8501. some are beginning to question whether indonesia's air safety record could have played a role. three more bodies brought to land. nearly a quarter of those who were on board airasia 8501 have been recovered. some still wearing seat belts. also recovered from the java sea, airplane seats, personal effects and what looks like part of a food cart. >> translator: we retrieved during our operation several objects mostly parts of the airasia plane. >> reporter: the main body of the plane and critical flight recorders still on the sea floor. 16-foot waves and muddy conditions underwater mean zero visibility. but an indonesian naval captain told reporters they may have found the tail of the plane that includes the cruc

and the boxes are equipped with pingers which send out signals under water. underwater locator beacon in fact on this image. miguel marquez sat down with an expert to find out what it will sound like under water. >> reporter: the search for airasia 8501 narrowing the hunt on for a tiny signal in a turbulent sea. minute pings from a device attached to the flight data recorder. >> a pinger has a specific pulse. it has -- comes at a specific interval and a specific frequency. >> correct. >> reporter: but still hard to find. >> yes, it is. >> reporter: forensic audio expert paul ginsburg has simulated what a pinger would sound like undistorted and without any competing sounds. [ beeping ] but says ginsburg there is plenty competing for attention at the bottom of the sea. >> a school of fish swimming, currents echoes from the signal bouncing off different rock formations at the bottom. >> reporter: this signal he says is what an experienced operator might initially hear. [ static ] >> just as when you're listening to a radio station that's out of your range. >> re

they haven't heard the black box pingers, and the divers didn't see them, but they believe the boxes are buried in the mud in the upside down tail section. >> we've seen the tail. the boxes could be should be there? >> somewhere after this door. but it was buried in mud and they couldn't get to it. >> reporter: if divers can't get to the tail, salvage equipment might be needed to lift the section. there is a chance the black boxes could have been ripped out of the tail. if there pingers are working, tonight, the batteries have just 19 days left of life left. >>> still much more ahead on abc news this wednesday. an abc news exclusive, bill cosby's tv wife breaking her silence for the first time. she weighs in on bill cosby. >>> and news coming in about muhammad ali and his health. >>> and later, a baby gorilla looking for a mother. we'll show you what happens when the mother finds the baby. you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? hey insurance

we could easily build a pinger detector so we would run out and detect pingers. to download the data but it would be geo referenced so you'd know where the ping came from. these tools you can launch from multiple boats. >> david malco reported that the conditions are murky, the sea is churning and royaling and that it's a mess under there. does that matter? >> it does for visual but for pinger and side scan sonar, it does not matter. you can use these tools in murky water. >> miles, the notion that we are still in this boat, i hate to say it, that we're actually using the same kind of underwater vehicles to locate this wreckage a week after the crash, i guess i don't understand how you can find bodies and find debris and still not be a lot closer to wherever the main wreckage is? >> well, it's difficult conditions but we've set our self up for this. time and again we have technology which is of another century and we're trying to find something in a way that we can do so much better. there's no reason that we should have to be hunting for -- with a microphone for

you got pingers that may expire. so you've got to say, this is our best guess now. >> their best guess is a remote area more than twice the size of california. >> good morning. these are all the aircraft flying today. >> the australians take over the search. and soon after the australian ship "ocean shield" lowers its towed pinger locator into the water, pings are detected. >> clearly this is a most promising lead. >> it was wow again. >> it was miraculous. they just put the towed pinger locator in the water. >> i was convinced this is it. they've got the answer. it's a matter of days. >> a robotic submarine scours the 329-square-mile area where the pings were heard. it's painstakingly slow work. then, two months later -- >> a massive setback in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. the u.s. navy says the under water pings are not from the plane's black boxes. >> how big a setback was that? >> it was terrible. it felt like we were right at the beginning again. >> back to the beginning. and no closer to solving

sometimes the pingers are damaged or knocked off in the accident sequence.ey're just positioned under wreckage such that they don't pick up the sound unless they're literally right on top of it. it could be a factor of any of those or they just haven't gotten to the part yet. but when they get to the big piece of the plane hopefully they'll still be there. but in many accidents they just don't work. >> and finding the bodies of course that is their first priority. but these black boxes, if that's the most important, david, outside of finding the bodies that's going to tell them what happened to this plane. >> that's right. and the combination of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder together is what paints the whole picture because you see not only what happened to the aircraft but you get a glimpse into what was going on in the decision-making of the pilots and that can give you a real benefit as far as looking forward and trying to prevent these accidents in the future because now you can start to understand the psychology and help the pilots

we have no sound from the pingers. they can't see the boxes because there's no visibility in the water. they need to know definitively what happened to the plane. it's a crisis center for the family under the tent where they get counseling at the police station here in the town. the most important thing for them right now to get the bodies of their loved ones back and you still have 127 people who have not been recovered. victor, christi? >> gary, 35 bodies have been recovered as we've said, 9 have been identified. what are we learning about those who have been identified thus far? >> reporter: yesterday one of the bodies identified was of a flight attendant. now another flight attendant has been identified, a male flight attendant, one male flight attendant and four female flight attendants. two of the five flight attendants have been identified. possible scenario there is, although there was turbulence and we would imagine seatbelt use is required for passengers it's likely flight attendants were trying to walk aroun

they have underwater microphones or towed pinger locaters. term from the malaysia airline search story. those are emitting a signal to find the black boxes. listening for those pings. the important thing, john is that the batteries on the pingers are rated for a month. six or seven days in that means over three weeks left for them to find those black boxes. if they don't find the wreckage or blacks boxes by the time the batteries run out, we are a long way from that but if they don't, the task is more challenging. certainly the story here in surabaya the identification of three more victims. john. >> david molko, thanks for being there for the terrific work from surabaya. >> a grim scene in borneo where victims of flight of flight 8501 are being brought before making the final trip home. where hundreds of grieving loved ones and friends are waiting to say good-bye. let's get more from cnn's paula hancocks. >> reporter: down on the port of the west coast of borneo. preparations are underway for the search vessels to head out to try to locate s

now, these black box pingers don't always work.hey didn't work in the case of air france 447. >> it took two years. >> and that's why it took two years. >> yeah. >> we can't assume that they work but you should be listening. so yes, 30 days is the lifespan of these -- the batteries, the power of the batteries. >> got about three weeks left. >> should be plenty of time. it can't be very far. >> jeff les, good to have you on. thank you for being here. >>> thank you for joining me. i'm poppy harlow in new york. >>> coming up a reported sighting of a tornado in mississippi. a lot of treacherous weather around the country. we'll talk about that. >>> more in-depth coverage of this continuing coverage of search 8501. another hour of "cnn newsroom" starts after a break. does a freshly printed presentation fill you with optimism? then you might be gearcentric. get a $15 gift card when you buy $75 in hp ink or any hp toner multipack. office depot & officemax. gear up for great. >>> you're in the "cnn newsroom." i'm poppy harlow joining you l

if those pingers are working, tonight, the batteries have just 19 days of life left. david kerley, abc news, washington. >>> still much more ahead this wednesday. an abc news exclusive, bill cosby's tv wife breaking her silence for the first time. phylicia rashad. her first tv interview about the scandal. she weighs in on bill cosby. >>> and news coming in about muhammad ali and his health. >>> and later, a baby gorilla looking for a mother. the experiment. the moment they put the newborn into a cage. we'll show you what happens when the mother finds the baby. and what they're now hoping for tonight. f a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? hey insurance companies, news flash. nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. scandal. and what they're now hoping for i have the worst cold with this runny nose. i

the battery used to power the pingers have about 24 days until they expire. at least three ships using underwater pinger locator devices are set to comb the area and new this morning, indonesian authorities identified the bodies of three more victims, bringing the total number of people identified to four. the journey back home for the first identified victim of the crash came thursday. the body of a woman, a teacher, was laid to rest in a tearful ceremony. her grieving family struggling to cope as her body was lowered into the ground. in the early morning hours off the coast of indonesia, search teams making another painful trip back to shore, carrying the remains of more victims from the airasia flight and pieces of debris from the wreckage. also aiding in the search, the american "uss sampson" recovering two bodies from the java sea yesterday. at the hospital in surabaya, the race to identify other victims is of most importance for relatives. it is here where they will undergo autopsies before heading back to their families. this crash happened nearly six

the pingers that help locate the boxes have about 25 days of battery power left. the devices and the wreckage will be key to determining the cause of the crash. 90 ships and aircraft were involved in this search. right now more vessels are expected to arrive by tomorrow and among them a ship from singapore with enhanced underwater detection, as well as another u.s. ship. searchers have yet to recover the bodies of 153 victims from the airasia disaster and while the recovery effort continues, forensic teams work to identify the remains that have been found. cnn's andrew stevens is joining us live from surabaya indonesia. tell us about this process, andrew, of identifying these bodies to make sure that families can properly put their loved ones to rest. >> yeah it's a painstaking process brianna. families are being asked to provide photographs, obviously, different types of photographs, too, of their family members. they've been asked to identify or send in any information on identifiable marks on the bodies, jewelry they may have been wearing, and also something wh

batteries on the black boxes, the cockpit recorder and flight data recorder, the batteries on the pingers only register to last for about a month. so that's about 20 days left. it's not yet a race against the clock to listen for them. we know from search-and-rescue officials that they have been sending ships with equipment, underwater microphones, to listen for the sounds. what we haven't heard from them though, is that they've actually deployed those, that the equipment is actually in the water. at this point not sure if that is because of the weather conditions or just because the equipment isn't yet in place. we'll see what happens in the next 24 hours. john and michaela? >> our thanks to you, david molko. let's dig a little further now. we have with us retired lieutenant colonel ken christian son, an aviation consultant with air force search and rescue. also our aviation analyst and pbs science correspondent miles o'brien. good to have both of you here starting out the new year. we're on almost as david told us day 10 in getting about a theory from indonesian meteorologists. they're s

it doesn't disturb me that they haven't heard the pingers yet. sometimes they break loose. sometimes they're buried under debris. if you're not directly over them sometimes you can't hear. if they found the tail section, then it is -- >> how close do you have to be to the black boxes and pingers in order to detect them? >> in open ocean on sandy bottom four or five miles. if it's buried for instance in twa we were right over it at 100 feet and we could not hear the pingers. >> what do you make tom, of this notion that the plane was not really authorized to fly on that day? >> i think the only way that's an issue in terms of the crash, wolf is if they weren't authorized because that was a day with crowded skies and they didn't want the extra aircraft in the air at that time and that may have affected where they were allowed when they asked for permission to climb, that the traffic control said no you can't because other planes are up there. but other than that if it didn't interfere with the flight path or the crowded skies weren't the issue, it's an administrative determina

. >>> well time is ticking away on those batteries, as you know in those black box pingers. if they do get to the 5irarea of the data recorders and do get them that will be absolutely critical. here with more on what's in those recorders and what valuable information they hold is miguel marquez. >> reporter: the search for airasia 8501 narrowing. the hunt on for a tiny signal in a turbulent sea. new pings from the data flight recorder. >> the pinger has a pulse and it comes in a specific interval and specific frequency. >> correct. >> but it's still hard to find? >> yes, it is. >> reporter: forensic audio expert paul beginsginsberg has simulated what it will sound like. but, says ginsberg there is plenty competing for attention at the bottom of the sea. >> a school of fish swimming currents echos from the signal bouncing off different rock formations at the bottom. >> reporter: this signal is what he says an experienced operator might initially hear. >> just as when you're listening to a radio station that's out of your range. >> reporter: ginsberg says because the pings com

whether they locate it by virtue of finding the pingers and locating it that way or the wreckage itselfi don't think it is an issue. we're dealing with much shallower water than with malaysia flight 370. and worse case scenario even if they did not find those data and the black boxes there are still ways to piece together almost literally what happened with the airplane just by virtue of analyzing the wreckage itself. >> okay. and then captain, could the body of the flight attendant and emergency door choout etc. mean possibly she opened had door during ditching attempt? no coincidence? >> it is difficult to say because we haven't seen the evidence close too. it is possible. nothing is impossible. but i suspect the investigations will look at that once they got as much of the plane back as they can. because then they can look at the fuselage as a whole. but we really cannot speculate on that action i don't think. >> and les, if they can track the planes in live time why don't say send data into the cloud for easier retrieval? >> that is a very good question. >> it is a good question. it

the pingers, of course, designed to lead searchers to the black boxes.t this point before they go dead. want to bring back aviation consultant and retired air force lieutenant colonel ken christiansen and also our aviation analyst david soucie is with us. i want to go to viewer questions. could the aircraft have suffered a massive decompression rendering the crew unconscious and unable to react? >> i don't see any evidence that points that that right now, john. >> that would look completely different. that would be a plane flying on its own for a long period of time. >> it may be or if it lost control and the auto pilot is off, the airplane would have performed differently. i think we're looking at something more specific. we have enough information to rule that one out, i believe. >> colonel, this is a question because the plane we know the pilot is asked to fly above a storm, to raise their altitude. how high does a plane need to go to avoid storms like this? >> in that region of the world, that particular plane cannot top a thunderstorm. those thunder

the pingers helping to locate them go dead 25 days from now. andrew stephens is at the new crisis center set up for family members at surabaya dez's airport as the grim task of identifying bodies continue. >> reporter: a na a frustrating day for the searchers and families of the relatives, so desperate now to see the remains of their loved ones and commit them to the ground and to seek some sort of closure. weather again proving a major obstacle over the search site. strong winds, driving rain and plus big seas really limiting the search operations today. the weather was coming through in bands so there were some patches of clearer weather where rescuers or searchers could get into the area and look but really not nearly long enough. divers we're told were grounded on the closest land area. they couldn't be ferried out to the ships and the ones already on the ships couldn't get in the water. the focus at the moment apart from looking for bodies of course is to find this shadow which the indonesian aerial search saw a couple of days ago under wa

because you have 30 days give or take on this battery that powers the pinger. could it last even longer? could it last 40 days? could it last 20 days? >> you know, this is a better question probably better suited to dave soucie but any manufactured product probably has some flexibility. so it's possible it could last 40 days. i doubt it but the important thing is that the sonar equipment finds -- if it can find the fuselage or sections of it in the tail of course, that would solve a lot of problems just right there. >> okay. so david, i mean what do you think? do you think that -- is this even an issue, the battery power and the pinger or are you convinced that a lot of debris has been recovered or some debris has been recovered that eventually this is going to be found -- the fuselage will be found by searchers pretty quickly? >> it's still a very important piece because of the fact that even once they find the main part of the aircraft or the tail of the aircraft these boxes are twisted and mangled in amongst -- all of that metal could be under the dirt. ther

>> reporter: yeah robyn, the batteries on the pingers, the underwater locator beacons is the long-termthat high frequency that can be picked up with specialistening devices, they last -- they're registered to last about 30 day, guaranteed to last about 30 days. we know also they were replaced so should last for that period. it's been about two weeks since the crash, two weeks today so just over another 2, 2 1/2 weeks, certainly not a race against time yet. but critical that they get underwater listening equipment in the water, divers in the water, that's what they've been doing, robyn, i should mention, as well when you have this many ships and this many divers in a shallow body of water like that acoustics can do all sorts of things. probably one of the reasons we're getting reports of so many pings and so many places still, robyn, very very active search out there in the java sea. weather conditions cooperating and, of course officials optimistic that they will find what they're looking for. >> david in indonesia. to give you a sense of how complicated it is david touched on this jus

it's possible that the pinger has detached from the black box. they may not be in the tail of the plane where they typically are. bad weather hampering efforts. the weather could get worse today. the voice and data information could be critical in determining why the plane went down on december 28th killing 162 people on board. we'll be monitoring developments from the live desk. >>> with a new congress there is a new vote on the keystone xl pipeline. it is expected to pass in the house. but is it just for show? tracie potts live on capitol hill. tracie good morning. >> reporter: aaron, good morning. it could be. the keystone xl pipeline is the top priority for this republican congress. they have approved it nine times before. the senate is where this thing has gotten stuck before. now it has at least one democrat on board. they will debate starting monday. we could see a vote later this month after the state of the union. the 26th at the earliest. they had to put off a hearing just the other day. but the white house officially issued a veto thre

so they have enough i think to start towing for the pinger. listening now even'information is incomplete start listening for the pingers and try to really hone in on the black boxes. in a way focusing too exclusively on the floating debris is a distraction. the real brass ring they're trying to get are the black boxes like here this orange box is what it really is. that's what they need and i hope that they're looking for it. we don't have any information about that yet. >> les, one of the questions you have about the last moments of flight? >> the questions that i have is once again a lot of conflicting data which can typical of accident investigation. what bothers me if this was a controlled situation that am some point from 32,000 feet there was no call that went out, even if there was a possibility of both engines flaming out, in other words, being inoperative because of encountering heavy turbulence that airplane was still very controllable. that's the way the airbus is designed and no call got out at all to say hey, as captain sullenberg

what you're seeing be used is towed pinger locateors. that's what's being dragged behind ships to survey the ocean and find the plane. the auvs will be deployed once they found a reasonable area where they think the plane might be. it's a smaller area where you can send these auvs under water and detect smaller things like a black box potentially. >> i want seems it would be helpful given the rough weather and sending divers in could be dangerous. without a diver in i want that clearly might be a good option down the road. >> it is. because if the sea is rough up top and there's a lot of waves and very turbulent, five meters below the ocean is pretty calm. these auvs can work really well in this environment. however, do you need a ship in order to deploy the auv so if the ships can't go out then the auv can't go into the ocean. >> up next even as we're dealing with weather coming in why are crews discovering more bodies than they did over the first couple of days. plus the captain who landed a u.s. airways jet on the hudson river say tha

putting that in perspective, given that these black boxes have the pingers. >> the ping can be picked couple of miles. or two or three kilometers depending on the nature of the sea. you're not going to put the locators in there to search for them until you're pretty certain that you're in the area. it would be an act of desperation to go in to juantonally put the locator in the water on the off chance you'll find it. the moment you start hitting a large debris field then you do put it into the water. >> is this the time? >> no. we're still away from that. here hitting isolated pieces of debris that might coalesce into something more in the days ahead. certainly the rumors they see the tail or an outline of a tail. that's what you're looking for. the moment you start to get to the position of sizable pieces of debris lots of it then you say we're in the right area put in the locator. if you become desperate because the clock is running against you you might put it in the water and all hands on deck. >> peter, let me turn to you. what's the process of extracting information from these b

. >> a pinger has a specific pulse.interval and it has specific frequency. >> correct. >> but it's still hard to find? >> yes. it is. >> reporter: forensic audio expert paul ginsburg simulated what a pinger would sound like undistorted and without by this competing sounds. [ pinging ] but, says ginsburg there is plenty of other things at the bottom of the sea. >> a school of fish swimming currents echoes from the signal bouncing off different rock formations at the bottom. >> reporter: this signal he says, is what an experienced operator might initially hear. just as when you're throng a radio station that's out of your range. >> reporter: ginsburg says because the pings come at regular intervals and a known frequency, once they have it an experienced audio technician can clean it up to hear this. [ airy pinging sound ] we asked ginsburg to show us how it's done. we want to put you to the test. we'll record ourselves on this while this very annoying tone is playing. when he plays it back here's what he has to work with.

they also tried to get the inflatable boat across which is needed to operate this pinger locater. that failed as well. so we know they've headed out again on monday to try and carry out that mission. the largest ships are doing the bulk of the work here. we know the u.s. has two ships out there at the moment. helicopters on board. it's a real international effort. you've got russia france australia, malaysia singapore, to name a few, with a lot of assets in this search. unless the weather significantly improves all the best equipment in the world really has some serious limitations, anderson? >> yeah. appreciate the update paula. paula hancocks. some very difficult condition ss. they can do what divers often cannot. however, stephanie elam reports even these maritime versions are not super human when it comes to operating in rough waters. >> there's no line to the surface. they're totally autonomous. >> 1600 pounds of technology plastic and foam withstanding the pressure of diving 20,000 feet below the surface. this $3 million auv or autonomous underwater vehicle belongs to the in

will become difficult, parts will be dissipated and those ever-elusive black boxes could lose their pingers. >> so mary it turns out airasia was not licensed to fly on sunday. now, i don't think the day of the week matters here but they didding? that they were not allowed to do apparently. we had heard before this was an airline with a flawless record upstanding member of the aviation community doing very well in that part of the world. does this give you cause for concern that they weren't playing by the let over the law? >> oh absolutely. and this isn't the first that indonesia has been caught literally since 2007 both the united states federal aviation administration and icao has examined indonesia and found them sorely lacking and has been highly crate lyly critical. that's why the united states limited carriers into the u.s. and the icao said indonesia maybe complied with about 40%, is all, of their safety recommendations so it did not surprise me and i think that as the investigation goes on, we will find more things amiss. did flying without the permission cause the plane to go down?

. >> currently we have about a three-week window left for the pingers for the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. once the weather calms down, the odds go up exponentially. >> reporter: the same strategy searchers tried unsuccessfully to find malaysia air 370. at a press conference today news of an oil slick found in the search zone. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: i can confirm about the oil spill, he said, but i -- he could not confirm any sign of the rest of the plane. and today three more bodies were identified. among them flight attendant hadir fauzi. meanwhile at the captain's home in surabaya his wife sits quietly, receiving condolences. how are you doing? >> fine. >> reporter: friends say she's been holding on to hope that her husband is still alive. among those paying their respects today, flight school classmates, friends for 30 years. >> the first time we cannot accept what happened. but now we realize it's the god, the god has to do this. >> reporter: prayers too for the weather to clear and for the search to finally yield some answers. ir

. >> currently we have about a three-week window left for the pingers for the cockpit voice recorderer. once the weather calms down, the odds go up exponentially. >> today the teams found three or i should say two l pieces of wreckage and spotted an oil slick but they're still looking for more remainsóá" as well as the plane's black boxes. >> a federal judge today refused to delay jury selection in the trial of the boston marathon. ing suspect. the trial will begin monday asw>ch scheduled.ka prosecutors say theo6 : 21-year-old and his brother who was later killed by police set off two bombs at the finish line of the 2013 marathon killing three people, injuringf=uñ 260. tsarnaev could get the death penalty if convicted. >> prosecutors will also seek the death penalty for a man accused of opening fire at los angeles international airport. he is charged with killing a tsa officer and wounding three others at l.a.x. in 2013. the u.s. attorney's office says the spree was premeditated. that he specifically targeted tsa officers and terrorized passengers. he's due in court qñ monday but the

. >> the single from the pinger, which is only this size. >> reporter: having a lot of ships in the area is not necessarily useful to you. >> exactly exactly. in some cases it's also even disturbing. so that's why they are dispatching very carefully who is eligible to go to the site, who is not. >> reporter: among those eligible are two american navy ships. the uss "sampson" is searching in what is described as the most probable area. >> the uss fort worth arrived in the java sea as well and is assisting in that search. between the two ships, there are three sea hawk helicopters. >> reporter: the bodies they pick up are flown to the search operations base, and then back to surabaya, from where the airliner took off. grieving relatives are encouraged not to view bodies. instead, doctors advise people to rely on the forensic evidence of finger prints, dental records or d.n.a., as well as physical descriptions for identification. a special lab is staffed by indonesian forensic experts to conduct the tests, even as they work the quest to apportion blame is getting into gear. the aviation aut

if they are correct that they heard the pingers. that will be a major clue into solving the mystery. the only way anything good can come out of the tragedy, the loss of 162 people is if we learn lessons and prevent the next crash. that's what air safety investigators do. >> lessons we hope that they learn. >> thank you for joining us. >>> a u.s. judge cleared the united nations over an outbreak of cholera in haiti. nearly 9,000 died when waste from a u.n. peacekeeper's camp as dumped into the river. as explained, the judge ruled the u.n.'s charter provides it legal immunity. >> reporter: it's a major setback for haitian cholera victims' families a judge in new york throwing out the lawsuit meaning the capses of united nations -- chances of united nations answering questions about their role in the 2008 cholera outbreak is further away. the u.n. ban ki-moon and u.n. peacekeepers in haiti are immune from the lawsuit. growing evidence reported to u.n. peacekeepers introducing cholera, and sewerage the source was lacking from the u.n. p

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