saima joins us, tell us what they say? >> in a couldn't called tote th kota bharu, they had fallen asleep fishing, when two of the fishermen were approaching the south china sea where they say they saw a low-flying aircraft, so low they saw the lights that looked like the size of coconuts. they said we turned to one another in complete shock. and we said, what on weather is going on, one said, is the pilot crazy, what's happening here. so i spent the morning out at sea with them. we went not the boat, they talked me through exactly what they saw. they went back, they told their colleagues and their families. then someone said you should report this to police. i asked them why is this so unusual, because where they were out fishing, rosa, is along a usual flight path. this is where airliners fly out. and first take off from kuala lumpur and of course, there's a lot of international flights going on there. he said this is incredibly unusual. i have never seen a plane flying so low. they reported it to police and it was only

saima, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, i've spoken to a friend of captain zaharie who said this was very much a passion of his, to bring his career back home and practice various scenarios on this flight simulator. he said, look, i don't believe it's anything sinister at all. he used to invite me and other friends around to have a look at this and to practice these different scenarios, whether it be a snowstorm or a thunderstorm, et cetera, things like that. he painted him as a very normal, average family man, committed to his family, committed to his career. but when i talked about the investigation and how eyebrows are being raised and how the pilot and co-pilot are being investigated, this is what he had to tell me. >> i feel particularly affected when they go, for the lack of evidence, you know, you go into theories like questioning his credibility, his terrorism links and issues like that. i think it's a little bit incensensitive and unfair to th family. >> reporter: so, of course, while we understa

what do we know this morning, saima? >> reporter: well, so far, john, i've been speaking to members of the political party, the people's justice party, that captain zaharie was, i'm told by a friend of his, a silent member of. i've just spoken to a politician from that party who says, look, he was a member of the party, yes. he came to our events. he was socially active, too. he was part of the people that want to make a change for malaysia, and it's as simple as that, within a democratic system. i said to him straight up, was he an extremist? does he have extremist views? he said, no. it's absolutely absurd to think that or suggest it. so, it's very difficult here to find any kind of motive or intention or were there psychological problems amongst any of those people inside that cockpit. now, by all accounts, captain zaharie so far, i've been looking into him over the past four days, seemed like a normal family man who loved his family, was committed to them, his children, his grandchild and his career. yes, he was an e

is saima still there? saima, this explains -- it explains what happened. doesn't explain why it happened, that new information. correct? >> reporter: yeah. that's right. the source we've been speaking to said, you know, that's what they're trying to work out, don. what exactly went on onboard in that cockpit that made the pilot or whoever was in the cockpit, let's remember, we still don't know who made that turn. we now know that it wasn't preprogrammed. so this lends itself to the notion that perhaps this was because of some kind of catastrophic failure onboard. the pilot, co-pilot trying to safe the event. or someone entering the cockpit and doing this deliberately. either way, there was a deliberate turn. it dropped to 12,000 feet. and there are a range of possibilities here, of course, don. a fire onboard. were they trying to go low down to -- because of rapid decompression as we've discussed? what happened onboard that made the pilot go so low? a lot of people are raising also questions about -- and we've heard this over the last few weeks, would the

saima, first to you. what can you tell us about this so-called international working group, a group that the malaysian government is now forming to help narrow the search area? what's involved here? >> reporter: well, wolf, that still remains a mystery. that's all they've told us so far. as you know, we get very little information in these press conferences, which is amounting to a lot of frustration for a lot of people, including us trying to report this story. and, of course, more importantly, the families that are involved in this. now, what we know is that this working group will be heavily reliant on the data that particularly countries like the united states and the united kingdom can offer. we know that they relied on the united kingdom's inmarsat satellite data, the doppler effect that looked at the frequency and velocity of the aircraft to work out that it did likely end its journey in the southern indian ocean. which is why they decided to go and announce that they believe all hope was lost in f

saima, in the midst of their distress, some family members are going to so far as to accuse malaysia of murdering their loved ones. very strong words there. what do they think happened here? >> reporter: as i said, this grief turned into anger and it's seen loved ones of passengers on board of flight mh-370 really lash out at malaysian authorities and their handling of the situation. not helped, of course, by that text message going out to family members late last night. some of them believe that this is a coverup. that malaysian authorities and malaysia airlines are hiding something from them, that they do know what's been going on on board and i think a lot of that is because of the lack of information that they've had. we still haven't found the flight data recorder. there is no debris, of course. a lot of loved ones saying "until i see proof, until i know, i won't believe it." and is, of course, part of the shock and denial that psychologists have talked to us about here on cnn that was likely to be a result of hearing any kind of information about what happened to flight mh-370.

our saima mohsin is in the peninsula this morning. talking to some people who say they did see something flying low over the gulf of thailand. saima joins us on the phone. what can you tell us? >> reporter: john, in malaysia, in a town called kota bharu, along the coastline of malaysia, there were fishermen out with a good night fishing, friday evening, when mh-370 disappeared. now, they say around 1:30 in the morning, let's not forget that is around the same time that mh-370 vanished, they said that they saw an incredibly low-flying aircraft. i asked them, this unusual, you operate under a normal flight path, you see planes all the time. they said this was incredible unusual. they have never seen a plane flying this low before. i asked them what they could see on it? and one of the fishermen said the lights looked the size of coconuts to me. they were incredibly big. so this is two fishermen. there were ten people on board. eight others were actually sleeping at the time. two fishermen on board say they saw this aircraft flying very

saima mohsin is in kuala lumpur with more for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, christine. yes, we've been taking a look at the pilots, of course, in great detail. we're trying to get as much detail about them as we can for you, about their families, what they did in their spare time, and of course, their jobs. and the pilot, of course, under particular scrutiny because of that air simulator that was found in his house. i spoke to a friend of his, peter chong, who told me about it, said he used to practice various scenarios on it. but of course, also, his political affiliation's under scrutiny as well, as investigators go through and try to piece this jigsaw puzzle together. now, peter chong, his friend told me that he was a silent member of the people's justice party, the opposition party here in ma maisha. i've just spoken to a politician from that party. he told me that, yes, he knows captain zaharie used to attend their meetings and social events. he wasn't terribly vocal. i said to him, was he an extremist? he said ab

saima, thanks very much. saima mohsin reporting from kuala lumpur. >>> flying an airliner, no doubt a expressful job. just what type of screenings to pilots need, especially when it comes to mental and emotional health? our own brian todd is looking into this part of the story. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or

saima, what do you know? >> reporter: don, we wanted to share this with you as soon as we learned from this military source about the military radar picking up the flight. as it made that turn, we know it made a turn. we know that it headed towards the strait of malacca. so westwards back over malaysia. we didn't know that it had dropped to 12,000 feet. now, according to the radar, sometime between 1:19 and 2:40 the plane dropped to 12,000 feet. it opens up a range of possibilities. it is a small but significant development, don. we have had the drip feed of information. but this is a crucial piece of the puzzle. why did it drop to 12,000 feet? that's around 4,000 meters. was there a catastrophic failure onboard that simply didn't allow the pilot or co-pilot time to communicate? let's not forget it is aviate, navigate, communicate as far as protocol is concerned onboard. were they trying to get the plane to an altitude where people onboard could breathe easily because of depressurization? or decompression onb

saima mohsin has been looking into that part of the story, and saima, can you hear me? are you with us? oh, there she is. >> reporter: yes, i can hear you. >> tell us what's the latest this morning regarding the pilots. we know that their homes were scoured over the weekend, that flight simulator was found. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, that happened right across the weekend. what we know is that patrol cars were visiting both the pilot and co-pilot, the 1st officer's house, for the past week since the disappearance of the flight, mh-370. they were visiting every day, but they hadn't gone inside the house. now, saturday was when things changed, when we first heard that the investigators are going ba back, they are reviewing every single person on board. of course, that would be the crew and the passengers. and of course, the two crucial people who were flying the plane that night it disappeared, the pilot and co-pilot. we caught them just as they were leaving the co-pilot's home. they were holding shopping bags, actually. we're not sure what was inside. i que

saima, what do we know this morning? >> reporter: well, you know, john, i've spent the last few days trying to take a look at the two main people that were inside that cockpit when this plane disappeared. who are they? what were they doing? what are their interests? and of course, the police have been into their homes over the weekend, one week after the flight disappeared, finally searching through, speaking to their families, questioning them and going away with evidence from the co-pilot's home. they walked away with small shopping bags, really, i can describe them as. don't know what was inside them. from the pilot's home, they took away a flight air simulator. now, a simulator that his friend, peter chong, told me -- a friend he met through social activism, working in the community, for example -- that he was simply a man enthusiastic about flying, that liked to take it home, set himself challenges. and of course, as jim says, if that course was reset trying to save the plane, should it have been catastrophic failur

cnn's saima mohsin has more now on the international intrigue surrounding the device. >> reporter: it'sigh-tech piece of equipment that's been the subject of much intrigue, concern, even suspicion. the flight simulator captain zaharie ahmed shah had built in his home. police certainsearched the homee pilots and co pilots of mh-370, taking away the simulator for investigation. cnn has spoken to tannis, who writes a blog on flight simulato simulators. he sold the captain additional parts and helped him put it all together. >> he wanted to build a platform that it can create the rear motion of the plane. in a degree, it has its limits. >> reporter: that's done with a chair for or platform that moves, as though the pilot is seated in an it actual plane, to give the sensation of flying. he and captain zaharie exchanged at least 15 e-mails, which have been shared with cnn. they mostly discuss technical details, the pilot looking for guidance on setting up his simulator. it's a passion that extended beyond the job. captain zaharie often invited his friends over to try out the simulator. they s

saima moh sin has been listening in and standing by.are wondering about the details of this transcript between the communications, between the cockpit and air traffic control and we heard from the acting transportation minister and he said that there is nothing abnormal that they saw in these transcripts. >> that's right. those are the exact words he used, in fact. the transcript does not indicate anything abnormal. that's also what the experts that we've been speaking to here in kuala lumpur and on cnn throughout the night have been telling us, that they don't believe there is anything abnormal on this transcript. now that of course is crucial because we don't know whether anything went wrong before those last words from flight mh370. >> we're going to go back to this news conference, they're going back and forth on the language and looks like they are speaking english now. >> are there specific rules and protocol as to how long -- >> logistically? >> yes, are there specific rules and protocol as to how you'll continue searching or doe

quickly, saima, what are they saying about the statement this may be debris from the aircraft?ysian government officials and airline officials saying? >> well, they're calling it credible information. they're heavily reliant on what the prime minister said in parliament today. they believe that, you know, if the prime minister of australia is telling parliament that they believe these objects, these two objects in the indian ocean, could well be linked to flight mh-370, then it's credible information. but they also applied a lot of caution today because they reminded everyone that there is no proof yet. there is no identification. and so we're hanging on these words, could be, might be, we simply don't know yet, wolf. and all those aircraft and ships have to first get to the location, locate those two objects and then identify them. a lot of hopes and fears of family members hanging on all of these events as they'll come through, we'll keep you updated on that, wolf. >> saima, mohsin in kuala lumpur. so why don't the flight recorders have gps data to make them easier to find? o

cnn's saima moshin spent her day at the mouth of the sea. >> reporter: this is no easy task. this c-130 plane has been carrying out regular search and rescue missions since flight mh-370 disappeared. it's the first time the minister for defense and transportation and the chief of defense force have been out to survey this massive operation. they invited cnn to join them. i have to put this life jacket on, because we're now descending to 500 feet above sea level. flying low, the doors are opened for the search to begin. we flew past a number of ships scouring the sea for the plane, those on board, or any clues at all to what happened. >> i just want to find the plane. you know? at all costs. and as long as we are still standing and as long as people are out there praying for us, we will continue to persevere. and this is something that i will not stop. this is what i promised the families. >> reporter: we flew to the malacca straits to the west of malaysia. this isn't the scheduled flight path for the malaysia airline flight, but it's a possibility. the search team is taking s

saima live for us there. >> the bad weather that put the air and sea search on hold will also slow down efforts to retreat those two objects spotted in the southern indian ocean on monday. one is a gray or green circular object and the other is an orange rectangular object. it's not clear whether they are parts from the plane. the debris is the latest in a series of satellite or visual sightings. let's get to the search operation now. strong winds grounded the search plane on monday. we turn to andrew stephens who is live on perth with more on what's happening today. there were great expectations when everybody heard australia's defense minister was coming to talk to the assembled media there but not a lot disclosed and no mention of those objects and what came of that. that's right. there was an expectation here among the press core that after the announcement from the malaysian prime minister yesterday that mh 370 crashed. we were expecting the minister to add detail about those pieces of debris that you just mentioned. they were spotted by the royal air force yesterday. a ship was se

s saima, southeastern so other than this, else that stands out to you? >> reporter: yeah, there are a number of things that we've learned. let's talk about that transcript. obviously, cnn can't verify the authenticity of that transcript. we know that the authorities were asked about it. this is what they have to say, then let's talk about it. >> in this transcript, did you review the transcript of the observation between mh 370 and air traffic control is with the investigation team where it is being analyzed as is standard practice in investigations of this sort, the transcript cannot be publicly released at this stage. i can, however, confirm that the transcript does not indicate anything abnormal. >> reporter: and that is very crucial, victor and christi. let me tell you why, of course, we've been going through this, haven't we, very carefully on cnn. what led to the last few words we believe spoken by the co-pilot "all right. good night." just about 1:30 in the morning kuala lumpur time when the plane disappeared. the reason it's so crucial, because h

saima mohsin is aboard one plane.he search and rescue operation as far as the malaysian government is concerned. we are now flying just 500 feet above sea level, very low searching for missing plane 370. this is the first time they have come out to sea to join the operation. they are looking at all the ships out here from neighboring countries, singapore and the usa and australia have joined the search. >> the u.s. navy says no aircraft debris was spotted during today's search. we will keep you posted. on board that flight, three american citizens. one of them was named philip wood. his family that lives in suburban dallas says they are fighting to hold on to hope even as the news appears more grim with each passing hour. last night, his brother spoke to cnn anderson cooper. how are you and your family holding up? >> we are doing okay. we are getting through sometimes an hour at a time, sometimes a minute at a time. we are holding together and we are working on this because of faith. we're getting through this on our

saima, thank you. >> you keep looking at that plane taking that left turn. that is in dispute.ysians seem uncertain whether or not it did make that turn. that is the big question. >>> all right. this morning in washington, safe to say it's in an uproar over allegations that the cia spied on senate staffers and even took documents off of their computers. senate intelligence chair diane finestein making that claim on the senate floor. she said cia spies went to those computers without authorizations as the staffers worked on a report about the agency's controversial prisoner interrogation programs. >> i have grave concerns that the cia's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the united states constitution. >> nothing could be further from the truth. when the facts come out on this, i think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong. >> senator lindsey graham says if it is proven that the cia has interfered with congressional investigation, he said someo

>> saima mohsin, reporting live in kuala lumpur. >>> we want to talk about the families and where they search for answers. joining me now, daniel rose, an aviation, maritime attorney. welcome back. >> thank you you, carol. >> some families insist malaysia continues to hide information for them. is there any way to force the government's hand if, indeed, that is true? >> i really don't think so. the families in malaysia, unfortunately comparable to families in the u.s., really don't have a say in the investigation. that's a big pet peeve of mine, anyway, that there is a lack of transparency and a lack of family involvement in the investigation process. so unfortunately, it is even a more difficult situation in malaysia for those families. they are really dealing with this for the first time around. at least here in the u.s., we have the family assistance act that provides some kind of structure and responsibility for the airline and the investigators in how to conduct and how to keep the families informed. they really don't have anything comparable there in malaysia. >> i think malaysia