a commander tells me the u.s. navy cautiously optimistic about this lead, but the caution is increasing every hour that they don't hear those pings once again. the batteries, by the way, in the two black boxes for all we know may already be dead. they are due to run out about now, a month after the plane took off and then vanished. without battery power, the pings would stop. they are supposed to last, what, about 30 days. they could last a few days longer, so there's a desperate, desperate search right now to find those two black boxes. that's it for me, thanks very much for watching. you can always follow us on twitter, go ahead and tweet me @wolfblitzer, tweet the show. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. >>> next breaking news, searchers racing to confirm the pings heard in the indian ocean are from flight 370. a report from the u.s. search team in just a moment. plus, the agony of waiting, the brother of an american passenger "outfront" tonight, why he thinks investigators may be hiding something. >>> and os

and the u.s. navy is voicing what they call cautious optimism. i'll speak live at this hour with the u.s. navy commander aboard a ship in the region. we'll take a closer look at the next steps in the high-tech underwater search. >>> and a deepening mystery over the plane's flight path right now. why did the plane veer north of indonesia before turning south over the indian ocean? was it an effort to avoid radar detection? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> search officials call it the most promising lead in the hunt for flight 370. here are the latest developments we're following. searchers are scrambling right now to confirm two pings detected by a u.s. locator device. they say the signals from an area nearly three miles deep sounded just like an airliner's recorder pings. sonar underwater drone will be deployed to map the ocean. in the meantime, aircraft are getting ready to resume the search for debris to try to pinpoint the location. and there's fresh mystery right now about the airliner's flight path. a senior malaysian sour

"this is the captain of a u.s. navy ship. i say, again, divert your course." the canadian reply, "no, i say, again, you divert your course." then the u.s. ship says, "this is the aircraft carrier u.s.s. coral sea. we are a large warship of the united states navy. divert your course now." the canadian reply, "this is a lighthouse. your call." the u.s. navy has this whole thing posted on their website as a way of essentially saying this is a joke radio transmission.

the u.s. navy did put out a statement, peter, the 7th fleet, in which they said -- let me read to you a part of that statement. the bottom line, this is the united states navy. it's not malaysia. it's not australia. it's not china. this is the united states 7th fleet, the navy. on this leg, where they're investigating right now, the pinger, the locator, the tpl, detected two signals at the same frequency but in different locations. this would be consistent with the mh-370 black box because the plane had both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. acquisition of the the two signals is encouraging but we're cautiously optimistic pending confirmation of the black boxes and visual confirmation with the sonar. when the u.s. navy puts out a statement like that, that they're cautiously optimistic based on what they've heard at a level of 3,000 meters under sea level, that's pretty encouraging. >> it is encouraging. having worked with these guys in past stretches, they don't say things casual

and just tell us what support the u.s. navy them in the way of support, helicopters, what else? >> yes, thank you for having me. now first i would like to again, the u.s. navy we would like to express our condolencings -- condolences and to let them know our hearts are with them. this is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the families. as far as what the u.s. is doing, we have the uss bonhomme that has 3,000 sailors that are embarked on the ship. the ship is equipped with the osprey, as well as the helicopters. and currently we have two mh helicopters involved in the search and rescue operations, and support of the korean navy and coast guard. >> sir, i would like to ask you. it is a delicate question, but at this point how hopeful are you that survivors can be brought from inside the hull of that boat? >> yes, as long as there is a search and rescue operation, those of us carrying that out within the u.s. navy and our partners and the navy and coast guard, we always remain hopeful that there are survivors out there. i

so the u.s. navyand standing by to assist our partners in the republic of korea navy and coast guard when they're ready to have our assistance. >> lieutenant arlo abe braham'sman. find out what it's like to be on the ocean floor. how is the deep sea terrain affecting the search for flight 370? to eat like i should. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [male announcer] glucerna... at your ford dealer think? they think about tires. and what they've been through lately. polar vortexes, road construction, and gaping potholes. so with all that behind you, you might want to make sure you're safe and in control. ford technicians are ready to find the right tires for your vehicle. get up to $120 in mail-in rebates on four select tires when you use the ford service credit card at the big tire event. see what the ford experts think about your tires. at your ford dealer. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank y

in the indian ocean, using highly specialized equipment from the u.s., this is what picked the signal up. a pinger locator from the u.s. navy towed by the australian ship "ocean shield." if it is from the black box recorders, crews could be very close to finally finding the plane and uncovering what may have happened to throw it so wildly off course except, by many estimates, the batteries in the pingers should have already run out of juice. let's bring in rene marsh. this is one of the most encouraging signs we've seen yet but searchers are really under the gun now. >> they absolutely are under the gun. we are already two days past the required shelf life of the batteries. there's really no guarantee at this point how much longer they will last. but here's why authorities are cautiously optimistic. while there's still no sign of wreckage, there was a distinct sound coming from under water. as we speak, they are trying to determine if it's flight 370's black boxes that are calling. it's the sound search teams have desperately been trying to find and now they just may have. the pinger locator towed behind the "ocean shield"

the u.s. navy is involved but key elements affecting everyone. the bad weather making it tough to see above and below the water. rescue divers had to be rescued themselves. every moment so critical. david. >> a desperate scene. thank you. >>> now to the other breaking story this evening. the dramatic pictures coming in from ukraine. the gun fire, explosives all on camera. it comes of a new agreement with russia. the question now. will it work? president putin holding a call-in show and who called it? it made global headlines. alex marquardt from ukraine tonight. >> reporter: molotov cocktails. bursts of gunfire. an armed pro russia protest tos attacked the ukrainian base. three were killed. today the aftermath. a destroyed police car. blood stains on the pavement. we're told the gun fight lasted several hours between the two sides here on one of these police vehicles. you could see bullet holes from the weapons of the protesters. but today they hoped tend the violence with a deal with russia, ukraine, europe that all sides refrain from violence, t

the u.s. navy commander leading this told me it was a shot in the dark. but at this time they feel the equipment is out there. they will continually look at information, see if they can refine it a little bit more. but right now what they have is a guess.

our job as the u.s. navys to kind of take that direction from the australians and the other partner governments in the area and begin the search that we can begin. so we put our tow pinger locater in the water. we did that yesterday. it will follow a track about 100 miles or so in that area. going at a speed of 3 to 5 knot nauts listen fog that sound. that area we are looking is 84,000 square miles or so. about the size of utah. >> which is huge. 20th day. four weeks ago tonight. they say 30 days. probably get appear acouple days extra on the pinger. 30 days is what they sell it as. are we going to get 30 days out of this. >> hard to say. there is a lot of factors involved. it could be up to 40 days that's assuming the pinger is sending out a signal and at any time break on impact and it's in that area. >> if we determine that we don't think we are beyond 30 days and maybe beyond 35 days we don't think there is possible it could be any more pinging, what's the navy going to do at that point? >> again, we are

the u.s. portion of the mission. an official with the naval systems command says the u.s. navyout $3.6 million for its portion. that covers the deployment of the bluefin and the towed pinger locator, which originally found those underwater signals more than a week ago. remember, you can always follow us on twitter. tweet me @wolfblitzer. you can tweet the sh show @cnnsitroom. watch us live or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. >>> next, new questions tonight about why the navy's best hope for finding the plane has turned up nothing. is the search in jeopardy? >>> plus, tragedy at sea. a ship full of teenagers on a high school trip sinks. 300 are missing tonight. why were they told not to move as the boat sank? >>> and first on cnn, new video of al qaeda leaders meeting out in the open. why a new policy of the president may have prevented a drone strike taking out the terrorists. let's go "outfront."

the commander u.s. naval forces. he joins us by phone now. sir, can you give us the latest on the water? is the u.s. navy directly involved in the rescue operations? >> first of all, luke, thanks for having me. first i want to say that our thoughts are with the passengers of this ship, this ferry, that sunk today. it is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to those families. >> and what's the latest in terms of the rescue operation? do we know how involved the military is there in south korea? and is the u.s. military involved? >> yes. it's important to point out that the south korean government has the lead in this operation, as you would expect. the u.s. navy is on standby. we do have an amphibious assault ship with about 3,000 sailors and marines there in the vicinity of the area. and we're prepared to provide various kinds of support as requested by the south korean government. >> and with this type of ship going down, obviously a large number unaccounted for, over 300, is it fair to speculate that those folks could be rescued or could they possibly be trapped in air pockets in that type of ship?

you heard it here on cnn, the u.s. navy is sending a supply ship to replenish other ships so they don't have to break away from the hunt. this, after a possible signal which could be from the plane's black boxes was detected for a fifth time in the ware. they are trying to narrow down the search area significantly. at times in this mystery it's been hard to know what information to trust out of malaysia. sources are giving cnn new details that seem to indicate precious time may have been wasted in the international search effort. malaysian government officials, however, are taking serious exception. our joe johns has more on that and on new revelations that could explain how the plane flew so long without making even a blip on radar. >> reporter: it has been one of the lingering mysteries of flight 370, what happened in those first few hours after it went off course. why had the plane disappeared from military radar for 120 knot call miles after it made that left turn and crossed over the malay peninsula. new details about

which is also on loan from the u.s. navyl go down to the bottom and use its side-scan sonar and/or camera to actually identify the wreck amount which we believe is on the bottom of the ocean here. >> geoffrey thomas, airlineratin airlineratings.com. thank you so much. overengineered like so many things, certified for 30 days, those batteries but maybe they can lost 40 days. >> excellent research. >>> more live coverage in the breaking developments right after the break. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> the breaking news this morning, new signals detected in the search for missing malaysian airlines flight 370. overnight, investigators revealing two new transmissions heard from manmade devices they believe could be the vanished jetliner's black boxes. now the batteries on those black boxes could go dead any day. really any minute now. so this morning, the search is intensifying as crews scour the ocean hoping to pick up more clues on where the plane's wreckage could be. we have a team of reporters covering every angle of thi

>> that is one of the search areas. >> reporter: the skipper of the u.s. navy supply ship "cesar chavez," the only u.s. ship playing a role in the hunt for the missing plane. >> what like to be part of this mission that has gripped the world's attention? >> first of all, we're proud to play a part. there's many moving parts on this mission. >> reporter: another moving part in this search for debris, the highly sophisticated u.s. surveillance and reconnaissance p8. new video shows the plane in action capable of taking high-resolution pictures over enormous areas and detecting tiny pieces of anything floating. australia's hmas, success is one of several ships investigating on the ocean's surface what the p8 sees from the air. now with the "cesar chavez" in play, the search on the surface and beneath it can continue non-stop. >> you're here for the foreseeable future. >> we're here as long as we're tasked by seventh fleet. it's a 24-7 operation. >> reporter: like a massive floating 7-eleven, the "cesar chavez" already taking on thousands of gallons of food and sup

the u.s. navy today in the center of the new search area, their goal is to reacquire and zero in on the sounds they picked up sunday. one ping heard for two hours. then two pings heard. when ocean shield towed the locator back at a depth of 1.9 miles. >> significantly this would be consistent with transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. >> reporter: data in the boxes will last years but the pinger batteries will soon die making finding the recorders much harder. after malaysian flight 370 disappeared, plan a was to find the black boxes and solve the mystery by first finding debris. then the crash site. but the airborne search has failed. this is plan b, a long shot. >> if we luck out, it will be the first time in history that we've been able to go without debris and low locate the black boxes. >> reporter: cameras set to go down maybe three miles to look for the boxes. another drone later would rip open wreckage and get the recorders. >> i think at best if t

an australia ship that has a special low captor for the u.s. navy is headed for the search zone. search crews have spotted dozens of objects floating in the water but so far have come up empty handed. >> we owe it to the water world which has been trains fixed by this mystery for three weeks now. >> the u.s. navy spokesperson says it could be years before that plane is found. >>> a toxic challenge for mud slide recovery crews in washington. they are having to deal with household chemicals, sewage and fuel oil. the official death tool stands at 21 with another four bodies found but not yet recovered. 30 people are still missing. this weekend, rescue crews cleared a path through the devastation. that should make the search easier. >>> schools closed. major damage from this weekend's southern california shakers. how the quakes are stirring up new health concerns. >>> he knew it would get him fired, but he did it anyway. the bold way one man told his boss exactly how he felt. ,,,,,,,,,,,, california's health insuran exchange.. tonight is the deadline to up with "covered c ed up out t

while he was one of the u.s. navy officers who helped with the initial focus she will clean up now he wants answers as to why he isn't his colleagues houses going from bad to worse. this is our senior national coming to you live from moscow i'm marina joshie welcome to the program pro federalization activists in ukraine have taken control of the police headquarters in the town of gori the country's southeast has been overwhelmed with mass protests to find a cool appointed government in kiev. is in the region. at least ten different towns and cities all across the spot of the country and in the south remain occupied by those who do not recognize the authorities in kiev calling them illegitimate illegal and self-proclaimed following and these people have been taken to the streets for weeks and actually months after president unocal which was ousted and they've been trying to make their voice heard but when it didn't work they say they've decided to act and they've started taking governmental buildings including security

the device was first deployed by the u.s. navythe tools the navy has to look for and track enemy submarines so they're under the ocean surface, don't have a radar signature and need to use sound in smart ways actively and passively to find them and then track them. >> reporter: on this mission the sonabuoys and the orion planes have been modified to detect sound in black box pings. sonar operators on board the as aircraft are monitoring computers. sonabuoys are dropped in a pattern, 84 at a time. they're durable. >> the beauty of these thing, the sonabuoys, once you put them out they stay out there a long time, up to eight hours. >> reporter: thenthy they expi and sink to the bottom. while deployed the sonabuoy can go 1,000 feet down. how can they detect signals possibly from a black box as far down as 14,700-plus feet? the sound moves through the water in a manner it could be detected further away and with good weather, signals are a lot easier to hear. wolf? >> interesting stuff. is there any chance these sonabuoys could possibl

and highly sophisticated details behind the u.s. navy's electromagnetic weapon. >>> the huskies have won their fourth national championship. they at times allowed a 15 point lead to dwindle down to one point. and uconn set the pace early. shabazz napier continued his stellar tournament play scoring 22. kentucky the first team to start five freshmen in a final since michigan's fab five. the wildcats got within one point, but connecticut hit the clutch shots to keep the lead. uconn wins 60-54, giving coach ollie his first title in his first tournament. and notables in attendance included presidents george w. bush and bill clinton. any took in the game with tony romo and others. back on campus, things got wild. shattered windows and minor property damage forced police to lock up dozens of uconn students. and in kentucky, officials reported 17 couch fires, seven injuries and two arrests. tonight it is the battle of lady huskies taking on the notre dame fighting irish. >>> pistorius is back in the courtroom today. today he read a message steenk

>>> tonight, the u.s. navy is agreeing the signals in the water are almost certainly from black boxes from flight 370. i'm jake tapper, and this is "the lead." the navy lead, echoing the world saying they are very confident they have found evidence of the black boxes. time and again, malaysian officials have fumbled in their investigation. and the airline in question even lost black box data before. so if the recorders are found should somebody else maybe take a crack at what is in them? >>> and directing the top grossing movies of all time. he is also an under-sea adventurer with the coolest toys at his fingers. we asked if he would put any of them in the search for flight 370. good evening, everyone, i'm jake tapper, welcome to "the lead" and it is a special prime time edition. in our world lead tonight another positive sign in the search for flight 370. officials again are tightening the search area off australia's coast, about 2,000 square miles smaller than yesterday. in fact, this is the fifth consecutive

the u.s. navyo produce a three dmenal map of the sea floor. each mission takes 24 hours to complete. so searching the entire area could take as long as two months. with the bluefin in, the towed pinger located is out because no pings have been detected in six days. authorities say only one device can search under water at a time. >>> also today authorities announced that an oil slick has been spotted in the search zone but the source has not been determined and a sample will be tested. so many questions for cnn's safety analyst, author of the book why planes crash. good to have you with us. i have so many questions. i hardly know where to start. you and i were chatting off camera. we heard angus houston from australia urging caution and saying, it's going to take some time. you're optimistic. >> i am because i can be. he's not in a position where he can. he's been very good about this. i've been saying before about accident investigations. the key to a good investigation is not to draw conclusions

seth doane with how the u.s. navyg to help. >> more than $15 million worth of cocaine seized by the coast guard, only on cbs "this morning," we are on board the ship that made the massive bust. >> and we're on top of the empire stay building. how do you suppose they got a ford mustang up there? >> and we begin with today's eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. >> at least four people have died and around 300 more are

tops on the wish list for the u.s. navy captain in charge of the ping locator is to reacquire those signals that were so promising again and again, until the source can be nailed down. that officer spoke with my cnn colleague will ripley. >> if this really is the missing plane and that's still a big if, how could you even begin to describe such a discovery? >> it certainly would be a miracle if this does turn out to be the aircraft location. >> "miracle," a strong word with an even stronger warning from u.s. navy captain mark matthews. >> i caution not to be overly optimistic here. we've got some work to do before we can say that we have a true contact here. >> matthew's team is on the ocean shield using a pinger locator listening for pings from the black boxes. over the weekend, they heard two promising signals in the southern indian ocean, one of them held for more than two hours. >> what i'd like to do before i absolutely say with certainty that it is the aircraft is, one, reacquire the signal. two, deploy the autonomous

what i can tell you from the u.s. navyspective is that the uss bonhomme is continuing the rescue efforts, they have helicopter operations participating. and in addition we have liaisons helping to make sure there is good communications. from us, from the navy perspective this is about friends helping friends. and we'll do everything we can to assist our south korean partners to bring back just even one person to their families. >> appreciate that. but do you have any details on the efforts to save these folks? >> well, i can just speak to the u.s. navy and what we're doing, and we have the helicopters that are participating in the effort that we made good conduct with the south korean authorities. we're working with the on-scene commander. and i can tell you that everybody that is down there from the u.s. navy is working with a sense of urgency to support our south korean partners and look for the lost passengers. >> okay, now that the hull itself is completely sub merged is there any hope there is an air pocket underneath

captain mark matthews runs the u.s. navy salvage operations and has been assisting with finding flight 370's flight recorders. now, if wreckage is found on the surface, how simple is it to trace that back and pinpoint where the plane went down? >> if we have good position information on debris on the surface, we do have models of currents and wind in the area, and you can backtrack it for how ever many days it's been in the water to get a range of where it would have started that many days ago. >> reporter: there are 10 planes and nine ships searching an area the size of oregon. is this an impossible search? >> this is not an impossible search. but it is, until we identify the underwater search area, we can't get started with that underwater search. it's certainly a challenging position we're in. >> reporter: if the u.s. navy team can find the flight recorders that could finally explain what went wrong on flight 370, but, scott, the beacons on the flight recorders may only have a week of battery life left. >> pelley: more co

so the u.s. navy sent the ship there for reassurance. the russians on saturday have two su-24s in the air. one of them passing by "the donald cook" 12 times over a 90-minute period coming as close as 500 feet in altitude as it passed by 1,000 feet off the side. so if you can envision this, the russians were not about to, you know, cause a crash or anything like that a thousand feet off the side of the ship, 500 feet above the ocean surface. what they were up to was harassment and they got the "donald cook's" attention. we're told that the ship's captain, the ship's crew tried to call the russian fighter several times to tell them to back off. they got no response. and about after 90 minutes, the russians broke contact and flew away. but the pentagon saying this is provocative, unprofessional and certainly worried because these types of close encounters still, despite any intentions, they can go very wrong. pamela? >> and the plane appeared to be unarmed, is that right? >> that's a good point, yes, it did appear -- it did not appear to ha

captain mark matthews from the u.s. navy. h me, brianna, saying that, look, this is a shot in the dark. they want to give it a shot, their best shot that he can to look for those black boxes. we have been thinking about the families so much through all of this. a lot of their questions about this are the same as any one of us would have. i spoke to danica weeks just a few hours ago. she is the wife of paul weeks. he was an engineer going to mongolia for a mining job. she describes the tortuous last few weeks. her issue is she is confident if there is something to find, they will find it. she has that same nagging doubt. are they looking in the right place? at the same time, she is dealing with some very mixed emotions about wanting so much for this to just be a big nightmare that goes away. take a listen. >> sometimes i catch myself seeing excitement of him coming home and i have to get rid of that out of my brain quickly, because i can't let myself go to that level of excitement, because it would only -- it's only going to ma

it was not just the u.s. navy but it was the uss vandergrift to retrieve the family and the u.s. and national air. we have video of them accepteding four rescue divers into the pacific ocean in parachutes. it was an extraordinary operation. what happened was the family from san diego had to issue an emergency signal to the u.s. coast guard after their baby 1-year-old lyr arc toa took ill. they are describing exactly how they undertook that mission. take a listen. >> what we are able to do is to parachute from a c-130 into the ocean with a boat. the boat has two parachutes attached to it. we follow the boat into the water. we jump out, parachute out the back with a team and get into the boat. >> and that was the vandergrift that intercepted and took all four members of the family to safety. happening 900 miles off the coast of mexico. cabo san lucas is on the map there. you can see how far out to sea this was. incredibly dramatic stuff. >> that's tough enough for adults. here they are sailing around the world with young children, how well equipped were the kaufmann's to undertake

the problem is the navy, the u.s. s, but they say all three are on military missions. they're tasked to do other things. the navy won't tell us anything more. we get the sense maybe it's classified. they say basically those are not available. now, what phoenix international has just told us is they're considering now tweaking the bluefin that's out there to be able to go 5,000 meters deep. that's 16,400 feet. a little bit more than 1,500 more than it can go now and about 3.1 miles down. this vehicle out there now in the indian ocean, they can tweak it to go a little deeper. they're thinking about doing that now. >> brian todd, thank you. >>> ukraine's government seems to be losing control in several eastern ukrainian towns. pro-russian separatists are taking over military vehicles, they're planting russian flags on them. should the u.s. be worried? what can the u.s. do, if anything? our military analyst stand , by. >>> in ukraine, tensions are high right now. pro-russian militants and the army are facing off in towns i

what caused the boat to capsize and sink is still unknown, but the u.s. navy the way to help find the missing passengers. >> reporter: cell phone video shows some of the high school students had time to put on life vests. others found themselves submerged and possibly trapped as the ferry capsized and sank. many began to text furiously to say good-bye to loved ones. it was supposed to be a fun four-day trip. at breakfast time, the ferry began to shake and take on water. this 17-year-old girl had been texting too about the ferry incident. >> we should all pray for them and they're trying to spread the word. >> reporter: the south bay is home to a large korean-american community where residents have been fwglued to tv coverage. many looks for what they can do to help grieving families in south korea. >> i think the pastor will talk about it. >> reporter: how can you help? >> pray for them. whatever the church, they decide what to do, we going to follow them. >> reporter: the u.s. navy is sending in helicopters to support the search operation. beyond that, they a

he was convicted of pasng secr possly the sovieunion while working for the u.s. navy >>> d now it' april but the snow just kee on coming a springtime snowsrmtonhe upper midwest shut down schools and governnt office,anceled flhts and closed major highways in the dakotas and parts of minnesota and csing c. some areas got as much as 20 inches of snow. >> man, oh, man. or today's for. more know forhe upper great lakes. a band of strong stormsill exte froda am swing into thehio vley and most of the west coasts rain except for washington. >>> temperatures will beild from t northeast i the south c bd in the upper midwest. mildlong the west coast and hot spots to tell you about. dallas, 83 and mii, a nice warm 81. >>oy, that sousnd good. >>> still ahd, a real estate recorde will te you inside a $100 million home. >>> pluscaught on camera. gh drama in the hi seas. sailoroes ovboard but his mates wouldn't give up on hi >>> at caused aan to go off in t fast food lane. >>> welcome back. stocks will start today's session on a hh note after the ogged triple digit gains sterday gain

the skipper of the u.s. navy supply ship, the only u.s.hip playing a role in the hunt for the missing plane. >> what is it like to be part of this mission that has gripped the world's attention? >> we're proud to play a part. there are many moving parts on this mission. >> another moving part in the search for debris? the highly sophisticate ed poi siden aircraft. capable of taking pictures over enormous areas and detecting tiny pieces of anything floating. this is one of several ships investigating on the surface what the p 8 sees from the air. now with the caesar chavez in play, the search can continue non-stop. >> you're here for the fores foreseeable future? you going go back and forth? >> as long as we're tasked it's a 24-7 operation. >> the caesar chavez taking on thousands of gallons of fuel and supplies. a three day journey to keep the searchers searching. they are still taking on supplies getting ready to go back out there. it is on its third dive right now. it sounds as though it is going along to plan. before we know whether it

the u.s. navy's supervisor of salvage. he's a great guy, and a smart guy. the rest of his team out there from phoenix are the experts. and they put the bluefin in. they gave it a run of six hours. it wasn't the whole 20 hours. they pulled it out. they read the data. well, they didn't pull it out, it came back out, it worked the way it was supposed to. it got deeper than it's supposed to. its safety device sent it back up to the surface. they took it out, analyzed the data. it didn't have anything on it. so they didn't wait for the whole 20 hours before they put it back in. they turned it right back around, programmed a new search area, got it right back in there. the beauty of the bluefin is, you can't wait for daylight, you can get it back in the water right away. they got it back in the water and they're not wasting any time. it's back in there doing its job. that is very, very good. >> exactly right. back in the water as you pointed out. just to remind people, the bluefin has this incredible ak cr

captain matthews of the u.s. navy says he believes the pingers are still alive at this point even though the ship has gone back and can't find the signal it picked up a few days ago. how long can the search realistically go on with the expectation that the batteries will be found and heard? >> he said 15 days which to me seemed rather excessive, frankly. they have a vehicle on board that very ship, on board the ocean shield. an unmanned vehicle that can go down and start painting the ocean floor with sonar. and i suspect there will be pressure to deploy that sooner. my experience with lithium batteries, they tend to quit rather quickly. what an amazing stroke of luck that we caught the last of the pings, maybe that happened within five days. there is going to be a lot of pressure to deploy that unmanned vehicle. >> david, why are we still on 30 days for black box batteries, why don't they last longer? >> that is the biggest disappointment. we shouldn't have that deadline at all. five days is replaced for the french au

an australian ship is carrying a new "black box" finder from the u.s. navy. the ship is expected to reach the search zone in the indian ocean, about a thousand miles west of the australian coast, in a day or so. the new finder can scan the ocean floor for the plane's locator beacon, until its battery runs out in a week. elsewhere, malaysian authorities made a small change in their account of the final words of the plane's crew. instead of just "all right, good night"... the final communication now reads, "good night, malaysian flight 3-7- zero." a cook county judge has dismissed the first lawsuit over the missing malaysian plane. a chicago-based law firm tried to sue malaysia airlines, boeing, and anyone else who may be involved in the plane's disappearance. but the judge said a lawsuit can't proceed until all of the defendants are named. chicago property taxes may be going up... and pension benefits for some city employees may be going down... to help bail the city out of its massive pension debt. randi belisomo is live at city hall with more. >> a good morni

the u.s. navy is now involved in the search. i'll talk to a top u.s. o tell us what she knows about the rescue operation and the passengers who still may be trapped. in pursuit of all things awesome, amazing, and that's epic, bro, we've forgotten just how good good is. good is setting a personal best before going for a world record. good is swinging to get on base before swinging for a home run. [ crowd cheering ] good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it and do some experiments. ♪ so start your day off good with a coffee that's good cup after cup. maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop maxwell house. frequent heartburn? the choice is yours. chalky. not chalky. temporary. 24 hour. lots of tablets. one pill. you decide. prevacid. ♪ 24 hour afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their f

this evening the u.s. navy on the scene. >>> on the edge to breaking news from ukraine.iolent crashes from those trying to hold onto their country. the dramatic pictures and what the president is now saying tonight. >>> another foot of snow in parts of this country. and tonight here the new prediction through july. get ready for some whiplash. >>> and finding a much different spring shower. big news from chelsea clinton and something else we didn't know about her future.

the right side. he was one of. u.s. navy officers who helped with the initial fukushima cleanup now he wants answers as to why he and his colleagues health is going from bad to worse. never get even if you just joined us it's kevin going with you this hour our top story the pro federalization activists in ukraine have taken control of the police headquarters now in the town of gold love the country southeast has been overwhelmed with mass protests to fight in a coup appoint a government in kiev authorities in kiev of set a deadline for the protests to disperse earlier but that's now well expired artie's more if a national is in the region with the latest tonight. at least ten different towns and cities all across the spot of the country and in the south remain occupied by those who do not recognize the authorities in kiev calling them illegitimate illegal and self-proclaimed followin and these people have been taking to the streets for weeks and actually months after president unocal which was ousted and they've been trying

the u.s. navyif you go to navy.mil, you'll find that all the way down at the bottom of the page there's a link labeled faq, frequently asked questions. you got a question about the navy, well here's the place to get it answered. you click on that link, you get to the frequently asked questions page and you'll see that right between photo of jet breaking the sound barrier and how to send mail to a sailor, right between those two entries, there's something called lighthouse joke. one of the navy's frequently asked questions it turns out has to do with a great old joke that's gone around the internet for years and went around many a barroom in years before that. the navy would like you to know that joke is not a true story. so they have debunked it at navy.mil while putting it in this easy to find place if you want to tell this joke, yourself. what it is is a supposed radio transmission, conversation between a u.s. naval vessel and canadian authorities. so the u.s. naval ship calls out to the canadian

that is according to the u.s. navy. nce the bluefin did not go to the ocean floor, of course, there was no side scan sonar data to review on that mission. of course, the bluefin-21 was relaunched. we're told it is on its sixth mission. there were no problems with the first five. bluefin-21 had not identified any wreckage, but had when it was working performed pretty well in terms of the detail of that 3-d side scan sonar images of the ocean floor, bill. >> okay, you know, for weeks, we were under the impression, nic robertson, that the pilots turned off the transponder before they got into the vietnamese air space to avoid detection. but you have new information that counters that. please tell us. >> reporter: yeah, what the source familiar with the investigation is telling us is that the aircraft actually passed into vietnamese air space. we remember the last communication at 1:19 in the morning over to the air traffic control cockpit, was passing over the malaysian air space. what we're told is that it actually entered

the u.s. navy team sent with the pinger locator.found it and given the size of the search area. it is especially now so close to the batteries. >> the size of the search area can be narrowed. and now the depth of the ocean is great concern as well. but they are saying it is where they found the ming is 4500 meters. the working conditions for a black box is 4500 meters. could that be a constraint? >> it will be in the salvaging effort and finding it. but if they can get 1 or 2 more cuts. and lines of bearing to take the area of uncertainity down. it will do a under water search and come back up to the service and down load the information off like you would a hard drive. and if they find something that is aircraft debris. it will be replaced with a sonar package and let it go down and the do the same thing. at some point, hopefully find the debris and black boxes and then use a vehicle with claws and hands to go down there tethered and bring it to the surface. >> what kind of time frame are we working with >> at least the black boxes

. >> eyes on the target, and side stores from the brotherhood of the u.s. navy seal. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> now, navy s.e.a.l.s talked about their books and experiences at the tucson festival books last year. this is an hour. >> born november 8th 1961. now enrolled at cumberland college. he served as the search and rescue swimmer and anti-submarine warcraft operator reenlisted in order to get the necessary steps -- completed the necessary steps to become a navy s.e.a.l. later he was selected to join the special warfare group also known as s.e.a.l. team six was classified as a c-span2 special unit within the u.s. military joint special operations command . following his honorable discharge chico wrote the biography memoir s.e.a.l. team six. he also graduated from the university in marietta, georgia and earned a doctor of chiropractic to greek ship. brandon was born in canada in 1974, raised mostly in california and worked on a fishing boat from the age of 16. he joined the navy in 93 and began his career as an aviation warfare systems operator and sea

>> we will do our best. >> reporter: now, the u.s. navy captain in charge of this underwater probe says, without new leads, they are forced to use plan "b." >> when the time is right, we'll say, yes, the beacons have probably stopped transmitting. and it's time to switch to the short range. >> reporter: and that may be a few days away. >> yes. >> reporter: the next step in the search is using powerful sonar on this underwater drone to create images of the sea floor, as much as 15,000 feet down. hoping the wreckage will appear among a pitch-black alien landscape of plains, canyons and mountains. >> we've gotten some encouraging detections. but we're not going to be convinced we have found the aircraft until we can look at a picture and say, that is malaysian air 370. >> reporter: when or if the plane's black boxes are located, a remotely-operated vehicle like this will bring them up. >> the r.v. will go down. and it will comb through the debris field, looking for the black boxes and any other items that investigators need to help identify t

the u.s. navy team picked up which could be from the pingers on the black box recorders the frantic search to pick up those signals again has been going around the clock because the pinger batteries are running out if they are not dead all right. let's get to commander william marks right now. he's the smokesman for the navy's seventh fleet which is overseeing the u.s. role in the search. you just got out of a briefing on the search. any new information to share with us? >> well, pretty much we are still in this continuous 24 hour search to reacquire those initial pings we saw and now it's approaching 72 hours. so it's between two and three days ago. so, we were cautiously optimistic as each minute passes that phase as the battery life of these black boxes fades. so, there were some reasons and still some reasons to be encouraged. one, we did have two plus hours of detection time and that certainly is significant, and i should also say it was on two courses. so two hours on one course, then we reel

the u.s. navyhip "ocean shield" was resupplied by the "cesar chavez" but can't be refueled at sea. the "ocean shield" may soon have to return to port. now, if it does have to come back to port, obviously there will be a natural point at which they will reset this search and either widen out the search for bluefin-21 or bring in additional resources and over the next weeks, perhaps, months, conduct a broader search area in the indian ocean. wolf? >> let's bring in our panel. joining us once again, richard quest as well as our aviation analyst, former ntsb analyst, peter goelz and director tom fuentes. the new search guidelines, the agreements between malaysia and australia to deal with various things if in fact they would be necessary whether debris handling, care of human remains, investigation area changes, asset deployment, what does that say to you that they are thinking along these lines? >> i think we saw this coming a few weeks ago. there's very difficult decisions if and when they found the

>> erin, what i can tell you is from the u.s. navy's standpoint, we have the u.s.an amphibious assault ship, and that ship has about 3,000 sailers and marines on board the uss bonhomme richard. we have the mv-22 osprey, which is a marine aircraft as well as the mh-60 helicopters, which are capable of search and rescue. we also have small boats, and we have divers aboard that could be potentially used if requested by the republic of korea, navy and coast guard. i will tell you at this time that the uss bonhomme richard has just launched a couple of helicopters to support in the search-and-rescue operations as of right now. >> and lieutenant, you heard, you know, some of the parents are desperately hoping that a text message was not delayed, that it did just come through, that there could be an air pocket in there, that there could be some of these children alive. that a scenario you're still operating under that scenario, that there could be an air pocket, or is that beyond the scope of reality? >> well, i think collectively, as the search and rescue team, never giv

divers are maneuvering among pieces of the twisted wreckage. >> the u.s. navy has recovered a helicopter. they've done this before. >> the retired detective mccord has been among rescue missions including one that crashed in '98 off the coast of nova scotia. those were in more shallow water than the indian ocean. they had equipment designed for deep water investigation. they can go as deep as 20,000 feet. the deeper the recovery, the keep deeper the process. >> if going to 11,000 feet, count on 11 hours to get down. >> underwater vehicles are equipped with lights and cameras. they're located with cameras to steer toward debris. they have instant feedback from the cameras to direct the robotic arms. they can hover, move, left, right, forward. they can go to where they need carefully, hover over a piece and pick up if they need to. >> remember air france 447 that crashed in the ocean 2009? two years later, the unmanned vehicle found the flight 13,000 feet beneath the surface. the engines were pulg ed from the ocean floor. if flight 370 is found, search teams are

and that blue fin 21, the u.s. navyed underwater autonomous vehicle currently aboard the "ocean shield," is able to go on to the ocean floor and search about 11 square miles in a total day. takes about two hours to get down, 16 hours of search, and two hours to get back up. they take the data, analyze it, and send it back down. they want it be able to conduct its work before -- they want to be able to identify that something is, in fact, down there they say before equipping it with the camera to get the actual visual on any potential wreckage. >> and as you're speaking, we're seeing a file footage of the blue fin 21, what it will look like when it's beneath the ocean's surface. thank you very much. >>> i want to bring you more on the devices searchers are using to listen for the blxocs. a report auto -- black boxes. a report on what they are and how they work. >>>. >> reporter: they're dropped out of a plane, plummet with a parachute, descend below the surface, open a payload, and hunt for a target. these are called son