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CNN NEWSROOM

Search for Malaysia Flight 370; How to Find a Plane on Ocean Floor?; Deadly Bus Crash in California; David Letterman Resigning; Security Changes Anger Flight Crew; Parts Unknown Starts in India; Bubba in Augusta

Aired April 12, 2014 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the CNN NEWSROOM. Today the Australian prime minister said he is confident search crews detected one of Flight 370's black boxes and it all goes back to the four critical pings that have been picked up over the past week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: There have been numerous, numerous transmissions recorded which gives us the high degree of confidence that this is the black box from the missing flight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But those signals in the Indian Ocean are fading fast. And the batteries powering the pingers could be dead very soon if they haven't died already.

Here's where things stand right now. The pings were first heard last Saturday and then again on Tuesday. But nothing has been heard since. Today 14 ships and 10 planes were involved in the search more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia. Crews right now are focusing on a 16,000-square-mile area. That's about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

After five weeks of waiting and grieving, families of the passengers aboard Flight 370 are skeptical now about the search results so far. In Malaysia officials are echoing some of those concerns.

CNN's Sumnima Udas joins me live now from Kuala Lumpur.

So, Sumnima, first, how are Malaysian authorities reacting to these new leads in the investigation coming out of the Indian Ocean?

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Malaysian authorities are calling those signals that the Australian search teams have been detecting over the past few days a promising lead particularly because the frequency of those signals are very similar to the black box. But still, they say, all of this needs to be verified and they remain cautiously optimistic.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, ACTING MALAYSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER: Signals, they need to be verified. I totally agree with Angus Houston that any lead, and this might be one of the more cautiously optimistic leads that we have, because the signals are similar to a black box.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UDAS: There have been so many leads in the past few weeks, false leads primarily, so the Malaysians want to be absolutely sure before they -- before they conclude anything -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then what about from family members? What sentiments are they expressing?

UDAS: Well, the family members, for the most part, at least the ones we've been talking to, are also very skeptical. They say, and this has been the overarching sentiment all along, they say until they find some sort of evidence, until they see that debris, they will not believe anything.

We've been talking to a mother and father of a -- they lost their only child in that plane, and they say -- or the mother says she still continues to call him almost every single day. She genuinely believes that he is still alive.

We are also talking to the mother of that Iranian passenger who was traveling on those -- on that fake passport, and she says she, too, needs to see some sort of evidence. Until that happens, they cannot believe that their lost -- their loved one is no longer alive. It is very opinion for them to see that for them to get that sort of closure -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Gosh. That all seems so very tormenting. All right, thank you so much, Sumnima Udas.

So if Malaysian authorities are skeptical about the progress of the investigation, where does that leave us? Let's go now to our panel for this hour, CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. She is now an attorney, an aviation attorney who represents families suing airlines in crashes and disasters.

And Alan Diehl is a former NTSB, FAA and Air Force investigator and the author of a book about air crash investigators, air safety investigators. You see right there.

All right, so the Malaysians seem to be backtracking on their own investigation. It was just 10 days ago when they declared that they had given an all-clear to the passengers on board, and now they seem to be saying that no one has been cleared.

So, Alan, what does this tell but the investigation, that it really is back to square one, or it's in disarray or does it seem par for the course?

ALAN DIEHL, FORMER AIR FORCE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR: Well, Fredricka, I hope you can still hear me on Skype.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

DIEHL: Can you?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

DIEHL: OK. I think it's back to square one. As Mary and others have said, the Malaysians have basically mishandled this almost from the beginning, and a number of things they've done have been very dysfunctional or seemingly dysfunctional unless there's a method to their madness that we're not privy to.

Clearly the two bright things have been the use of the Inmarsat data to locate the aircraft and them delegating to the Australians to do the investigation. But I still don't know what to make of what the Malaysians seem to be trying to do.

WHITFIELD: And so, Mary, is it as simple as it's unchartered territory? I mean, no one has been in this kind of situation before. 777 taking, you know, a strange course and then simply disappearing with 239 people onboard. And is it just as simple as the case of Malaysia investigators have never had to deal with anything of this magnitude before and so they're just kind of feeling their way through it as we go along?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, that's part of it, but they're also not used to the -- you know, the lenses of the world trained upon them as they attempt to do an investigation. You know, as we know in the United States, particularly any of us who have been prosecutors, I mean, you have to walk a fine line between what you release and what you have to keep confidential in a criminal investigation but this is, you know, the -- you know, most of the western nations of the world are used to poking and prodding their government and questioning, saying what do you mean you didn't pick them up on radar or you had a 40-minute delay between the plane went missing and you tracked them?

How is it that you didn't see which way they went? I mean, that's just the kind of thing that we do. That's how we treat our government, and I think their government isn't used to being questioned. When somebody says, what do you mean you cleared 237 people in less than a week? That makes no sense. Then they back track and they put something else out. And I just don't think they were prepared for western style investigations which are very poking and prodding.

WHITFIELD: And, in fact, the minister of transportation then said well, maybe it's something in the lost in translation, maybe because culturally we do things a little bit different, that perhaps it's been misconstrued or misunderstood.

SCHIAVO: No, I don't think so. I mean, what's unfortunate is, you know, a few things that they have done, you know, clearly hurt the investigation. The disarray over the radar slowed things down, but at this point the best thing they can do is just let the joint task force do its work. At this point everything is a game changer. Once they get the black boxes, really there's no evidence that can't be gone back and gotten once they get the black boxes and find out what happened.

We'll have a very different discussion, though, if they don't get the black boxes because then we really be will be at square one. But we're not there yet. There's, you know, plenty of time to make up for the lost ground in this investigation.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Alan, do you feel like, you know, Malaysia's skepticism or maybe disarray undermines Australia's confidence?

DIEHL: Well, the Australians are actually working, and the joint search force is working for the Malaysians so if they did, they're not going to admit it. Obviously, they're going to be very diplomatic. You know, there's another issue here -- I don't know if Mary has touched on but the -- this is really the government investigating a government-owned airline, and of course we would never --

WHITFIELD: Right. Because we're talking about the Malaysian Airline being owned by the government and now it has to investigate itself, and perhaps it doesn't necessarily want to reveal that potentially they could have a big security problem or that potentially they have an airline inspection problem.

DIEHL: Well, exactly right, Fredricka. We stopped that sort of thing in 1974. Congress was concerned. They didn't even want the NTSB investigating the Department of Transportation. At that time they were a part of it and Congress said, no, NTSB has got to be totally independent and we're seeing just the opposite here in Kuala Lumpur. These are a bunch of people that have a vested interest in --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

DIEHL: -- making Malaysia look good and making the airline look good. So this is -- this is not what we'd like to see. And I think the U.N. is going to have to address this whole issue of Annex 13 and what we do in a future case. After all, many countries can afford to buy a 777 or 787 but they're not capable of running a detailed coordinated investigation. So we're going to have to really think this at the international level, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Maybe a little too incestuous, a little too close for comfort.

All right, thank you so much, Alan Diehl, Mary Schiavo. Appreciate that.

Stick with us. We're going to bring you back a little bit later on in the hour and talk more.

All right, also next how soon will searchers go under water? And when will they deploy a sonar device to scan the ocean floor?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Searchers are racing to find more clues today in the hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner. A pinger locator detected four pings in the Southern Indian Ocean over the past week. No confirmation yet if those pings are from Flight 370. But time is running out to get as much information as searchers can before those pings stop altogether.

I want to bring in sonar expert Arnold Carr for more on what happens next. He is president at American Underwater Search and Survey.

All right, so, Mr. Carr, once the batteries powering those pingers run out, searchers will lower a sonar device into the water. How would that help find the plane?

ARNOLD CARR, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN UNDERWATER SEARCH AND SURVEY: Well, the device they'd be using is like the Bluefin-21 which they have on site. That's an autonomous underwater vehicle, not manned, manned by man. And it will be programmed to go town and try to look at priority areas where they think the pingers originated as far as signal. So what they will go down is with this vehicle that can operate at that depth for maybe up to two-thirds of a day or more and it will do a very systemic search trying to locate debris.

And once they locate debris which means they have to actually bring the vehicle back, the AUV back, and then start looking at the information, it's not real time information, bring the vehicle back. And then see if they can identify parts of a debris field like a tail or a wing or a cockpit.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So you're not able to read this information simultaneously. It has to be brought back. So for how long would there be this sweeping of the ocean floor, this search for information before researchers can actually look at the information, the data that is collected?

CARR: Well, once the AUV is deployed, you'll have that material back, with the AUV, within the same day. And then it'll take several hours minimally to review that data, and then you probably send the AUV down again with the side scan sonar, or if they do have a debris field with the camera system in there instead of the sonar, to try to get a good visual resolution.

WHITFIELD: And what's the range of view? I mean, if you are dealing with visibility in the ocean because of currents, et cetera, you know, being only 10 feet or 15 feet or 50 feet, is that going to be the view of this device as well? Or can it kind of see through murky water?

CARR: That's quite likely because you're really availing yourself. You need the lights to get your good visual return. So it's going to be a slow process. That's why you use side scan to look more at maybe possibly a kilometer sweep all at once and then you really zero down into areas of great interest.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, it sounds like a herculean task, I mean, just listening to this description it almost feels like this is improbable. Is it? CARR: It's going to require a lot of patience and tenacity. It's not impossible. I think they will be found, the recorders and the debris field, but it's going to take patience. A 100-square-mile area being searched with sonar like the AUV would have could take five months, maybe more.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, it could take five months or more for 100- square mile area and we are talking about -- well, we understand we have 16,000 square mile area. That's extraordinary. OK.

Arnold Carr, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

CARR: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead more on the search for Flight 370. And next, survivors of a horrific bus crash. Hear their incredible stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We'll get back to more on Malaysia Flight 370 in a moment. But first other news we want to get to.

Nick Valencia on that.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, plenty to catch you up on.

Let's start with the crisis in the Ukraine. The country's acting president is announcing an emergency national defense and security council meeting. This after 20 gunmen in camouflage took control of a police building in eastern Ukraine. Look at this dramatic video there. They reportedly arrived in a minibus and opened fire at the building before entering through windows.

Three police officers were slightly injured. The policemen inside were allowed to leave. The U.S. State Department described the situation as worrisome.

There are new developments this morning in that deadly bus crash in northern California. CNN affiliate KOBR spoke with witnesses who said the FedEx truck was on fire before it rammed into the bus on Thursday. That bus carrying prospective students on the way to Humboldt State University to visit the campus. Ten people were killed, five of them high school students and more than 30 were injured.

Our affiliate KXTV has an emotional reunion between a surviving parent -- a surviving student, rather, and his parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL ROXAS, KXTV REPORTER: Prayers were answered for the Hoyt family as they arrived from San Diego at Glenn Medical Center.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to see you.

ROXAS: On his way to freshman orientation at Humboldt State University Harley Hoyt expected to see the first glimpse of his future but, instead --

HARLEY HOYT, STUDENT SURVIVED CRASH: Chaos is what I saw.

ROXAS: Sitting in the back of the bus, Harley didn't see the FedEx truck coming, but he heard the screams of the others up front.

HOYT: Once we hit the impact, the front of the bus, like, was on fire. Like smoke started coming through the whole -- the whole bus.

ROXAS: Harley was able to break open an emergency window exit just in time.

HOYT: I looked out the window and the FedEx bus was already on fire. So I was like, OK we're going to blow up any second.

ROXAS: Getting out of the bus was just the beginning.

HOYT: We all crossed Interstate 5 and go on the southbound side. And after that everyone just like -- like was laying on the grass, like, just people were out of it, people were crying, people were like pulling their hair, people were screaming.

ROXAS: Harley suffered only minor injuries, something his parents had to see to believe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He definitely had an angel with him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A special gift given to us.

HOYT: Lucky is an understatement. Blessed is an understatement. I don't have a word to describe how I feel. Like I am so thankful that I am here, I'm grateful that I'm alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Incredible story for that high school students. Our thoughts with -- are with all those that have been affected, of course.

Gabriel Roxas from our affiliate KXTV, our thanks to him.

Moving on to Nevada where an investigation is underway into a violent standoff between federal agents and a Nevada cattle rancher. Happened about 80 miles north of Las Vegas. On Wednesday, agents were there rounding up cattle that had been illegally grazing on government land for about 20 years. The Bureau of Land Management says one of its drivers was struck by a supporter of the rancher and the path was blocked by militia members, backing the rancher.

A police dog was kicked and other officers threatened and assaulted. The feds took off but not before a family member says they were tasered by an officer.

Just so much dramatic video there coming out of Las Vegas. Our Dan Simon is there, Fred, looking at that story. We'll be sure to keep an eye on that. WHITFIELD: Yes. Some tense moments there.

VALENCIA: Very tense.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

Hey, another story, Nick, on a much lighter note, one that's supposed to make everybody laugh, and everyone is talking about it this week. We're talking about David Letterman's retirement. That's not the funny part. But the funny part is who might be replacing him. Replacement is being Stephen Colbert.

Brian Stelter of -- host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" tells us what's next for CBS in late-night TV.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. It's been quite a few days for fans of late-night TV because we are seeing all of these changes happen in a row. First David Letterman announces he's retiring and then a week later Stephen Colbert says he's going to be the one taking over. He joked about it in character on his "Colbert Report" on Thursday night and said those are very big shoes to fill.

Of course he didn't step out of character and acknowledge that he's the one that's going to be filling them. So we will see how Colbert starts to transition in the next few months or maybe in the next year or so into his own self and not the conservative blow hard character that he pretends to be on Comedy Central.

But now there are other jobs that are going to be filled as a result. Comedy Central has got to figure out what they're going to do at 11:30. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" will still be there at 11:00 but they now have that timeslot to fill. And so I think there's going to be a race by any number of comedians to raise their hand for Comedy Central.

And I do wonder what CBS is going to do at 12:30. Because right now Craig Ferguson is the guy that follows David Letterman. But it seems like he's been pretty visibly snubbed by CBS since they've gone out and hired Stephen Colbert instead. The head of CBS, Les Moonves, said the other day that 12:30 is open question, that's up in the air, which does suggest Craig Ferguson could be leaving in the future and potentially that will be another timeslot for CBS to fill.

Now that it's figured out one transition here, from Letterman to Colbert, they may now have another one on their hands.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: OK. Lots of work to do. All right, thanks so much. Brian, I appreciate that.

All right. In a moment we're going to return to our look at the missing Malaysian Airline Flight 370 a month after that plane went missing. Now Malaysia Airlines intensifies its security measures. Not all the crew members are happy about that. We'll explain why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): In the air and beneath the ocean depth, the search for missing flight 370 pushes into another day.

ABBOTT: There have been numerous transmissions from the black box or from what we are confident is the black box.

WHITFIELD: But even with that optimism, time is running out to retrieve the black boxes before the signals fade. And the loved ones of those onboard want answers.

SARAH BAJC, PARTNER OF PHILIP WOOD: The real challenge is in looking at this is that the fox is very much in charge of the hen house. And it makes us question every step that's taken.

WHITFIELD: We'll have the latest information as it becomes available as our live coverage of the mystery of Flight 370 continues right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And it is now day 37 in the search for that missing plane and crews have been desperately trying to detect more pings that officials believe are coming from the plane's black box. Search teams are focusing on an area that's about 16,000 square miles. That's about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

Fourteen ships and 10 planes were involved and they're working more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia. And the Australian prime minister said even with the confidence this search is likely to continue for a while.

Since Flight 370 vanished much attention has been focused on the plane's crew and security measures or lack thereof on that aircraft. That's prompted Malaysia Airlines now to make some changes.

But as Nic Robertson reports, not everyone is happy with those adjustments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Weeks after Flight MH-370 disappeared, Malaysian Airlines tightened onboard security. Among other things sources tell CNN a senior cabin steward is deployed to the cockpit whenever one of the pilots leaves, a safety procedure, they say, to make sure no one is left in the cockpit alone. But a union representative says such moves put crew members in danger.

ISMAIL NASARUDDIN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL UNION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS MALAYSIA: They're not highly trained people with security backgrounds. So this is quite demeaning to them. And putting them also at risk will not be the right thing to do. ROBERTSON: Union president, Nasaruddin, is a 25-year veteran crew chief representing several of 370's missing crew. He was friends with some of them including crew chief Andrew Nari who is still under investigation.

(On camera): Can you imagine this man, your friend, ever doing this?

NASARUDDIN: No, I don't think so.

(LAUGHTER)

Not in my wildest mind. I don't believe so.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): While helping the crew's families as they await word of the missing airliner, his bigger challenge, he says, is protecting the crews still flying.

(On camera): Over the past three years Malaysian Airlines has lost more than a billion dollars as it faces increased competition from low-cost carriers. According to Nasaruddin, that has led to a lowering of crew morale that has further deepened since the disappearance of Flight 370. The new changes are adding to the crew's anxieties.

NASARUDDIN: The problem is when these changes have been made they were not consulted and they are not --

ROBERTSON: Compromise does not appear close. Malaysian Airlines said, quote, "This is an operational initiative which is an enhancement to security measures taken by all airlines including MAS."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you intend to resign?

ROBERTSON: Airline boss Ahmad Yahya appears embattled at news conferences often asked if he'll quit. Until now his answer, I'll take it one day at a time.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So has this mystery exposed deep flaws in our air security system?

Let's bring back our panel, Mary Schiavo, Alan Diehl and Arnold Carr.

Welcome back to all of you.

So, Mary, you know, especially in light of all that's taking place and not taking place, really begs the question. Are we safe to travel especially overseas right now?

SCHIAVO: Well, you're only as safe as your national regulations allow you to be. Each flying nation, I call them aviation nations, have to fly by the rules of their own country. And the Malaysian tragedy has pointed out that Malaysia didn't have rules comparable, for example, to ours in many security areas. For example, the solid and secured locking doors and that a crew member, if they leave the cockpit, must be replaced by another person, a flight attendant.

That's already the rule in this country for most airlines. We don't leave a pilot in the cockpit alone for some very practical reasons. What if the pilot's taken ill, if there's a decompression, et cetera, and who's going to let the other pilot back in? So there's lots of reasons for that.

And this is pointed out Malaysian Airlines did not follow the rules that most of the aviation nations take for granted at this point in a post-9/11 world.

WHITFIELD: But isn't it always the case if there are going to be disparities depending on what country you're in, what that country's history is, on security, et cetera? I mean, should it be expected that there is kind of a universal, you know, security plan in place that everyone has to adhere to?

SCHIAVO: Yes, there is, because, again, the overarching umbrella that lets all of the nations with aviation sort of fly around the world without running into too much trouble is the International Civil Aviation Organization which is an offshoot of the U.N. and our, for example, United States is ready to comply with those as do other aviation nations.

Now if your regulations do not comply or meet the standards of ICAO then you have two things that can happen. Other nations shall refuse, can refuse to recognize your rights to fly to them and the European Union could put you on the do not fly list. All of Indonesia's airlines are on the do no fly list.

WHITFIELD: And so, Arnold, I wonder, you know, until investigators can really pinpoint what happened with this missing flight, is it any difficult for any country especially Malaysia to kind of impose new rules security measures without knowing where the holes were, what happened, did it have anything to do with the passengers? Did it have anything to do with, you know, checking of correct, you know, passport information? Did it have something to do with the flight crew?

DIEHL: Who is that for, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: I thought that was for Arnold.

CARR: That's really out of my field. That's a difficult one. I could give you some speculation, but I'd rather not.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Well then why don't we go to you, Alan? Are you ready to dive into that one?

DIEHL: I'll try it. Try it.

(LAUGHTER)

I worked with ICAO like anybody that's been in this business for 40 years and one of the things -- I don't know if Mary meant to say it but the member nations can opt out of any ICAO rule if they want. I believe that's still the case. The other thing that bothered me that came up in this investigation is that Malaysia does not have sky marshals and they apparently don't have the armed crew member safeguard that we have in the states.

Some of our pilots, after going through training in the U.S., they can actually carry firearms into the cockpit. Now if a potential hijacker knows that, they may think twice before trying to rush in there.

WHITFIELD: And so, you know, Mary, is it your feeling, though, do you have to get to the bottom of, you know, what happened to this plane? Did it have anything to do with passengers? Did it have anything to do with crew before you can impose any kind of new regulations or is it smart that Malaysian authorities say for now we are going to stiffen some security measures that pertain to our crew?

SCHIAVO: Absolutely you should not wait. And that's one thing I do give them credit for. They must be proactive because whether it turns out to be a crime, a -- a terrorist hijacking, a suicide or a mechanical failure, there are lots of, you know, bad guys and girls, if you will, listening around the world and there can be copycats. So no matter what it is, it is very wise for Malaysia Air to be proactive and close all the loopholes, gaps and problems that this tragedy has brought to light. And it's smart to do that so, no, they should not wait. They should move immediately or sooner.

WHITFIELD: Is it likely that no matter what the outcome here, some sort of change that would be imposed involving all particularly maybe Transatlantic, you know, overseas flights that there would be a continuous stream of data information so that control towers know where a plane is or what kind of conversations are taking place in the cockpit, Alan?

DIEHL: Well, as I said, I guess four weeks ago now in "The Wall Street Journal," yes. I think we're going to probably see a movement to put on what they call smart black boxes. There's a big argument whether or not these black boxes could even be made to talk to satellites constantly or if you could have a system where the black boxes would do a data dump. If anything seemed to go wrong like acceleration, descents, ascents, roll rate, the black boxes would transmit to the satellites.

That way they wouldn't be talking constantly but only when they need to. And of course periodically like they already do with the Inmarsat, they would update their position but not once an hour, maybe once a minute or once 10 minutes or whatever the bandwidth will bear.

Obviously this is a technological issue, Fredricka. And I don't pretend to be an electronics expert but somebody is going to look at that. I think it will have to be ICAO.

WHITFIELD: And that's as it pertains to the investigation.

Arnold, I want to get you in here, too, you know, as it pertains to sonar equipment in the other arm of this investigation and that is trying to locate the debris, et cetera. There isn't the capacity to get that kind of immediate information instead. As you mentioned earlier, you've got to have these devices scan the ocean floor and then it's brought back. Someone would then spend hours to look at the data.

Are we looking at potentially technology down the road where there would be that kind of immediate, I guess, gratification on the data retrieved from these underwater devices?

CARR: That's really a hope, really a hope, but it's really extremely hard to achieve mainly for a number of reasons. One is the battery capacity on the underwater vehicle and, two, transmissions through the water. So we've come miles in achievement in the past 10 years. Having these AUVs that have the capability of systematically working the bottom and getting the information back.

WHITFIELD: All right, Arnold, Alan, Mary, thank you so much to all of you. Appreciate that.

All right. Coming up next in the CNN NEWSROOM, we'll go live to Perth. The heart of that search operation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Now for an update on mortgages. Rates have dropped. Take a look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's been a grueling and exhausting search for missing Flight 370. Crews are working in the Indian Ocean, more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia. And the area they are combing through now is about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

Matthew Chance is following the search from Perth, Australia.

So, Matthew, the Australian prime minister expressing confidence today in what the search has turned up so far. Now what happens?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. And Tony Abbott is his name, he's the -- Australian prime minister. He's in China, as a matter of fact, on an official visit, which is key because obviously the majority of passengers onboard the missing Malaysian Airliner were Chinese nationals. And so that country is particularly sensitive and particularly keen to hear the latest on the search operation for missing Flight 370.

And it's in China that Tony Abbott has been sort of spelling out, we think, what he's been briefed on by the various search officials, he's underlining yet again his confidence that the electronic signals that had been monitored on four separate occasions underneath the surface of the Indian Ocean are indeed from the black box flight recorders from that missing Malaysian airliner.

Take a listen to what he had to say in China earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBOTT: There have now been numerous transmissions from the black box or from what we are confident is the black box that have been picked up by the various devices which Australia is deploying. As you know, we've got a black box detector that has been deployed from the Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield and patents of sonabuoys have been dropped by the Royal Australian Air Force Orion aircraft in the search area.

So we're very comprehensively deployed, very sophisticated equipment in the search for the black box recorder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: But in terms of what happens next, Australian officials say is that they're going to continue with their search. The search is carrying on 24 hours a day with those underwater towed ping locator equipment that they are using. Until such time as they decide that there's no further possibility of finding any more signals.

And remember, there hasn't been a signal detected for the past four days and so that point may be nearing sooner rather than later.

WHITFIELD: And then, Matthew, that's the underwater search end of this. Now what about the aerial searches since there are more than 10 planes involved?

CHANCE: Yes, that's right. Some of them are engaged as Tony Abbott just said in dropping sonabuoys into the area where the underwater search is taking place, but they're also searching for debris, possible wreckage from the airliner in a slightly different location. They've taken into account the currents and the winds and where the wreckage might have been and so, yes, they've been covering that area or been up on one of those flights within the past few days.

Very, very difficult to see how they'll find anything. In fact, we didn't find anything there. In fact, nothing has turned up that has been linked to that missing Malaysian airliner so a very big challenge for those flight crews.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mysterious indeed. Thank you so much, Matthew Chance, in Perth.

All right. We'll of course continue our team coverage of the mystery of Flight 370 but next we're going to take you live to Augusta, the National Golf Club. The masters is underway. And all eyes are on this guy right here, Bubba Watson. He's right now atop the leader board.

CNN's Rachel Nichols will join us live next.

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ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": Kesar da Dhaba, Dhaba, meaning side of the road food stall. And there are like countless dhabas to choose from in this town, but this one is legendary.

See Tony eat vegetables. Hmm. I like it.

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WHITFIELD: All right. We know you missed it and the good news is, you won't have to wait much longer. The show is -- back.

Joining us now for a preview of what we're going to see this season of "PARTS UNKNOWN: ANTHONY BOURDAIN."

All right, Anthony, good to see you. Your first stop this season, Punjab, India. We know the food is a hit. We're talking about amazing spices, at the same time, it's in a region that can be a little spicy, too, right along the Pakistan border.

So what was this journey like?

BOURDAIN: Well, the food was indeed spectacular. The colors in the Punjab are extraordinary. It's a very, very beautiful part of an already very beautiful country, and we looked at, you know -- in the course of just eating and looking into the far-away past, the present kept intruding. And it is in fact a very contentious part of the world. The relations between -- you know, along that border have really informed a lot of the problems in the entire region. We -- all of us see it, feel it, you know, hear it, live with it every day to a great extent, and we looked at that a little bit, you know, right where it mattered.

WHITFIELD: So there was a free community vegetarian restaurant there as well. Describe that experience.

BOURDAIN: Well, it's the golden temple in Amritsar, is essentially, it's the holiest spot in the Sikh religion. And at this temple, every for I think about a century, quite some time, many, many decades, volunteers have been cooking tens of thousands of free meals for any and all of any faith and of any income level to come and eat and enjoy a simple meal.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. Who doesn't want an invitation at the table with Anthony Bourdain? Don't miss the season premiere of Anthony Bourdain's "PARTS UNKNOWN" tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern Time, and then immediately after that, 10:00 Eastern Time, the season premiere of "INSIDE MAN" with Morgan Spurlock.

The doubleheader of premieres right here on CNN.

All right. And then there's golf tomorrow, and, today, of course, too. A new Masters champion actually would be crowned tomorrow. We'll find out who that's going to be right now. Bubba Watson is on top of the leader board but anything can change. We know that's how Augusta rolls.

CNN's Rachel Nichols is there at the legendary golf greens.

All right. So, Rachel, you're also hosting "All-Access at Augusta," a Bleacher Report special coming up at 2:30 Eastern Time.

All right, what's on tap, then and now?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, "UNGUARDED": This specialists is so great because we're really going to take you behind the scenes at a place that's really one of the most exclusive spots in the world, certainly in the sports world and we're going to let you see what goes on here through the voices of a lot of the champions who have won it before.

I want you to take a listen to two-time champion Ben Crenshaw here. He's describing why being here is just so special.

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BEN CRENSHAW, TWO-TIME MASTERS CHAMPION: And you see how immense and vast the place is, and giant trees. You know, sloping hills, and the greens are just amazing. In themselves. And that's -- the fascination of playing that course is that it tempts you like no other course. And -- when you see them, to have that coat ready for you, it's -- it's pretty magical.

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NICHOLS: Coming up on this special, you'll not only hear from Crenshaw but you also get a feel of the course from Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson. It's going to be a lot of fun and also you're going to hear about the landmark around here that a sitting U.S. president tried to get removed. We've got that story as well.

WHITFIELD: What? Oh my gosh. I can't wait to hear about that. I've been to Augusta. It is a beautiful course and this is the best time of year because all the azalea are in bloom. It's just a spectacular experience all the way around.

OK. So now how about today? Or this weekend? You've got no Tiger, you've got no Phil there. You've got none of those regulars, but Bubba is at the top of the leader board. But we know, like I said, anything can change. But this is a very exciting time for him, too. Isn't it?

NICHOLS: Absolutely. And remember, he won this tournament a couple years ago.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

NICHOLS: So we know that he can do it. He has the experience, and he's just playing so much more freely than he did last year when he didn't do as well. He was saying that some of the obligations of being the defending champion, they just weighed on him too much. It was too distracted, he couldn't focus on his game.

He's certainly able to focus this year, that all that pressure is off. He's strung together five birdies yesterday. He has yet to go out today. But certainly he is going to be a force to be reckoned with and, hey, he went to the University of Georgia. So he's very popular down here as well. WHITFIELD: Hometown hero.

NICHOLS: He'll have a huge gallery.

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WHITFIELD: Right. OK. Well -- a lot of excitement for him. And he's got quite the, you know, bubbly personality, too. So you kind of, you know, enjoy being in this company, I think it seems.

All right, thanks so much, Rachel. Appreciate that.

Be sure to join Rachel back here at 2:30 Eastern Time today for "All- Access at Augusta." a Bleacher Report special.

All right. Right now, stay tuned. "YOUR MONEY" with Christine Romans is up next. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you in an hour from now.

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