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NEW DAY SUNDAY

AirAsia Flight 8501 Missing

Aired December 28, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Half past the hour now. Thanks for staying with us.

MALVEAUX: Our top story, it is on going -- this night time search at sea now under way. This is in Southeast Asia. This is for a passenger jet that has been missing now for more than 12 hours.

Officials say that large ships with powerful lights continue to comb the Java Sea. But less intensive search efforts have been suspended now for the night because it is night fall. It is 7:32, night time there that local time, 12 hours ahead of where we are 7:37 Eastern.

BLACKWELL: So, if you're just joining us, you're just waking up here in the U.S. or turning on your television anywhere around the world.

Here's what we know: it's AirAsia flight 8501, 162 people onboard when it left Indonesia headed for Singapore. This was around 5:30 Eastern yesterday evening, making 5:30 local -- a.m. there in the local area. Now, it's Airbus A32200 due to land at 8:30 last night. But airline officials say they lost contact with this jetliner about an hour earlier.

MALVEAUX: And there have been heavy storms that were reported in the area. Several of them at least three coming together, monsoon conditions. We have been reporting about 45 minutes into the flight, this is according to Indonesian officials. They say the pilot requested permission to change altitude because of this treacherous weather conditions that he was facing.

Our CNN's Erin McPike, she's joining us from Washington.

And, Erin, what have we learned? We know the president has been notified of this missing plane some time ago? And that the NTSB will have a role as well. What is the United States role in this international effort to find this plane?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, President Obama and first lady were out to dinner with friends last night in Hawaii when the news broke. But during that time, White House spokesman Eric Schultz confirmed the president was briefed on this AirAsia flight. And he said White House officials will continue to monitor the situation.

But, Suzanne, we should point out that there is a slight less urgency in this particular situation because there weren't any Americans on the flight. It is a smaller Asia based airline.

And also, this plane is an Airbus, and that is made by a French company. Whereas Boeing is the company that makes the 777, which were the planes in both of the Malaysian flights that went down earlier this year. And American companies have to deal with the FAA to determine some of the technical issues.

But we should point out that the U.S. will most likely provide financial aid and will aid in the search efforts as the U.S. did in search for MH370.

The White House joined call to track each and every flight throughout the flight path which didn't happen, of course in, this case.

The international organization ICAO is calling for that. We were talking about ICAO during the search for MH370, and in this case, the White House is also saying that all these flights need to be tracked from beginning to end in every single case, Suzanne and Victor.

BLACKWEL: Erin, we know that for the families who are waiting, although as it was characterized there is less urgency for the families waiting for the 162 people that this is an absolute urgent occasion to try to get some answers. But I understand the point that you made.

We just got an element in about the search operation. We know the flights have been halted for the night. But we've been told that big ships that have powerful enough lights to continue looking after dark, those will continue to search.

We know that Malaysia has deployed three vessels. However, we don't know if those have made it to this search area yet. So quite possibly, there are other resources, other assets from maybe Indonesia which is leading this search. Or from other countries getting involved that have made it to the area. That information we're getting from the Indonesian transportation ministry. Hopefully more details about that.

But is there, even in the discussion of urgency, Erin, is there any timeline on when we'll see the NTSB head in that direction, head to Surabaya, to speak with the Indonesians and offer that even technical expertise?

MCPIKE: Victor, I think what we'll probably see from the White House throughout the next day or two are lists. They always put out these advisories and lists of exactly what the U.S. will be doing to contribute to the search and the financial aid that they will provide. I expect that we'll see that throughout the day to day.

But certainly some time on Monday, we'll see. But again, the White House has said that they'll continue to monitor the situation. But, yes, the NTSB is likely to get involved and we'll probably see a list of exactly how they will contribute to that search in the next day or two.

MALVEAUX: All right. Erin McPike, thank you so much. We appreciate it. We'll be getting back to you throughout the morning.

And joining us by phone, Dr. Alan Diehl. He's former NTSB air safety investigator.

And you have been following this story as we have throughout the morning getting more details. Base on the information that you have, where do you believe this plane, this missing plane could be? How soon do you think rescuers can get to it?

ALAN DIEHL, AUTHOR, "AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS" (via telephone): Well, obviously, Suzanne, that's a difficult question.

One thing I will say about this particular type of aircraft, the Airbus, it does have what is called a ditching switch, which is a mechanical device that can be activated by the pilots and it actually seals the bottom of the aircraft if they were able to get it on to the water, it should float for a considerable period of time. So, that's one advantage of the Airbus over other types of airliners.

But we, of course, don't know that it made it to the surface of the water or for that matter to land. We look at other accidents. Certainly, we remember the Air Algerie accident which was a McDonald- Douglas aircraft similar in size. It disappeared over North Africa.

Again, like this situation, the pilot asked to deviate around severe weather. In that case, the Air Algerie case, the aircraft broke up in flight and nobody survived. We don't know now whether or not this aircraft was destroyed in flight or made it to the surface.

And, you know, we can only hope that we should be able to find it within a matter of certainly hours -- well, probably a day or so. Clearly surface vessels with lights would be great. They also have radar. If this aircraft did make it to the surface intact and floating, it should be detectible on maritime radar that those ships are certainly equipped with.

But we're talking about probably a matter of days if it broke up. They'll be looking for debris, obviously.

MALVEAUX: And what kind of information can you get now? This is 7:38 local time. Obviously, the sun has gone down. It is dark. They will be using ships with the powerful lights.

What kind of information can you learn just in the hours ahead, the immediate hours ahead?

DIEHL: We'll send out a notice to mariners which will ask everybody that's sailing, and I understand that's a busy sea lane. So, it may will be that not necessarily a search vessel but some other vessel will come upon part of the wreckage or hopefully survivors and, of course, radio they're position.

So, that's -- I think that's probably more likely than necessarily the three vessels that are part of this search armada that we may just -- another ship or another fishing boat may spot something.

MALVEAUX: Do we know if the United States, the NTSB, what would be the role in terms of taking the lead on this investigation?

DIEHL: Well, they won't be lead unless Indonesia, my understanding is that Indonesia is going to be the lead on this and the way it works under the International Civil Aviation rules is once a country is it established as having the lead, they then grant what is called party status to other investigating organizations such as the NTSB. We know the French have a similar organization. The aircraft is made in France and Europe. They'll certainly be a party I would imagine.

I don't know what type of engines. But the manufacturers and the airplane manufacturer and the engine manufacturers will be part of this investigation and a lot of the electronics are probably made in the United States. That's why the NTSB would be involved.

As you know, there are 3,600 aircraft worldwide in operation. And many U.S. airlines fly this Airbus 320 equipment. So, therefore, we have a -- as Americans and as the NTSB, we have an interest in making sure there is nothing wrong with the aircraft.

At this point, everybody is saying it's probably a weather problem. But everything is still open. We don't know whether it's weather, mechanical, human factor or even conceivably some kind of terrorist act, although of course that's very rare event, even given the speculation about 370. So, everything is still on the table. But the NTSB will probably be in an advisory capacity to the Indonesian lead authorities.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dr. Alan Diehl at the NTSB -- thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And as he mentioned and highlight, we should tell that you all options are on the table that we really don't know how this plane went down.

DIEHL: OK, Mike.

MALVEAUX: This is AirAsia Flight 8501, traveling from Surabaya in Indonesia, headed to Singapore. It is now 7:41 local time at night. They're 12 hours ahead of where we are Eastern Time. And it has gotten dark.

And some of the immediate search and rescue efforts have been suspended. But they're still looking desperately for that plane and again, 162 souls onboard.

We're going to take a quick break. We're going to have a lot more information on the other end.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right. Welcome back. Our breaking news coverage continues now. Coming up to 7:45 on the East Coast.

We've got CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis in the CNN weather center.

The concern, obviously, the weather systems, plural, that were involved in that area over the Java Sea. That was for, of course, 8:01. But the weather still a concern now that there will be aircraft searching for this plane.

What's the situation there?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'll give you kind of the overall picture of what the flight path of this aircraft was expected to take. It is typical they would encounter monsoonal moisture, a monsoon situation.

They are supposed to have monsoon training. They would have had monsoon training. Whether it'd be across this region, here is the Java Sea, here is Surabaya and this is Singapore.

But if you were flying into or out of, say, Delhi and I know this because I am married to an airline pilot, they get monsoon training there, because monsoon means there is a seasonal change in precipitation.

They have seen a torrential amount of rainfall over the last just about two weeks. This is what we were looking at in this green shaded area. Look at this thunderstorm cluster here. This is something that aircraft would avoid. This is why this particular aircraft from what we have heard asked for a diversion, meaning they want to go from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet, expecting there to be less turbulence.

Why would they see turbulence? Because you've got that upward draft and warm moisture and stable air, very typical for this time of year. And then you see, once it reaches that super saturation, and it falls behind this weather system.

So, you got this constant motion that is taking place within the vicinity, not just in the thunderstorm but within the vicinity of the thunderstorm.

On top of that, it depends on what the pilot's reaction to this is as well. You get a very skilled pilot, he knows how to make the adjustments for that.

And as I mentioned, in a simulator, they're expected to train for that. They are also expected not as a pilot in command, but maybe the second in command. But the first officer would be trained a certain number of hours to do these type of diversions around thunderstorms.

This was the expected track. It was going to go over open water. It was pretty much at altitude, 32,000 feet. The diversion would have taken five to 10 minutes or so.

Back to you.

MALVEAUX: And, Karen, talk a little bit about the weather and how you think it might impact search and rescue. We know that immediately they suspended I will in the 6:00 a.m., the next morning, so they can see what is there. But there are large ships that are stationary on the Java Sea that have big lights. They can turn those lights and try to get a sense of what they see.

What is happening in the sky where they might be able to see something?

MAGINNIS: You know, whether we were looking for the first Malaysia flight and just how difficult it is to look for an item or debris over a wide expanse of ocean -- well, this isn't that kind of coverage area. You still have to remember this is a broad area. Weather is a factor.

And as I've mentioned, because we looked at this monsoonal moisture, this precipitation, that is typical this time of year, even the aircraft in the sky, they have to watch out for this kind weather as well. So, it is possible that they encounter turbulence.

Turbulence doesn't bring an aircraft down. It may be a pilot reaction to the turbulence. It may be perhaps it got too close to a thunderstorm. There could be so many variables. There is a weight and balance issue with aircraft as well.

So, if they're on the ocean waters, it could be rough. But we are typically looking at the seasonal transition of the winds coming out of the northeast because this is typically just kind of in that intertropical convergence zone, the ITCZ. You'll see the thunderstorms fire up during the heat of the day. Then about it evening it flattened out.

So, unfortunately, when we see the weather become more calm, then you're not going to see kind of the volume of thunderstorms. But this is been exceptional over the last several weeks. They have seen such severe flooding.

We've seen numerous pictures. If you've seen CNN International over the past week or so, they have shown you just area after area where flooding has been a terrific problem here. But it's not really flooding that impacts the aircraft. It is the weather and the vicinity of the aircraft that they have to respond to.

MALVEAUX: All right. Karen Maginnis, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

We're going to be keeping a close eye on the weather, obviously, because what, if anything, they might be able to spot on the Java Sea is so critical at this time. We know that at least search-and-rescue has been temporarily suspended until 6:00 in the morning local time there. So, there's 162 families who have a wait, hours and hours to wait to find out before potentially find out what has happened to that missing aircraft.

We're going to have a lot more questions and experts to talk to on the other end of the break, including our Rene Marsh, our aviation expert, who has been learning a lot talking to the NTSB this morning.

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BLACKWELL: All right. Coming up near the top of the hour. We continue our breaking news coverage the search for AirAsia Flight 8501.

Let's get to CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh live in Washington.

Rene, we know you have been in contact with Airbus, the manufacturer of this A32200. What are they saying about this aircraft and this disappearance of the plane?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Suzanne, we are finding out from airbus first off that this is a very young aircraft. It was delivered in 2008. So, it's a little bit over six years old, which when you talk about an aircraft that's relatively young.

Airbus also says that this particular aircraft had 23,000 flight hours, and we do know from flight tracking Web site Flight Radar 24, on that same day of this incident, it made five other trips according to that flight tracking website, five other short haul trips within this region without any incident.

We also know that this a 320 according to Airbus is the work horse. They give some interesting stats here. It says, one lands and takes off every two seconds every day some place in the world. So that just gives you perspective on just how many reps this particular design of aircraft has under its belt.

Its last maintenance was just last month. There were no indications of any problems. Of course, we know Airbus, when it gets to the stage of an investigation, they likely would assist in the investigation because they know this aircraft very well, they would be able to assist investigators in helping them to understand how certain parts of this plane work, and answer any questions that investigators may have.

But at this point, Airbus is being very careful with their wording, saying that they are simply trying to gather information. They don't want to speculate on exactly what happened or what went wrong on board this flight. They will only say they are still gathering information. As for the NTSB, I will say identify reached out to them. I reached out to them yesterday. We've not heard anything back from them official on the record but you would have to bet that they are monitoring the situation.

But they wouldn't really get fully involved until at least there is some wreckage found. Then that would give them some work to do, course. We talk about the black boxes but also the wreckage itself would tell the investigators a lot of information in piecing together this puzzle of exactly what happened to this flight.

MALVEAUX: And, Rene, we know Airbus is a French company, different than the last situation where we saw the missing plane, a Boeing, an American company. So I imagine that the role of the NTSB would be different not necessarily taking the lead, but the Indonesians working with the NTSB to try to figure out what happened.

MARSH: Right. That's correct. Also the French's version of the NTSB as well, most likely would be active in this investigation as well. But, you know, like we say, the NTSB has looked at and recovered lots of black boxes so oftentimes they are invited in to share their expertise, to help out in situations like this.

But you're right, the Indonesians, again, as protocol is whoever's waters this went down in, also whoever the country that this aircraft belongs to, they would lead the investigation. But, again, we're speculating here that most likely they may refer or consult with NTSB if they feel it's necessary.

BLACKWELL: You will remember, Rene, in the search for 370, there were questions about jurisdiction and what information would be released to the Malaysians from Rolls Royce, from Boeing. Now, we're dealing, obviously, with another company.

Do you foresee or are you hearing any indication thus far there might be a problem with Airbus or are they offering as much as they can? Again, we're only hours into this.

MARSH: Right.

Well, Airbus in their very own statement is saying they plan on being very cooperative with the investigation. They plan on working with investigators, supplying whatever information is necessary. So, in the statement itself, they are saying that they are willing to work with, there's no indication they plan on holding back any information or not being forthcoming.

In their exact words they say, "In line with ICAO annex 13", which is essentially international law that governs this sort of thing, Airbus will provide full assistance to the French safety investigation authority which makes sense because Airbus is manufactured there by the French and BEA, again that is the acronym for the French safety investigators.

So, again, they are saying here whatever these -- whatever is asked of them they will provide that information and oftentimes when we talk about aviation and aviation safety that is one thing that these manufacturers take very seriously. They want to know if something was wrong with their aircraft because we know that there's more than 6,000 of these A320s in service, in operation.

So, it is in their best interest to work with investigators to figure out what went wrong because there's so many of these aircraft in the air as we speak.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And as you say, A32200, the workhorse, and so many of them in the air, a lot of airlines, a lot of passengers have questions.

Stay with us, Rene. We'll pause for a moment to restart here at the continuing the breaking news coverage.