Les Obben News Today

Working the numbers. the chinese sighting gives us a little bit of hope. just a little bit of hope that maybe weve stumbled on to it. but aside from that, there is still a growing momentum that we are on to it. and i do really believe that we will find it. it just may take a long time. >> les obben is an airline, airplane aficionado. this has to be mind-boggling even for you. youve been flying for decades now, right? >> almost 30 years. >> right. >> its totally amazing. whats amazing to me, its ...

Carried out these measurements, that heard these pings. but so far, its been unsuccessful in reaching that vessel. its reached out to the authorities, the relevant authorities in beijing. it still hasnt got enough information to find out what kind of pings these were. to find out exactly what depth they were at, what equipment was used, things like that. until they get that information, they say, theyre not prepared to commit actual resources in terms of aircraft and ships to that location. well...

Practicing. >> does that make a difference to you, les? >> its a good point. but even if he was doing that he might be doing it just for fun. and depending on where it was. im not sure i could draw any conclusions from the that. >> a lot of people have been looking at the pilot and co-pilot with a certain sense of concern that maybe they have something to do with it. but there is no proof or evidence right now that either of the men had anything nefarious to do with this airplane. >> it hasnt be...

Congratulations. thanks. >> yeah, very nice. i was asking les obben, a 77 pil 7, have you ever had an engine failure at takeoff? >> ive had to abort a takeoff at 90 knots. it was a procedure that was familiar to us. >> are you happy you have enough runway in front of you that you dont have to go airborne? >> if i had to continue, it wouldnt have been a problem either. its part of the recurrent training process. what they just went through was a very similar thing that we practice all the time, a...

The effort may be hampered by weather. ships finally retrieved objects from the search area today after three weeks of looking for possible objects that never materializes. as we look at this, i wanted to be clear that no link exists so far between these objects and the missing malaysian airliner. the objects could be sea trash. theyre hoping to find something. again, they could just be sea trash. lets bring in our panel of experts. nick mallos, les, miles obrien. you were making a point earlier...

Effort. >> okay. les, this is for you. unless you want to weigh in. m.j. asks, the angle of the plane when it turned looks like it should have went west. or should have gone west. how did it start flying south? >> thats a great question. its something that i think is confusing a lot of people. to me, i think what may have happened is if, indeed, there was a mechanical issue, it may have done something to begin the airplanes turn and may affect the flight controls. its hard to see. thats part of ...

Bigger or heavier because that means its going to cost you over the long run. so its actually not the ideal frequency for under water. heres a little piece of irony. the p-3s and p-8s that are searching for this particular aircraft are outfitted with black boxes that float. >> huh. >> why not? why not have a -- you can have a redundant set of devices that stay on the surface and then you can broadcast on an emergency frequency and you could find a site much easier than trying to, you know, get s...

And all the big pieces? we dont know. because they have not found it. they saw it by air, right? but they have not retloorieved correct? >> correct. the ocean is a highly dynamic place and, unfortunately, especially when youre relying on aircraft and visual surveys to locate these octobbjects, on you identify the location of the objects, thats the first part. its hoping the ocean, wind, environmental conditions that can effect the transport of these drifting items. you hope they cooperate so if ...

Origins, and from personal experience, being out in the middle of the oceans, doing research surveys, its not until you literally have that item out of the water on the deck of the boat where you can truly investigate it at a level specificity that will provide you the information to know whether or not it could, in fact, be a piece of that wreckage. >> les, you know, theyre looking for anything and everything in this search. are there parts, you think, that would stay in tact in a water crash l...

Thats a real problem that should be addressed sooner rather than later. otherwise i think were at the beginning of a long and difficult road, whether they find the aircraft or not. >> yeah. you know, les, you have flown 777s. you still fly them. has anything been talked about, discussed, anything that you have learned over the past three weeks that can improve somehow the aircraft, the performance and its tracking system? >> well, this is a great airplane. you know, boeing just makes a nice prod...