we're not searching for a needle in a haystack, we're still trying to define where the haystack is. that's how australia's defense minister describes the search for flight 370 in the remote indian ocean. want to bring you cnn's saima mohsin from kuala lumpur and will riply in perth where planes are getting ready to take off, we hope. saima, first to you. what can you tell us about this so-called international working group, a group that the malaysian government is now forming to help narrow the search area? what's involved here? >> reporter: well, wolf, that still remains a mystery. that's all they've told us so far. as you know, we get very little information in these press conferences, which is amounting to a lot of frustration for a lot of people, including us trying to report this story. and, of course, more importantly, the families that are involved in this. now, what we know is that this working group will be heavily reliant on the data that particularly countries like the united states and the united kingdom can offer. we know that they relied on the united kingdom's inmarsat satellite data, the doppler effect that looked at the frequency and velocity of the aircraft to work out that it did likely end its journey in the southern indian ocean. which is why they decided to go and announce that they believe all hope was lost in finding mh-370 and those on board alive. wolf? >> saima, you know that malaysian authorities, malaysia airlines, malaysian government, the prime minister, they've come under enormous fire of criticism for saying that the plane went down in the indian ocean, no hope left for the passengers. based solely on new and revised satellite data, mathematical calculations from inmarsat. and maybe other sources. but they have no hard evidence, no wreckage from the plane, certainly no bodies. how are they responding in kuala lumpur to the criticism being leveled at the malaysian government? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, a lot of criticism leveled at them. and a mixture of emotions reflected in today's press conferences. all the denial of anger, of sorrow and sadness. and calls at one point, wolf, for the ceo and chairman to resign, people questioning, will you now resign. and they said, well, that's a private matter. right now we're trying to deal with this crisis situation. it still is a crisis situation for this country and malaysia airlines. particularly the problem is, wolf, as you say, we don't know how and we don't know why malaysia airlines flight mh-370 didn't make its destination for beijing. in fact, went completely in the opposite direction. ending up in the southern indian ocean. one of the remotest parts of the world. and they have very little answers for us. and little or no concrete evidence, solely this data that you refer to. so the families say they want to see something solid. they want to see debris, or they want to know where their loved ones are, wolf. and malaysia airlines said they were sorry they haven't got anything yet, but they are doing their best to try and do that and work with all these countries around the world to get them the answers they so desperately need. >> maybe they should have held off making that definitive statement yesterday. saima, thanks very much. a few hours from now, the search for wreckage from flight 370 is set to resume off the coast of australia. will riply joining us from the scene. i understand you have some new information. it's a little after 1:00 a.m. wednesday already over there. how big of an area are they trying to search? are we certain these planes will take off in a few hours? >> reporter: that's the latest we know right now. planes will be taking off about five hours from now at 6:00 a.m. local time, and the search area about a fourth of the size of what it was at its largest point. but it's still a huge area, wolf, about the size of mexico or two-and-a-half times the size of texas. and this is over the southern indian ocean, about 1,500 miles from where i'm standing now. we're talking about an area where there are waves several stories high. i was flying out there in a p-3 owe wry on and we saw weather conditions change in an instant. great visibility and then the clouds can roll in, the rain comes down and you can see almost nothing. if this is an area where you don't want to find a plane, well, unfortunately, this is the area that we're talking about. it's very easy to get lost, and it's easy for the debris to get pushed around, as well. >> will, how are they trying -- i assume they're still trying to narrow this search area. it's still pretty large. >> reporter: it's very large. australian officials are saying, as you mentioned, they are trying to reduce the size of this search area. we have the satellite data from australia, china and france, pinpointing an area they want to focus at specifically. we have those two flights that flew where they actually spotted debris. so they're going to that area. as we have seen, even if you spot debris once, it's a challenge when you go back out to that area. you don't find it again. and that's what crews are running into. that's what's making this so difficult. >> will ripley in perth, we will check back and see if the planes take off in a few hours. so where is the proof? that's what families of flight 370 passengers are asking after malaysia's announcement that the plane and everyone on board went down in the indian ocean. the conclusion with no hard evidence to support it. a conclusion malaysia may have thought would bring some closure, but seems to have done anything but. here's cnn's pauline chu in beijing. >> reporter: this morning, outrage and fury, as relatives face off with police outside the malaysian embassy in beijing. over 300 chinese friends and family members of flight 370 protesting. >> from the beginning, they just hype everything. and i don't think that this kind of government, a liar and even a murderer, can solve anything. >> reporter: following monday's dire announcement by malaysia's prime minister. >> flight mh-370 ended in the southern indian ocean. >> reporter: frustrated by malaysia's handing of the incident, they descend on food, marching over two miles after police prevented them from taking buses and blocked the embassy once they arrived. furious and skeptical of malaysia's investigation, some chinese family members released a statement, reading in part, "the malaysian government and the malaysian military continue putting off, holding back and covering up the truth of the incident. as well as trying to deceive the families of passengers and people of the entire world." >> i don't know why. i just want to see some at the brie debris of the aircraft and the black box to know what happened. there are too many unanswered questions. >> reporter: because of the questions that still remain, some chinese families say they're now willing to go to kuala lumpur in order to confront the officials there at the highest level. and now china's president, xi jinping has sent his deputy foreign minister to malaysia to put pressure on the government there. pauline chu, cnn, beijing. up next, did flight 370 deliberately avoid the radar of certain countries? our experts standing by to weigh in. and later, a full square mile covered in a sort of quick sand. the landslide in washington state leaving nothing vertical in its path. we'll go there live. everything your mouth does in a day is building up layer, upon layer, of bacteria. and to destroy those layers? you need listerine®. its unique formula penetrates these layers deeper than other mouthwashes, killing bacteria all the way down to the bottom layer. so for a cleaner, healthier mouth, go with #1 dentist recommended listerine®. power to your mouth™. also try new listerine® naturals. the only mouthwash that combines the power of listerine® with naturally sourced ingredients. but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about axiron. in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. eggland's best. better eggs. it's eb. the clock is ticking in the search for flight 370. the data recorder will soon run out of battery and stop sending signal. search planes are grounded because of bad weather and as sinter sets in, things are expected to get even worse. and then there are the currents that could potentially be moving wreckage hundreds of miles. let's bring in our panel of experts, mark weise an aviation analyst, former 777 pilot for american airlines and peter goelz and tom fuentes, law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the fbi. peter, the australian defense minister was very blunt. he said they're not looking for a needle in a haystack. they're looking for the haystack right now. they can't even find the haystack, which three weeks in is so depressing. >> it is depressing. but i think it's reality. and i think we have tried to indicate that, that this was never a matter of days or even weeks. it's going to be a matter of months and years. and i think that everyone involved on the ground there ought to be knowledgeable about not raising expectations. you know, every piece of junk floating in the ocean isn't a possible, you know, piece of evidence. >> because there's a lot of junk. >> there's a lot of stuff. >> it's been moved around by the currents and waves and whatever. >> and people get their expectations up. the family members are tortured by it. we need to just get into the hard grind of searching for this. >> it's interesting. there is some suspicion out there, and i want you to weigh in, mark. you're a 777 pilot. that the -- for whatever reason, the crew may have been deliberately trying to evade certain radar, thai radar, indonesian radar, because they were making turns. the thais say they never saw the plane on their radar. the indonesians say they never saw the plane on their radar. both of them may have missed it. but if you look at the map, and we're showing what's going on, it sounds like maybe the crew was deliberately trying, if you believe the thai and the -- the thai radar experts and the indonesian radar experts, you may be convinced that the crew was deliberately trying to avoid radar. >> i think there's a lot of fantasy to something like that. i think if somebody wanted to deliberately avoid radar, i mean -- it looked as though they turned off the transponder. the acars stopped. i don't know that it was the crew. it could have been somebody else in the cockpit. it could have been one of the crew members. but i don't know that those actions were purposely taken to deliberately forestall the radar. >> so you don't necessarily buy that theory. what do you think of the way the malaysians over the past 24 hours have handled this? because -- the prime minister comes out and says definitively, the plane is in the water. malaysia airlines says the people are all dead. and today they say, well, you know, that was the best evidence we have. we can't -- there's no -- obviously no bodies. there's no wreckage. what do you think of the way they're handling this? >> i think it was very insensitive. we looked at this and why they would say that. and you have people, you know, screaming at officials in beijing and kuala lumpur that there's no debris. how do you know this for sure? it's based on a new mathematical calculation. and this is kind of like high school math. if you've come up with a new answer, show us your work. don't just say what the answer is. and you know, the chinese have a space program. they have some of the best mathematicians in the world. let them -- show them some of your calculations or share it with them. have some buy-in from the other countries that have lost dozens of people in this event. >> you have done a lot of aviation accidents, peter. and you have you studied them. you have gone back. have you ever seen a case where a country definitively makes an announcement like this without any wreckage or bodies, simply on mathematical and radar calculations, pings, handshakes, whatever? >> no. this has been poorly handled from the get-go. and had malaysia, the government, and the military, been committed to a more transparent process, as the treaty that they signed mandates, they would have been much better off. because it wouldn't have just been the malaysian government saying this. it would have been the investigative team, which would have involved people, chinese investigators, american and brits. they have been behind the curve from the beginning. and yesterday's performance was simply designed to try and close out the family operations. >> explain what you mean by that. a lot of folks are suggesting now, they just want to sweep it under the carpet and move on. >> they want the family members to go home. they do not want the family members at the hotels sitting there. that could go on indefinitely. they want the family members on the best case basis back with their own families in their own communities, in their own villages and towns, where they have support. but on a worst case basis, they're tired of seeing the media focus on that. they want to shut these operations down. >> and mark, everything you have seen over the past 24 hours still convinces you, this is criminal, this was not mechanical. >> i'm still leaning in that direction. again, you don't want to close out options, because then everything that -- every hypothesis you want will lead to what you think it's going to be. but my feeling, my gut feeling, based upon the evidence that seems to present itself at this time, all points to me that the vast majority of that information leads to someone in the aircraft, in the cockpit, that wanted to take that aircraft deliberately off its intended flight path. >> guys, don't go too far away. we have a lot more questions. our viewers sending us a lot of questions, as well. we'll do that later this hour. much more on the missing plane mystery. also coming up, a deadly landslide crushing homes near seattle, washington. 200 people still unaccounted for. we'll go there live. that's coming up. what does everything mean to you? 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what's the latest, bill? >> reporter: well, it depends on who you talk to, wolf. frankly. we're now about 72 hours since that huge chunk of mountain detached and came roaring into this valley. we're set up here in darington on the west side. beautiful landscape here. gorgeous cascades. but this has been sort of the one little gathering spot out in front of the darington iga where you see the banners, home made banners to pray for the 530 slide victims. that's highway 530. first responders, thanks for everything. and the information, it's really kind of sad, because there is not a lot to go on. a sheet of plywood with a map of the area. that was taken out so they know which properties were there. now that big number that you've been reporting, we now know, of course, 14 fatalities. 176 unaccounted for. they think that number is going to come way down. those -- they may be some duplications, as well. maybe folks who people think might have lived in that area, aren't there anymore. we do know folks, one satellite dish signaller installer working, so the death toll certain to climb. and i've got the most grim reality check. you asked about mood and hope from one of the rescue -- search and rescue guys, a fireman by the name of lenin who spent three days on the pile and changed our entire perception of the search. he had a little sample -- it's like a clay. we were describing it like a wet cement or a quick sand. it's like oily, slick clay. and he said the bodies they are finding, it's really grim to describe. the clothes are torn off them. they're not -- intact. cars have been ripped in half. so the hope that there are air pockets, as you would find in an earthquake or hurricane don't seem to exist in this thing. it was sort of this perfect catastrophic mix of water and mud that took out that entire town. so as -- right next to the information board, you see the "daily herald" you can see the headline today. hope starts to dim. but we did talk to the governor, jay inslee in the state of washington and this is a small town, a lot of people know folks, third and fourth generation washingtonions there. and that's all they can have is open right now. people are giving everything they can. food, water, tears and prayer. and the folks in this area of the country will take everything they can get, wolf. >> are they bracing for more landslides, bill? >> reporter: it sounds like it's stabilized today. there was some worry yesterday, search and rescue crews had to be pulled off the pile when it started to shift a little bit. that's the problem with this particular kind of earth, it's too solid for boats, but it's too soft for heavy machine he re. so they're using hovercraft now, search and rescue, urban rescue dog teams trying to sniff out signs of life. they're listening with acoustic equipment. it takes five minutes, because it's so slow going. but as of today, we hadn't heard any worries. and they are allowing civilians, about 50 to 100 volunteers showed up here today with their hip waders and axes and chainsaws to help everywhere they can. that's a sign that the authorities are convinced that it's at least safe enough to let those folks out. >> our hearts certainly go out to all of the folks over there. bill weir on the scene for us. we'll continue to check back with you. thank you. up next, the latest on the search for missing flight 370. one analyst will tell us why he's not surprised it's taking this long. and later, we take a closer look at some of the new technology being used in the search to see how it could possibly help find the plane. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. humans -- even when we cross our "t's" and dot our "i's," we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. if you qualify, your rates won't go up due to your first accident. because making mistakes is only human, and so are we. we also offer new car replacement, so if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. call liberty mutual insurance at... and ask us all about our auto features, like guaranteed repairs, where if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, your repairs are guaranteed for life. so call... to talk with an insurance expert about everything that comes standard with our base auto policy. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? 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joining us now, two guests. ken christiansen, former retired u.s. air force pilot, former nasa liaison to the department of security. also steven wood, ceo and co founder of all source analysis. he spent many years in the cia as an image analyst. steven, i'll start with you. you've told us you're not at all surprised the search has taken this long to find even any debris. why is that? why aren't you surprised? >> well, wolf, i think the real challenge is, as many of your guests have been saying, the sheer size of the area where the search has to go on. it's enormous. to put in perspective, if you look at just the imagery that's being collected by a commercial satellites, it would extend from washington, d.c., out to the west, out to cincinnati. or up to the north, up to hartford, connecticut. and to try and find an object that is small, in some cases maybe only a couple feet long, that's a tremendous amount of area to be covered. and to try and find an object. >> ken, you're very familiar with the aviation point part of this story. the reports that the plane was cruising at 35,000 and then went up to 45,000, down to 23,000, eventually down to 12,000, and then may have gone back up to 35,000, if it were going to reach all the way to that southern part of the indian ocean. do you buy all of that, or do you think that that's the wrong direction for us to be working? >> wolf, i can i think it's an excellent point, and doesn't make sense to me, if you're up high and have a problem, rapid did he pressurization, you want to descend and land at the nearest airport. so there would be no reason for you to reascend or climb back up to the higher altitudes again. and if the inmarsat was getting seven and a half hours of data, that means the plane was still in the air. there was no way that plane could fly that long at a low altitude like 12,000 feet when a large airplane goes down in altitude, the air is denser and takes more power to go through that, so you're going to be burning a lot more fuel going through those lower altitudes. and so the plane would not get as far as where the search at this current time. that's why that doesn't make sense to me. >> stephen, you're very familiar with satellite imagery. you spent a career dealing with these kinds of images. the prime minister of malaysia, based on inmarsat, based on the information, the new analysis, he makes a definitive statement the plane was in the waters of the indian ocean. malaysia airlines releases a statement that all of the people on board are dead. is that information enough for a prime minister to make a definitive statement like that? >> it must have been terribly challenging, wolf. and the way i look at it, you still need to see that conclusive evidence. i think that's what everybody is still looking for, is the search will continue on and needs to. people want to see the physical evidence. and thus far, i believe the australian defense minister last night was speaking on cnn, and in his press conference. i think he said it well. this is the best possible evidence we have to date. between the inmarsat data, between the various satellite imagery data, some of the aircraft sightings themselves. but now we need to actually find the debris. and i think that is what ultimately the world is still looking for. and the search will continue until that happens. >> how good is that inmarsat data, the recalculation, the prime minister of malaysia said they had never done this before, this new analysis of the pings or handshakes or whatever they call it. is it that reliable, or some experts questioning its reliability? >> well, again, wolf, i'm not a communications expert. so i can't speak as authoritatively as somebody from inmarsat. but to evidence to date, again, i believe we have now been able to narrow down the area. and start being able to have more of a bull's eye approach on what this area needs to be focused on. and using all of the sources of data, whether it's airplanes or satellite imagery, or in this case inmarsat, we need to really triangulate and concentrate the search area, even more intensely. >> and final question to you, ken. this whole notion that maybe, maybe the plane was -- after it made that left turn, left malaysian air space, was about to enter vietnamese air space but made that u-turn or left turn or whatever you want to call it, avoiding thai radar, avoiding indonesian radar, because both of those countries say they have no evidence that that plane was flying through their air space. what do you make of that? >> well, if they're over water, wolf, and they are at a low altitude, they could technically evade that radar. they would have to be very low to do that. >> at 12,000 feet -- but 12,000 feet is not that low. the radar from the ground can still detect them. >> exactly. exactly. so if they were further out from the water -- because it's not quite clear to me where they actually were when they were at that altitude. so some radars have gaps in them, some don't, depending on where they're transient through. so they could -- you could get -- there's sometimes when you're at 5, 6,000 feet and you're not picked up on radar, just because you're so far out. so you start dropping off as the earth will curve, and you have to be at a -- at a higher altitude to be visible to radar. >> but if you're flying over land, people will hear that plane flying over, and probably -- >> absolutely. >> yeah, all right. ken, thanks very much. ken christensen. guys, thanks for your expertise. s.o.n.a.r. and super-sensitive listening devices could help in the search for the plane. how these devices work. what a difference potentially they could make. and later, many of you are asking great questions about this entire mystery of flight 370. our panel of experts will join us and try to offer some answers. 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[ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or a medical or dental procedure. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding or have had a heart valve replaced. seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition or stomach ulcer, take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners... ...or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctors about all medicines you take. pradaxa side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you or someone you love has afib not caused by a heart valve problem... ...ask your doctor about reducing the risk of stroke with pradaxa. when and if search crews find debris from flight 370, they'll bring in some super sensitive listening devices. the u.s. has sent one of those devices known as a hydrophone to australia to be on stand-by. we want an idea of how this device works and how s.o.n.a.r. is being used in these searches. stephanie elam joining us from santa barbara harbor with a demonstration. stephanie, show us how this works. they've got to locate that flight data and voice recorder.r orter: and we don't have a lot of time, wolf. and that's exactly what we wanted to show here today. the difference between hydrophones and also taking a look at s.o.n.a.r. they're different and do different things. i want to introduce you to james coleman, senior hydrographer. i keep saying that wrong. he's going to show you how this works. break it down for us and show how this hydrophone works. >> that under water locater beacon is sending out sound, these pings. and to pick it up, you need a hydrophone, which put simply is an underwater microphone. this is one of our sensitive models. what they'll do is take microphones like this and string them into arrays to listen for the pinger. >> reporter: how far out does it listen? >> with the strength of the signal, about five miles. >> reporter: five miles. so every second they hear that tick, which we call a ping, it's listening for that. >> exactly. so you put on a headset or look at a visual display to look for that once a second ping. >> reporter: and how deep down can these go? >> these are pressure rated to go to the bottom of the ocean. so you can put things on a remotely operated vehicle that mayfly to the bottom or an autonomous vehicle. they're both able to do that. >> reporter: this is a hydrophone. that's where you would start if you're looking for the ping. let's say it gets to the situation where the ping has stopped, the batteries have run out. then they just have s.o.n.a.r. how does s.o.n.a.r. work? >> this is much different than the hydrophone. the hydrophone is just listening, where this is s.o.n.a.r., where this is going to emit sound and receive the sound bouncing back off the sea floor and interpret it and look for what's on the sea floor and construct an image of what's down there. they're going to look for the wreckage using an active s.o.n.a.r. >> so the hydrophone says it's in this general area, the s.o.n.a.r. says it's right about here. >> exactly. >> all right. so let's go see what this looks like with the technology once we go inside. you lead the way. >> yeah, absolutely. >> reporter: we're going to go inside and take a look at how this works. so what we have on this screen here, explain this one to us. >> so this is just a visual readout of what the hydrophone is listening to right now. all we really see is random ocean noise. if there was the beacon out there, you would see all of a sudden a strong spike at the 30 to 40 kilohertz range, the frequency that beacon is emitting. and a strong spike coming in once a second, and that's where you know you're within range. >> reporter: so how deep is the water here? >> here we are only at 40 feet deep. >> reporter: but just to give an idea. if you look on this side over here, it's showing you what's on the bottom of the floor right here of the water. >> exactly. so this is the mapping s.o.n.a.r. and so we're emitting sound and looking downward at the sea floor. as we look down at the sea floor, we're rebuilding as the s.o.n.a.r. returns come in. what the shape of the sea floor is. and we're constructing an image of what things look like on the bottom. so this is a 3-d point cloud of what the structure of the bottom looks like. and this is an image of what targets and objects are on the bottom. >> reporter: this is a really slow process. you can't just move the boat very fast through the water. >> no, not at all. and more complicated than that, these sensors need to be near the bottom. and if we're in the southern indian ocean, that means they need to be thousands of feet down in order to be able to get them near the bottom. and that's the real complication, is to get sensors like this near the bottom, and then map out small segments of sea floor, and build up a large map of the sea floor to find out what's down there. >> reporter: and this here i'm assuming is a pipeline. >> exactly. >> reporter: so you can see exactly what that is. very clear to see what that is, and to see how this technology is working, wolf. but it gives a very clear picture of something worth going back to investigate. and that's how they're going to go about looking for any debris field and hopefully finding this plane. >> hopefully, indeed. good explanation, stephanie. thank you very much. another of the tools used is the u.s. navy's towed pinger locater. brian todd has seen one of these devices. >> very high-tech device, arriving in perth overnight. we visited the manufacturer of phoenix, international holdings today, they showed us how this pinger locater works. it is towed from a ship, very slowly, less than 10 miles per hour. looks leak like a fin, weighs 70 pounds. this can extend to 20,000 feet below the surface. it's towed very slowly, as we said and has to be two-thirds of the ocean depth so that it does not hit obstacles. paul nelson, the project manager for phoenix international, which did he deploys this device, explained it once it picks up a signal. >> this is a towed pinger locater, this gets pulled behind vessel "opportunity" and detects the ping or chirp of this pinger. this is attached to the black boxes on an airplane. there are two of these on the two black boxes. so this unit will get pulled through the ocean, and then it listens to a tiny little chirp at 37.5 kilohertz frequency. >> reporter: now from there, wolf, they have people looking at the vessel towing it, looking at a reading of it in a graphic readout and also listening, for the very sensitive pings. so it's a very high-tech operation there. that's the people in the vessel above it listening for all of that. now, this arrives in perth on wednesday, we said, and deployed on the australian ship. the "sea horse standard" operated by two u.s. navy officers. and eight contractors from that phoenix international company. but what we don't know is exactly when it's going to get to the search area. may take several days to get to the search area. and we only have about 13 days left until that pinger signal runs out. so that towed pinger locater operated by the navy has got to get there as soon as possible. >> clearly the clock is ticking, brian. thanks very much. more of a demonstration later in the "situation room." many of you have gone on twitstory ask questions about flight 370. our panel of experts standing by to try and provide some answers. and later, president obama at the nuclear summit in europe, talking about russian troops amassed on ukraine's border. we're going to hear what the president of the united states has said. the owner of a vehicle, with a bumper sticker, "turrible" your lights are on. you wanna get that genius? not mine. on the passenger seat, there is a collection of charles barkley highlight dvds. must be a big fan. and the license plate reads "sir charles." i'm gonna get some drinks with my capital one venture card. be right back. earn unlimited double miles with no blackout dates from the capital one venture card. forgetting something, sir charles? what's in your wallet? but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about axiron. as search crews in the south indian ocean continue to hunt for any sign of flight 370, many of you are posting questions about the missing plane at #370qs. joining us, our panel of experts, mark weise, avenuation analyst, and former pilot. peter goelz, former ntsb managing director and tom fuentes, cnn's law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the fbi. right to the questions, tom. first one for you. how can they say the flight crashed in the indian ocean and yet they still haven't recovered anything, #what are they hiding. >> that's the thing. the calculations of the inmarsat technicians. there is no debris. no other separate proof to corroborate their information. either they're hiding it or they want to have some closure. maybe slightly prematurely. >> they want a closure, but this is not bringing closure. this is only bringing more frustration to the families of the passengers. mark, here's a question. how does auto pilot work in an onboard emergency? is it possible the pilots became incapacitated? >> well, it depends on the emergency that you have. you're normally flying with it on, other than necessarily the takeoff. you could have it on for a landing. in an emergency, depending on the type of situation, you would turn it off. if you had it on this program, it could either be programmed to follow the flight management system or it could follow manual inputs from the pilots. >> the autopilot does not change the altitude level. it goes constant altitude. >> the autopilot will change the altitude if you request it to change the altitude. >> here's a question for you, peter. could someone hack the system and give a false ping to throw the investigation off, maybe just invert the signal? >> boy, i think that's getting out there. i don't think so. talking about hacking the system so that the inmarsat scientists received a false positive. you need to direct it to them. i don't think that's possible. >> or hack the computer, onboard computer to change the direction of the plane. >> that has not happened. it's highly unlikely that it could happen. these planes have multiple protections on them. >> here's another question for our pilot, mark. i can understand the sudden drop to 12k due to decompression. then it went back up. does not make sense. >> it doesn't make sense from a practical point of view. if it had a decompression or a mechanical problem, certainly you'd want to get down. but you'd want to get down to the nearest suitable airport. if the information is correct, that it climbed back up, to me, again, going along with perhaps some of my thinking, it could have been a struggle in the cockpit for control over the airplane. >> here's the question, peter. how much oxygen was available? would it have run out about the same time as the last change in direction or ruined by fire? i've actually heard that with those oxygen masks, there's only about 15 minutes of oxygen per passenger. >> yeah, it usually comes out of a container, two chemicals mixed that produces anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes of oxygen. designed only for the passenger to use until they get down under 12,000 feet. >> if you need that oxygen for longer than 15 minutes -- >> you're out of luck. the pilots have full oxygen for much longer. >> how long do the pilots have oxygen? >> mark? >> depends on the airplane. but you've got like an hour's worth of oxygen. and it's 100% oxygen. >> i was pretty surprised when i heard only 15 minutes per passenger. they do all the demonstrations, the flight attendants. i assume that if you need the oxygen, you do it until you land. 15 minutes is not necessarily good enough, in my opinion. that's just my opinion. all right, guys, we'll continue our q&a tomorrow. much more coming up on the missing plane. also, the president of the united states taking questions at the end of the nuclear summit in europe. we're going to hear what he had to say about russia and vladimir putin and plan changes also for nsa surveillance. imagine if everything you learned led to the one job you always wanted. at university of phoenix, we believe every education- not just ours- should be built around the career that you want. imagine that. humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures, living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where, if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch -- up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? get back to the latest developments on this search for flight 370 in just a few moments. but first, president obama wrapped up the nuclear sum it in the hague today with more discussions on world security. afterwards, the president talked about another security issue, the ukraine and the buildup of russian troops on the border. >> with respect to the russian troops that are along the border of ukraine at the moment, right now they are on russian soil. and if they stay on russian soil, we oppose what appears to be an effort of intimidation. but russia has a right legally to have its troops on its own soil. i don't think it's a done deal, and i think russia is still making a series of calculations. >> let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he's joining us live from the netherlan netherlands. the president spoke about additional steps on russia, if the russians presumably take additional steps of their own. we're talking about more sanctions, right? >> that's right, wolf. the president was quite clear during this news conference that the sanctions would ramp up pretty quickly, hitting the russia energy sector. their banking and finance sector. he also issued a pretty clear warning, wolf, in terms of nato countries, if russia were to try to move against any nato ally that is in russia's neighborhood. he said there would be military options, they would come to the defense of those nato allies. but when it came to crimea, you heard them saying basically because of the facts on the ground, that that peninsula is under russian control. there's not a whole lot that the u.s. can do right now. he thinks putin is making some calculations. there was another very interesting moment during this news conference when president obama was asked about mitt romney's claim to you during the 2012 campaign, that russia is the u.s. top geopolitical foe. the president took exception to that. he said he still doesn't feel that mitt romney is right. he said he's much more concerned about a nuclear bomb going off in manhattan than the russians, who he called a regional power that is threatening its neighbors. a bit of a jab there at putin. >> certainly was. tell us what the major news on nsa surveillance that the president spoke about today. >> reporter: that's right. the president confirmed what his administration basically said earlier this morning, is that the nsa is no longer going to be in the business of holding on to that phone metadata. the phone companies hold on to that data and then the nsa could go in there and search it when they need to. the president is expected to make a more complete proposal in the next couple of days. but for now, that's right, the nsa is getting out of the business of collecting that data, at least after congress passes legislation making it final. that's the next step in this process. >> i will watch it together with you. jim acosta joining us from near the hague. thanks very much. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern. another special two-hour edition of "the situation room." "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. >> mr. blitzer, thank you, as always. great to be with you on this tuesday. i'm brooke baldwin. malaysia says all lives lost. the families of flight 370 say that's a lie. hundreds of family members and friends stormed the malaysian embassy in beijing today. some calling malaysian officials murderers. families clashing with police here. they walked to the embassy, refusing to believe without proof that this plane ended