at a high rate of speed, then was engulfed in a fire fed by thousands of pounds of fuel loaded in the plane's wings. but that destruction should not prevent investigators from confirming that flight 17 was brought down by a missile. aviation structure and fire experts will examine the aircraft's wreckage for residue of missile propellant and if the jet's skin was punctured by a high-speed impact. a bomb would cause the skin to buckle outward. malaysian officials say everything was normal with the flight until the moment it disappeared from radar, consistent with a catastrophic apent like a missile strike, a scenario the black boxes should corroborate. >> pelley: bob, how much effort do you think will go into finding the black boxes, trying to determine another explanation for this? >> reporter: it has to be a full-court press, coming with a conclusion that's acceptable to the world. they'll go over the passenger manifest, intelligence channels to rule out terrorism.