Page 26 - Acars News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> to disable the acars system tharks is not easy. pilots who fly for 30 years are stumped on how they would disable the acar system. >> the evidence right now leads us to believe it was an intentional act. the question is, by who? did you get my e-mail? [ man ] i did. so, what'd you think of the house? did you see the school rating? oh, you're right. hey, babe, i got to go. bye, daddy. have a good day at school, okay? ♪

Of a electronic machine? >> i doubt it. the cockpit voice recorder only records 30 minutes back. you're never going to hear what happened seven hours, three hours, five hours. and the flight data recorder records two hours back. you may get information about what systems were working and not, but i don't think you're ever going to get hard evidence of a deliberate act, and i think the indication is going to be that it was some type of a mechanical failure. >> the question i have goes back to this, how everything. we're talking with captain cox and bob hager how everything seemed to be switched...

>> there could be guidance from the plane itself. if it's underwater, beacons attached to the voice recorders are still transmitting acoustic pulses or "pings." however -- >> at the end of 30 days, the batteries will be at the end of their design life. >> another form of guidance is acars. >> it's a common piece of communication equipments on all planes. it's that system that sends down a lot of information about how the engines are performing and how other systems are disablged.

We saw martin savidge navigating and going around and doing everything trying to get down, frantically trying to reduce altitude. it is an aggressive maneuver. what we saw on the radar returns was two-minute turn and remaining on heading for over an hour. >> go ahead. >> we need to try to zero in on the things that we can defend. and once you get the transponder an the acars turned off, now the airplane is free, except for that skin paint that the military radar can look at and the military radar that we have been getting reports on just are not that great. i'm really concerned about the pilot...

Fi fish. >> aren't we getting that today? are we not hearing from a source that it did descend to 12,000 feet? >> we've heard from a source. we also 4erd from a source that it was pre-programmed with new wave points 12 minutes before on the and i cars. a acars. and that proved to be incorrect. we heard that it flew at 12,000 feet. and that pruch edproved to be i. so i come back to the point that what we learned today was crucially important not only for the families and relatives of those on board, but because it will allow this vast arm ter of ships and planes to hone their searching skills d...