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That data. what else did you pick up from your vantage point as an expert? >> well a couple things. one, the fact that the data is able to be extracted from the cockpit voice recorder. that means that they'll probably get most of it even if some of the chips are damaged. they'll probably be able to get it put together. one thing that they did not say was whether the crew during the descent was talking to each other. that's one of the central questions that will come up early. i expect that b.e.a. which is one of the premier accident investigation organizations in the world, i expect they'll re...

>> germanwings has been a child of lufthansa going backwards and forward for years. it's now a crucially important part of lufthansa. so no, it's lufthansa group through and through. >> les, to you, does anything make sense? what possible explanation is there for this? >> there's a lot of disturbing things to me. the lack of communication richard and i were talking about prior to when we got on air. you know, what i would like to know is what the communication was like all the way up to the point where we had our last contact with the aircraft. that's not being talked about at this point in ti...

Descent rate, 3,000 feet per minute. >> translator: yes, about 3,000 feet per minute with a few variations, fairly constant. >> translator: that's what you saw on the chart? >> translator: yes, with a constant direction. >> translator: let me make clear, that information is not recorded parameters. this is radar data. so the precision is that of radar data. >> [ inaudible ]. there was some rumor about lithium batteries being present in this airplane. do we know at all what was in the cargo check? any information about what [ inaudible ] -- >> [ inaudible ].

Down about 10,000 feet per mind this plane was 3,000 feet per minute. it's rapid, but not out of control. that might tend to suggest that the airplane was not australia or catastrophically upset. it came down at a reasonable descent rate. >> you know the debris looksing to fragmented into small pieces spread over a wide area. what does that tell you? >> well originally they said it was over a five-mile area. by the time we were at the end of that program earlier this morning, they narrowed it down to five acres. so i'm not sure exactly how large the field, but when i look at these small pieces...

So this is a widely used and very reliable aircraft. >> it's a great plane. it has one of the best safety records of any airplane ever built. it's a great machine. >> and how do you explain the fact that there was no automated distress signal, they were flying at 38,000 feet as francis francisryiry ver va was just showing us and descended over the course of nine or ten minutes in an orderly progression. >> that descent rate is really very ordinary. it's about the same rate that would happen on a normal flight. that's what is -- makes it appear it's not an explosive decompression or any other k...