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Unmanned vehicle. >> it's a lot of work, it's tedious. they have to keep redoing their mapping and what they're sending the auv down to do because of the fact they don't know what they're looking for. it's sort of go down, maybe tinker again, see what you need to do the next time you send the auv down, so it's a very tedious process. >> good stuff, stephanie. may i ask a question of him and you, the question is, he sort of, you know, touched on it a little bit about your question the bluefin. is that bluefin and are these auvs that temperamental because twice now we've had issues with it. just...

Happens when passenger jets crash. from the tragic and unexpected like last year in san francisco to the planned and controlled like this demonstration by the discovery channel in 2012 and this one from nasa and the faa decades ago. unlike the missing malaysian airlines flight 370, they all crashed on land. surprisingly, they provide clues to what might happen next in the investigation. you're telling me crashing on water is no different than crashing on land? >> depending on your impact velocity, depending on your impact angle, the effects could be the same between water and land. >> reporter...

>> right, this is what sidescan sonar looks like. the more detail you want to get, you search a smaller area. they're going to make choices in terms of what frequencies they're using, what kind of detail they want in order to decide can i cover a broad area quickly, or do i have to cover a small area and take even more time but get higher levels of detail. >> with the side-scan sonar, it's basically looking out from where we are. taking a look at what's around us that way. >> we're looking sideways. we're pinging now and we're building up -- as that sound comes back, we're building up an image...

Sucking up samples. this is about 24 feet long, about 11 feet tall, and it weighs about 28,000 pounds. it has enough oxygen and emergency provisions on board for the people to survive under water for up to five days. there is also a back cabin on the submersible called the aft observation chamber. a crew member who keeps an eye on the submersible's vital signs and another scientist share that back area, which is only about 5 1/2 feet by 3 feet. so just to give our viewers an idea how tight it is, this is where you're sitting, this is how i'm sitting, and you could be here for hours. >> reporte...

A 777. the steeper the angle, the faster the speed, the smaller the pieces of wreckage. even when it hits the water. in this scenario, flight 370 could be traveling between 500 and 600 miles per hour. wings and engines might break away. but not so for the passenger compartme compartment. the fuselage. imagine the horrific crash in shanksville on 9/11 if it happened in water. >> in the industry, we call that a smoking hole-type accident because that's what you have when you get to the crash site. >> reporter: what happens if it's in the water? >> water is going to act just like land would. wate...