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Descent, it does appear obviously that that was an unusual event and that something very compelling caused the crew to make the decision to start down but during that eight-minute time frame there should have been adequate time more than enough time to even get a quick message out about why they were descending. if they had experienced a pressurization problem, this is pure speculation, but if they had a pressurization problem we have an actual checklist that we follow to get the aircraft safely descended. printed is an atc communication item. >> interesting. so peter, i'd like you to take a l...

The fact that it attained a cruise altitude for whatever reason they initiated a descent descent. why they didn't stop that descent at an altitude that would allow them not to have a pressurization problem, that's going to be one of the things the investigators are looking at. right now, the investigators are looking at the records of the pilots pilots, the records of the maintenance of the aircraft the air traffic control facilities. in other words, they're now gathering all the facts and the data that will become evidence in this process, and so gathering the evidence is now what they are fo...

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...

Emergency situation. one of the other things, of course, is pressurization issues. if you have a high altitude pressurization problem, catastrophic decompression, the time of useful consciousness in the 20,000 to 30,000 foot range is a matter of seconds. while crews are trained to deal with these emergency situations, these rapid decompressions or explosive decompression situations, again it's all a matter of timing. and similar to a -- where he was flying the crew passed out because of oxygen deprivation. so there's a lot of possible scenario. but to speculate as to which one is the likely wi...

Investigations in the past. how come on is that among aircraft flying these days? >> probably more common than you might imagine, jon. probably 40 to 50 times a year a commercial airliner has to declare an emergency due to a pressurization issue. just two days ago a delta flight, detroit to washington, d.c. had to declare one. dropped down under 10,000 feet. it is more common than you might imagine. jon: this was a good-sized aircraft. looks to me like a 757. might have been a 767. at any rate 149 people onboard including passenger and crew. this was going to be a cross-country flight. i imagi...