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CNN Special Reports

The Mystery of Flight 370

Aired March 19, 2014 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. This is a CNN special report, "The Mystery of Flight 370." I'm Don Lemon.

And we do have breaking news for you tonight. A new search area, a new area to search for Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean to tell you about. Malaysia has given India new coordinates for the new search. More on that in just a moment.

And, as you know, every night this week, we have answered your questions about the mystery that's become a worldwide obsession, and you have been tweeting us by the thousands. So, we're going to do it again tonight. We want your questions, your theories, your comments.

We have got top aviation and security experts standing by to answer them throughout this hour for you, like this. "What information that Malaysia has would most help if released?"

"If we know that the route was changed, should we know the destination? They entered it like the GPS of a car?"

And this observation from Ronald. He tweets: "I delete files all the time on my computer because I no longer need them and I want to save space on my hard drive."

So, we begin right now with the breaking news. Malaysia has given India new coordinates for a new area -- that's right, new area -- to search in an effort to find missing Flight 370.

Jim Sciutto, I want to go straight to you to give us the details on this breaking news. What do you have for us?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is significant, because this new area, according to sources talking to CNN, is in the southern Indian Ocean, where, as you remember, we have been reporting throughout the day is where the U.S. and Australia and other allies have been focusing their attention, particularly on a patch of sea off the coast, south and east -- south and west, rather, of Australia.

And they came to this patch based on a combination of information, radar information and satellite information, the direction the plane was traveling, how much fuel it had in its tanks. That's where the U.S. and U.S. officials have been telling us they're increasingly interested in looking for this plane.

Now you have the Malaysians telling the Indians to look in the southern Indian Ocean as well. That's really become the real focus of this. We don't know exactly where those coordinates are. It could be a different set of coordinates than where the U.S. is focusing, because, remember, the plane could have taken twists and turns as it traveled.

But it is significant now because it's also taking away from this idea that the plane took a path north on land, perhaps landed the plane somewhere, this kind of thing. It really becomes a focus now and a likelihood that the plane is somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

LEMON: Hey, Jim, as I'm reading on in the information that we just got here at CNN, I'm seeing that this only includes air assets. Why is that?

SCIUTTO: Well, because airplanes can cover a lot more ground -- or sea, I should say. We have been talking to the U.S. Navy over the last several days. And then the airplanes travel faster and they have further range of vision, and particularly the aircrafts that they're using there now, these new P-3 Orions and the P-8 Poseidon, which is a new U.S. asset in Asia, these are sub hunters.

They're designed to find little tiny periscopes on the surface of the sea. Now they're examining the surface of the sea for pieces of wreckage. They can't see under the water from the air, but they can see on the surface, and that also gives you an indication of the kind of things they're looking for, right? They're looking for wreckage.

LEMON: Thank you very much, Jim Sciutto.

I want to go now to Richard Quest.

Richard, as I understand, they have given the coordinates, but they're not telling what they are, but we know approximately the area they include?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's happening right now in real time.

The Indians obviously know the coordinates. And what is really interesting is the way this southern tranche, this southern arc is now being broken up, to where the Indians are searching one part of it, the Australians are searching another.

And what I'm assuming is that they're getting more satellites. They're getting more accurate, Don, at looking at the satellite telemetry. They know what they have got in terms of the pings. They're now getting more accurate at interpreting it. And, therefore, they're able to give -- because, remember, the Indians had said, we're not searching anymore until you give us more information.

And we have had that from other countries, saying, we need more information before we will go searching for all of this. Now the Malaysians are saying we are getting a better handle on what we need to search or where we need to search.

LEMON: There have been several significant developments today. IN your estimation, is this the most important one? Which one is it?

QUEST: Oh, I think without doubt. The fact that they are now giving a major country specific instructions of where they would like them to go and look, because this is a fact.

So far, we have had too many -- for example, the whole question which I'm sure we will get into in the course of the hour, the whole issue of the captain deleting data from his home simulator.

LEMON: We will talk about that, right.

QUEST: We will talk about that.

The issue of the press conference this morning saying that there was -- that it was a documented flight path and it didn't have any additional waypoints. These were all this morning. Tonight, it is -- just to put it in perspective, it's 10:00 a.m. in K.L. at the moment, in Kuala Lumpur, so we're starting to get the first information of Thursday now really coming out.

LEMON: Richard Quest and Jim Sciutto, thank you for helping me out with that breaking news. But stick around. I have many more questions for you.

I want to check in now with CNN's Martin Savidge. And at this moment, he's in a 777 flight simulator, along with flight instructor Mitchell Casado. Martin has been there for days now.

Tonight, though, Martin, I would like you to look into this brand-new information about a specific search area in the southern Indian Ocean and then report back to us later in the show.

But since you're in the simulator right now, talk to me about another big development today, and that's the significance of files being deleted from the pilot's home simulator. What do you know about that?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, even before I touch on that, just as we talk about this very latest information of a new search that is being opened up in the area of the Indian Ocean, there is that possibility that perhaps there was something that was gleaned from not the deleted files, but maybe files that were found in the pilot's flight simulator that he had in his home just out there.

But then, as far as the deleted information, yes, this is something that was brought forward from authorities, including reportedly from some members of the FBI where they have been talking about going over, of course, the memory of that flight simulator. Flight simulator is just a big computer specialized in this case to simulate flight, but it's a compute nonetheless.

So, like any computer, we delete stuff. And sometimes when it gets too full, you have a good reason to delete it. So especially a flight simulator eats up a lot of memory. It's very complex. So, did he delete stuff because he had something to hide or did he delete stuff because he wanted to make more room for flying?

And right now I don't know anyone that can tell us officially either way.

LEMON: Martin, this show is all about the viewer. We're trying to answer their questions.

Here is a tweet from Laura Burger about tonight's breaking news that narrowing on the southern area of the Indian Ocean. She asks this: "How come they having tried to recreate the flight of the southern route? It only takes eight hours."

Martin, we don't have eight hours. We know that you don't have eight hours tonight. But can you look into Laura's question and then get to us a little bit back later on in the show and tell us what you find out?

SAVIDGE: Yes, we can certainly work up a plan to send us in that direction and show you right now. We're headed to Beijing, so show you that exact turn to get down to where this search is now going on.

LEMON: Martin Savidge, Martin Casado, thank you very much -- Mitchell Casado -- thank you very much. We will see you a little bit later on.

OK, let's talk more about tonight's breaking news. Jim Sciutto, Richard Quest, they are both back with me. Also, Jeff Wise, the author of "Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger," and Jeff Beatty, who served with Delta Force, the FBI and the CIA, and then Arthur Rosenberg, a pilot and aviation lawyer, CNN aviation analyst and retired American Airlines pilot Jim Tilmon, and Mary Schiavo is a former inspector general of the Department of Transportation.

Mary, to you first, because you represent victims of negligence by transportation companies, including the airlines. When you look at this new information that we have now about narrowing in, narrowing the focus, giving new coordinates, what do you make of this?

MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER TRANSPORTATION INSPECTOR GENERAL: Well, I'm hoping it's two things.

I'm hoping these unnamed countries that have provided additional information had some radar coverage to give us better information. And I hope over the days that we have gotten little bits of data every day that they have been cleaning out the white noise, if you will, in the data, smoothing out the data, so we can refine in the points.

And if that's why the information has been changing and narrowing down, instead of just going off on another tangent, then it's definitely an improvement. And that is what you would expect; you would expect the information to get better.

LEMON: OK. I want to give this one in regards to the new information. This one is for Jeff Beatty. OK? And I'm going to read this question from Theodros Zelleke. Right?

"So, could it be that from the onset the plan was to sink the plane in the southern Indian Ocean such that it would never be found?"

That goes along with our breaking news tonight since they're looking there and narrowing that search.

JEFF BEATTY, CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICER: Well, you certainly could come to that conclusion.

When I hear things like that, I think of "The Hunt for Red October" where they talk about seeping a ship in the deepest part of the Atlantic. But it is certainly extremely deep there in some places, average depth of about two miles.

So if you wanted to put the place someplace where it would be very difficult to recover the aircraft, that would be a place that you could put it and it would be very, very hard to come get it later at some point.

LEMON: This one is for -- I'm going to give -- let's go to Jeff Wise now.

Jeff, this is from Steve Morschauser. And Steve says: "Could it be as simple as mistaking north and south after a nav malfunction, flew the wrong way and didn't realize it?"

JEFF WISE, "SLATE": That seems very unlikely.

From what we have seen, whoever was flying this plane deliberately entered waypoints which the plane successfully flew to following well- traveled navigational sort of highways in the sky that commercial flights follow.

It doesn't seem like they just got turned around and kind of did a Wrong Way Corrigan. They seemed to have been deliberately heading somewhere.

LEMON: All right, stand by, panel.

I want to get back to our Jim Sciutto.

Jim, I understand you have some new information regarding radar?

SCIUTTO: Well, this is what the Malaysians said earlier today.

The Malaysians said they had received new radar data earlier in the day, shared by a country. They wouldn't identify the country because they said that that capability was sensitive, and that that new radar data was something of value.

I think, in light of the new coordinates given to India, we can draw a connection -- I think Richard might agree with me -- between the Malaysians saying they got new radar data and now giving new coordinates for the search, just further confidence that that plane went south, rather than north.

And it's possible that India was the country that gave that radar data, because when you picture that side of the Indian subcontinent there, facing, as it does, down towards the Indian Ocean, their radar tracks would be very valuable in terms of determining where that plane went after it took that westward turn.

LEMON: Richard?

QUEST: What we have here, of course, is no definitive primary radar track.

And so all the countries involved, whether it's Thailand or India or Indonesia or Malaysia itself earlier on, Australia earlier in the week, everybody is going back to the data and looking at it again and again. Sometimes, they may have been slow to see it the first time. But very often, they will be going back again and again to see if they have missed something.

And they will be -- and then that data -- Mary, I don't know whether you can weigh in on this with me -- but then they will be giving it to the experts, the NTSB, the (INAUDIBLE) the BEA, all the people who really know how to make sense of what they're seeing.

LEMON: OK, stand by, guys, because I want to get Chad Myers in here. I want to bring in CNN's Chad Myers.

What do you think about this new search area, Chad? Because you have been looking into these possible scenarios as well. What have you found out about it?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I find the words southern Indian Ocean very curious, because the Maldives would be in the southern Indian Ocean, if you consider where the equator is.

That would also include Diego Garcia. If they are not -- if this search area, Don, is not down here somewhere on the arc, that means the Malaysian officials now have thrown the arc out or at least discounted it a little bit.

Southern Indian Ocean is a very big place. Let me show you what we have here. Southern something here, here's Perth. Here's the new search area that the Australians are using. Are we talking all the way down here for the Indian search or are we talking maybe not quite so far through the Maldives or down here toward Diego Garcia?

We are going to find that out probably in the morning. But you asked Richard Quest earlier whether this was the biggest event of the day, and absolutely, yes. But we will have to see whether it's this far south Indian Ocean or this far south Indian Ocean.

LEMON: Chad, you said it appears they have somewhat thrown out the southern arc or at least moved it somewhat.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: No, no, no. If we are not -- OK, Don, we have had five people -- five people say that they saw a large jumbo jet fly over the Maldives.

LEMON: That's my question, but hasn't that been debunked? That's why I was asking you that. Has that been debunked?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: It's been thrown out as inconsistent, but five people saw it, Richard.

QUEST: Right. But so far, we have had is the Maldives saying that there's no evidence that the plane came down on the Maldives or that it landed there. Now, that doesn't necessarily contradict any eyewitness.

But as anybody -- I'm not denying or being disrespectful to an eyewitness. But they are traditionally unreliable, because they see what they want to see.

LEMON: And I got the same information. I got a tweet yesterday from Dan Abrams of ABC, the legal analyst there, saying the same thing to me. Eyewitnesses are often unreliable.

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: Honest, but unreliable.

LEMON: Unreliable.

OK. Stick around, everyone. Many more questions. We're going to get back to our viewers as well.

Jim Sciutto, I want to thank you very much. Great reporting on this story.

We will come back a little later, and Jim will if he gets more details. So, thank you again, Jim.

Everybody else, stick around. Stick with me.

We're going to have much, much more on our breaking news and on what President Obama said today about the search. I also wanted to talk about the families and what it will take to get some answers for them.

And keep tweeting us your questions tonight using #370Qs, #370Qs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back to CNN's special report, "The Mystery of Flight 370."

Our breaking news tonight, Malaysia has given India coordinates for a new area to search in an effort to find Flight 370. And, meanwhile, so many of you are asking about the families of those missing passengers.

Margo wrote this. She says: "Can someone represent the families of Flight 370, please?"

Will tonight's breaking news finally lead to some answers? Will it lead to some answers for these family members?

CNN's Alina Machado looks at what those families are going through as they wait.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surrounded by international media, a mother pleads for her son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I just want my son back. My son is Li Le.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We have been here for 10 days and no single piece of information.

MICHAEL VERNA, AVIATION ATTORNEY: The families have a double whammy they're dealing with here right now. Number one, they don't know where their loved ones is, they don't know what happened, and at the same time, they're also under suspicion, their loved one is under suspicion, because, apparently, the investigators are citing or investigating as to whether or not anyone deliberately turned off the transponder, deliberately disabled the ACARS system, deliberately maneuvered the aircraft off-route.

MACHADO: Aviation attorney Michael Verna says this case is unprecedented, 13 days after vanishing, no sign of the plane.

VERNA: I have been involved in virtually every commercial aviation accident in the world in the last 20 years, and I have never seen anything like this. As things stand right now, we don't even know if there's been an accident.

MACHADO: Verna says, until we know what happened to the plane, we are in unchartered legal territory.

VERNA: This will break new grounds in not only search and investigation techniques, but it will break new grounds in the law, because, especially if they do not find the wreckage and we don't have any bodies to recover.

MACHADO: Typically, Verna says, under the Montreal Convention, families of plane crash victims on international flights can sue the airline for damages without having to prove who caused the crash.

In the United States, airlines must provide assistance to families after an air disaster.

VERNA: Obviously, the U.S. law does not apply to a Malaysian aircraft that was destined for Beijing.

And I can't tell you whether or not Malaysian law has a similar version to the Family Assistant Act over there, but I will say that the circumstances of this are so confusing, so mysterious, with so much speculation going on as to what happened here, that it's pretty darn impossible for Malaysia Airlines to send a clear message to the families as to what's on because they don't know what's been going on. MACHADO: Confusion fueling the grief of these families desperate for answers and an investigation that so far has none.

Alina Machado, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Alina, thank you very much.

The families are hoping against hope, but when will they get answers?

Joining me now is Congressman Michael Grimm. He's a former FBI agent who worked on the TWA Flight 800 investigation. Richard Quest also back with me tonight.

Congressman Grimm, you heard the breaking news tonight. What do you make of it and do you think that will that help these poor families?

REP. MICHAEL GRIMM (R), NEW YORK: Well, of course we certainly hope so. The only doubt is that we have had conflicting information coming from Malaysia from the beginning.

What I think is actually one of the more significant issues today is that we will see the FBI taking a lead and working with the NTSB. And I can tell you firsthand there's no one better at trying to analyze data points and radar than the NTSB.

And there's certainly no one in the world more qualified to handle an investigation like this like the FBI, if not from anything else, investigative -- that's obvious, but just coordinating all these different countries and coordinating all the different agencies that are involved, this is where the FBI really shines. This is where they are going to be very effective. And Malaysia obviously needs the help.

So I do hope that this new data is something that we can rely on. It seems to be a bit of hope, especially after we have just seen all those families. We need some answers. It's 13 days and it is still a mystery.

LEMON: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Congressman Grimm, I would be remiss if I didn't get your reaction today from the president today. Let's listen and we will talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have put every resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process. There's been close cooperation with the Malaysian government, and, so, not just NTSB, but FBI, you know, all -- anybody who typically deals with anything related to our aviation system is available.

And, so, you know, our thoughts and prayers are with the families, but I want them to be assured that we consider this a top priority, and we're going to keep on working. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Congressman, we're asking -- we're answering our questions for the viewers.

So, given what the president said, I want you to look at this tweet. It's time Leslie Cropper. And here's what Leslie says. She says: "What person is in charge of this search? Someone has to oversee all the nations searching."

So, who should really take control, in your opinion, of this?

GRIMM: Well, without a doubt, the FBI. They are the most qualified to handle this.

Again, they specialize in coordinating various countries, and they have extensive experience, especially in aviation. I actually was there on the ground during the TWA Flight 800, when they were worked with multiple agencies, but Lockerbie, going back to 1988. There's extensive experience there. The agents are the best in the world.

And, again, we're used to coordinating. The FBI is used to coordinating among multiple agencies and multiple countries. So as long as Malaysia gives them the ability to do that, the proper authority to work within Malaysian space, and with these other countries, there's no doubt the FBI is qualified.

Plus, when you're talking about recovering data from a flight simulator, this is what they do. This is -- they do it very, very well. And they're used to working under these types of let's say pressures. There's obviously a tremendous amount of pressure to get answers to a lot of what I would say is coincidences and a lot of things that have been put out there that no really one knows the answer to yet.

LEMON: All right, Congressman, stick with us, if you will. I want you to be part of this.

I want to bring back my expert team now, Jeff Wise, Jeff Beatty, Arthur Rosenberg, Jim Tilmon, and Mary Schiavo.

Mary, I want to talk to you about this, because you are an attorney for victims, the family of transportation accidents.

This one is from Ina T. OK? She says: "Only one grief counselor interviewed. Any from other countries sent in? Are they helping?" -- today's grieving mother, she's talking about.

What would you be advising the families and is there any legal recourse that they can take?

SCHIAVO: Oh, absolutely there's legal resource.

And this is again where things are slightly -- well, a lot different in the United States, because also under the Family Assistance Act, which, remember, families of victim of air crashes got passed -- passed themselves -- they banded together and got this legislation passed to express what they want.

And it does require that they be provided grief counseling. But the National Transportation Safety Board helps to oversee and helps to provide the counseling. It's paid for by the airlines. They have to foot the bill, the airline who has just crashed or lost. But it's provided by a more neutral party, a helping party, the NTSB, because, remember, at some point what's going to happen, even in the United States, is the airline stops helping, and then the families literally have to bring a legal action to get anything more from the airline.

But the Family Assistance Act covers for several weeks. So they do have legal recourse. Now, this treaty, this Montreal treaty that covers it says that the airline is responsible up to so much amount, and then for the rest of it, unless the airline then has the burden of proof, the airline has to prove that they did everything possible, everything reasonable is the word, is stop what happened.

Did they do everything reasonable? Well, clearly not in this case. I think that the families definitely have the recourse.

LEMON: I want to bring in Arthur Rosenberg, another attorney.

The families of Air France 447 wrote an open letter to the families of 370 urging them to stick together. How important is it for families to stick together in this situation?

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, AVIATION LAWYER: Yes, what usually happens in these mass disaster cases is that a family group is formed and coordinated by the families of the victims.

It's typical. It happened in Lockerbie. There was a very effective group that coordinated. They actually made some changes and helped towards the Family Assistance Act.

But I just want to move forward a little bit. Part of the problem that these families are having is that there is not one sovereign that has been controlling this investigation from both the criminal side and from the civil side.

So, in the United States, when we have a domestic crash or offshore, we have the FAA. If there's a criminal, we have the NTSB, the FAA, the FBI. They get involved. Here, you're coordinating the efforts of many different countries.

LEMON: Right.

ROSENBERG: So, just to end this up, Malaysia Airlines absolutely is responsible to provide these families with grief counseling and even maybe a little bit of support at this point.

LEMON: Yes.

ROSENBERG: And at some point right after that, under the Montreal Convention, these people are absolutely entitled to full, fair and just compensation, which is about $138,000 SDR, special drawing rights, which in today's dollars is about $150,00, $160,000. LEMON: Yes.

Want to hear more from our panel coming up and more on our breaking news. Everyone will get a chance to weigh in here, more on the breaking news in the search off southern India. And later on, I'm going to check in with CNN's Martin Savidge in the flight simulator.

Keep tweeting us your questions using #370Qs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

LEMON: Our breaking news tonight, giving us a lot to talk about. Malaysia has given India specific search coordinates zeroing in on the southern Indian Ocean.

My experts are back with me. Let's get to it now, to the viewer questions. Jim Tilmon, this is from Sam. He says, "If we knew that the route was changed, shouldn't we know the destination they entered, like a GPS of a car?"

TILMON: We might, and then again we might not. I don't understand what they had in mind. I've been trying to find the endgame for a long time. Until we have a better feel for where they wanted to end up and what they wanted to do, it's still going to be a mystery.

LEMON: This one is for Jeff Wise. There have been lots of questions like this one. It's from "CuriousToo." And here's what the question says: "Do you think it may have been a dry run for a future plan? Scary!"

Lots have been made about that. I mean, is it possible that the flight computer was not in the pilots' control, that the change in the course was made by someone remotely to take over and crash a Boeing 777 and then ditch the plane in the Indian Ocean, where it would unlikely be found, Jeff?

WISE: Well, that's a potential scenario, I think. It seems very remote. I don't think it's physically possible to do that, and to speak to the tweet, whether it was a dry run. I don't think it was a dry run. Clearly, it was an intentional act; it was a run.

We don't know if they were -- if they were successful in what they set out to do, you know, to echo Jim Tilmon, we don't know why they're doing it. We don't know who they are. We don't know what their grievances are or what their purpose is. So it's really impossible to say.

We do know that they engaged in an intentional act. Whether they were successful or whether they crashed at some point, we have no idea.

LEMON: All right. This one is for Jeff Beatty. Jeff Beatty from Amanda Fossum. Amanda says, "I am interested to learn more about the passengers. Could this have been a targeted assassination or kidnapping?" BEATTY: Yes, Amanda, it could have been one of those things. Those are still on the table as possibilities.

You know, we've talked about cargo on board these aircraft, whether that precious cargo was people or high-value cargo. That might have been the objective here. So we don't know yet, but those things are still on the table as possibilities. Not necessarily assassination but maybe kidnapping. And you know, you have some technicians on there that people have asked questions about earlier who are experts in stealth technology, et cetera, that -- that's raised a few eyebrows.

LEMON: Yes. I think as a pilot, I'm not sure. I think Jim Tilmon has flown probably more than most of us. He's a retired pilot here. Jim, I'm going to ask you this, because much has been made about this question, as well. Pete Jenkins says, "Could it be a catastrophic depressurization like Payne Stewart's plane?" We've talked about that, haven't we?

TILMON: Yes, we've talked about it, but I'm going to tell you, if that happened, I cannot imagine a decompression that would be so incredibly effective and so quickly realized that the crew couldn't get their oxygen masks on right away. If they fail to do that, they only have a matter of seconds before they're going to lose consciousness, and anything that happens after then is up for grabs.

I can tell you this one thing. As I understand it, the computer was set to heading mode. That is a heading hold. If that's the case, that airplane would have flown on that heading until it ran out of gas.

LEMON: OK. This is a good one for Mary Schiavo. This is from Ieshea Gonzalez, and she says, "Is it possible that the flight -- is it possible that the flight was detected by unfriendly radar and they deposed" -- disposed of it, of the jet?"

SCHIAVO: Well, it's possible it was detected by unfriendly radar, but that would be something that our satellites would have picked up. We have sensors to detect any kind of a firing of ordinance or any kind of explosion of that nature. I think we'd have picked it up.

LEMON: We would have picked it up. OK, Jeff Wise, assuming piracy -- this is from Jonny Cottone. "Assuming piracy speculation is true, how would want acquire the jet fuel needed to get MH-330 [SIC] airborne again?"

WISE: We don't...

LEMON: Three-seventy. Excuse me.

WISE: We don't know. And by the way, it's not piracy, which is when you take over someone else's vessel. It's not a hijacking probably, when you seize control of your own vessel or mutiny when the crew takes over. The technical term for this under maritime law is called barratry. This is what the Malaysians are looking at as the foremost, most likely explanation, when the captain takes control of his own ship and abducts it or causes damage.

LEMON: I want to get Congressman Grimm in. You have been listening to all of this. I'm sure folks in Washington watching. And you heard the president today say that every asset available he would make it -- and this was a top priority. As you're watching all this and you're hearing from the American people, what do you make of this? There's a fascination and it's a mystery to us, but it's a misery to 290 families, at least.

GRIMM: Well, there's no question. I think what these families are going through is unbearable. But I think because we've lived through 9/11 and because we've lived through so many other tragedies, I think there's a lot of concern on behalf of the American people and of the world.

Because it's such a mystery, people are going to think the worst often. They're going to draw conclusions that although they might not be realistic, they're still possible. Because of that, when your mind gets ahead of you and you think of everything that's possible, you start thinking of the worst. So I think it's unbearable for a lot of people, especially, though, without a doubt the families.

LEMON: Thank you very much. Stay with us, everyone.

When we come right back, Martin Savidge inside the flight simulator. And we have got a lot more questions to answer for you about Flight 370. Use the hashtag 370Qs.

Plus more on our breaking news, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now I want to check in with CNN's Martin Savidge. At this moment he's in a 777 flight simulator among with instructor Mitchell Kinsada (ph). He's answering a question that is very appropriate with our breaking news tonight of a the new search area. The question is from Laura Berger, "How come they haven't tried to re-create the flight of the southern route. It only takes eight hours."

Martin, what have you got so far?

SAVIDGE: Well, what we did was we took your request, entered in new points into the flight management system. And what we're going to do is how take an aircraft that weighs tons, then with 239 people on board, and with one finger, if we did it right, hit the execute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take another couple of seconds to make the turn, so we're a little further away than we thought. But you can see on the screen here that it's a hook that we've put in here.

SAVIDGE: This is essentially the way points, and these are real way points. It wasn't like we made something up, and we can't say that these are way points that in any way 370 used, because right now those are not publicly known. But his is the system, and now you can just start to see the aircraft making this turn. And this is what's going to send it off hurdling off at 287 knots now, 35,000 feet in the direction of that new search in the southern Indian Ocean. And I did it with one finger, essentially. It just shows you the technology of this aircraft and what can be done, even if it is heading off into a mystery.

LEMON: And you know, we're doing this here in the flight simulator, and Richard and I, and I'm sure people at home are riveted. Have they done -- we're doing this, but are searchers doing this?

QUEST: Yes, we know for a fact that Malaysia Airlines has re-created many of these scenarios in their sims, because there had been a humor that the airline had actually put up a real 777 to re-enact some of them. No, that wasn't the case, the CEO said, but they had re-enacted many of what they've learned. And they will continue to do that, because Boeing is well and truly with them, as well, helping them re- enact all these scenarios.

LEMON: Martin and Mitchell, fascinating. Thank you very much. You're really helping with our viewers here tonight in helping everyone at home try to make some sense of this.

I'm back with my experts now to talk about that new search area in the southern Indian Ocean. We're also taking your questions. Please use the hash tag 370Qs, 370Qs.

My first one is from Kristen Kennedy. Kristen says, "Why would the plane be purposely rerouted just to crash into the Indian Ocean? Doesn't make sense to me."

Mary, we talked a little bit about that last night, didn't we?

SCHIAVO: That's right. That's the biggest problem a lot of us have on the case. A crime requires, you know, opportunity and motive. And lots of people had opportunity, but we are just mystified on the motive. And that's why, you know, the suicide -- that pilot suicide theory, would they fly that long, you know, where are you taking it? Motive is a mystery.

LEMON: Motive is a mystery. Do you want to weigh in on that, Jim?

TILMON: Yes, I can tell you that I've looked at so many different scenarios about what in the world they would want to do this for. And the only thing I can come up with, maybe they wanted that airplane, and even more than that, maybe they wanted that airplane with the passengers. We've got some questions we've got to answer.

LEMON: Jeff Beatty. Jeff, you know, we've been talking about conspiracy theories, as well. And you believe this is plausible?

BEATTY: Well, you know, Jim said something earlier and then Chad said something earlier, and somebody else said the word "piracy." But we had heading. We have Maldives. We have "piracy." You know, and I'm old school sometimes, you know. When I look at the last known heading that this aircraft was on, it was 270 degrees. So today I want on Google Earth, and from the last position, I put in 270 degrees and I flew that to the end of fuel. And guess where it pointed to? Mogadishu, Somalia. Talk about piracy.

LEMON: I've heard that.

BEATTY: And also this aircraft could have reached southeastern Iran. It could have reached Yemen. It could have reached southern Pakistan. Not going through the Himalayas, but Indian Ocean, south of India, that's where a new search area has been asked for by the Indians. So that's interesting to look at.

LEMON: All right. This next one is for -- so pay attention Michael Grimm and also Jeff Wise. This is from Mickey. It says, "Are submarines being used in the MH3 - 370 search? If not, why not?" Do you know about that, first, Mr. Grimm?

GRIMM: Honestly, I don't know. I don't know. What I would say is I would expect all technology that would be relevant that would be able to help uncover the whereabouts of this plane would be being used. And I don't know the technology of submarines. So that's outside my scope. Sorry.

LEMON: Jeff Wise?

WISE: You know, when Air France 447 went down under somewhat similar circumstances, and its wreckage was found on the ocean, they initially sent a nuclear -- French nuclear-powered submarine, an attack submarine out, and they found that it was almost of no use whatsoever.

The way that they wound up finding the wreckage is with a new kind of technology, brand-new at the time, these autonomous underwater vehicles that could pilot themselves automatically on a back and forth search pattern. And that's how they ultimately found it.

So I suspect that if they have good reason to believe it's on a certain patch of ocean floor, they're going to use that kind of technology.

LEMON: OK. I want to show something. This is something new to CNN. And I want all of you to see. This is a new animation of the plane route that we just got here at CNN. I want you guys to take a look at it and we'll talk a little bit more, especially since we've gotten now that new information, the breaking news about changing the coordinates here.

This is apparently the plane's route. And then that is where they believe it disappeared. Does this offer any explanation for this southern arc, the Indian Ocean now?

QUEST: It does -- it does advance to some point the sheer amount of information. We know it came back across the Malaysian Peninsula. But the question, of course, is, at that point, where the plane fades, does it continue in which direction? Now, clearly, there is a minor consensus, if that's not a contradiction, that it is the southern Indian Ocean where they are concentrating their search at the moment.

But you have had -- you have already had the Indians saying that they've been across the Bay of Bengal, and they haven't found anything there.

LEMON: Arthur Rosenberg.

ROSENBERG: Yes.

LEMON: Quickly, please.

ROSENBERG: At 2:15, that was the last radar contact. That was the last military radar hit, when this plane disappeared. You know, I still haven't abandoned the idea that this plane took a northern route, which would be more consistent with a plan of commandeering the airplane.

The southern route still doesn't sit well. It still sounds of -- you know, of crashing the airplane into water, which they could have done seven hours earlier.

LEMON: All right. Still with me, everyone. Get ready, especially people at home. Lightning round. More of your questions, coming up.

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LEMON: So the tweets are pouring in tonight. And I want to get some answers, as many of your questions answered as possible. My experts are back with me, so let's go, everyone. This is the lightning round, so we want to go quickly. Short answers.

This first one is for Michael Grimm. This is from Meaghan Palynchuk -- Palynchuk. And I thought about this today as I was watching the coverage. Meaghan says, Congressman, "Do you think the plane landed and those responsible are watching the chaotic response to show vulnerability in aviation?"

GRIMM: Actually, no, I don't think the plane landed and that the pilots are -- or those that were piloting it are watching all the chaos. Simply because I think if it had landed somewhere, it would have been picked up; it would have been detected by some radar somewhere. So I think, unfortunately, it's most likely that it's in the ocean somewhere.

LEMON: OK. This is for Jeff Beatty. Jeff, Adam Smietanka -- Smietanka says, "Is there a possibility of terrorists sitting below the cockpit where all the avionics are located?"

BEATTY: That is a highly unlikely -- highly unlikely thing to have happened. And I'm going to keep that short for the lightning round.

LEMON: OK. Mary Schiavo, this one is from K., and K. says, "Why won't Malaysia tell the name of the country that said they saw -- that they possibly saw MH-370 on the radar?"

SCHIAVO: My guess is because the country would reveal that it had assets in radar and intelligence capabilities beyond what they want everyone to know.

QUEST: More questions now, starting off with you, Arthur. "What can we do to help the families of the passengers on MH-370?" said "IPromise."

ROSENBERG: Well, at this point, I think everything that's being done is being done. At some point, they're entitled to assistance. And at some point this is going to end up in the courts someplace.

QUEST: Jeff Wise, this is -- it may seem an odd question, but I know these people have been used in murder investigations on many, many occasions. "Radiotweek": "Investigators sometimes use psychics. Why hasn't anyone considered the services of a credible psychic specializing in missing persons?" I mean, it sounds incredible, but they have been used before.

WISE: I think it's difficult to find a credible psychic.

QUEST: Short and to the point. And -- and so finally, Jim Tilmon, Anna G. wants to know, "Why isn't Boeing helping with the investigation, since they made the plane?" And I suspect they are, but you tell me what they might be helping them with?

TILMON: They know everything that can be known about a triple-7. They know the aircraft; they know its capabilities. They are the expert on that piece of equipment.

LEMON: All right. When we come right back, believe it or not, there is one theory we haven't offered up just yet. We'll dig into it, next.

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LEMON: Whether it was hijacking or terrorism or mechanical failure or pilot error, but what if it was something fully that we don't really understand? A lot of people have been asking about that, about black holes and on and on and on and all of these conspiracy theories. Let's look at this. Noha said, "What else can you think? Black hole? Bermuda triangle?" And then Deji says, "Just like the movie 'Lost.'"

And of course, it's also -- they're also referencing "The Twilight Zone," which has a very similar plot. That's what people are saying. I know it's preposterous, but is it preposterous, do you think, Mary?

SCHIAVO: Well, it is, a black hole devouring. A small black hole would suck in our entire universe. So we know it's not that. The Bermuda triangle is often weather, and "Lost" is a TV show.

LEMON: Right.

SCHIAVO: So think -- I always like things for which there's data, history, crunch the numbers. So for me those aren't there. But I think it's wonderful that the whole world is trying to help with their theories. And I absolutely love the theories.

LEMON: Absolutely, because people are trying to find answers to something that's unexplained right now. But the big question, and I think, Jeff Beatty, you said this -- it may have been Arthur -- a reward would be pennies on the dollar. What did you say?

BEATTY: Exactly. A reward -- I'm getting asked by people, "Why isn't there a reward posted?" A reward would be pennies on the dollar of what this search has cost.

LEMON: That's the last comment, Michelle.

Thank you, guys, so much for joining us. "AC 360" stars right now.