lost contact with the singapore airport. the altitude roughly about 32,000 feet. now there are reports that the pilot asked to ascend to around 38,000 feet. and this is crucial. let me explain why. i'm going to step off screen here just to show you an image that one of our weather producers have brought up recently for us. and this is what is called a turbulence forecast. it highlights areas where turbulence is expected to take place over various flight patterns across the world. it also reports on current conditions. this is the time, or roughly about the time of the last point of contact, which was roughly about 7:25 sunday morning local time. now, this little box here indicates that there were thunderstorm clouds towering to about 53,000 feet in an area where turbulence was extremely likely. this is java just off the island of where the plane actually took