of france that do the investigation. so they ll be the primary investigating arm of this crash, right? absolutely. absolutely. because we now know that two americans died and you would think the ntsb would get involved in the investigation. every country under aikoa 13 to give you its full title, every country that has passengers is allowed to take part. they will see documents. it might be that the ntsb has an accredited representative. there will be avionics on board that came from american companies. the ntsb and the bea are usually involved in any major incident simply because there is an interest involved and they have the expertise. do we have rene marsh available? have you heard anything from the ntsb as of yet this morning? reporter: yes, carol.
possible for lightning damage to disable part of the avionics on board. so it s something we have to look at. okay. also there s another theory about going over the thundercloud and round it. nowive ive ve seen reports that suggest that the pilot was already diverting but was climbing at the same time. so he wasn t truly trying to go over the top of the storm. he s trying to go around the storm at a higher altitude. let he ask you this. are there different safety standards for airlines based in southeast asia compared with the united states or europe? very good one, that. let us put it like this. in theory all the standards are the same. i m choosing my words very carefully here because i m sure it s all tightened up since. but the point is that there are
and welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m john vause. and i m natalie allen. we want to update you on the two big stories we continue to follow here. crews from singapore, malaysia and indonesia are searching for any sign of airasia 8501. the flight disappeared early sunday morning. 162 passengers and crew were on board. the indications so far suggest that the plane is on the bottom of the sea, but that has not been confirmed. and this search remains in its early stages. our other story, more than 300 passengers on a burning ferry have been pulled to safety and you see some of them arriving in italy after they were rescued. more than 150 passengers are still on board the norman atlantic enduring freezing
assigned them, they had to plunge fast. this would be the same as a pilot making a mistake. but remember, there is avionics on board, one is collision assistance. the nation s skies are under stress with increasing air traffic and a potential shortage of controllers. the faa says it has taken steps to prevent any similar occurrences in the future but would not elaborate. renee marsh, cnn, washington. joining us now, cnn safety analyst david souci, the author of why planes crash and investigator for safe skies. david, this near miss in houston, the planes came within nearly a mile of each other, 400 feet vertically, if you will. help us put it in perspective, how close was this incident from disaster? wolf, if you look at the fact they were 7.8 miles from each other and flying at 200 miles an hour to make the math easier,
error, through a pilot making a mistake, but remember, there s avionics on board, particularly one called tcas, collision avoidance assistance. reporter: the faa has taken steps to prevent occurrences in the future but didn t say what the steps are. the faa also telling us an instructor was there at the moment of this incident ready to step in if necessary. however, the faa saying that this trainee was able to correct the problem immediately. we want to point out one other thing, wolf. ever since that technology, the collision avoidance technology has been placed in cockpits we haven t seen any actual collision and of course, that is a good thing. that s a very good thing, indeed. rene, thanks very much. let s bring in aviation correspondent richard quest to talk more about the close calls in air. is it getting close, richard,