using forensics to retrieve whatever was erased. another piece of this puzzle, cnn learned that the plane's computer was likely reprogrammed to change course to take the left turn at least 12 minutes before the last verbal communication with the cockpit when the copilot radio air traffic controller said all right, good night. a senior official said the search has now zoned in on this corridor that you are looking at. >> the search conditions are goo good. as they were flying through. there were no results. today the search area has been refined. look at this one woman. tensions at a distraught mother screaming for information. she had to be dragged away. >> folks, we are in day 13. many of the families are still living out of this hotel where the briefings are held, waiting for news that the plane has been found. let's talk about the facts. what we know. out of our washington, d.c. bureau. etch, me more about how the fbi now is getting involved. >> the investigators have been going through the security see figure they can go through clues as to what may have happened. any preplanning of whatever happened to flight 370 and so far they have come up empty. any clues that help them explain this. we have seems from the fbi. the forensics lab. i asked eric holder at a press conference whether or not he had discussed this with his counterparts. here's what he said. >> i have not had direct contact, but there has been contact between the investigative agencies here and the relevant agencies in malaysia. all those conversations are ongoing. i think that we are still in the process of trying to determine what happened and help in any way we can. >> so brooke, right now we are not now going to have a lot more involvement from the fbi. >> two, from your reporting, we now know this change in course, this change off course, this left turn was entered at least 12 minutes before that copilot radioed in and said all right, good night. the investigators, this is being closed simply because it helps them establish they believe that whatever happened inside the cockpit to make this plane divert from the course and turn west, whatever happened, someone deliberately did this. it followed specific waypoints on a path away from where it was supposed to be going. they don't know who did it and exactly what was in the mind of whoever did this, but this was another data point to try to figure things out before they can retrieve the plane and before they have wreckage to lock at that will provide a lot more information. >> was it deliberate or someone having a plan b route? we will talk to a pilot and ask them that. thank you for your reporting. i want to play you sound from the inspector general from the royal malaysian police. this is what he said about the simulator data that has been erased. [inaudible] >> let me bring in a couple of voices. a writer and editor for national geographic.com who authored cockpit confidential. both of you, welcome. >> patrick, let me begin where i left off with the correspondent there in d.c. with the news that there was data erased from the simulator. let's give them the benefit of the doubt. when i delete my e-mail, i want to get rid of stuff. is it possible that you are using the simulator and you are deleting information because you need more hard drive? >> that was my reaction too. i will admit it's unusual for an airline pilot to have a hobby simulator at home. i can't speak for all pilot, but the last thing i want to do is fly around my apartment. >> you are the first person who said that on the show. that said, keep going. >> that's not necessarily relevant to what happened. there is no connection necessarily between that and what happened. the more compelling clue to come out in the past couple of days is this 12-minute lag in the communications. the acars and the voice communication. it's important to confirm that those timelines are accurate and they do lineup. even if so, however, it's not necessarily a smoking gun. there still remains the possibility although it is admittedly a shrinking that they were dealing with some kind of on board emergency and we are making that turn or even preplanning for the turn to the west. the wrinkle there is of course that timeline that doesn't matchup. also the fact that it appears later in the flight. the plane made additional turns off course and why those would have been programmed in back before the first turn, that doesn't make sense. i think the trend here is towards some sort of take over of the airplane by a crew member or other people. we don't know yet. >> patrick, let me stay with you. is it not plausible that a pilot thinking about plans b, c, and d when you are up in the air to have back up routes. this could have been a back up route. this left hand turn, correct? >> that very well could be. they could have been preplanning for a diversion. they may have had some on board situation they were dealing with that they hospital relayed to controllers on the ground. that's not unusual. communicating problems like that is far down the hierarchy and your list of priorities. >> that doesn't jump out at me and there other wrinkles pointing in the direction of a commandeering of the character. >> aviate, navigate and communicate. sticking with backs, the u.s. official with knowledge of this investigation they are honing in on the southern corridor. what we learned, this is not a normal route for a commercial airliner to fly, ships don't go in this area. what are you hearing about this? >> i think the australians have put out some information that at least sounds hopeful. i don't know if we can interpret it as hopeful or not, but they narrowed the search down to about the size of italy. that is a good sign except for the possibility that the question remains, are they searching in the right place? i think the key to this is that the people who are investigating this who are the experts at interpreting the satellite, the questions are, how much of this satellite data are they really able to refine and to what extent can they narrow the search and end up to use the phrase, looking in the right haystack. are the countries who are participating giving the data in usable form to the people who are doing the analysis? are there countries who have information that hasn't been shared yet. there a host of questions involving that that we don't have any clarity on. we have to remember that this is a very unusual event. this never happened before. you never had someone who hijacked a plane or wanted to commit suicide who had flown on for seven hours afterwards. >> it doesn't fit the m.o. let me hit pause on the conversation. i would like for to you stand by and hold you over the break. i have more questions. should cockpit doors remain locked and is there any way for a plane to avoid radar detection? a group of fishermen say they saw a plane flying very low. cnn speaks with them coming up. special coverage continues after this. (music) defiance is in our bones. defiance never grows old. citracal maximum. calcium citrate plus d. highly soluble, easily absorbed. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto. like warfarin, xarelto is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin there is limited information on how xarelto and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto with aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto can cause bleeding, which can be serious and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto. once-a-day xarelto means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. -hit the beach in florida. -and a reunion in seattle. for more information and savings options, we can afford to take more trips this year. [man] when hotels have unsold rooms, they use hotwire to fill them. [woman] so we got our 4-star hotels... for half price. ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com . welcome back to the coverage of malaysian air flight 370. take note of what the minste stressed before today's press briefing. here he was. >> i would like to take an opportunity to state that the persons and the pilots and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise. >> joining me now is laura parker for national geographic.com and patrick smith of ask the pilot.com. welcome back. one thing we know for certain, there would be a lot less speculation and guessing for planes in flight and those on the ground. i want to come to you because the different ways the planes can communicate and my question to you is why not have the device where planes are in constant communication with the ground. we wouldn't be having this conversation and guessing. >> that's really a question i would like to hear my companion speak on that. one of the questions that has been raised is why don't the flight data recorders transmit continuously so that the ground crew knows what's going on all of the time. i think that has been a debate for a number of years and while it would have informed folks where the plane is, it's also an extraordinarily expensive thing to do. it centered around cost ask so forth. that's not obviously going to be cleared up in the situation. >> threats throw video cameras in the cockpit as well. >> airplanes are always in contact with either air traffic control or airline company personnel on the ground. you have to be able to reach the endoities and reach the different tools in the cockpit and fm s and acars and so forth. all of this fancy technology only works if it's powered. if the airplane is on fire or there is a catastrophic failure, it's not going to work. i think the thinking here in this day and age, people are so used to the internet and this total instant connectivity, your computer only connects you to the web until somebody pulls the plug and all of that disappears. i think that's somewhat useful here. not to hijack this conversation so to speak. >> bad word. >> something we need to talk about here, i really hope we can get past and move on away from this idea that the plane is safely tucked away in a hangar somewhere on a remote island. >> who is suggesting that? i am not. >> lots of people. the e-mails i am getting is overwhelming suggestive of an organized experience where the airplane will be used later as a weapon to drop a nuke or biological agent over a city. the point here, there hundreds if not thousands of cargo jets and business planes and other aircraft all over the world that move around more or less a mussily. the better pick for the job. why would a group steal a plane full of passengers from one of the most prestigious airlines in the world, guaranteeing that everybody will be looking for them? that m.o. makes no sense and i don't want to keep hearing that. >> i can't answer that. >> it's everywhere. >> let's not go down the road of speculation, but let's speak to a very, very realistic possibility. that being they never find this plane. let's go down that road. that is possible. if 370 is never found, how will this impact airlines? airline safety. what do you think? >> well, in the context of airline safety, i hope this incident doesn't undermine and steal people's attention away from the fact that air safety nowadays is astonishingly safe. it was the safest year worldwide and not just in the u.s. in the history of commercial aviation. we are never going to be 100% safe and occasionally there are going to be disasters. that doesn't mean flying is unsafe and people shouldn't have this idea that flying now because of this incident is more hazardous. >> but figuring people out. >> it gets to people's inherent fears of flying. also and this is part of why i wrote my look. there is so much urban mythology out there, any time there is a mystery involving an airplane, it strikes that nerve and compels people. i understand that. it's human nature. it's unfortunate because it gives people the impression that flying it more dangerous than it is. >> it's premature to write it off as we my not find this plane. >> we may never. >> that are is a fact, but even if it's not found, i'm not sure that that will have a mundamential change in the way airlines are operated. we need to give the people who are searching more time. >> i'm not saying call off the search. i was saying there was a realistic possibility that no one finds it. i hope that's not what we enter into. i hope everyone is o okay. we have to leave it. both of you coming on. i have questions and you have questions. we will take your questions about the plane as well. we are constantly checking twitter. we will have an expert on hand to answer your questions directly live here on the show. stick around certainly for that. coming up, let's get back to the families. let me tell you, these people missing had to be physically dragged out of this press conference after being overcome by frustration and anger at malaysian authorities. up next, why can't they get the answers? why are they not getting the information they so desperately want? stay with me. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can. >> grieve stricken families are losing patience with the slow pace of this investigation and the lack of information from malaysian officials. you have seen the heart wrenching scene from just this morning. passengers and anguished families. you hear the woman screaming, drag said out of a news briefing after they demanded answers. the woman you just saw, her son was on flight 370. she begged officials to tell the truth. her words, to stop ignoring the desperate pleas of the relatives. >> they just brushed us off. her partner is missing american passenger phil wood. she is making her own plea not to government officials, but to the people she believes were involved in the plane's disappearance. >> i'm hoping and i'm asking, please. to not hurt the people on the plane. find some other way to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish. don't hurt the people. let phillip come back to me. >> why are they not getting the information they need? they are laying with how they are trained to handle these tragedies. will this disconnect be highly unlikely involving the u.s.? why is that? >> the united states has seen more than their fair share. the one thing the u.s. has learned is you need to have a plan in place. you need to know who is in charge and have a solid plan of action in place and know how to communicate information clearly to those affected. over 12 days, even the chinese government has been blasting them saying they are lacking in all three of the areas. we have seen families so desperate for information, they have gone on hunger strikes. in the press briefings, they made a plea to the international media to please help them get information about their loved ones for the government and in response, they were forcefully dragged out of that room and they were warmed by the press and that made the situation worse. they were dragged down the hall and locked in the room and removed from the premises. the malaysian government said they are sending the team to beijing to meet next of kin and give them the latest information. this is what and they being the minster of tran portation involving the relatives and the passengers on board mh 370. can only imagine the anguish they are going through. malaysia is doing everything in their power. i ordered an immediate inquiry into the event in the press room today. thank you so much for joining me. coming up next, a source familiar with the investigation here told cnn he believes his plane is in the southern ark of the search zone, but if they do find debris, at this point the plane could be hundreds of miles away. we will talk to an ocean search expert about that angle and the families again, we come back to the families of the victims in another plane crash. they have now written this open letter to the families telling them to get answers and they have advice. they get answers fast and their advice specifically coming up. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ marge: you know, there's for a more enjoyableent. way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. . >> could the mystery behind flight 370 be revealed in the flight simulator. this is a fact that the fbi is trying to find out. we learned that data was deleted from the pilot's at home simulator. this happened. you know this. sometime before the third of february, one month before this ill-fated flight took off. the fbi tried to retrieve whatever was erased. cnn learned that the plane's computer was likely reprogrammed to take that course at least 12 minutes before the copilot said all right, good night. a senior official said that intelligence from the ntsb led searchers to the southern edge of the ark. more specifically, see the map to the indian ocean off the west coast of australia. joining me now from london, also cnn's chat meyers. we will get to chad in a minute. west of southern australia. do we know how deep the water is? is there any chance at all to find a piece and parts of the plane on the ocean floor. >> absolutely none, i'm afraid. the water is two to four miles deep. we can see through the oceans about 200o 300 feet. i think people assume we have these spies in the sky. in reality reality, if we are using satellites, that is there at the right time. the resolution is not good enough to pick up a plane. we don't know how much fuel was left in the plane. they are running on fumes. this is days after and left on the surface. there so many false positives, we are looking for a needle in the haystack. that's very, very difficult without much more information as to where the plane might be, narrowing the search down. >> and then to add to that list, let's say if there is still debris or something on the surface and wouldn't it have floated in the days since the plane vanished from radar? >> certainly, but it depends on the wind as well. up above the water, it has surface area or windage above the water. this could be scattered over hundreds of miles where it was just one football field piece of debris. it could be scatter and scattered. >> i want to come back to you, but back to where the australia janes of searching, would submercibles be of any use at this stage of the game? >> the debris could be scattered and we can work out the conditions and the currents. we can work back and back track to a much smaller search area. we then need to use the sticks. the ship would have to use a scanning system to scan the sea bed. also magnetic a notallies. the problem is that the width at which they were is narrow. this could take 30 or 40 years. this is the big problem. it's not a trivial task. the oceans, you are looking at an area that even if you can narrow it down, that's the area that is almost the size of the u.s. >> the area they are looking in with this knowledge of the investigation, they are honing in on the southern ark. and others are searching with the northern arks. can we begin to narrow the northern search field as they have narrowed the field. we will use the same dots and pings that will be going south to the north. i will show you this right now. we don't know the hourly pings, but we know that the 1e6r7 area has been down here and all the way to here just in the past couple of days. why would they do that? only if they had a type of knowledge about the pings as they come to the south. as the pings come to the south hour by hour, they would have been in a line. 560 miles per hour until it runs out of fuel. ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. once an hour. the plane runs out of fuel right in that box. this box, just a couple of days ago was this big. they didn't make it that small for no reason. to get the other theorists up here, still involved. i will take you on a tour keeping the pings and older, older, older. 8:11 a.m. i can get you a ping and a ping and a ping. that gets you up here to the hone in the northern ark as well. what they are seeing on the southern ark is a straight line that makes a lot more sense to them than if the plane was not. >> we just don't know. thank you so much. coming up, missing fishermen say they saw the plane. we took a boat out and they spotted flight 370. also ahead, the families of those missing on the plane are demanding answers. could an independent investigation help find this plane? that's next. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. and less saturated fat? easy. it's eb. eggland's best. better eggs. it's eb. eggland's best. better eggs. female announcer: what will you man:with your new i'm getting a camera!? - i'm getting an espresso maker! - i'm getting a new smart phone! female announcer: during sleep train's big gift event get a $200 best buy gift card with purchase of selected beautyrest, posturepedic or tempur-pedic mattresses. or, get 24-months interest-free financing. - a new tv... - a laptop... - a game console! female announcer: sleep train's big gift event is ending soon. ♪ sleep train ♪ ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ . 239 people on board this plane and they are getting advice from people who can relate to the agonizing wait. flight 447. we have been talking a lot about recently. it crashed in the ocean a couple of years ago. it took them two years to figure out what happened and urged families to get tough with authorities. this letter encouraging families to put pressure on the malaysian military and civil authorities to speed up the investigations. it goes on to say that families should go to their choosing. a former director of accident investigations. nice to have you on. let's begin with that advice. i am getting this independent investigator. how would -- sets say they do it. how would an investigator look at things differentlily? >> we have independent investigators come in looking for insurance companies for airlines or nfrers. that's to organize what has not been done. this investigation of all the investigations have i seen, the scope got off to a very, very slow start. we are so slow and getting the best evidence and the best evidence who are ahead and willing to help. would they share the information. they sent the best experts on day one. they didn't get to look at the radar data right away. the best analyst in the world and so there has been a consistent pattern of slow movement and information. that would present a greater challenge to an independent investigator. >> you can't blame the woman screaming and being dragged out of the room based upon this information. the second question is this. air france 447. there were pieces of that plane found five days after the crash and fast forward two year, that's when investigators found the main wreckage and the black box on the ocean floor. what can malaysian authorities or really any of these entities learn from the long search from air france? >> one thing is not to give up. air france, the pingers in air france 447 had long gone silent of course. using unmanned vehicles, they found the wreckage. those recorders are in the tail cone of that airplane. that nearly always survives for them to be in there. air france was quite an element of luck in the fact that they found the recorders two years after the pinger his gone silent. >> they only have 30 days, right? >> right. it's like any other battery. sometimes a little more and sometimes less. 30 days is the nominal number. >> we are day 13. steven wallace, thank you. >> thank you, brooke. >> i will talk to a survivalist who said it is important to remain hopeful. he explains how if that plane crash as well the persoassenger could survive. could fishermen have been the last to see flight 370. what they say they saw on the night the plane disappeared. for over a decade millions have raised their hand for the proven relief of the purple pill. and that relief could be in your hand. for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms from acid reflux disease. find out how you can save at purplepill.com. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. if you have persistent diarrhea, contact your doctor right away. other serious stomach conditions may exist. avoid if you take clopidogrel. for many, relief is at hand. ask your doctor about nexium. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off your deductible for every year of safe driving. which means you could save... a lot of benjamins. we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ttdd# 1-800-345-2550 can take you in many directions. searching for trade ideas that spark your curiosity tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you read this. watch that. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you look for what's next. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we can help turn inspiration into action tdd# 1-800-345-2550 boost your trading iq with the help of tdd# 1-800-345-2550 our live online workshops tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like identifying market trends. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 now, earn 300 commission-free online trades. call 1-888-628-7118 or go to schwab.com/trading to learn how. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 sharpen your instincts with market insight from schwab tdd# 1-800-345-2550 experts like liz ann sonders and randy frederick. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 get support and talk through your ideas with our tdd# 1-800-345-2550 trading specialists. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 all with no trade minimum. and only $8.95 a trade. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account and earn 300 commission-free online trades. call 1-888-628-7118 to learn more. so you can take charge of your trading. . >> we are following new developments in the sirch for malaysian flight 370. one fact we are honing in on according to the fishermen, they sought plane low over the gulf of thailand. we caught up with them in northern malaysia to ask them what they say they saw that morning. >> it's just off the coast here in the south china sea between malaysia and vietnam. we know the flight made its last known recorded location and shortly after that it made that crucial turn. two fishermen believe they saw a very low flying aircraft that evening. i have been out speaking with them today on that boat talking to them about their sighting. they say this was very unusual. have you ever seen a plane flying low? because they go fishing you should the flight? they said no, i have never seen a plane flying so low. we remarked wow, is this pilot crazy? i then asked them what did you see on this aircraft? he said it was flying so low, the lights were about the size of coconuts to me. they told their families and coworkers and reported it to the police. it was shortly after that that they discovered a flight had gone missing. we cannot confirm if it was indeed this flight. the timing is pretty close. they saw it at 1:30 a.m. >> thank you so much. my next guest said it's important to keep hope alive and explains if the plane crashed on water, how the passengers could survive. also ahead, we will take you back in this cockpit simulator how a flight's route is changed. martin savage and his instructor join me next. this is cnn special coverage. you are watching the missing malaysia flight and the theories about where this plane could be. they are piling up. the answers are not. the wait for any type of news is absolutely agonizing. these family members of the 239 people who were on board that plane. some have lot of hope with malaysian officials and the investigati investigation, he explained to me why it is important to keep hope alive and optimistic. >> you never give up hope. especially when there is no evidence about what happened here. you put your shoes in the family member. if i have someone on that plane, we have every prayer that the loved one of mine will get home safe. it is possible. there have been situations just just like this where they have gone down in treacherous places. you have seen them wibd up on islands in the middle of the ocean and they survive. there is always hope. >> i know one of the girlfriends of one of the americans on the plane has the backpack when she gets the call that he is found. i know you have been adamant that these people are alive. still now it's the determination and the will to live is so strong, when the buildings kraps in the earthquakes and the baby has been found weeks after the rubble has been laying over it, that is so amazing about the human spirit. we endure. you see the final evidence that is gone. until i see that evidence for me, i will sit there and pray and keep optimistic that they will make it. the basic needs and instinct in a human will kick in. i have to find something to eat and i need to take care of people that are injured. when you have a bunch of people who step up in the chaos and takes charge, that makes the situation better. it is possible. people can be out in those situations and survive. we don't give up hope and we pray for not only those that are out there trying to survive, but there will be rescuers putting themselves in harm's way and we want them to be safety to the location to give these people the aid they need. >> i hope they find them. it's tough to have hope when the days continue to wane on. we think about the discovery channel. i appreciate it. >> keep praying. >> we continue on. hour two. i'm brooke baldwin. special coverage of the missing flight. stick with what we know. we know that files have been deleted from that at home flight simulator belonging to the pilot and whatever was erased and the question is whatever it holds. the plane's computer was likely reprogrammed to go off source. at least 12 minutes with the copilot and radio air traffic pilot said already, good night. for the first time, this search area is not growing. it is based on ntsb intelligence. we know we can make sightings. today it has been refined. >> and the families. just look at this. tensions boiling over at the press briefing. you have a distraught mother after screaming for information on her missing son. >> another woman said she is sick of the malaysian government's inaction. to the evidence and does that support the theory that they returned before that all right, good night sign off. martin, question number one is can you show me how would you program a change to the flight path? >> let's look at this. this new information that cnn has, this change was programmed in and we should point out that we are frozen and suspended this simulator to make this demonstration for you. it's key to understand. this programmed and we are on the flight and followed the path they were scheduled to follow. if you put us in motion, what we want to point out is we entered in the change as they did minutes ago. two minutes away from the already, good night. maybe they didn't know it was coming up. here's the problem with that theory and it's right here on this screen. two of these are right up front. any pilot sitting down would see this very dramatic hook. show us what is the course to go to beijing. >> you see this maroon dotted line the way that you sit down and for 12 minutes, you are looking at the hook. this plane is programmed to make a very dramatic and maybe 120 degree turn. you are going dramatically off course. either both knew it and agreed and the other is making the turn. both could have a gun to their head, but this is going to happen. it's right in front of their eyes to see it as without us even touching anything, we make the same diversion. we are going dramatically away from beijing and this according to what we know now is how it manages into a mystery. we should point out one other thing. when it was entered into this data system, the flight computer and signal was sent to the ground in theory. malaysian airlines also knew 12 minutes ahead of time. >> that was my next question. because it's one thing for who knows what happened in the cockpit. you are telling me someone on the ground would have had to see that change as well. that's the way the system is designed. a message was received on the ground. acars is about the only way they would have gotten there. they would have received it and they should have known 12 minutes ahead of time that plane. let's focus on part of what you showed us and the fact that we know about these deleted files on the pilot@home simulator. the fbi is searching the simulator's hard drive to figure out what was erased. bill savage is a certified accident investigator and has flown the 777. welcome back to you and brian hobble is a law professor and bill, let's begin with you. we will get to that turn in a minute. we talked yesterday and the news was nothing suspicious was found on it. now it's a little different. my question to you and listen, i delete e-mails because i don't need the information in my inbox or i want more space. might that simply be an easy explanation as to why he deleted this? >> i would like to put it into perspective. this issue of the computer being a simulator. the airline training coulds was also video games that are built on hydraulic lifts that are built with algo rhythms that reproduce the aircraft. that was a red flag to me. not the rest of this. >> we will call it what you are saying. >> if the files indicate practice that a 777 would be landing at. that would be a red flag. that pilot was practicing this and landing no the in beijing, yes? >> yes. >> i'm coming to you. i want to stay with you. we presume it was the copilot and radioed in all right, good night. it was prepared to take this left turn. why would a pilot need to do that? >> does anybody find it interesting that everybody that is being noted happened 12 minutes before? pilots are not doing simultaneous things at the 12 minute mark. there would be a break up in the times. so everything happened here before the sign off a& i find i coincidental. they have the fm s programming from a new route that experienced pilots would use this route two function. either loading or preparing a change to the flight plan. this could very easily be accomplished by not using it at all, but reaching up to the flight control panel. somebody else could have been doing that. they could just reach up and take control of the airplane by pushing the heading button and turning it. all these happening in 12 minutes. a lot of things at the 12-minute point. >> more on the legal angle. this is just a possibility. that is a real possibility. we see this video of the families. what sort of legal options would they have. >> if the plane is never found outside the scope of the conventions that normally operate in the aircraft next international air transport. what will happen in this circumstance if the plane is never found, they will go forward. they survived the passengers and they were in their domestic court. that's not as difficult as it founds. in many situations of mass accidents or adverse events such as hurricane katrina and tsunami in time, even though the period of time and in the united states for example is seven years. the courts would readily move for the passengers to perceive under the treaties and against malaysian airlines. >> would they have a strong case? >> i think they will have a strong case in the circumstance. >> the airline or the defendants including the airline would wish to settle the case as rapidly as possible. they made money available to the families of the passengers. under international treaty. there is a provision for advanced payments. it is recommended that each state provide that assistance to the passengers and the passengers themselves in the event of injury. we have seen a gesture for the company. the insurance companies will say the plane disappeared and it is best in the circumstances to settle the case. it is good for the passenger. it can no longer leave the defense in the circumstances to explain what happened. good for the passengers if they are okay. they are reading your questions on twitter. we will answer them in about 15 minutes. with the hash tag 370 qs. live in about 15 minutes from now. flight simulators or games. the fbi agents aric taing a look at the pilot and copilot bringing clues into the disappearance into the plane. how do you mind these gadgets for data? can you find information that has been deleted? a tech expert joins us. cnn caught up with the fishermen who said they saw a low flying airliner. hear what they told us about. could it stoke the theory that the airliner was intentionally avoiding detention on radar. stay with me. you are watching special coverage here on cnn. aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪ you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you at aflac.com. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you ♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. >>. >> the fbi is reviewing the hard drive of the flight simulator found in the home of the pilot of malaysian air flight 370. this is the simulator that he used in videos such as this on you tube. they said data from the simulator had been deleted. >> there has been -- the 3rd of february. the experts are looking at what has been cleared. >> let's talk about the possibilities from here with our technology analyst brett larson. so, brett. obvious question number one is i have to presume investigators can recover the deleted data. >> yes. there a various of places all over the country that do this data recovery from when you deleted fires. if it gets damaged or malfunctioned. it is definitely a possibility. >> days, months, do we know? >> that's the wig question. when the file was deleted. it's house keeping. if that was the case, that is going to be easier to recover. it is fresh. a matter of the table of contents for that data set that was erased and based on the hard drive to be written over. if the data was erased and he went back and intentionally did a secured order and encrypted trash removal, that's a different circumstance. someone who deleted something and tried to cover their tracks. >> that traces the history? >> i don't want to scare people. you can go back far on the hard drive. i like to refer to it as a layer cake. every time you write something new, you put another layer on it. as you get further down, the ones and zeros and bits that make all of the information harder and harder to see. this is going to be the best technology available to do this sort of recovery. it could be spotty. it could be that they get enough information. this is a simulator. if this is a giant piece of data, that might be easier to find than multiple pieces that could have been rwritten over. >> they are working hard to figure out what was deleted. thank you. a quick reminder, keep the tweets coming. all of your questions here on this missing airliner. make sure you tweet or harsh tag 370 qs. we will get our expert to answer them now. next, narrowing the search. the new focus for rescue crews trying to find the plane so there is a new area based upon the plane's fuel reserves and how far it could have flown. we will give you a virtual view of the search area. plus have you heard this report today? fishermen claim they saw the plane the night it went missing. next, here are the clues they are providing that could help find this 777. no matter how busy your morning you can always do something better for yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber. [ female announcer ] most of the time it's easy to know which option is better. other times, not so much. so it's good to know that mazola corn oil has 4 times more cholesterol blocking plant sterols than olive oil. and a recent study found that it can help lower cholesterol 2 times more. take care of those you love and cook deliciously. mazola makes it better. ♪ [ male announcer ] you're watching one of the biggest financial services companies in the country at work. hey. thanks for coming over. hey. [ male announcer ] how did it come to be? yours? ah. not anymore. it's a very short story. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. . the search for missing malaysian airlines flight with 239 souls on board. the night it went missing, fishermen talked to a correspondent and said they were fishing when they saw the plane flying low over the gulf of thailand when one fisherman said low, he means under 35,000 feet. he said the plane looked strange and he thought the pilot must be crazy. he filed a police report and no word if the report it being used by investigators. i want to show you the precision where the search for the plane is happening right now. i bring in tom forman to walk me through this set and exactly how big of an area are we talking in terms of sheer size? >> the big complete area is still enormous. but the area they are focused on most today is about the size of arizona. we talked about the two arks and the northern and southern arks. and about 1400 miles or so away from the west coast of australia. this is a moving target. they adjust it with the hours and this is based on mathematics that is saying as all of the parameters change hour to hour and day to day in a search, you adjust the possibility of where you will find it. now that equation led them to focus most low on this area. one of the reasons they are focusing on it so far, this airplane is the poseidon made by the navy. this is the result of a program that each cost about a quarter of a billion dollars. many consider this one of the most effective subhunting plane in the world because when it looks down at all this water which you and i would look at with our eyes, we would see sun light making it hard for us to see things. things that make it visually hard to see things. it takes thousands of hours to spot tiny items. the fact that this plane had been moved down to search that specific area and shows you that there is a sense of possibility and it's one of the more important search areas. it doesn't mean they will find anything, but they think they might find debris on the surface. they might point it out. it's important. remember even if you find something on the surface, even if all the calculations by ntsb said it should be down here somewhere, if you find something, the bigger challenge lies ahead. this plane vanished over about 200 feet of water. if you fly into this part of the indian ocean and go down below the surface, you get the typography thaw get on the surface. geography of hills and ridges and values and all sorts of places where the pinger they might search for can be difficult to locate. even if that advanced plane or the teams down in the area could find something in the area about the size of arizona, that's a big search area. all that does is then put them below the water to begin the very laborious job to pinpoint where the actual wreckage would be if this plane crashed. >> hopefully that highly specialized plane is a good sign. we watch and wait. tom forman, thank you for that. coming up next, we are answering your questions live about the missing flight. a lot of people have been tweeting me. my twitter is nonstop here. you are asking all the great questions thinking of all kinds of things. use hash tag 370 qs. we are posing your questions to an expert. five things we are learning about the pilot of the flight through his social media accounts. what we learned, coming up. how we looking here, charlie? all sectors are looking great. excellent. hey, what are you guys doing? oh, well we're double checking the distributed antenna system. so when all you fans post to instagram, there will be more network to handle it. so, uh you guys hiring? do you know how to optimize a nine beam, multi-beam antenna system nope, that a deal breaker pretty much. alright. enjoy the show! at&t is building you a better network. what if it were more than something to share? what if a photo could build that shelf you've always wanted? or fix a leaky faucet? or even give you your saturday back? the new snapfix app revolutionizes local service. just snap a photo and angie's list coordinates a top-rated provider to do the work on your schedule. the app makes it easy. the power of angie's list makes it work. download snapfix for free. [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen. . >> you are watching cnn. could the mystery be revealed in the pilot's inhome flight simulator. right now trying to recover what was on the hard drive. that happened before the 3rd of february one month before the flight. this as we learned the kplit computer was reprogrammed to go off course and take the left turn diverting west at least 12 minutes before the final words from the cockpit. all right, good night. a senior official from the ntsb led searchers to the southern part of the ark. more specifically, off the west coast of australia where they are honing in. i know you have a lot of questions. let's answer them with an expert. feshl airline pilot and investigator bill savage. are you ready to answer questions? the first question comes from ali. ali is asking this. why wouldn't members of the crew use satellite phones to call for help when it became clear the route was changed? >> the cabin crew wouldn't know anything about what's going on in the cockpit. if they were at their stations, the door would be closed. i don't believe this door was equip and didn't have wi-fi capabilities and it's one of the comfort items. it's not unreasonable. not a reasonable assumption that they would have going do with this. >> next question from piler asking something that a lot of them were asking me. with all of the satellites, are there satellites with cameras looking for sign of the crash or jetliner? that's a good question. >> my understanding of the k-11 satellites is that they have incredible and communication satellites in place that are primarily military and i'm unfamiliar with. >> let's not put you in a wheel house. that's a great question. we can put that to someone who would know. this is from donna harold. why can't they use drones to fly over remote land masses to try to find it? >> the drones have know incredible range capability and have those cameras on board. i wouldn't be surprised if that is not happening as we speak. i have to imagine they were special and the question number one you keep getting from people. we don't know. the facts are very thin. we are really basing a lot of what ifs on assumptions that are being presented. trying to come to a conclusion without any facts. until they find the airplane either in written or verbal form or a group that is taking credit for this, you have to have those two items. communication from the pilots or the aircraft itself to find out what happened. when you get those, thank you sir. keep your questions coming. they will spend an hour again tonight answering your questions live on cnn. the don lemon show height here on cnn. as passenger families struggle to find out what happened to their loved ones. the partner of missing american passenger phil wood and wood is one of three americans who was on board that 777. he believes he is still alive and this jet's disappearance is no accident. she shared her own ideas about what investigators should do now on "ac 360." she made an emotional plea. >> i have intuition and a feeling that they are still alive. and common sense to say if i was a terrorist, what would i do? i would want to protect those valuable assets of the people on the plane. that would be the leverage point. if we spent as much energy looking into motives and potential places where the plane could be, maybe we would be coming up with different answers. i'm hoping and asking please to not hurt the people on the plane. find some other way to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish, but don't hurt the people. let phillip come back to me, please. >> they have been for three years. they were about to move from beijing to kuala lumpur and they had plans to get married this year. this mystery had many asking about the safety of flying. we will talk about the anxieties surfacing and how the families are begging the media to keep covering this. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance. call liberty mutual insurance at... [ thump ] to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house, or add a car to your policy. personalized coverage and savings. all the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect. call... and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? at any minute... ...you could be a victim of fraud. most people don't even know it. fraud could mean lower credit scores, higher mortgage rates... ...and not getting the home you really want. it's a problem waiting to happen. check your credit score, check your credit report, at experian.com. america's number one provider of online credit reports and scores. don't take chances. go to experian.com. . today, the nation's first chair woman headed her first deal with the fed and the calls. they have a huge impact because they are down triple-digit. yellin said the central bank will ease back on the economic stimulus with $10 million less in bonds and said no change in interest rates. they said cold weather slowed down the economy in recent months. as we pick back up with the special coverage, i want to tell you a little story. i was at whole foods getting juice and the man recognized me and said hello and i said hello and the next thing was brooke, have they found the plane yet? i tweeted it out and ending up chatting with him about what i knew and what he thought and how this makes our worst fears about flying more frightening. that conversation stayed with me ever since. whether you want to admit to it or not, it has so many invested in the mystery. host of reliable sources. brian, i thought so much about this and i'm sure you have as well. is it because this happens into everyone's inner most fears about flying? >> if you think back to the dawn of time, stories have beginnings, middles and ends. that is what we are so used to and not skruft in our societtim going back thousands of years. because it doesn't have an end, people are fixated. obsessed is a fair word. i struck a deal and we go to bed at different times. we are waking the other person up. it might sound strange, but that's happening with lots of people. people are waking up and logging on to the internet to see. have they found it? you have the families. any of us would be desperate for information and now they tell members of the media, stay on the story. keep the spotlight shining and push for answers. i can't blame them. >> some people online and some people in twitter messages to me like you may be sighing there is too much coverage. i respect that point of view. we live in a world where there so many sources of information. in this case journalists staying on the story when they are helping to get answers and helping to put pressure on foreign governments. by the way, malaysia is not a country known for free press. it is a largely state run test. they demand answers on behalf of the citizens. that's what's happening this this case. >> they are not used to a lot of this. brian, thank you so much. we watch you on sundays. coming up next, the five things we know about the pilot being investigated here including his facebook postings about the united states and we have shown you this speaking of the families, just a heart wrenching scene in malaysia and families getting emotional and being carried out of the room. many of these families still in china very, very frustrated and some now are turning to u.s. attorneys to see what their options are. stay right here. you are watching cnn's special coverage. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. [ female announcer ] most of the time it's easy to know which option is better. other times, not so much. so it's good to know that mazola corn oil has 4 times more cholesterol blocking plant sterols than olive oil. and a recent study found that it can help lower cholesterol 2 times more. take care of those you love and cook deliciously. mazola makes it better. take care of those you love and cook deliciously. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. this is humira helping me lay the groundwork. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. take the next step. talk to your doctor. this is humira at work. that's a little better, right? now, see i love this neighborhood. trulia says the schools are excellent. i like it. must see. well, that was a bust. mnh. it's three bedrooms. i found a great new listing. little busy here. nice. uh huh. this one's open right now. let's check it out. it's the agent. they accepted. shut up! we're getting a new house! what? they accepted...owww. [ male announcer ] that moment when it all comes together. that's your moment of trulia. download the free trulia app today. the fbi is searching a hard drive recovered from the inhome flight center of the pilot. some of the data was erased about a month before the flight took off. investigators are looking right now. we know that the pilot had a presence on social media, facebook, et cetera. samuel, what have you found? >> we can't be absolutely certain this is his page. all of the evidence would indicate this is the captain's page. it bears his name, his photos and it was created long before this airplane disappeared. probably the most interesting was a post posted on the facebook page just after the boston marathon bombings in which the person wrote the u.s. is under attack again. condolences to the deceased. also on these pages, we see a lot about athiest. we're seeinging his youtube page there. there are other videos posted where someone successfully argues against a cable news anchor here in the united states about the merits. and we also see he subscribed to a youtube channel that is the richard dawkins foundation youtube channel. we also see across facebook and youtube, an affinity for repairing gadgets and home appliances, kind of do it yourself. a video about how to repair an air conditioner, a spray hose in a sink. on facebook, we see many images of him doing this type of do it yourself at home, but what's causing the most political fire from this inside malaysia are videos that he liked about the malaysian opposition leader. this has become very politicized in part because this plane took off, this opposition leader who had been a thorn in the side of the ruling malaysia party, he was actually sentenced to years in prison and what malaysian media are speculating is that maybe he was upset about that and that's why this plane disappeared, but there's no evidence to indicate that. just assumptions in the malaysian press. >> keep looking for us. we appreciate it very much. i want to get back to the families. let's focus on them because they are going through this gut wrenching ordeal. they don't know where their loved ones are, and so, we have this emotional protest today. others in china, they're waiting for word on their loved ones. next, the toll this has taken on these families and how they're relying on one another just to cope. what does everything mean to you? with the quicksilver cash back card from capital one, it means unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase, every day. it doesn't mean, "everything... as long as you buy it at the gas station." it doesn't mean, "everything... until you hit your cash back limit." it means earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every place, every occasion, all over creation. that's what everything should mean. so consider... what's in your wallet? at a company that's bringing media and technology together. next is every second of nbcuniversal's coverage 0f the 2014 olympic winter games. it's connecting over one million low-income americans to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment in ways you never thought possible. welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. just absolutely heart wrenching scenes out of kuala lumpur this morning when frustrated family members of passengers on board this flight stormed this government news briefing. they protested, demanding better information from investigators, but after voicing their concerns, at least one of the protesters a mother sh she was actually dragged away out of this room, kicking and screaming. it is tough to watch. it is gut wrenching. she begged officials and aisle quoting her, to tell the truth, to stop ignoring the desperate pleas of these relatives there. after she was screaming and pulled out of that room, i can tell you that malaysian officials did apologize. they said they will send a second high level team to beijing to update passenger's families there, but for these anxious relatives camped out in a hotel just waiting for information, the stress is building and now, they are exploring legal options. >> reporter: every day, they shuffle in and out of the lido hotel's grand ballroom, which has turned into a briefing room. he comes with his sister. he says -- >> translator: every morning, she has hope. she hopes for a miracle, then they make vague statements. it's like this every single day. but instead of concrete information, the relatives get little -- with how they say malaysia has handled the strategy. this mother says this is my only child. we are respectable chinese people. t hard to control your emotions when you might have lost your loved ones. we want the truth. in the early days, airline executives gave briefings to the families. the malaysian ambassador came tice twoois last week to answer questions. they checked their phones for updates and from their hotel room, watched the nightly news conferences out of kuala lumpur. families are now starting to ask what their legal options are whether or not the plane is found. some families are talking about suing the malaysian government over the delays and confusion in the search. aviation litigation attorneys from the u.s. have shown up at the hotel. >> i have some contacts. after this conference, the hotel to have some conversation. >> as they consider what to do next, the families continue to wait and wait. their lives kept on hold. the relatives have started a family self-help support group because they say they're not getting enough support from the malaysian government or malaysian airlines. they are taking down names and learning about each other's jobs so they can maximize each others skills during this nightmare of an experience. >> thank you. as those families keep waiting for answers, now this news. problems with communication and coordination are hampering the search. we know that 26 countries are helping here, but some of those resources aren't even being used. case in point, a u.s. air crew sat on the tarmac for hours and hours just waiting for permission to take off to be able to help. the p3 radar and scanning crew made it ideal for a water search so its mission was this. to hunt for the plane over the waters south of java island, but that mission has been on hold because it never got clearance from the independegovernment. we will continue this special coverage with my colleague in washington. thank you so much for watching. i'll be back here tomorrow. in the meantime, the lead with in the meantime, the lead with jake tapper starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com files were deleted before february 3rd from that flight simulator. will the fbi be able to recover these files? if so, what secrets could they hold? i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the world lead for a time, it seemed as the search area would never stop expanding, but now, the australians are narrowing the search in the southern indian ocean. also -- a mother of one of the missing passengers pushed beyond her limit because she says malaysian authorities are keeping her