the weather is going to continue to deteriorate and visibility will get lower and lower. that is going to be a significant problem. of course, despite the challenges presented by the weather, this search effort has been relentless. cnn s andrew stevens joining us there on the line from perth, australia. let s get more about that new information about the malaysian plane s movement. we know it turned to the left intentionally and it was not preprogrammed to the flight computer. also the plane then went down to 12,000 feet. will ripley joins us from kuala lumpur. this news about the possible suspect debris being found in the indian ocean, it s been out there a few hours now. any reaction from official there is in kuala lumpur?
it xwould garbage could be garb ocean. let s look at this picture here. this is the satellite image provided by the australians. these pictures, perhaps this one here may line up best what the chinese have released because of the relative same size. this one here was 79 feet. now, as we take a look at the area that they re searching, it s right here. it s a rather large area southwest of perth. they ve been able to focus in a little bit better on the area. it s 1500 or so miles southwest of perth and when we go to the last part here this is perhaps the most interesting. this area here, is where the australians found their suspect debris. it s only 79 miles away that the chinese have spotted their suspect debris. so, even if they re not the same
australia. let s get right to nbc s kerry sanders live at our washington bureau. greg fife is a former senior investigator with the ntsb. he s on the phone. let me start with you, kerry. one of the things we heard is they were sending air assets. as we ve been reporting throughout these early morning hours, one of the key assets, a p 8 has already gone and is on its way back to perth, australia. you confirmed that they were able to find nothing. exactly. that s the real headline. the australian authorities believe there was some sort of suspect debris in the area. the p8 with the most advanced technology on earth, to look down and cover 10,000 square miles, they did not find anything that confirmed debris, much less debris that is suggestive of something from the missing boeing 777.
the satellite image shows debris. it is not as if it is a photograph and somebody is pointing at it. they know where it is. so they know, gps which we re all familiar with. we use in it our cars. they have a general idea of gps where this is floating. in addition to that, the aircraft can see 10,000 square mails. so it is flying on station. which means it is in the area right now. and they have yet to find what it is that those satellite images suggested was there. what could be an explanation for that? you know, the disconnect. yes. because remember, the satellite image as high definition as it is, is not the same as the quality of the p-8 aircraft. there are all sorts of false suggestions that a satellite photograph can bring. i still maintain that i believe that the australian military would not have announced this suspect debris if they didn t have a high degree of
rest because they can t go immediately back up. what i am yesterday to determine is where the p 3s are staggering. i m still trying to figure that out. it would make logical sense, especially since they can see with their advanced gear about 10,000 square miles. then they have a target area of where they believe this suspect debris is. so it s not as if they re now trying to focus on, as they were, an area that was 120,000 square miles. now they re working an area which is slightly south of that 120,000 square mile box that the national transportation safety board had laid out as a possible place where the plane went down. kerry, for the p3s, for our audience to understand, these are smaller aircraft, propeller aircraft, right? exactly. at first glance you might think it s not as good as a jet. quite frankly, the propeller