[Blitzer:] To our North American viewers, "CROSSFIRE" won't be seen tonight so we can bring you more of our special report on the mystery of Flight 370. U.S. officials say the Malaysian government has found no suspicious content on the pilot's computers or in their e-mail, noting nothing, they say, that would indicate that the route changes were planned ahead of time. The news comes after talk between the U.S. and Malaysia defense secretaries with Chuck Hagel telling the Malaysian defense secretary to be, quote, "more transparent." CNN's Andrew Stevens is joining us now from Kuala Lumpur with more on what's going on. Andrew, what else are you learning?
[Andrew Stevens, Cnn Correspondent:] Wolf, the Malaysians are also asking Chuck Hagel to get access to more satellite surveillance information as well and try to get piece together what may have happened to that flight. But it's interesting. It's very much the focus this morning, as we're still in the predawn hours here, is on the pilots, on that investigation, on this information that we're now getting. That the pilots effectively cleared their communications equipment and that simulator you were talking about has turned up nothing to suggest that some suspicious activities may have been taking place. And it does tie in, to be honest, with what we have been hearing about the pilot and what we have been hearing about the copilot. The pilot, particularly, he is an aviation geek. He has a simulator in his home. And his friends continue to vigorously defend him, saying that he's the sort of guy you do want in the cockpit if something happens. We're also hearing that the Chinese have cleared their 153 national from any links to any terrorism or any hijacking plots. The Chinese ambassador telling the Malaysians here yesterday, late yesterday that that was the case. So still moving along. The as far as the transparency goes, that's a key issue here, because obviously, there's an enormous amount of frustration about the level of information that is being made public. And the information that is actually being made public, sometimes it's been misleading; sometimes it has been retracted. So if there is a greater opening among the Malaysians, more information, not only the world's media or the world, but certainly, the families of the passengers would really appreciate that. Difficult balancing act for the Malaysians. I don't want to lead people down the wrong direction. But also, this vacuum of information is very, very painful for the passengers' families.
[Blitzer:] We must not forget there were 239 people on that aircraft. Andrew Stevens, thanks very much. The families of those on board, the Flight 370, they're growing increasingly desperate for information about their loved ones, and they're taking that frustration out on Malaysian officials, who are providing, at least as far as they're concerned, too few answers. Listen to one mother's cries at a news conference earlier today.
[Unidentified Female:] We only have one child. We are respectful Chinese people. It's hard to control your emotions when you might have lost your loved ones. We just need the truth. Don't use them as political pawns.
[Blitzer:] CNN's David McKenzie is in Beijing, and David's been talking to the families of those on board the aircraft. David, what else are they saying to you today?
[David Mckenzie, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, they're saying that they are angry and frustrated, as we've been talking about, Wolf. But also, just every bit of information that comes out, that's leaked out, they are looking at, obviously, very closely, because there are huge consequences for them on that information. So, for example, when we talked about the plane rising to an extreme altitude and then dipping down to very low erratic flight behavior, they're asking the officials, "Well, could my loved one have remained conscious? Does this mean that they are dead, to put it bluntly? Does this mean they could still be alive?" All these theories have really grated on these families. And as they expanded that search area to more than 2.2 million square miles, it leaves these people desperate, as you say Wolf.
[Blitzer:] And David, why is this missing plane all of a sudden so worrisome to the Communist Party in China?
[Mckenzie:] Well, you've got this great group of, this large group of people with a strong moral voice stuck in a hotel here in Beijing, pointing the finger largely at the Malaysian government. But I've also heard people complaining about the Chinese government, these families, and they're saying that they're not getting enough support from China. And China is largely impotent in this search. Obviously, it's sending its assets to look for the plane, but it doesn't have nearly the level of capabilities of the U.S. in terms of investigation and in terms of satellite reach to figure out where this plane is in the South Pacific, in the Pacific to the west of Australia. So the Chinese government faces the issue that it needs to look like it's protecting its citizens, and if that anger shifts at all towards the Chinese government, it's a very problematic thing indeed for them.
[Blitzer:] Certainly would be. David McKenzie in Beijing. Thank you. So while the passengers' families await any kind of definite word about what happened, we're hearing from pilots who say one of the most logical explanations for the plane's disappearance is being completely overlooked. CNN's Athena Jones is here in THE SITUATION ROOM looking at this part of the story Athena.
[Athena Jones, Cnn Correspondent:] That's right, Wolf. It seems like every day we hear about a new theory to explain just what happened to this airplane. One of the experts I spoke with today stressed that it usually takes more than one problem to bring down a jet. So what's intriguing about this particular theory is that it's so simple.
[Jones:] Theories about what caused Flight 370 to vanish abound.
[Najib Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister:] The aircraft's movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane.
[Jones:] Could hijacking or renegade pilot or terrorism explain what Malaysian authorities say was a deliberate action to turn the plane off-course? Probably not, some pilots are saying.
[Les Abend, Pilot And Contributing Editor, "flying Magazine":] I just do not believe that this could be a nefarious event. I see a professional flight crew that tried to handle a situation.
[Jones:] There's a simpler explanation that could account for what happened. A fire, perhaps caused by an electrical problem, leaves the cockpit to fill up with smoke, like in this simulation. Under this theory, the flight crew does what any experienced pilots would do, putting on their oxygen masks, turning the plane toward the closest airport to try to land safely, punching the destination into the flight computer.
[Abend:] The objective really is to get yourself on the ground as quickly and as safely as possible.
[Jones:] The plane turns west, but smoke soon fills the cockpit, overwhelms the captain and copilot, and shorts out the plane's communication systems. With the pilots incapacitated or worse and no one awake to land the plane, it keeps flying on its last programmed course, past any airports, and eventually runs out of fuel and crashes somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
[Unidentified Male:] Swiss Air 111 heavy is declaring Pan, Pan, Pan. We have smoke in the cockpit.
[Jones:] Fire has caused fatal accidents before, like the 1998 crash of Swiss Air Flight 111 off Nova Scotia.
[Abend:] I think it's a very plausible idea.
[Jones:] But there are still some problems with this theory. For instance, if there was such a big fire, how would the plane be able to keep flying for another seven to eight hours, as authorities believe it did? And if there was a fire or smoke, why didn't the cockpit crew sound the alarm, like the pilots of that Swiss Air flight we just heard about? So there's still a lot more questions than answers here, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Yes, that theory. I think a lot of people are looking closer at that now, as well. We'll see where it goes. Athena, thanks very much. Just ahead, we'll take you into a cockpit similar later to show you what it takes to change course by reprogramming the computer. And we're also exploring one of the more controversial theories about what could have caused the jet to change course. Could the plane's electronics, the computer in the cockpit, could it have been hacked?