American Tourist Finds Possible MH370 Debris Off Mozambique Coast
PEREIRA: All right, investigators are set to examine debris that washed up off the coast of Mozambique that could be linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. This plane debris was discovered by an American. It will be sent to Australia to be looked at by international specialists. You'll recall that flight disappeared nearly two years ago. Could this debris help lead searchers to its missing 239 passengers? CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest has a brand new book out this week. It is called the "The Vanishing of Flight MH370" and he joins me now. Congratulations on the book.</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.</s>PEREIRA: Obviously, this has been sort of a life's work for you given this story and how big it has been here at CNN. Let's talk about this piece of debris. What exactly are we looking at? Is it easy to tell at first glance?</s>QUEST: No, because at first glance what they found just off the coast of Mozambique -- what they have found is what they believe to be part of the horizontal stabilizer of a plane.</s>PEREIRA: Of a plane.</s>QUEST: Of a plane. Now, the reason -- there is some doubt in the last few hours because it's got the words no step.</s>PEREIRA: No step. Right, yes.</s>QUEST: It's got the words no step, but the size of the font of that is perhaps more akin to a small plane rather than a large 777.</s>PEREIRA: Very interesting.</s>QUEST: But, it's also got the rivets on it --</s>PEREIRA: OK.</s>QUEST: -- and we've managed to identify one of the rivets and we've been in touch with the company that makes those rivets and they say yes, it is the sort of rivet that does comes from an aircraft. But, obviously, the entire -- the nature of the item, the thickness -- and it's going to have to be looked at. It's certainly something from aviation.</s>PEREIRA: It certainly is. That we can say unequivocally.</s>QUEST: There's no --</s>PEREIRA: It's not a boat, it's not any other cargo.</s>QUEST: Very little -- no, no.</s>PEREIRA: OK. Now, this is the second piece --</s>QUEST: Right.</s>PEREIRA: -- that is suspicious, you know -- that is raising suspicions because we saw another piece found near the Reunion Islands, right? And that was, indeed, part of MH370.</s>QUEST: And that is why. If you look at this map you'll see you've got Reunion Island just over there, and this -- the length of this piece is only about 1,300 miles from that. It's entirely within the entire area where you would have expected the --</s>PEREIRA: Well, except for the fact that you've got Madagascar right in the middle.</s>QUEST: Correct.</s>PEREIRA: Explain to us maybe a little bit about the current.</s>QUEST: Correct, and that is, perhaps, the difficulty in this. It isn't a straight line all the way from where Reunion Island or, indeed, from the Indian Ocean across. You've got to go around Madagascar. But the currents, we're told, and --</s>PEREIRA: It can work that way.</s>QUEST: Yes, absolutely. The currents could have taken it that way, we are told.</s>PEREIRA: However, all of this -- all of this is a far cry -- thousands of kilometers away from the search zone where we know the task force is currently searching. They have been for some time. Does that fit their models?</s>QUEST: Absolutely. In fact, the ATSB, which is the search authority --</s>PEREIRA: Yes.</s>QUEST: -- and the Australian Transportation Safety Board -- they put out a statement overnight basically saying, yes, the drift models do concur. It could have gone, from where you can see over on the map, right the way across the ocean and that's exactly the sort of thing that would have happened.</s>PEREIRA: This is fascinating.</s>QUEST: So, the circumstances -- the circumstantial evidence is correct. The issue is whether the factual evidence bears that out, and you won't know that until the part is sent down to Canberra where it will be investigated by the best in the business.</s>PEREIRA: Now, you actually had a chance to speak to the man who was instrumental in finding this piece.</s>QUEST: Yes.</s>PEREIRA: Let's listen to what he said about what he thinks.</s>BLAINE ALAN GIBSON, U.S. TOURIST WHO FOUND PLANE DEBRIS: I just knew when I saw it that it possibly could be, and that it was important to get it into the hands of the local authorities, and the authorities in Australia who are doing the search, and the Malaysians who are responsible for it. I just knew that it needed to be processed and it is being right now. It needs to be sent to the specialists to identify what it is. It could be from 370, it could be from any of those other planes that crashed in the area.</s>PEREIRA: It's interesting to hear his perspective.</s>QUEST: Absolutely.</s>PEREIRA: You know, obviously -- now, we know that in the books that you've written extensively about the aftermath of the crash and there was a lot of furor around this whole what are we going to do about aviation? How do we prevent this from happening again? What are the changes that need to be made? These were some of the suggested changes.</s>QUEST: Right. This one -- regular reporting of aircraft position, absolutely. The international authorities now say planes must report, or will do in the fullest of time, every 15 minutes.</s>PEREIRA: OK.</s>QUEST: But, frankly, that's still not enough and many global carriers are down to two, three, and four minutes, but 15 minutes will be the limit. Triggered data transmissions -- that's if the plane does something unusual, the black box data is sent to the satellite.</s>PEREIRA: Immediately.</s>QUEST: We're a long way from that.</s>PEREIRA: Really?</s>QUEST: Yes. There's no real movement on that. Keeping transponders permanently on.</s>PEREIRA: I think that surprises people that wasn't being done to begin with.</s>QUEST: You know, the reality is pilots -- many pilots, not all -- are against it. They like to have the ability to switch these things on and off in case they need to. My gut feeling is, though, this is the big one. This is the big one. Extend the life of emergency locator beacons. Look, Michaela, that has been in the rules coming down the road for years.</s>PEREIRA: For years, yes.</s>QUEST: For years. They've got to get on and do it --</s>PEREIRA: All right.</s>QUEST: -- because then you don't have this ridiculous rush to hear the pings before the battery dies.</s>PEREIRA: Many voices agree with you on that. Join us tomorrow night for a CNN special report, "</s>VANISHED: THE MYSTERY OF MH FLIGHT 370" at 10:00 eastern only on CNN. Thank you so much, Richard.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Mic. So what about Ted Cruz? Where is his opening to bite into Trump? To make gains? Does to start tonight at the debate? We're going to ask one of Cruz' top supporters if he can really catch Trump, and if so, how?