"Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero"; Poor Communication Between Countries Hampering Search
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight: the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 intensifying, the mystery of its disappearance widening. A new report this morning claiming that poor communication could have wasted days in the effort to find the vanished jetliner and new information now about the last words from the cockpit. Who said them and how even this information keeps changing. We cover all the angles and all the twists and turns as they unfold this morning. Good morning, everyone. Great to see you today. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow. It is Tuesday, April 1st, 4:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. We're getting an early start, because there are some very important, new details to tell you about in the development in that search for Flight 370. A Malaysian government source telling CNN investigators are convinced someone in the cockpit or on board the plane is responsible for that sudden turn off course. They consider the disappearance of Flight 370 a criminal act. And with that explanation, they're altering the official version of the final sign- off from the jetliner's cockpit. Jim Clancy is live in Kuala Lumpur for us this morning. And, Jim, we understand you just obtained a transcript of the final communication. What does it show you?</s>JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the full transcript between the tower and Flight MH370. In it, you hear all of the things that are going on between the pilots on board the aircraft, air traffic control, ground control, the Kuala Lumpur tower, as this flight proceeds. It carries through, you know, from the time that they say that they want to take off, cleared for takeoff at 12:40 and 38 seconds, 370 32r, 32 right, cleared for takeoff, goodnight. And then Malaysian airlines said, "Cleared for takeoff, Malaysia 370, thank you, bye." The final transmission comes at 1:19.29, and the transcript from -- this is from Malaysia airlines flight 370's cockpit, says "Goodnight Malaysian 370." This came to us via senior government source, highly credible. I'm not an expert in aviation. We're going to have some pilots take a look at this. But I can tell you, as I went down through this three, four times and read everything, Poppy and John, what stands out to me is how routine it is. There is nothing that appears amiss in this at all. But it does clear up a lot of the questions, I think. It gives us one of the few really hard facts that remains, one of the few things that is known about this flight. And what was going on in the cockpit, what was going on in the conversation with the tower just before it disappeared. Back to you.</s>HARLOW: Well, and that confirming those final words were not, as Malaysian authorities said weeks ago, "All right, good night." Jim, also, the head of the International Air Travel Association or IATA, is in Kuala Lumpur and had some interesting things to say. What did he say?</s>CLANCY: This meeting was already scheduled, I believe. It's an operations meeting, if you want to call it that, call it that, an ops meeting that brings together industry experts, executives, airline executives, brings together people that are interested in aviation. And Tony Tyler, the director general of IATA, said that two things really stand out. Number one, they have to get a grip, the countries have to get a grip on controlling the passengers who board flights, that the two stolen passports just point out the problems that people have in confidence with their security. They have databases available. They have to see that all countries are using those databases to help insure safety aboard flights. Even if those two people, those two individuals who are Iranians, believed to be trying to emigrate to Europe, even if they had nothing to do with the disappearance of the flight, that's a problem. Number two -- and I think this stands out in everyone's minds -- they have to implement a way to track planes. The reason that we've got everyone down scouring the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean is because we have no real idea, no real evidence of where this plane went down. That shouldn't happen today in an age where we track packages.</s>HARLOW: Right, everything.</s>CLANCY: We track vehicles, we even track pets.</s>HARLOW: Right. Absolutely. Appreciate the reporting -- appreciate the reporting this morning and telling us more about what is in that transcript from what was communicated between the plane and the tower. Thank you, Jim.</s>BERMAN: Yes, that's a new development. We've all been waiting for that transcript.</s>HARLOW: Right.</s>BERMAN: It's in Jim Clancy's hands this morning. We'll get back to that in a little bit as Jim pores over the details. Meanwhile, it has been one dead end after another in the search for Flight 370. This is the latest. Three days wasted. That is according to a new report. "The Wall Street Journal" says search teams were looking in the wrong place in the southern Indian Ocean for 72 hours because of poor coordination, saying the two separate teams were analyzing different data to calculate the plane's trajectory, one looking at radar data, the other looking at satellite data. They didn't get together. Remember, they changed the search area, about 700 miles. It's been 25 days since Flight 370 vanished. The search at sea is turning up plenty of debris, but none of it so far can be connected to the missing jetliner. Let's get the latest on this search from Atika Shubert. She's been manning the situation for us from Perth, Australia, near the air base. Atika, what's the latest this morning?</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've got 12 planes up in the air searching that area, an area the size of Ireland. That's according to the new coordinator, chief air marshal, Angus Houston, who held a press conference earlier today. And he was very clear that this is not something that's going to be wrapped up quickly, even if they find debris soon. This is something that's going to take weeks, if not longer, he said, to go through. So, some tough words today. Take a listen to what Mick -- to the deputy CEO of the Australian Maritime Safety situation said, Mick Kinley. He basically put into perspective what we're looking at in this search.</s>MICK KINLEY, AUSTRALIAN DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER FOR AMSA: Currently, we believe we're looking in the place that gives us the best probability of success. As that information is refined we may move that effort, but currently, that's where we are. We have by no means exhausted that search area yet, and we will continue to make every effort we can to give the people who are flying the best probability we can.</s>SHUBERT: Reading between the lines there, they're basically saying they're doing the best they can, but the bottom line is, they don't even know whether or not they're looking in the right place, John.</s>BERMAN: Best they can, Atika. As they keep on searching, they keep turning up debris, which causes some hope, but it keeps turning up to be junk from fishing vessels and the like, causing a lot of frustration, as you've been reporting. Our Atika Shubert in Perth, Australia -- thanks very much.</s>HARLOW: Well, for the families of the 239 people on board Flight 370, more heartache, more frustration, more confusion, frankly. Debris sightings in the Indian ocean raising their hopes and then dashing them. Their distrust of the Malaysian government mounting by the hour. Now they're preparing legal action. David McKenzie joins us from Beijing this morning. David, you have been with these families throughout, and throughout from hope to despair. Tell me what the latest is in terms of the potential legal action they could take here, because I know there was a major development late last night.</s>DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Poppy. You know, there are a number of law firms that have representatives at that hotel where hundreds of family members have been held up for these weeks, trying to find out anything about their loved ones. And as is always the case in an airline crash like this, you know, the legal options start to mount. And at this stage, those legal options could be potentially severe for the manufacturers, but we don't know until, of course, they conduct an investigation. I spoke to the head of litigation at Ribbeck Law. Take a listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to believe it crashed. Although the minister of defense said we believe it crashed, we still need to know for sure that it crashed. Even finding a small piece of the plane, a cushion, a window, will help us in our legal case.</s>MCKENZIE: Well, certainly, no lawsuit can proceed until they find some debris. And as you say, a major development in this, that law firm, Ribbeck Law, which filed a petition to get information from both Boeing and Malaysian airlines from a circuit court in Chicago, they had that petition thrown out. The judge said it was not valid. The law firm says they will appeal that ruling, but will certainly try to push through with the lawsuit in this case, has very real implications, of course, in aviation law if they push through for the families as well. But every family member I've spoken to say it's not about the money, it's about having some kind of closure about their loved ones.</s>HARLOW: And I'm wondering, David, if you've gotten any reaction from the family members yet to the fact that we know now from the transcript that the final words out of the cockpit were different than Malaysian authorities originally said, not significantly different, but still different. And in this investigation, any fact we can get our hands on is key. Are they reacted to that or the "Wall Street Journal" report that days were really wasted because of a lack of communication in terms of where that key search area should be?</s>MCKENZIE: Many of the family members have already accused Malaysian airlines of delaying the investigation and not giving the right amount of information. They have not yet received a transcript from the airline representatives. In a meeting that is ongoing right as we speak. So, we will see if they get that transcript that Jim was reporting about. And certainly, it would fit with their overall anger and frustration in this case, that as they have tried to figure out what happened to those on board, they have repeatedly pointing the finger at the airlines and at the government, and so has the Chinese government, for that matter. But certainly, the Malaysian airlines say they're doing everything they can to provide information to these families. So, you know, all in all, as these weeks drag out, it's certainly a very messy situation for everyone involved.</s>HARLOW: Absolutely.</s>MCKENZIE: Poppy?</s>HARLOW: Thank you, David. Appreciate it.</s>BERMAN: Again, the breaking news as you just mentioned with David McKenzie, CNN just obtaining the transcript of the final conversation between the cockpit of Flight 370 and air traffic control. Our Jim Clancy in Kuala Lumpur has that transcript. We're going over it right now, trying to figure out if there are any details in there that we did not know before.</s>HARLOW: Right.</s>BERMAN: We'll be following all the latest news on the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 all morning. But first, Ukraine expected to get big support today from the United States. Congress voting on millions of dollars of aid, also punishment for Russia. We're live in Moscow with reaction right after the break.