Preliminary Report on MH17 Disaster
ROMANS: The Dutch safety board releasing a preliminary report this morning on the investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Investigators have been combing through the cockpit voice recorder and a whole lot more. So, what are the early findings and which questions remain unanswered? For that, let's bring in CNN's Richard Quest. He joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta. This is the report we have been waiting for. Were the flight data recorders tampered with? What -- how did this plane go down? What are the authorities saying?</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Let me answer those questions in quick succession. No, the flight data was not recorded -- not tampered with. The unique signature of the machine and integrity was good. How -- what actually happened? The word "missile" is never used in the 34 pages of the report. Instead, it talks about the plane receiving an impact from high energy objects, external causes, no warnings. The damage was not consistent with any mechanical fault. Again, external causes. What this tells us is that this plane was shot out of the sky by a proximity missile, at the sort we have known about since the incident happened. But what the importance, Christine, and the significance is, it's the first time we had an official document that actually says somebody brought this plane out of the sky.</s>ROMANS: Richard, did the pilots see it coming? When you listen to the cockpit voice recorder, did the pilots say anything before this plane fell out of the sky?</s>QUEST: That's the terrifying part. Absolutely not. Though a routine air traffic control instruction, move a bit to the left, change direction, avoid some traffic. And then suddenly, 20 minutes past, nothing. That is the terrifying part about reading the transcript. It's as if a normal air traffic control sort of just move around the sky for weather and traffic and then nothing. No warning. This missile hit the aircraft at the front of the plane. The plane broke up in midair and you can tell that by the distribution of damage -- of wreckage on the ground. And perhaps what's most sad this morning, Christine, when you see later in the morning, the pictures from the Ukraine, the site is still virtually untouched.</s>ROMANS: Richard Quest, thank you for bringing that. Again, breaking this morning, that report about what brought that plane down. Thank you, Richard.</s>BERMAN: Tragedy and an outrage. EARLY START continues right now.