Q: Do officials still think they'll find Flight 370?

A: Dolan, who all along has expressed "cautious optimism" that they will find the plane, says his feelings haven't changed. If anything, he leans more toward optimism than caution these days.

He's cautious because of the scant data that led them to focus their search on the Indian Ocean. "This is hugely dependent on technical analysis of quite limited satellite information," he says. "We're always as confident as we can be in the reliability of that, but we have to remind ourselves it's not certain _ it's only highly likely."

Conversely, he's optimistic because he is confident in the search crews and equipment, and the high quality of data they're getting from the sonar.

"If the aircraft is out there," Dolan says, "we will find it."