'This Week' Transcript: 2014 Game Changers

— -- Below is the rush transcript for This Week on December 28, 2014. It may contain errors and will be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Starting right now, a special edition of ABC's This Week: game changers.

JONI ERNST, SENATOR-ELECT IOWA: Well Iowa, we did it, we did it!

ANNOUNCER: The twists and surprises.

IAN DARKE, SPORTSCASTER: Tim Howard is there.

ANNOUNCER: The people who made their mark in 2014.

We're inside the fight against Ebola. How these heroes beat the odds.

The new high stakes drama. Has Vladimir Putin reignited the Cold War?

After a tough year for the NFL, has soccer now become America's game?

And the powerful emotional story behind the year's biggest viral video. One hour of new, exclusive interviews and insights. The game changers of 2014.

From ABC News, a special edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos begins now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: Good morning, and welcome to our special holiday edition of This Week, a week we mark each year with our special game changers edition.

But there is a big developing story right now and we want to get right to it.

DAN HARRIS, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: George, thank you and good morning. I'm Dan Harris in New York. And we are tracking breaking news right now, just nine months after Malaysia Air flight 370 disappeared, another passenger plane from an airline based in Malaysia has vanished in that same part of the world.

Air Asia flight 8501 was in the middle of what was supposed to be a short two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore when it disappeared, vanished from the radar. More than 160 people were on board, including many children.

ABC's David Kerley is tracking all of this for us this morning.

David, good morning to you.

DAVID KERLEY, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dan.

It will be an agonizing night for families. It is now dark over the Java Sea where a handful of aircraft looked for this missing jetliner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KERLEY: This is the actual Air Asia A-320 that is missing at this hour. Indonesian and Singaporean aircraft, about a half dozen, spent the afternoon looking for any sign of the jetliner, which was carrying 161 people, mostly Indonesians.

Flight 8501 took off from Indonesia early Saturday morning heading northwest for Singapore. 42 minutes into the flight, the jet runs into severe weather, thunderstorms and turbulence. The pilot asked to turn and to increase altitude significantly, from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet.

The jet then just disappears off radar. Call centers and family areas set up for those wondering about the passengers, which include 16 children and one infant with a crew of six.

The A-320 was just 8 years old and had no serious maintenance issues. Air Asia is a low cost startup airline and has a good safety record.

But the mystery is what happened to this aircraft and where it is this morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KERLEY: The search has been called off now that it is dark over the Java Sea.

President Obama has been advised about the situation.

Another mystery surrounding a South Asian aircraft, Dan.

HARRIS: Another mystery. David, thank you.

So, let's bring in now our aviation expert, Colonel Steve Ganyard who is a former marine corps fighter pilot.

Steve, I know for many of us when we're on planes and we're in that moment when we hit turbulence, we all try to remember, at least I do, that planes are build to withstand bad weather.

So, given that, what could have possibly gone wrong here?