Navy Team Seeks Answers in Crash

SAN DIEGO —  An elite squad of Navy deep-sea recovery specialists leaves today for the chilly waters off Northern California in hopes of solving the mystery of the Air Force rescue plane that crashed Nov. 22, killing 10 crewmen.

Twenty members of the Deep Submergence Unit, based at Coronado’s North Island Naval Air Station, will leave aboard the Laney Chouest, a 260-foot civilian ship under contract to the Navy.

In recent years, the unit has successfully completed some of the military’s most difficult underwater retrieval assignments: recovering two intact helicopters, parts of two F-14s and the F-14A flown by Lt. Kara Hultgreen, the Navy’s first female fighter pilot. The unit also retrieved the cargo door of a Boeing 747 that was torn off over Hawaii, sweeping nine passengers to their deaths.

The Deep Submergence Unit has been given the daunting task of finding and filming the wreckage of the HC-130P Hercules that crashed in an estimated 5,000 feet of water 60 miles off Mendocino. The jumbo plane, a workhorse of military aircraft, went down while on a training mission, with only one crewman surviving.

As part of the effort to determine what caused the crash, Air Force investigators have assembled the plane’s maintenance records and a sample of the fuel being used, according to an Air Force spokesman. Until the wreckage and the plane’s flight recorder--known on civilian aircraft as a “black box”--can be located and retrieved, Air Force investigators can only guess at what caused the accident.

The plane, whose crew members were reservists, was on its way to North Island from Portland, Ore.

After taking off from Portland at 5:30 p.m. in rainy, foggy weather, the plane reported that one engine was shut down and the craft was experiencing electrical problems. About 7:30 p.m., air traffic controllers in Oakland and Seattle lost radar and radio contact.

Coast Guard rescue cutters, arriving at the scene within 90 minutes, plucked Tech. Sgt. Robert T. Vogel from rough, 53-degree water infested by sharks. The 31-year-old college student was airlifted to a civilian hospital, where he was treated for a broken pelvis, cuts, hypothermia and cuts.

Two bodies were recovered within hours, but the remains of eight of the crewmen have yet to be recovered. After searching for 48 hours, the effort was switched from a rescue effort to a retrieval effort, a signal that all hope for survival was gone.

Using a tethered, remote-controlled submersible vehicle called Scorpio, the Deep Submergence Unit’s first goal will be to find the wreckage through sonar and photography. That will allow military officials to determine if retrieval is feasible.

“[The Laney Chouest] can be configured for salvage,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jack Papp, spokesman for the Navy’s San Diego-based Third Fleet. “Right now we’re going up to do a search and survey.”

Two key factors in determining whether retrieval is possible, Papp said, will be the depth at which the wreckage is found and the condition of the seas. The Laney Chouest, which has a civilian crew of 11, will probably take three days to be in position to begin work, Papp said.

The Scorpio has a depth range of about 5,000 feet. Thus the possibility exists that the Hercules’ wreckage is too deep to recover.

The Scorpio, whose main task is to be prepared to assist imperiled submarines, can be rigged to hook downed craft with straps and Kevlar lines that can be used to haul the wreckage to the surface.

Coast Guard and Air Force salvage crews have recovered a 40-foot section of one wing, a portion of the landing gear, three life rafts and numerous personal items, including a hiking boot, a cowboy boot and several coffee pots.

The HC-130P, a four-engine turboprop built in 1964, was part of the Air Force Reserve’s Portland-based 304th Rescue Squadron, whose task is to assist with land and sea rescue efforts for downed aviators and civilian rescues. The reservists came from Oregon and Washington.

“We’re all devastated,” said Staff Sgt. David Bartlett, spokesman for the Portland-based 939th Rescue Wing, which includes the 304th squadron. “We’re thrilled that Bob Vogel survived but at the same time, we’re dealing with a lot of grief.”

The 939th, the object of considerable pride in the Northwest, is known for successful rescues during the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The wing also did a tour in Turkey, prepared to rescue American fliers in Iraq if needed. The 939th’s motto is: “These things we do that others may live.”

The C-130 has been used by the Air Force and the Navy since before the Vietnam War to carry cargo and troops. The Hercules that crashed had been outfitted with extra fuel tanks to lengthen its range.

An Air Force C-130 carrying Secret Service equipment for the detail protecting President Clinton crashed in August in Wyoming, killing all nine aboard. That crash was attributed to pilot error.