Helo 66 recovery?

I stumbled across a website that mentioned the helicopter used in many of
the Apollo spacecraft recoveries which had the big "66" painted on its side.
The site said that this Sea King was lost in 1975 off the coast of San Diego
when it got pulled into the water while using its dipping sonar.

The site was unclear, but did the sonar actually catch on a submarine?

Also, the site said that although the US Navy incident report claims that
the helicopter is in very deep water, divers have actually located the wreck
in only about 230 feet of water and there is a group seeking to recover the
aircraft.

Anybody know any details?





D

DDAY wrote:
I stumbled across a website that mentioned the helicopter used in many of
the Apollo spacecraft recoveries which had the big "66" painted on its side.
The site said that this Sea King was lost in 1975 off the coast of San Diego
when it got pulled into the water while using its dipping sonar.

The site was unclear, but did the sonar actually catch on a submarine?

Unlikely. Usually, such an event happens when the pilot accidentally
"backs down" into the water. It was not uncommon for the RADALT to
malfunction and the pilot would have to hold a 40' hover manually - it
only takes a few seconds backing down before the crewman reports water
coming up through the bell housing for the dipping sonar. The pilot
has to absolutely trust his instruments and even then, its a strenuous
and demanding evolution to hold a hover precisely at 40'. I only have
~ 150 hours in them and we backed into the water twice (I was in a
training command for most of it and nuggets were notorious for it).

Getting back to the possibility that it snagged a sub - I don't believe
I ever heard of that happening to any SeaKing.

Also, the site said that although the US Navy incident report claims that
the helicopter is in very deep water, divers have actually located the wreck
in only about 230 feet of water and there is a group seeking to recover the
aircraft.

I wonder what kind of diver was at 230 feet?

Anybody know any details?

Not I, sir.

v/r Gordon
HS-5, HS-10, HC-1 SH-3 First Crewman

Are you sure it wasn't a Kraken that got the helo??
Walt BJ

WaltBJ wrote:
Are you sure it wasn't a Kraken that got the helo??
Walt BJ

You know, the dip areas they are talking about is the same general area
where that Mk 46 torpedo went rogue and tried to shoot us down. Now,
I'm not saying... I'm just saying...

BTW, its good to hear from you, Walt.

yf Gordon

In article . com,
"Gordon" wrote:

WaltBJ wrote:
Are you sure it wasn't a Kraken that got the helo??
Walt BJ

You know, the dip areas they are talking about is the same general area
where that Mk 46 torpedo went rogue and tried to shoot us down. Now,
I'm not saying... I'm just saying...

Gord
you should re-post that story here some day. That was one of the funniest
things I ever read on usenet.

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur

"Harry Andreas" wrote in message
...
In article . com,
"Gordon" wrote:

WaltBJ wrote:
Are you sure it wasn't a Kraken that got the helo??
Walt BJ

You know, the dip areas they are talking about is the same general area
where that Mk 46 torpedo went rogue and tried to shoot us down. Now,
I'm not saying... I'm just saying...

Gord
you should re-post that story here some day. That was one of the funniest
things I ever read on usenet.

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur

http://www.coastcomp.com/seasnake/torpedee.html

Bob McKellar

While you ponder the whereabouts of CVW-17 whom I gladly flew with in the early 80's on the Forrestal - what is the going thinking on scrapping the CVA-67 JFK when it still offers so much.

(1) despite the hype that it is just a junk heap the worst retrofit costs reached some $600 million in figures
(2) thinking that the high retro cost (on a 1990 scale) would have killed it right off the Navy suddenly lost credibility in that when the new carrier CVN-21 started to grow from $3 billion to $5 billion to $7 billion and now ready to bust $10 billion; all of a sudden the JFK looks like a bargin
(3) of course once you retrofit the JFK you need to ask yourself what do I do with it when the nuclear CV navy is trying to go into a over-surge condition where two nuclear CV''s with added crew and equipment could pump sorties and operate as if it were three CV's, a sure upscale of ops-tempo and something that the JFK in any state of retrofit could not accomplish
(4) but - one could down scale the JFK and make it more Littoral, more Marine Assault, more Coast Guard, more NATO or UK'ish and hence potential new roles for both the JFK and the Kitty Hawk, the last conventional carriers but ships that could form their own new nitche.
(5) what say the experts



"DDAY" wrote in message k.net...
I stumbled across a website that mentioned the helicopter used in many of
the Apollo spacecraft recoveries which had the big "66" painted on its side.
The site said that this Sea King was lost in 1975 off the coast of San Diego
when it got pulled into the water while using its dipping sonar.

The site was unclear, but did the sonar actually catch on a submarine?

Also, the site said that although the US Navy incident report claims that
the helicopter is in very deep water, divers have actually located the wreck
in only about 230 feet of water and there is a group seeking to recover the
aircraft.

Anybody know any details?





D

In article rt0ih.949$Eo.726@trnddc08,
"Ski" wrote:

While you ponder the whereabouts of CVW-17 whom I gladly flew with in the
early 80's on the Forrestal - what is the going thinking on scrapping the
CVA-67 JFK when it still offers so much.

(1) despite the hype that it is just a junk heap the worst retrofit costs
reached some $600 million in figures
(2) thinking that the high retro cost (on a 1990 scale) would have killed it
right off the Navy suddenly lost credibility in that when the new carrier
CVN-21 started to grow from $3 billion to $5 billion to $7 billion and now
ready to bust $10 billion; all of a sudden the JFK looks like a bargin
(3) of course once you retrofit the JFK you need to ask yourself what do I do
with it when the nuclear CV navy is trying to go into a over-surge condition
where two nuclear CV''s with added crew and equipment could pump sorties and
operate as if it were three CV's, a sure upscale of ops-tempo and something
that the JFK in any state of retrofit could not accomplish
(4) but - one could down scale the JFK and make it more Littoral, more Marine
Assault, more Coast Guard, more NATO or UK'ish and hence potential new roles
for both the JFK and the Kitty Hawk, the last conventional carriers but ships
that could form their own new nitche.
(5) what say the experts


The experts say this has nothing to do with the H-3 having a side number
of 66.


--Mike





"DDAY" wrote in message
k.net...
I stumbled across a website that mentioned the helicopter used in many of
the Apollo spacecraft recoveries which had the big "66" painted on its
side.
The site said that this Sea King was lost in 1975 off the coast of San
Diego
when it got pulled into the water while using its dipping sonar.

The site was unclear, but did the sonar actually catch on a submarine?

Also, the site said that although the US Navy incident report claims that
the helicopter is in very deep water, divers have actually located the
wreck
in only about 230 feet of water and there is a group seeking to recover the
aircraft.

Anybody know any details?





D