Updated U.S. Navy Transport Aircraft Located Under Three Miles of Water

[Boats]

Updated U.S. Navy Transport Aircraft Located Under Three Miles of Water
By Kyle Mizokami - Jan 8, 2018
RE: http://www.popularmechanics.com/mili...iles-of-water/

The Navy will attempt to recover the C-2A Greyhound aircraft and her crew in the deepest aircraft salvage operation ever attempted.

A salvage team contracted by the U.S. Navy has located a transport aircraft that crashed into the Philippine Sea in November 2017. The Navy will recover the C-2A Greyhound aircraft and her crew in what is being described as the deepest underwater aircraft salvage ever attempted.

The C-2A Greyhound, a carrier-based onboard delivery aircraft, took off from Marine Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, on November 22, 2017, and was set to rendezvous with the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Philippine Sea. The Greyhound crashed and eight of eleven personnel on board were rescued in good condition. Three, Lt. Steven Combs, Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Airman Matthew Chialastri, and Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Bryan Grosso were never recovered and declared lost at sea. Navy officials have yet to determine the cause of the crash.

In early December, the Navy announced a contracted salvage team would attempt to locate the Greyhound’s emergency relocation pinger using the the Navy’s TPL-25 towed pinger locator system. The TPL-25 is a 70 pound device that is towed behind a vessel moving slowly, typically between one and five knots. The locator, which can detect pingers at depths of up to 20,000 feet, senses the aircraft pinger’s acoustic signal, and operators on the ship record the coordinates where the signal is strongest. Gradually, through triangulation of the signal, operators can pinpoint the emitter location.

Update on U.S. Navy Towed Pinger Locator (TPL) 25 system.

According to a U.S. Navy 7th Fleet press release, the Navy will return with a side-scan-sonar and remotely operated vehicle “to map the debris field and attach heavy lines for lifting the aircraft to the surface.” At more than three miles deep, the recovery effort will be the deepest ever attempted on an aircraft. The Navy will also attempt to recover crew remains, if any. “Despite very challenging conditions,” the Navy added, “every effort will be made to recover the aircraft and our fallen Sailors.”

The Navy has not announced the salvage team, but it could be centered around a Pathfinder class oceanographic survey ship. Crewed mostly by civilians, the five Pathfinder ships incorporate both side-scan-sonar and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) in their mission mapping the undersea environment for the Navy. A commercial salvage vessel equipped with a heavy crane would likely lift the aircraft wreckage from the bottom of the Philippine Sea.

Source: U.S. Naval Institute News