Deep-sea divers Brett Eldridge and Tyler Stalter enjoy exploring the wrecks of ships and airplanes deposited by destiny on the ocean floor — sunk by stormy weather, shredded by war, mugged by mechanical mishap.
So when Stalter was on the internet one day and saw underwater video of what looked like a helicopter wreck in local waters — and at a depth that matched the rumors — he and Eldridge got excited. They chartered a dive boat, Marissa, in July. It’s an issue now for the families of the five Navy sailors killed when their MH-60S Seahawk helicopter crashed while trying to land on an aircraft carrier off San Diego on Aug. 31. The wreckage is believed to be in waters 4,000 to 6,000 feet deep. An underwater search and salvage operation began last week.
It, too, was a Sea King, but a different model. One of the differences was the length of the sonar cable. Helo 66 carried a 500-foot cable; the 1964 copter would have had a 250-foot one. Plunging back into research, Stalter found news clippings that mentioned a third Sea King crash off the San Diego coast. It went down on Sept. 3, 1968, during a test flight. The helicopter had just gone through a major overhaul at North Island. Two crew members were rescued by a nearby fishing boat. A third aviator was never found.The location of the crash, about 10 miles off Imperial Beach, made it a possible match for the wreckage. The date fit the gray-and-white color scheme, too.
To Stalter and Eldridge, all the pieces fit. They are now almost 100% certain that the wreckage they found is from the helicopter that crashed in 1968.
this is terrible news
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