The Rubicon Foundation: B25

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09-11-2005
The next morning we were out at the dock at 07:30 and headed off to the barge with our dive gear. With nine divers total there was a lot of equipment to be moved out to the barge. To the right is a shot of one of the runs we made with about 10 sets of doubles and all the ancillary crap that goes along with them.

The first dives of the day entailed putting marker buoys on the nose, tail and each engine of the plane. By the time Brian and Gene came up in the rotation, that had been accomplished and they had moved on to beginning work on the lifting strap under the right wing. At this point Glen and Billy had already taken a crack at it, but had been unsuccessful. While preparing for our dive, Brian took both of our oxygen bottles and clipped them to a down line so that they could pick them up once they were in the water. In doing this, Brian got them both on the boat snap on the end of the line, and then picked up the line to ensure that they were held securely. As Brian lowered them over the side his attention was diverted by conversation to my left and he felt the line begin to twist causing the bottles to hit the side of the barge. That coupled with the line slackening in his hand caused him to look back at the water just in time to see his oxygen bottle come out of the hook and splash into the water. Brian had just enough time to utter an obscenity or two before it disappeared into the darkness.

After re-planning their deco to include 70 fsw gas instead of oxygen, Brian and Gene dropped in with instructions to land on the left wing, work their way over the fuselage to the right wing and then begin working a rope under the wing next to the engine nacelle. Once the rope was through, they could attach the lifting strap to the rope and pull it through. Now that SOUNDS real easy as I sit here and write it, but let me tell you at 150 ffw with about six inches of visibility it is entirely another matter. Brian and Gene arrived on the bottom to almost no visibility. Their first order of business was to cross over the airframe to the right side engine. Negotiating the plane in the dark was more than a little challenging and just getting over there took them almost ten minutes. The next part of the plan involved them splitting up. One would be at the leading edge of the wing, and the other at the trailing edge. Brian was to shove a hook between the wing and the flap (the flaps were extended) and Gene was to reach under the wing from the front with a long pole to catch the hook and pull it through. Again that sounds easy, but in the swirling muck they had all they could do to find the buried edges of the wing. At one point, Brian shoved his left arm into the silt and ran out of arm before he touched aluminum. After a couple attempts they were out of bottom time, rattled and frustrated so it was time to head home. They left the tools clipped to the bottom of the down line and headed out. During decompression they had plenty of time to think. Neither of them wanted to get out of the water and admit that they had accomplished nothing. On top of that they had to admit that on camera, because the film crew was waiting for when they arrived. Much crow was eaten that day. Of course, they felt better after Heather and Joe dropped in right behind them and returned an hour later with a similar report. Visibility was awful and they had accomplished no more than Brian and Gene had. One last dive team, composed of Chris and Billy managed to get the hook set between the wing and the flap, but no more, and diving operations were suspended for the day. After packing it in for the evening, food was in order. Billy, Brian, Gene, Glen, Heather, Joe, and Rob savored a late night breakfast at Denney's (after some quick repairs to Heather's truck in the Ruby Tuesday's parking lot).

Image credits: Chris Elmore.

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