35 Miles from Shore (23 page)

Rather than fly under the ragged ceiling, Bill requested an IFR clearance to the accident scene. The small plane was soon swallowed up by the thick, dark clouds. The plane was still in the clouds at 1,800 feet when it reached the point where the Antilles Airboat was still circling. Bill coordinated his descent through the overcast with Center to make sure the two aircraft had adequate separation. The Pan Am 727 had already left the scene.

The Skyvan broke out of the overcast at around 500 feet. Bill didn't see anything except for the rough sea. He started flying a boxed search pattern, searching for both the survivors and the Antilles Air Boat. “Look to your left,” someone in back shouted excitedly. Bill looked out his window and spotted people in the water gathered around what looked like a life raft. He swung the aircraft around in a tight turn but lost sight of the people as soon as he took his eyes off them. He had to fly another circle before reestablishing visual contact. This time he told the guys in back to keep their eyes on the people in the water and to not let them out of their sight. The VORs on the islands didn't have distance measuring equipment (DME), so Bill did a cross reference of two VORs to help pinpoint the site. This way he could find the scene again if he were to lose visual contact.

Not long after spotting the escape slide, Bill spotted the Antilles Airboat flying a few hundred feet below him. Bill established radio contact with the pilot of the Grumman Goose and asked him what his intentions were. The pilot radioed back that he had thought about landing but decided that the seas were too rough. When Bill told the pilot he wanted to drop some life rafts, the pilot of the Airboat agreed to depart the scene.

Bill flew a racetrack pattern around the slide, flying counterclockwise so as to keep the slide in sight off to his left. He told the three men in back to drop the four-man life raft first so he could get a good read on the drift.

The laundry that had been in the aircraft had been secured by long straps called Aeroquip straps that stretched from the front of the cabin to a tie down in the rear. George Stoute and Paul Wikander each took one of the Aeroquip straps and wrapped one end around their waists. The visibility was so poor they couldn't see anything out the side windows. So they opened the rear door and shimmied on their stomachs until they were able to look straight down at the water.

Of the three men in back, one of them, Paul Wikander, had some actual SAR experience. Paul had spent four years in the Coast Guard as a crew chief on an HU-16. He knew that the proper way to drop a life raft was to have the raft inflate prior to entering the water. This prevents the raft from becoming damaged during the drop and assures that the raft is inflated for immediate use. Inflating a life raft in the water is difficult at best. Paul used one of the Aeroquip straps and attached it to the inflation lanyard on the four-man life raft. He and George Stoute then shimmied their way back to the open door.

Bill brought the Skyvan down to as low as thirty feet above the water and slowed to sixty knots. As he neared the main group, he yelled back for them to get ready. He was flying into the wind. The plan was to drop the raft immediately after passing over the main group. This way the raft would drift back toward the survivors. Andy Titus pushed the four-man raft toward the open door. As soon as Bill passed over the main group of survivors, he gave the signal and George Stoute and Paul Wikander shoved the raft out the back of the Skyvan. The raft hit the water seconds later and only partially inflated. “We need to be higher,” Paul Wikander shouted toward the cockpit. He wanted the raft to have more time to inflate.

They used the same procedure for dropping the twenty-man life raft. Bill brought the plane overhead and slowed to sixty knots. He was slightly higher this time and when the raft was pushed out, it
inflated fully before hitting the water. Unfortunately, the large raft was caught by the strong winds and was blown downwind thirty yards from the closest survivor.

After dropping both life rafts, the three men in back looked for anything else they might be able to toss out that could be of some help. They found six life vests and tossed those out on the next pass.

While Bill Bohlke was dropping his life rafts from the Skyvan, Tom Blank arrived overhead in the Coast Guard HU-16. He had been listening in to the conversation between the Antilles Airboat and the Skyvan. Once the Antilles left, Tom asked for a descent through the overcast. San Juan Center maintained separation between the two planes. Tom spotted what looked like yellow or orange objects floating in the water. He assumed the objects were life vests but couldn't make out any details. He lost sight of them as he passed overhead. Once he regained visual contact, he flew a counterclockwise racetrack pattern to keep the survivors in view.

The HU-16 Tom was flying had a crew of five: Tom and his co-pilot, Richard Evans, plus a radio operator, a mechanic, and a drop master. The radio operator sat in the cockpit in a seat directly behind the co-pilot; his radio console was located on the overhead panel. The aircraft could carry up to twelve passengers and could stay aloft for up to ten hours — hence the name Albatross. Although the HU-16 was an amphibious aircraft, the Coast Guard did not allow its pilots to land the aircraft in open water without special permission. The restriction came as a result of several accidents involving HU-16s trying to land and takeoff in rough seas. The Coast Guard didn't even practice making takeoffs and landings in open water. Neither Tom Blank nor Richard Evans had ever made a takeoff and landing in anything close to the sea conditions that existed at the time they arrived
on the scene. More importantly, though, they didn't need to. They knew that helicopters were on the way.

One of Tom's first tasks was to determine wind direction. This was usually done by dropping a smoke flare. The winds were strong this day, and Tom could easily determine the wind direction just by looking at the water. High winds create visible wind streaks in the water that indicate the direction the wind is blowing. What he could use, though, was a marker beacon. The aircraft carried a portable radio beacon that he and other properly equipped aircraft could home in on. The beacon was cylindrical, about two feet long and six inches in diameter. It had an antenna that protruded out the top. The batteries in the beacon were saltwater activated and capable of transmitting a continuous signal for up to twelve hours. It had a range of up to twenty miles. If he lost the scene, he could find it again by homing in on the marker beacon.

The marker beacon was capable of transmitting on two frequencies. The recognized military emergency frequency was 243.0, also referred to as the guard frequency.
⁴
Once activated, the marker beacon also transmits a continuous Morse code identification. The Morse code can interfere with radio communications, so a second frequency is provided to free up the emergency frequency for voice communications. The drop master, however, failed to switch to the secondary frequency and dropped the beacon with it set to 243.0. The incessant beeping became so annoying that Tom had to switch off the guard frequency.

Next, Tom told the drop master to prepare for a raft drop. He wanted to drop two of the three life rafts that he had aboard.

Before tossing out the life raft, the drop master attached a two-hundred-foot bayonet line, called a trail line. The trail line could be used by someone in the water to grab onto and pull the raft toward them should the raft drift away or be blown away, which was a good
possibility in the prevalent conditions. The floatable trail line was colored a bright orange. After attaching the bayonet line, the drop master attached a twenty-foot line to the inflation lanyard. In a perfect raft drop, the raft would become fully inflated fifty to one hundred feet above the water.

Once the raft was prepared for the drop, the drop master attached a safety harness around his waist and opened both halves of the entrance door. On Tom's command he shoved the raft out the door. Tom knew that the wind was strong and had tried to time the drop so the raft would have the best opportunity to reach the survivors. The first raft, however, was caught by the strong winds and cartwheeled past the survivors. On the second raft drop Tom made an adjustment, but the raft failed to inflate. It too landed out of reach of the survivors. It was the first time Tom Blank had ever had a raft not inflate during a raft drop.

Bill Bohlke saw the HU-16 drop the marker beacon and then the two life rafts. He was monitoring the frequency and heard the HU-16 pilot trying to reach San Juan Center. Bill could hear the Center controller responding, but the Coast Guard plane apparently could not hear San Juan Center.

The HU-16 was designed to be a flying command center. It was decked out with enough radio gear that it could communicate on virtually any frequency. Unfortunately, the radios, like the aircraft, were old and not in the best of shape. Once the plane descended to a lower altitude, the crew could no longer receive San Juan Center.

Bill Bohlke got on the radio. “Coast Guard 7245 this is Skyvan 33BB (three three bravo bravo). I'm reading San Juan Center loud and clear. I can relay for you if you'd like.”

“Roger,” came the reply from the HU-16. A minute or two later, the Coast Guard pilot came back on the radio. “Skyvan 33BB, how much fuel do you have?”

Bill informed the pilot that he had plenty of fuel and would be happy to fly the Coast Guard's wing and act as a relay to San Juan Center.

“Roger, that's great. We'll do that.”

Bill notified San Juan Center that he would be acting as a communication relay for Coast Guard 7245. Bill maneuvered the Skyvan slightly behind and to the right of the HU-16, pushing the throttles up slightly to keep him in sight. He would remain in that position, passing on communications between San Juan Center and the Coast Guard HU-16, for the remainder of the rescue.

The Coast Guard HU-16 had direct contact with the RCC in San Juan. Tom Blank and his HU-16 became the On Scene Commander (OSC) for the rescue.

W
HILE EVERYONE IN THE WATER WAS CERTAIN THAT
help was on the way, the ominous-looking sky led some to ponder the possibility that the deteriorating weather might hamper any rescue attempts. Thick, dark clouds with ragged tendrils of virga drifted menacingly overhead. When the Pan Am 727 appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, it buoyed everyone's spirits. Several passengers waved at the jet as it thundered by. The second plane to appear overhead was also greeted enthusiastically, even though its attempt to land was thwarted by rough seas.

Now a third aircraft appeared beneath the ragged ceiling. The boxy aircraft was flying so low and slow that it looked like it was standing still. The plane made a tight circle to the left and then dropped a life raft about thirty yards upwind from the main group. Balsey knew the value of a raft in this situation. It would be dark soon. If they weren't rescued before sunset, hypothermia would become a factor, despite the warm water temperature. Hypothermia is defined as a core body temperature of ninety-five degrees or less. A person immersed in water
will cool twenty-five to thirty times faster than in air.
*
One of the first signs of hypothermia is shivering, a condition that several passengers were already exhibiting. While the water temperature was sufficiently warm enough that those in the water could expect to survive for up to forty hours or more, many would lose consciousness long before that. Getting people out of the water and into a life raft would increase the chances of survival considerably. Balsey made the decision to go after the raft, despite the risk of becoming separated from the main group. Before heading for the raft, he told Harry Evans, who was still on the slide, that he was leaving him in command in his absence. Whether it was Balsey's show of confidence, or whether it was the fact that Harry was no longer facing the fear of being in the water without a life vest, Harry rose to the occasion and became a visible authority figure to those around the escape slide. He repeated Hugh's suggestion for the men to use their belts and ties as extra hand-holds. He calmed the people and assured them that rescuers were on the way. Satisfied that Harry had things under control, Balsey started to swim toward the raft. He was joined by Hugh Hart.

Balsey and Hugh were about fifteen yards away from the raft when the civilian aircraft made another pass and dropped a second life raft. This raft inflated on the way down and was blown downwind a good fifty yards. Balsey told Hugh to continue after the first raft and that he would go for the second one.

“Balsey, are you crazy?” Hugh said. “You'll never get that sonofabitch. The way it's blowin' it's going to end up in Africa or someplace.”

“Hugh,” Balsey said, “I'm still in command. Do what I tell you. We need a raft. If I don't come back, I don't come back. At least we'll
have a better chance of getting a raft than if we both go after the same one.”

Balsey swam as hard as he could but quickly tired. His progress was impeded by the waves and his life vest, which made swimming an arduous task. His left hand, which had been cut when he exited the aircraft, was stinging from the salt water. He opened and closed his fist to help ward off the pain. He swam using a modified breaststroke, keeping his head as high above the water as he could. The raft would come in and out of view as both he and the raft bobbed up and down in the huge swells. Every few minutes he would stop to catch his breath. He'd start out again when he got a good bead on the raft. He got within a few yards of the raft but couldn't close the gap. It kept drifting away from him. Finally, he gave it all he had and managed to get a hand on the rubbery surface. He pulled himself toward the raft and in the process swallowed a large amount of salt water. Balsey summoned all the strength he had and managed to pull himself inside the large raft. He looked but couldn't see any of the survivors. He was totally isolated. He did spot a large amphibious aircraft off in the distance. This aircraft also dropped a raft, but it was so far away that Balsey was sure it wouldn't be retrieved.