There I Was...Aircraft was on "routine", late afternoon PG flight. Moore was laid out on the troop seat in the after station. Schreffler was in the left sonar seat.

The aircraft suddenly experienced severe vibrations. The pilots reported not being able to read the gauges due to the vibes. An emergency descent was started to a probable water landing. The vibrations stopped and the aircraft began a right turn and impacted the water spinning right in a nose-down, right wing-down attitude. Both pilots and Schreffler egressed successfully. (I hope Gary can add his inputs to this)

Moore was asleep on the troop seat when the vibrations began. It was just getting dusk out. At that time, the main cargo door was open. For those familiar with the SH-3H, you will know the door opens forward.

Upon impact, the door was slammed shut and the aircraft immediately rolled inverted. Moore unstrapped and pushed off toward what he thought was a 5ft X 6ft hole. Remember the egress training about hand-over-hand to your exit? He hit the closed door and became disoriented. It was dark in the aircraft, water was rapidly filling the inverted cabin, a lot of debris was floating around (sonobuoy parapacks, rafts etc.).

Moore attempted to locate an exit using the air bubble in the aircraft 3 times. Moore then began to panic. He stated that he remembered a pilot in the Ready Room saying that if he was ever trapped in the aircraft, he'd kick his way through the sheet metal. Moore then attempted to do just that. Then, by luck, fate, a higher power, whatever you believe, he kicked the door handle on the cargo door. The door moved just enough to give Rusty's panicking brain a reference.

He opened the door and swam clear. He was deep enough at that time his flotation would not inflate. It was later determined that the aircraft was completely submerged for more than 1 minute before Moore returned to the surface.

Lessons Learned:
Old Fart's personal input: Rusty was one of those "normal" young guys.
He joked and played around when doing emergency training. You know the ones, they peek out from under the blindfold when doing egress training. I will be the first one to say have fun doing your job, but, when it comes to emergency work, it's your life one the line. I don't know if it would have helped, but if he had trained for the very real chance of crashing, maybe Rusty would have had an easier time.

As Paul Harvey would say...and now the other part of this story! Click for AW1 Gary Schreffler's recollection of this event!

Fly safe and come back dry!
Rob Bixby
AW1(AW) Retired