Diver injured on the Oriskany

[diver 85]

the only bad thing about the aircraft carrier being that far out(25 miles) is that response time can take quite some time.

I had to a little when I read your part of the post "that far out(25 miles).... "....Our 1st snapper rigs here off SW La., leaving out of Cameron or Grand Chanier, are 28 miles out the Pass/es(whopping 45' of water!!!!----whoa).....But , we survive....lol........40 miles out, we get to 75' of water.......travel it every weekend (weather permitting) in my 25' Wellcraft......Oh well, to sit & dream.......Now saying that, when I pull her to Venice, La.(7 hr pull from my house), 7 miles off shore we're in 700' of water, 19 miles out it's around 2000'.....(that's where the big boys hang out)....Have hit USCG out of Galveston(one day broke a hydrolic steering hose & both engines we frozen- no steering- @ about a 15 degree angle....btw, came in with starboard engine in forward, port in reverse from 29 miles offshore---a slow boat to China!!!), figured that was close to 110 miles on my VHF.......lol...Ya'll have it made @ 25 to 40 miles.......


Hope this diver is doing well & makes a good recovery............

 

[Rick Murchison]

Doesn't take long to cover 25 miles when you're doing 110 mph.

You just reminded me of a True Story!
TINS
When I was going through the RAG at Lemoore in the A7, the head SAR guy was "Stormin' Norman" Hicks. Among his accomplishments were pioneer work in developing high altitude SAR techniques for the Huey and using them for a SAR at Mount Whitney, as well as doing lots of the flying in "Towering Inferno."
Norm had a really slow southern drawl that he'd use when briefing all the new hot-shot jet jocks on SAR procedures.
He'd say "If one of y'all has to jump out up there in those mountains, you just sit tight, and I'm gonna come get you. I'm gonna come at a hundred and twenty knots. Now a hundred 'n twenty may not seem very fast to you jet jockeys, but y'all have to remember, I've got a ninety knot brain."
Rick

 

[deeper thoughts]

I had to a little when I read your part of the post "that far out(25 miles).... "....Our 1st snapper rigs here off SW La., leaving out of Cameron or Grand Chanier, are 28 miles out the Pass/es(whopping 45' of water!!!!----whoa).....But , we survive....lol........40 miles out, we get to 75' of water.......travel it every weekend (weather permitting) in my 25' Wellcraft......Oh well, to sit & dream.......Now saying that, when I pull her to Venice, La.(7 hr pull from my house), 7 miles off shore we're in 700' of water, 19 miles out it's around 2000'.....(that's where the big boys hang out)....Have hit USCG out of Galveston(one day broke a hydrolic steering hose & both engines we frozen- no steering- @ about a 15 degree angle....btw, came in with starboard engine in forward, port in reverse from 29 miles offshore---a slow boat to China!!!), figured that was close to 110 miles on my VHF.......lol...Ya'll have it made @ 25 to 40 miles.......


Hope this diver is doing well & makes a good recovery............

Wow, when we go to the elbow its about 17 miles and I tell my wife "where taking a long trip today"

 

[chickdiver]

Y'all are talking apples & oranges. The question is "Is there an alert helo & crew ready to pull the trigger available in Pensacola."
If there is, you're right. If there isn't, Tommy's right.
I sorta doubt there's an alert SAR at NPA (or Eglin or Milton) on weekends.
Rick

Rick, Kraken, et al:

I attended the last pre- sinking meeting on the Oriskany at the Escambia County EOC. Represented were various local dive shops and charter operations, local hospitals (representation from as far as Panama City) and hyperbaric chambers, the Navy and Coast Guard. Discussion about dive accidents and transportation of injured divers was a big topic. IIRC, it was stated that there is no CG SAR helo stationed in the Pensacola area. The closest were on the Mississippi coast and Panama City. (please bear in mind I am speaking from memory, and that things may have changed in the last year).

 

[mike_s]

Mobile has a Coast Guard Air unit.... I don't think there is another one along the gulf coast until you get to Clearwater.

Any unit that might be at one of the stations near there (Destin, P'cola, PCB) are most likely just a visiting helicopter from the Mobile unit.

Note: the Mobile unit is the USCG's Air Training unit, so you'll see them training going to the other close by units.

 

[chickdiver]

Mobile has a Coast Guard Air unit.... I don't think there is another one along the gulf coast until you get to Clearwater.

Any unit that might be at one of the stations near there (Destin, P'cola, PCB) are most likely just a visiting helicopter from the Mobile unit.

Note: the Mobile unit is the USCG's Air Training unit, so you'll see them training going to the other close by units.

I was looking at the Sector 8 units trying to see where the air stations were- but my browser was acting flaky.

It's a big area to cover!

 

[The Kraken]

Hey, if y'all could get someone to buy an old Huey and put pontoons on it, Uncle Ricky and I would be glad to provide medivac ! ! !

By golly, we'd just tie off to the wreck and wait. Course we'd have to do a bit of diving from time to time.

the K

 

[Rick Murchison]

The Coast Guard ain't the only game in town... when there's regularly scheduled local training flying going on, the Navy and Air Force (Army... well, Army's sorta automatic if they have more than two aircraft airborne, eh?) have Alert SAR manned & ready to go. So mid-week, I'd expect the lads at Sherman to respond if needed.
Rick

 

[chickdiver]

The Coast Guard ain't the only game in town... when there's regularly scheduled local training flying going on, the Navy and Air Force (Army... well, Army's sorta automatic if they have more than two aircraft airborne, eh?) have Alert SAR manned & ready to go. So mid-week, I'd expect the lads at Sherman to respond if needed.
Rick

Would that fall under the same rulings as using the Navy's chamber, though? Pensacola NAS has a nice chamber facility, but it is not made available to civilians. IIRC at that meeting they stated that they would treat civilians ~IF~ all the other area chambers were unavailable, ~AND~ it was not currently in use. I realize that this is a decision usually made by the individual commands, but seems to me there might be some sort of rule about it?

FYI- Baptist Hospital in Pensacola claims they have a chamber "capable" of treating divers- it's a monoplace tube- definitely NOT suitable for treating an injured diver. You don't want to get bent here, and if you do, pray they transport you to Panama City or Mobile.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Would that fall under the same rulings as using the Navy's chamber, though?

I think it's probably pretty simple... if the Coast Guard asks, they respond if they can. Years ago I remember a response to a missing child case in Perdido Bay - in response to a Coast Guard request... (turned out to be a scam, but that's another story)
'Course we've probably graduated 500,000 lawyers since then, so the liability monster may interfere.
Rick