Mini-Sub Continues Search for Navy Plane Wreckage

The investigation into the deaths of 27 crewman aboard two P-3 Orions that crashed off San Diego has been extended while a miniature submarine searches the ocean floor for clues.

The investigating board headed by Rear Admiral B.B. Bremmer had been scheduled to finish its work on Saturday, but the deadline has been extended.

“If done right, it’s going to take a while, and this one is going to be done right,” Chief Petty Officer Bob Howard, a Navy spokesman, said Friday.

A miniature submarine and underwater probe have been searching off Baja California since May 4 for clues to the crash, in particular an in-flight recording of the pilots’ final conversation, said Lt. Susan Haeg, a spokeswoman for the Navy’s Submarine Group 5 based in San Diego.

“They’re also looking for any other kind of debris that would be of use to the mishap board” investigating the accident, Haeg said. “They’re looking for a debris field. They have not found anything yet.”

An earlier search started immediately after the March 21 crash was called off two days later after locating scattered debris but no recorder. The bodies of the crewmen, based at Moffet Naval Air Station, have not been recovered.

Even if recovered, the in-flight recordings may not reveal what caused the crash about 60 miles southwest of San Diego. The P-3s were equipped with conventional tape recorders, which are not as secure as the “black boxes” used on commercial airlines and which may have been destroyed in the crash or by the salt water, Howard said.