Survivor recounts ordeal

Man says he was just seconds from death in Cormorant crash

Steve Bruce, Halifax Chronicle Herald, 29 Sept 06

Sgt. Marty Moloney says he was only seconds from dying in the July 13 crash of a Canadian Forces Cormorant rescue helicopter that claimed the lives of three crew mates.

In an interview with The Chronicle Herald on Thursday, Sgt. Moloney said he failed at his first two attempts to unhook his safety line underwater and escape the rear cabin of the chopper, which crashed into the ocean at about 12:30 a.m. during a night training exercise off Canso.

"I was down to very little time left," said Sgt. Moloney, 49, one of two search and rescue technicians on board the chopper for the exercise. "Then I got a breath of air from an air bubble.

"We have emergency egress lights on every exit and one of them rolled over my head. I got two breaths of air out of it as it passed over my head. . . . That just gave me that little extra bit of strength. I was on my last legs by the time I got out of there."

Sgt. Moloney and two other crewmen from 14 Wing Greenwood who survived the crash, Maj. Gordon Ireland and Capt. Ron Busch, were on the Halifax waterfront on Thursday for a Canadian Coast Guard ceremony honouring the four Canso fishermen who pulled them from the water.

Fred Munroe, Addison Underwood, Billy Bond and Kenny Snow, all members of the coast guard auxiliary, were presented the coast guard’s highest decoration, the Commissioner’s Commendation.

The fishermen were aboard the 14-metre fishing boat Four Sisters for a hoisting exercise with the Cormorant crew when the helicopter suddenly veered off and nosedived into the ocean.

The impact of the crash severed the cockpit from the rest of the fuselage, which immediately filled with water and rolled over.

Capt. Gabriel Ringuette also survived the crash, but Sgt. Duane Brazil, 39, Master Cpl. Kirk Noel, 33, and Cpl. Trevor McDavid, 31, were killed.

Sgt. Moloney, who suffered severe injuries to his right knee and right hand and is still confined to a wheelchair, was the only crewman to escape from the rear cabin.

"The three fellows that died, I was hooked up in the same place that they were," he said. "We were just getting ready to hoist. There was no heads-up, no warning whatsoever."

The four survivors clung to wreckage for a few minutes until they were picked up by the Four Sisters, which stayed on the scene until lobster boats dispatched from Canso arrived.

"I can’t thank them enough," Sgt. Moloney said of the coast guard auxiliary members aboard the Four Sisters.

"They’re volunteers to start with and it was supposed to be a thrill for them to come out and work with us on the exercise. When you’re caught by surprise like that, everything in your mind and body is telling you to run away from it. They came in and handled everything in a real professional manner."

Mr. Munroe, captain of the Four Sisters, said the real pros were the injured airmen. Capt. Busch had two broken legs, Maj. Ireland had head injuries and Capt. Ringuette had rib injuries and bruises. "Even though we rescued them, they were training us," Mr. Munroe said.

"They were on the deck of my boat hurt real bad and they were still telling us exactly what to do and how to give them first aid."

Mr. Munroe said he agonized over not being able to save all the airmen, but getting to see the survivors one week later in hospital and at the memorial service at Greenwood provided him some much-needed therapy.

"To know these boys were all right, that was all the help I needed."

Military investigators are looking at "environmental and human factors" as probable causes of the crash. They have a year to produce their final report.

Thursday’s award presentations helped wrap up three days of annual meetings between Canadian Coast Guard commissioner George Da Pont and the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen.

Admiral Allen formally thanked the crew of the coast guard ship Sir William Alexander, which sailed to the Gulf of Mexico last September as part of the Canadian government’s response to the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina.