| P-MAN XIV Update #08 - Real science is fun - just not always pretty 25 March 2012 Today was our first day on the water with the ROV team. We started with an entire group briefing with students, chaperones, school officials and the BentProp team: 17 people in the "Ready Room" (Dan and Flip's 2-bedroom suite). We talked about safety, schedule, duties, how the ROV would get to the boat, how we would take half the students out in the morning, then swap at lunch time for the other half. We talked about briefing and debriefing at the end of the day. We covered it all with the most important aspect of the operation being our technical specialists: the students. At the dock, they finished the assembly of the vehicle and tested it in salt water for the first time. They adjusted its buoyancy. They rechecked the power supply and sorted out a video feed problem. We shoved off the dock just a little tardy with The The honor of having the first go at imaging the new Corsair find went to the Orange Team (Orange and Black are the Stockbridge High School colors, so we picked those for team names rather than shirts and skins. I guess having a Navy background I could have pushed for Blue and Gold).
Joe got us on station, the kids launched the ROV and it immediately had a power problem. And the forward thrusters wouldn't push it forward at all. They pulled it out, fiddle with it here and there and then put it back in again. It would go down, but wouldn't go forward. Then Bob Richards called for an immediate recovery. Seems that the vehicle had developed a leak. All the issues the students had with it probably was due to water being where it shouldn't be. They disassembled it and found that its brain hadn't been fried, that the leak was repairable and that although they would have to fix it today, it wouldn't be back in the water for another two days.
The truly gratifying thing about this was watching the team focus on the problem, and not the obvious disappointment. Set backs happen in all projects and these students are handling the challenges with true professionalism. During this ROV testing and troubleshooting time, Joe, Dan and Pat went down to the Corsair to try to find an identification plate. They dove for about 50 minutes with no luck. Flip stayed topside to be available to the ROV team in case they needed BentProp to do something for them.
After we finished with the dive, everyone got a swim call, Joe and Spice (Joe's assistant today) got in a union betel-nut break and then we headed back to the marina. The ROV was offloaded and we took the Black Team out to the Corsair so we could dive it some more, and they could see it while snorkeling. This time, Pat stayed topside and Flip joined Joe and Dan. When we finished this task, Joe moved the boat closer to the outer reef so the Black Team could get some snorkeling in and see pretty fish. The water depth there was only 4-5 feet, so it was grand. Not a lot of big fish, but a lot of small pretty fish. We returned to the marina and parted company with the ROV team. The plans for the rest of the day were to debrief as a group at 1815 and then meet Shallum, Mandy and their son for dinner at The Drop Off with our entire entourage. The debrief covered all that went well for the mission, which was quite a bit. We also covered the leak and the team has a plan in place to ensure the vehicle is seaworthy on Tuesday. Oopses are expected with technological endeavors and ours is no different. But the team did a great job of no allowing a small set back to ruin all the good they have done. Tuesday is a new day and I'm sure we're going to image the Corsair and bring back cool photos. For dinner, Shallum went fishing today and he provided the fish for our table. We had four or five different kinds of fish from sashimi to steamed Chinese fish. It was a wonderful meal shared by all. The Stockbridge Panthers departed and we chatted with the Etpisons a bit more. We're headed to Peleliu tomorrow, to swim with Cut and see the engine he's re-found. |
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