Still from ROV video

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Jeff VH,
you are pulling my appendage, aren't you? :D
Randy

In the Country of the Blind the one-eyed Man is king

While attempting to summit the unconquered crest of Parascotopetl, a fictitious mountain in Ecuador, a mountaineer named Nunez slips and falls down the far side of the mountain. At the end of his descent, down a snow-slope in the mountain's shadow, he finds a valley, cut off from the rest of the world on all sides by steep precipices. Unbeknown to Nunez, he has discovered the fabled Country of the Blind. The valley had been a haven for settlers fleeing the tyranny of Spanish rulers until an earthquake reshaped the surrounding mountains and cut it off forever from future explorers. The isolated community prospered over the years despite a disease that struck them early on, rendering all new-borns blind. As the blindness slowly spread over the generations, their remaining senses sharpened, and by the time the last sighted villager had died, the community had fully adapted to life without sight.

Nunez descends into the valley and finds an unusual village with windowless houses and a network of paths, all bordered by kerbs. Upon discovering that everyone is blind, Nunez begins reciting to himself the refrain, "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King". He realises that he can teach and rule them. But the villagers have no concept of sight and do not understand his attempts to explain this fifth sense to them. Frustrated, Nunez becomes angry but they calm him and he reluctantly submits to their way of life because returning to the outside world is impossible.

Nunez is assigned to work for a villager named Yacob, and becomes attracted to Yacob's youngest daughter, Medina-saroté. Nunez and Medina-saroté soon fall in love with one another, and having won her confidence, Nunez slowly starts trying to explain sight to her. Medina-saroté, however, simply dismisses it as his imagination. When Nunez asks for her hand in marriage he is turned down by the village elders on account of his "unstable" obsession with "sight". The village doctor suggests that Nunez's eyes be removed, claiming that they are diseased and are affecting his brain. Nunez reluctantly consents to the operation because of his love for Medina-saroté. But at sunrise on the day of the operation, while all the villagers are asleep, Nunez, the failed King of the Blind, sets off for the mountains (without provisions or equipment), hoping to find a passage to the outside world and escape the valley.

In the original story, he escapes the valley but becomes trapped in the mountains, which ultimately leads to his death. In the revised and expanded 1939 version of the story Nunez sees from a distance that there is about to be a rock slide. He attempts to warn the villagers, but again they scoff at his "imagined" sight. He takes Medina-saroté and flees the valley during the slide.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Another remarkable coincidence!
Just as the wire/rope/cable on the left goes in between an inner and outer 'coral outcrop', picture 1. So does the wire/rope/cabe on the right, picture 2
So, not only does the wire/rope/cable emerge and disappear from underneath the 'coral outcrop' on a number of occasions, it also likes to route itself in between inner and outer 'coral outcrops'. Amazing!

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

This isn't what it appears to be (whatever that is). There's something strange happening inside whatever this is. I just assumed the wire/rope/cable went straight through it, no troubles. That's not the case. I'll post some pictures later as I have to switch between videos and pc's to get it in perspective.
here's the whatever it is...

[C.W. Herndon]

Jeff, where did you guys find the ROV segment that includes this sequence? The one that I downloaded does not show this series of pictures.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Jeff, where did you guys find the ROV segment that includes this sequence? The one that I downloaded does not show this series of pictures.

Woody, if you visit the TIGHAR channel on YouTube there are two videos, wire and rope and object.
Were you in the 82nd?
Jeff

[C.W. Herndon]

Thanks Jeff. Yes I was in the 17th Cav.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Thanks Jeff. Yes I was in the 17th Cav.

Good man Woody. We did some joint training exercises with the 82nd in West Germany donkeys years ago. Very impressed with them, worked well together. How's your health now Woody?

[C.W. Herndon]

Not the best. I lost my left lung to Agent Orange induced cancer in 1997. My remaining lung gives me about 30 per cent normal capacity. I have a 100 percent disability from the VA but with the aid of much o2 I can still function. They gave me a less than 15 per cent chance of surviving for more than a year so I am just thankful to still be here.

[richie conroy]

jeff any ideas what the object bottom right in still ?

appears the black rope goes into it then it wat i think is cloth with wire wrapped around it ?

[Harry Howe, Jr.]

Richie, Jeff Victor
IMHO, you guys are making a good case for there being a debris field (American pronounciation Da-Bree) field down there.  The debris (English pronounciation Deb-Ree) LOL appears to be man-made and likely aircraft in nature, but then  what do I know?

[Harry Howe, Jr.]

Jeff
The "wire" in picture cable1.jpg, in my opinion, is the back end of one side of the "Vee" antenna that stretched from one side of the  Vee fixture atop the fuselage to the point where it is attached to the vertical stabilizer. It prolly fastens to the stabilizer with an insulated bolt/nut.  Another wire would be attached to the other stabilizer in te same way. 

Maybe the plane didn't  "tumble" a lot as it slid down the reef slope and came to rest on the plateau?  Maybe the plane is relatively intact and the stuff you are seeing is stuff that came outa the door and hatch as the plane slid down the slope.

My guess is that the "rope" is just that, a rope looped around the plane and tied off to something stationary to keep the plane stable on the reef edge.  The rope broke and the plane slid over.

[C.W. Herndon]

Even better, Black arrow gear retraction assy, yellow arrow frame around Oleo strut ? See post 566 for more info (Good work with this image Richie)

Hi Jeff, I have seen several "guesses" about what this might be in this ROV still. Well here is another one. Could this be AE's camera lying between the ear pieces of one of the headsets from the Electra?? I don't have a guess about the "lump" on top. A piece of coral maybe?

[C.W. Herndon]

Jeff
The "wire" in picture cable1.jpg, in my opinion, is the back end of one side of the "Vee" antenna that stretched from one side of the  Vee fixture atop the fuselage to the point where it is attached to the vertical stabilizer. It prolly fastens to the stabilizer with an insulated bolt/nut.  Another wire would be attached to the other stabilizer in te same way. 

Maybe the plane didn't  "tumble" a lot as it slid down the reef slope and came to rest on the plateau?  Maybe the plane is relatively intact and the stuff you are seeing is stuff that came outa the door and hatch as the plane slid down the slope.

My guess is that the "rope" is just that, a rope looped around the plane and tied off to something stationary to keep the plane stable on the reef edge.  The rope broke and the plane slid over.

Harry, here is a picture of the attachment of the dorsal (top) vee antenna to the left vertical fin of the Electra. It looks like the antenna itself is a bare wire. From looking at other photos it appears that the ventral (bottom) antenna/antennas had some type of coating on them.

[Harry Howe, Jr.]

Woody
The wire and its attachment sure looks different than I imagined.  Scratch another guess. X  Another day on the ol' cold case.

[C.W. Herndon]

Harry, Here is a picture that shows how the ventral antenna was attached to the mast for the pitot tube no less!! Note how the wire appears to be coated.