Went up to the crash site that afternoon with the old man. Took photo's as I was doing the maint. status for the accident board. They had picked up some grunts, one was Derosing and popped a smoke which was streaming from a/c (not a factor). The beach was 15 ft higher then the water. A/c struck top of sand in extreme nose up. Paint was sanded totally off the bottom of tailboom. Tailboom broke at fuse attach point and t/r pushed it around were it folded next to fuse side. One pack fell out and hit the sand really moving. I interviewed him couple days later in hospital. He was skinless on one side of his body, but glad to be alive.
US witness on ground said a/c went low level streaming smoke, made a 180 turn over water, he thought the blades were going to hit surface in the turn. A/c hit the sand at very hi speed, tried to pull up. This was know by us as a DEROS ride gone bad. Total 11 US died.