Abstract: An Air Deployed Oceanographic Mooring when assembled for deployment has a multitude of components suitable for separation by explosive bolts upon deployment of the system. A parachute system is connected to a surface buoy. The components that separate from each other upon deployment comprise a parachute system, a surface float, a subsurface buoy, an anchor shell and a bottom finder. All components except for the parachute system have interconnecting flexible lines upon deployment. A novel locking mechanism for limiting the paying out of the line between the anchor shell and subsurface buoy is triggered by the slackening of the line between the bottom finder and anchor shell when the bottom finder hits the bottom of the ocean.