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Titan Sub: OceanGate CEO Didn't Want to Hire '50-Year-Old White Guys' Because They're Not 'Inspirational'
Information Liberation ^ | June 20, 2023 | Chris Menahan

Posted on 06/21/2023 6:02:41 AM PDT by Red Badger

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who went missing aboard his Titan submersible vessel along with four other passengers on Sunday, told an interviewer he didn't want to hire a bunch of "50-year-old white guys" like other submarine companies because he wanted his team to be "inspirational."

WATCH:

SHOCKING VIDEO AT LINK.............

[Embed starts at 5:01]

"When I started the business, one of the things you'll find, there are other sub-operators out there but they typically have gentleman who are ex-military submariners and you'll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys," Rush told a representative with Teledyne Marine.

"I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational and I'm not going to inspire a 16-year-old to go pursue marine technology but a 25-year-old you know who's a subpilot or a platform operator or one of our techs can be inspirational," Rush continued. "So we've really tried to to get very intelligent, motivated, younger individuals involved because we're doing things that are completely new."

"We're taking approaches that are used largely in the aerospace industry, is related to safety and some of the the preponderance of checklists things we do for risk assessments and things like that, that are more aviation related than ocean related and we can train people to do that. We can train someone to pilot the sub, we use a game controller so anybody can drive the sub."

Rush's Titan sub went missing on June 18th while descending to the Titanic wreck site off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in the Atlantic Ocean and has not been heard from since.

"On Tuesday, US Coast Guard officials said at a 1 p.m. ET news conference that the submersible has about 40 hours of oxygen left," CNN reported.

"The depth of the area where they went missing could pose a challenge. The deepest ever underwater rescue was that of Roger Chapman and Roger Mallinson, who were rescued from the Pisces III submersible at depths of 1,575 feet in 1973. They were trapped for 76 hours before finally being hauled to the surface," CNN continued. "The Titanic wreckage is much deeper, sitting nearly 13,000 feet below sea level."

Former OceanGate director of marine operations David Lochridge -- a 50-year-old (or 51-year-old) white guy -- reportedly warned OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush that his sub tech was not safe and was fired for his trouble.

Former OceanGate director of marine operations David Lochridge -- one of those "50-year-old white guys" Rush wanted to avoid hiring for not being "inspirational" enough -- was fired by Rush in 2018 after he reportedly blew the whistle on OceanGate by raising safety concerns over their first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull and other systems.

From TechCrunch, "A whistleblower raised safety concerns about OceanGate’s submersible in 2018. Then he was fired.":

David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate's senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel.

According to a court filing by Lochridge, the preamble to his report read: "Now is the time to properly address items that may pose a safety risk to personnel. Verbal communication of the key items I have addressed in my attached document have been dismissed on several occasions, so I feel now I must make this report so there is an official record in place."

The report detailed "numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns," according to the filing. These included Lochridge's worry that "visible flaws" in the carbon fiber supplied to OceanGate raised the risk of small flaws expanding into larger tears during "pressure cycling." These are the huge pressure changes that the submersible would experience as it made its way and from the deep ocean floor. He noted that a previously tested scale model of the hull had "prevalent flaws."

Carbon fiber composites can be stronger and lighter than steel, making a submersible naturally buoyant. But they can also be prone to sudden failure under stress. The hull that Lochridge was writing about was made by Spencer Composites, the only company to have previously made a carbon fiber hull for a manned submersible. (That submersible was commissioned by explorer Steve Fossett for a record-breaking dive, but he died in a light aircraft crash before it could be used.)

Lochridge's recommendation was that non-destructive testing of the Titan's hull was necessary to ensure a "solid and safe product." The filing states that Lochridge was told that such testing was impossible, and that OceanGate would instead rely on its much touted acoustic monitoring system.

The company claims this technology, developed in-house, uses acoustic sensors to listen for the tell-tale sounds of carbon fibers in the hull deteriorating to provide "early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface."

Lochridge, however, worried in the lawsuit that the system would not reveal flaws until the vessel was descending, and then might only provide "milliseconds" of warning before a catastrophic implosion.

Russell McDuff, a veteran oceanographer and chairman of OceanGate's scientific and research foundation for three years, noted that contact with the Titan was lost on Sunday after only an hour and 45 minutes. "This suggests to me that they might have still been in the water column, descending to the Titanic," told TechCrunch in a phone interview.

Lochridge also strongly encouraged OceanGate to have a classification agency, such as the American Bureau of Shipping, inspect and certify the Titan.

A day after filing his report, Lochridge was summoned to a meeting with Rush and company's human resources, engineering and operations directors. There, the filing states, he was also informed that the manufacturer of the Titan's forward viewport would only certify it to a depth of 1,300 meters due to OceanGate's experimental design. The filing states that OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the Titan's intended depth of 4,000 meters. The Titanic lies about 3,800 meters below the surface.

The filing also claims that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible.

At the end of the meeting, after saying that he would not authorize any manned tests of Titan without a scan of the hull, Lochridge was fired and escorted from the building.

Lochridge, who claimed he was discharged in retaliation for being a whistleblower, made his filing after OceanGate sued him in federal court in Seattle that June. OceanGate has accused him of sharing confidential information with two individuals, as well as with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In the lawsuit, OceanGate characterized Lochridge's report as false, and accused him of committing fraud by manufacturing a reason to be fired.

TechCrunch reported "the lawsuit was settled in November 2018" and "neither OceanGate nor Lochridge responded to requests for comment."


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; History; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: amusementparkrides; canada; carbonfibercoffin; carnivalsideshow; engineer; gowokegetcroaked; heyrube; implosion; kickthebucketlist; oceancrate; oceangateceo; oceangateexpeditions; oceanwake; oops; sightseeing; stocktonrush; titanic; tourism; whistleblower
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To: Red Badger

I remember some techie CEO a number of years back who was either going to make everyone’s salary known or make all salaries the same - one or the other; it was another major fail.

Being egalitarian MIGHT have some purpose, running your company is not one of them. Steve Jobs was known to be a very rough CEO, even a bastard some times. His inspiration and egalitarian sense went to what he wanted Apple’s products to do for the customers who bought them, not how he’d run the company. Look at Apple today - market value almost $3 trillion.


41 posted on 06/21/2023 6:17:23 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: dfwgator

Heh, great comment ‘gator.


42 posted on 06/21/2023 6:18:00 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo (Please Pray For My Brother Ken.)
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To: Red Badger

🎵 We’re gonna die in a Woke Submarine, a Woke Submarine, a Woke Submarine...🎵


43 posted on 06/21/2023 6:19:11 AM PDT by TTFlyer (Lenin: that by the infliction of terror, a well-organized minority can conquer a nation.)
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To: dfwgator

LOL!


44 posted on 06/21/2023 6:20:06 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: Red Badger

Well we could rescue you Mr Rush but we may not be young and exciting enough.

BTW, he appears to be one of those 50+ boring white guys he would never hire.


45 posted on 06/21/2023 6:20:28 AM PDT by Zack Attack
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To: Red Badger

” we use a game controller so anybody can drive the sub.”

Thrusting a game controller into the hands of the “driver” does not enable just anyone to “drive” the sub. It means anybody can push the levers on the game controller. It does not give the “driver” the knowledge required to navigate a sub miles under water in the dark.

There are three dimensions to worry about, unlike with a car, where there are only two. Putting untrained people in charge of attempting to navigate in three dimensions in the dark is an irresponsible action.


46 posted on 06/21/2023 6:20:49 AM PDT by I want the USA back (A man is not a woman. A woman is not a man. There is no in-between or undefined middle. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Post of the day!


47 posted on 06/21/2023 6:21:06 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: TTFlyer

👍🤦‍♂️👌.......................


48 posted on 06/21/2023 6:22:07 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

The fifty year old submariner moron at The Sub Brief goes over what he sees as several single points of failure in the photos and available literature. He also shows the CEO making the statement about old white guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dka29FSZac


49 posted on 06/21/2023 6:23:25 AM PDT by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: Red Badger

Just pull all 50 something white guys from the rescue mission.


50 posted on 06/21/2023 6:23:46 AM PDT by Niteranger68 (Death is ALWAYS sudden.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

“Did this freak just call U.S. Navy submariners a bunch of old, uninspired morons?”

Yep, and he called himself one too. Which means his diversity theory was also uninspiring.


51 posted on 06/21/2023 6:24:31 AM PDT by CodeToad (No Arm up! They have!)
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To: NorthMountain
Exactly. I am an old white guy, and while I am not really offended, I think that is a dumb mindset.

It isn't just that, I sense something just as bad in this statement:

"..."We're taking approaches that are used largely in the aerospace industry, is related to safety and some of the the preponderance of checklists things we do for risk assessments and things like that, that are more aviation related than ocean related and we can train people to do that. We can train someone to pilot the sub, we use a game controller so anybody can drive the sub..."

If a game controller is the best way to provide a control mechanism for the vehicle, I have no problem with that. After all, our multi-billon dollar US Navy subs use a game controller to manipulate their state-of-the-art "periscope" systems now.

But in the context, if they use a game controller because its sole purpose is to facilitate driving by young people who have a greater likelihood of being comfortable and familiar with that type of device, that seems the the tail wagging the dog.

I don't like it. I hope thee people are okay, but it is looking less likely with each passing hour. As stated in the part of the article discussing the lawsuit the dismissed employee who warned "...the system would not reveal flaws until the vessel was descending, and then might only provide "milliseconds" of warning before a catastrophic implosion..." they may have had ONLY milliseconds of warning, and experience would have been useless.

52 posted on 06/21/2023 6:24:48 AM PDT by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: Red Badger

“See the Titanic wreckage with Ocean Gate....it will take your breath away!”


53 posted on 06/21/2023 6:24:57 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

did this freak just call a bunch old old navy Submariners ... Yes he did, and he may be paying for blowing off the best trained and qualified sub sailors in the world. quote “ We can train anybody to operate a submarine with a game controller”... convincing a fool hes a fool is harder than just letting him kill himself.


54 posted on 06/21/2023 6:25:49 AM PDT by Ikeon (All the evidence in the world wont change the mind of an idiot or fool. )
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To: Red Badger
"So we've really tried to to get very intelligent, motivated, younger individuals involved because we're doing things that are completely new."

no comment.

55 posted on 06/21/2023 6:25:57 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: Red Badger

[OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who went missing aboard his Titan submersible vessel along with four other passengers on Sunday, told an interviewer he didn’t want to hire a bunch of “50-year-old white guys” like other submarine companies because he wanted his team to be “inspirational.”]

Well, I’m inspired to certainly never ride on OceanGate.

Well, the $250,000 would be a problem too, LOL.


56 posted on 06/21/2023 6:25:59 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Wuli

He made all salaries the same.............


57 posted on 06/21/2023 6:26:09 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Well, it appears he got what he wanted. Good and hard. Irony can be so... ironic.


58 posted on 06/21/2023 6:26:21 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: rlmorel

Agreed. When I have to fly I always assess the pilots, and grey hair is a good thing to see. One time this pilot looked like he had a rough night. Slightly alarmed I looked closer and relaxed when I saw his Navy Pilot sticker on the luggage.


59 posted on 06/21/2023 6:26:38 AM PDT by broken_clock (Go Trump! Still praying.)
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To: HombreSecreto

Well, he may have gotten his wish?


60 posted on 06/21/2023 6:26:49 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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