Posted on 06/21/2023 6:41:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A submersible carrying tourists to look at the remains of the Titanic went missing on Sunday, and the odds of anyone onboard surviving grow lower by the day. It’s also been reported that the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the excursion, is onboard. And the more information that comes out, the less surprising it is that we’ve ended up in this situation.
Metro reports that last year, when asked about the safety of the Titan submersible, Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s CEO, said, “You know, there’s a limit. At some point safety just is pure waste. I mean if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything. At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.”
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According to the report, OceanGate fired David Lochridge when he questioned how safe the Titan was and later sued him after he filed a whistleblower complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, claiming he violated the terms of his contract. Lochridge then countersued, claiming he was wrongfully terminated. In the suit, he said he pushed back against launching the Titan without doing “non-destructive testing to prove its integrity.”
“The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible,” Lochridge said in his suit.
From the CBS story:
The Titan relied on carbon fiber for a hull that would carry passengers as deep as 4,000 meters, a depth that Lochridge claimed in the court filing had never been reached in a carbon fiber-constructed sub. According to his claim, he learned the vessel was built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate planned to take passengers to 4,000 meters. Titan relied on carbon fiber for a hull that would carry passengers as deep as 4,000 meters, a depth that Lochridge claimed in the court filing had never been reached in a carbon fiber-constructed sub. According to his claim, he learned the vessel was built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate planned to take passengers to 4,000 meters.
He also said that even though the Titan was made out of carbon fiber, no carbon fiber sub had ever gone that deep before.
If these claims are true, they paint a pretty clear picture of a CEO who didn’t care about safety and was happy to risk other people’s lives to make a little money.
Apparently their was a need for investors...who generally expect something for their money in return. I understand the sub had gone down three other occasions. I would question the durability of the man made material it was made out of ....unlike most it wasn’t steel but an experimental concoction. Which is why banging the sides would be like banging a piece of wood - not very loud - from what one professional said.
If the capsule breached through the CF hull, the only thing they’ll ever find is the titanium endcaps. The CF hull would have powdered.
“Logitech’s stock took a dive (no pun intended) “
I like Logitech stuff, I have never had a problem with it.
I use the free LMS server on my pi to send music around my house.
and I like their internet connected media players too.
Very doubtful in my opinion that they are responsible in any way for this implosion.
I really don’t understand why all kinds of Tax money is being spent though.
you can buy insurance for stuff, and I have talked to people who did not pay for their fire department each year and had their house burn down. The fire department shows up to make sure the neighbors who paid do not get burned, but don’t do anything to stop the main fire.
The rough deadline for when the air in the submersible will run out, based on the U.S. Coast Guard’s estimate, is 10am GMT (6am EST).
Was also committed to DEI - don’t hire or get rid orthe guys with years of experience and expertise in engineering. Hire the purple haired tranny art history major to supervise maintenance
Guess who they are calling now to mount a rescue/recovery. Probably named Rob or Larry vs Gaia..
Challenger was:
1) Using a new, poorly tested putty between segments on the SRBs ... because Save da Erf.
2) Launched significantly outside weather parameters. The ENGINEERS at Morton Thiokol said "Don't Launch". The MANAGERS at NASA said "Go for Launch", because they wanted to look good.
I kind of figures his hurry was due to finances in some way.
He’s an idiot and he’s taken 4 other lives.
I personally would have been happy to pay a couple hundred dollars to go 3,000 feet under the sea, knowing that I could get back home. I think there would have been a lot of business for that on the tropical islands and port cities.
White men never get enough credit for what they can do.
Well I’m not one who will step my foot in the ocean!.... I’m a dry land gal!
From what I’ve read they all were eager to go on this venture and knew even the weather wasn’t exactly ideal. Just a “window” of opportunity to take the dive.
“Go over to Sub Brief’s review of the current situation and check the comments - you can also Google those comments and find articles making similar comments well prior to this incident.”
I Google Sub Brief and found only videos and Twitter.
Did any actually know how the construction was performed?
It was alternating layers of axial and hoop strips performed by a professional company headed by a PHd with over 30 years of expertise. Finite analysis codes were used in the design.
At 4,000 meters there will be two tons of pressure pressing on each square inch of the carbon fiber hull.
Most likely the little vessel was crushed like a ping-pong ball run over by a Mac truck.
Engineering arrogance may have cost five human lives in this Quest to visit The Titanic.
“That’s the thing about carbon fiber. It looks fine to the naked eye one second and it disintegrates the next.”
My carbon fiber chin splitter has survived numerous collisions with concrete stops that would have deformed metal or cracked fiberglass.
I’m wondering if they made it down there and bumped into the ship. That might have been the only impulse that an over-stressed hull needed to implode.
“At 4,000 meters there will be two tons of pressure pressing on each square inch of the carbon fiber hull.
Most likely the little vessel was crushed like a ping-pong ball run over by a Mac truck.
Engineering arrogance may have cost five human lives in this Quest to visit The Titanic.”
The hull was designed to withstand 2 1/2 times that pressure.
“That might have been the only impulse that an over-stressed hull needed to implode.”
Why do you say it was over-stressed?
” based on the U.S. Coast Guard’s estimate,”
The CG has no idea. They are just using advertising info.
I do agree with Mr. Rush in the sense that "we" have become excessively safety obsessed.
Beyond that, however, it's pretty clear to me that not only did Mr. Rush not know what he was doing as regards submarine design, construction, and legitimate safety issues ... he didn't have the common sense to hire people who were experts on those topics. Quite the opposite, in fact. He REFUSED to hire the very people who are experts. The whole enterprise was a disaster from the start.
"What could possibly go wrong?" is often asked in a snarky, snotty, and ignorant way in the popular culture. We see it on this forum entirely too often.
It is also a legitimate question, one which Mr. Rush should have had actual subject matter experts asking AND ANSWERING from the start of his program. He spectacularly failed to do this.
“unlike most it wasn’t steel but an experimental concoction”
Nope. Manufactured by a company with 30 years of experience with available products.
SubBrief aka “Jive Turkey” was his original youtube channel.
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