Posted on 07/06/2023 9:45:34 AM PDT by Red Badger
In a 2017 video posted to his company’s YouTube channel, OceanGate Expeditions’ CEO Stockton Rush, who perished along with four passengers on the ill-fated Titan submersible in mid-June, described the glue holding the vessel together by comparing it to a popular food.
The 2017 video showed the submersible being put together as Rush asserted, “It’s pretty simple, but if we mess it up, there’s not a lot of room for recovery,”
Then he added, “The glue’s very thick, so it’s not like Elmer’s Glue; it’s like peanut butter.”
Rush had been warned years before the tragedy that his vessel was unsafe. David Lochridge, formerly the director of marine operations for Titan project, issued a 2018 engineering report in which he expressed reservations about the design and build of OceanGate’s submersible, but his concerns were reportedly dismissed. He found numerous problems with the vessel, including the carbon-fiber hull having “very visible signs of delamination and porosity,” the glue for ballast bags coming off, sealing faces with errant plunge holes, and O-ring grooves whose design was not standard, among many others, The New Yorker reported.
But when Lochridge brought up his concerns at a company meeting, he was fired.
“I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen,” Lochridge wrote to Rob McCallum, who co-founded a company called Eyos Expeditions and had taken tourists to the Titanic years before. “There’s no way on earth you could have paid me to dive the thing. … I don’t want to be seen as a Tattle tale but I’m so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego.”
“That sub is not safe to dive,” Lochridge warned McCallum.
“Do you think the sub could be made safe to dive, or is it a complete lemon?” McCallum asked. “You will get a lot of support from people in the industry . . . . everyone is watching and waiting and quietly s***ting their pants.”
“It’s a lemon,” Lochridge replied tersely.
Lochridge sent OSHA investigator Paul McDevitt an inspection report in the hope that the government might intervene, prompting McDevitt to contact OceanGate. OceanGate’s lawyer then reportedly issued Lochridge a court summons saying he had ten days to withdraw his claim and pay OceanGate almost ten thousand dollars in legal expenses or OceanGate would sue him, wreck his reputation, and accuse him of immigration fraud. Lochridge ultimately withdrew his whistle-blower claim.
“OceanGate’s lawyer” should be charged with something that holds him/her responsible for negligent homicide.
Maybe they wanted to demonstrate why bolted flanges are used on high pressure tanks and pipelines (when welding can’t be done). If so they were successful.
Now he’s like peanut butter. Hubris.
Maybe he felt he had nothing to lose because he'd collected a combined million dollars from the passengers if the excursion was successful. If it wasn't, well, he wouldn't have to personally deal with the financial consequences anyway.
Lochridge has one of the biggest "I told you so" moments in recent history.
What kind of ‘glue’ will withstand 5000psi of pressure, repeatedly?........................
>> “It’s a lemon,” Lochridge replied tersely. <<
And in that moment, he lost the ability to communicate to CEO Stockton Rush, if Rush ever got wind of that conversation. “What we’ve learned from this is that such an expedition could cost a multiple of initial budgeting, and this could be a good moment to reassess our commitment to the project.” Rush then becomes presented as someone who can learn from the situation. Instead, Rush would have to swallow his pride and be called a fool.
One has nothing left to say about the dead narcissistic psycho from Princeton.
All of us have known at least one type like this Rush guy, a salesman/confidence artist who blows off any concerns with a “Yeah, yeah, everything‘s gonna be FINE. Why are you listening to the naysayers? Relax, trust me.”
—Me, back when this happened.
This jerk’s “guests” (other than the poor son wanting to please his Dad) gambled on his adventure and lost.
Well, you’re obviously thinking of Elmer’s. We gots genuine peanut butter here!
A quality epoxy with a uniform .010" thickness between layers.
What kind of ‘glue’ will withstand 5000psi of pressure, repeatedly?"
Nothing.
Mucilage made from unicorn hooves?
And people wonder why I stay away from most humans. Most are simply dumb.
““The glue’s very thick, so it’s not like Elmer’s Glue; it’s like peanut butter.””
This is TRUE. The Hysol (Loctite brand) used to bond carbon structures is about the consistency of peanut butter once it is mixed.
If they went in a millisecond, they were lucky. Too many failure points that could have tortured them to death prior to the catastrophic failure. At 5000 psi, any leak through that glue could have been like a salt-water cutting jet on the inside of that tube.
5,000 PSI is not difficult to manage until one has a large surface area with which to contend.
According to James Cameron the whole cylindrical design was wrong and dangerous and they knew it. It should have been round to equalize pressure on the hull. But they wanted room for paying passengers. They were warned about this multiple times.
Besides, peanut butter seeks out targets. Is there any record of an open-faced peanut butter and bread snack landing face up on the floor? No, I tell you, peanut butter is intelligent.
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