“”Was the pilot a diversity hire or someone’s nephew ?””
That is one dumb question. Since when does a harbor pilot get to control a ship’s engine?
That’s also overlooking the fact that had the pilot not been onboard and radioed a May Day - that bridge would have continued to allow traffic across it. That credit is his and I’m sure in spite of the criticism here, it was welcomed by many who could have been on it.
Ships chief literally controls the engine
And propulsion issue can be anything from engine to the prop and all in between failure
Who controls speed and direction once pilots onboard is a bone of contention I’ve witnessed personally
Power failure approaching bridge pilings id imagine the captain would’ve assumed control over everything trying to correct the calamity
I think the skyway bridge hit it was mostly blamed on the pilot and he blamed a squall
If this latest incident happened a bit further up channel they perhaps could have anchored in the 50 foot depth
The New Orleans rudder loss debacle decades ago was catastrophic too and no remedy without a tug very near
Fast current and very deep river