Hearing continues…
Reading that the vehicle was STRUCK by lightening was just astonishing - and stored outdoors in a parking lot subject to both heat and cold? Wow, just wow. Did Rush just have total faith that the craft was indestructible? Was it greed? I cannot understand.
Arrogance and greed is never a good combination.
The two dropped weight’s weren’t meant to float the Titan to the surface. That would have required jettisoning all weights. Instead, as the submersible descended to its destination depth, weights would have been dropped to achieve neutral buoyancy, per testimony of witnesses at the hearing. So the final text did not provide evidence that the crew was in peril and tried to ascend as fast as it could.
This is just crazy.
“The scientific director for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage testified Thursday that the sub had malfunctioned just prior to the fatal dive.
Appearing before a U.S. Coast Guard panel, Steven Ross told the board about a platform issue the experimental submersible experienced in June 2023, just days before it imploded on its way to the Titanic site. The malfunction caused passengers onboard the submersible to “tumble about,” and it took an hour to get them out of the water.
The submersible pilot, OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, crashed into bulkheading during the malfunction, Ross said. No one was injured in the incident, Ross said, though he described it as uncomfortable.
“One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap,” Ross said, adding that he did not know if a safety assessment of the Titan or an inspection of its hull was performed after the incident.”
The embedded video is really eery. RIP, Titan crew.
GeekWire posted a longer video.
More from the hearings:
More hearings coverage:
The latest from GeekWire:
“ The tragic tale of OceanGate’s Titan submersible took on a few added twists today as the U.S. Coast Guard concluded two weeks of public hearings into last year’s catastrophic loss of the sub and its crew.
One former employee of Everett, Wash.-based OceanGate, which shut down permanently in the wake of the incident, quoted the company’s CEO as saying years earlier that he’d “buy a congressman” if the Coast Guard stood in the way of Titan’s development. And the master of Titan’s mothership told investigators that he felt a “shudder” on the sea around the time that the sub imploded on June 18, 2023.”
Very chilling animation.
Wow that was powerful. I half expected animation of the implosion and am relieved they did not create one - I supposed they are unsure of exactly when it occurred? Or do they think it happened when comm stopped?
There are some YouTube videos allegedly showing animation of the implosion. I refuse to watch those. Not sure if the investigation determined the exact moment of the implosion…
Another update:
More news.
Problem is the regulations and guidelines were in place but they sought to find ways around them (at least according to the documentary).