A submarine made out of carbon fibre material built by a company that openly bragged about using off the shelf components to reduce costs, refused to hire domain experts and fired its director of marine operations for voicing concerns over safety, cutting corners? Say it ain't so. Despite James Cameron being known for his films, people forget he's been actively involved in the development of deep sea submersibles. He's been to the Titanic wreckage site more times than most. Paul-Henri Nargeolet who tragically died on this experimental sub has made 35 trips, Cameron has made 33.
It's not even an accusation at this point, it's the truth. And Cameron is more knowledgeable about this subject than most. The reality is deep sea submersible technology is still an underdeveloped field, evident by the fact few vessels exist that can take humans to such depths and even unmanned vehicles are far few and between.
Oceangate's 2019 blog post Why Isn't Titan Classed (now only available in internet caches), is a stunning display of either deeply flawed logical thinking or a willful attempt to confuse people.
The post basically says, (1) the "vast majority of marine (and aviation) accidents are the result of operator error, not mechanical failure", and (2) the vehicle classification guidelines are too stringent and stymie innovation.
A rationale person might interpret that as: (1) mechanical-related incidents are very infrequent as a percentage of total incidents, because (2) vehicle guidelines successfully minimize rates of mechanical failure, such that remaining incidents are generally operational in nature.
Oceangate ignores this implication and bluffs its way from pointing out that most incidents are operational in nature (for a sample set of largely mechanically certified crafts) to implying that a focus on operational safety is a reasonable way to minimize total risk (for an uncertified craft).
Boeing cut costs too, they bounced right back. That's the real lesson - you can absolutely get away with cutting corners, firing people who voice concerns, and then kill people. Just wait till the next news cycle and everyone forgets.
Boeing, a global leader for both sales and innovation in an industry that drives the modern world. Oceangate, a rebel "innovator" in a niche market for niche customers
also, the corollary why nobody has died on a voyage to Mars yet
Cameron had a fantastic interview last night on CNN. It was one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen done by Anderson Cooper (probably because he barely spoke…).
There is no question that Cameron has extensive knowledge on this subject. His level of detail on materials, design guide, regulatory agencies was incredible. He knows everything about this subject.
He implied that other companies did hire too many 50-year-old white guys, because they wanted people with lots of sub experience, so this supports your theory. Anyone with previous sub experience would be more likely to know what a safe environment did (and did not) look like.
So is the underlying assumption for this comment chain so far that only old white guys could possibly have enough experience, training or other safety expertise? Or that specifically the absence of an old white man is what doomed them? And not the mile-long list of corners he cut, very knowingly?
And to do that, do we have to ignore that he fired a safety engineer for expressing concerns?
If the folks who were killed in the sub were arrogant, deluded or just thrill seekers, they paid the full price for those faults as will their families going forward. I think of the many times my own arrogance, pride or just stupidity should have gotten me a Darwin Award. I hope we can learn key lessons from this sad incident without flogging the dead and their families.
Most of the key lessons learned so far were already known by OG and the other industry players well before this and other mission failures had occurred. They not only refused to take the baseline and evidenciarily needed steps to make the craft safe, they fired a safety engineer and bragged about their cavalier attitude. They ignored communications from their peers telling them how unsafe their craft was, especially with paying customers on board. They bragged about breaking rules, and they unprededently didn't get basic deepsea dive certifications.
Pointing out the insane hubris and known-ahead-of-time shortcomings is not flogging the dead. In fact, it's highlighting arguable the most important takeaway so far.
Readit News
It's not even an accusation at this point, it's the truth. And Cameron is more knowledgeable about this subject than most. The reality is deep sea submersible technology is still an underdeveloped field, evident by the fact few vessels exist that can take humans to such depths and even unmanned vehicles are far few and between.
A rationale person might interpret that as: (1) mechanical-related incidents are very infrequent as a percentage of total incidents, because (2) vehicle guidelines successfully minimize rates of mechanical failure, such that remaining incidents are generally operational in nature.
Oceangate ignores this implication and bluffs its way from pointing out that most incidents are operational in nature (for a sample set of largely mechanically certified crafts) to implying that a focus on operational safety is a reasonable way to minimize total risk (for an uncertified craft).
ref: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Y_6Rrx...
also, the corollary why nobody has died on a voyage to Mars yet
There is no question that Cameron has extensive knowledge on this subject. His level of detail on materials, design guide, regulatory agencies was incredible. He knows everything about this subject.
If he says they cut corners, I believe him.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jun/21/stockton-ru...
Perhaps this demographic asked too many questions about safety.
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And to do that, do we have to ignore that he fired a safety engineer for expressing concerns?
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Pointing out the insane hubris and known-ahead-of-time shortcomings is not flogging the dead. In fact, it's highlighting arguable the most important takeaway so far.