NFR No thank you
- Thread starter Billy
- Start date
Non-fishing related
That would be unpleasant with 2 people. They went down with 5! That would be the worst. you couldn't pay me to do it, and these guys paid a quarter million each.
Anyone catch the irony in the name of the company, Ocean Gate? Immediately made me think of the Heaven's Gate guys:
Barring a miraculous rescue I find myself hoping that is the case. Being stuck in that thing while awaiting the inevitable has to be among the very worst ways to perish.
We were debating the two ways to go... I think I would rather stay alive and maintain hope until lack of o2 and/or the cold got me.
I believe my case of near terminal claustrophobia shapes my view though it would no doubt have kept me from crawling into that thing right from the gitgo.
What do you think they talked about while down there (once they realized they were SOL)?
Hopefully they never saw it coming
If it was an implosion, it probably happened quicker than a blink of the eye.
I was thinking this BEFORE we heard it was an implosion
In September 2019, the OceanGate team brought another of their submersibles, Cyclops 1, to the Friday Harbor Labs to facilitate some deep-water research projects at the labs (and generate some publicity for OceanGate). I wasn't there at the time, but I did talk to two of the scientists who were involved. Both were very concerned at the cavalier attitude about safety that they observed from the OceanGate team, especially considering that they were diving in deep water in areas with very strong tidal currents. There seemed to be inadequate planning for technical failure or an unanticipated turn in the ocean conditions (e.g., an unanticipated uptick in the current). My friends both concluded that they wouldn't go out of their way to repeat the experience, regardless of the scientific opportunities.
Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate and pilot of the crushed submersible, was part of the engineering team that designed and built the Titan submersible. He appears to have had substantial technical skills. As such, he would have been well-aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this craft. From transcripts of interviews that I have read over the last few days, he would NOT be characterized as cautious. At some level, that is fine if only his life was on the line. Adults are allowed to make risky choices (I fly fish; others use wingsuits or sky-dive...), especially if they are aware of the potential risks. But there is NO WAY that the paying passengers would be able to make their own assessment of risk. They were relying on Rush's assessment.
The situation with the Titan reminds of Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air which described a disaster among paid clients (and their for-profit guides) on Mount Everest that left eight climbers dead. In Krakauer's opinion (which is disputed by some), expedition leaders took chances and eroded their safety standards in the moment.
The whole situation is a tragedy and I grieve for the families.
Steve
Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate and pilot of the crushed submersible, was part of the engineering team that designed and built the Titan submersible. He appears to have had substantial technical skills. As such, he would have been well-aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this craft. From transcripts of interviews that I have read over the last few days, he would NOT be characterized as cautious. At some level, that is fine if only his life was on the line. Adults are allowed to make risky choices (I fly fish; others use wingsuits or sky-dive...), especially if they are aware of the potential risks. But there is NO WAY that the paying passengers would be able to make their own assessment of risk. They were relying on Rush's assessment.
The situation with the Titan reminds of Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air which described a disaster among paid clients (and their for-profit guides) on Mount Everest that left eight climbers dead. In Krakauer's opinion (which is disputed by some), expedition leaders took chances and eroded their safety standards in the moment.
The whole situation is a tragedy and I grieve for the families.
Steve
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RCF
Life of the Party
Airplane composite fuselage life is measured in pressurization cycles. Thousand of cycles occur during design and testing prior to aircraft approval for delivery. It is strictly tracked with lots of technical reviews and maintenance during the aircrafts life. Part of the reason aircraft are as safe as they are.
A submersible craft experiences a vastly different type of pressure. Also a vastly different amount. It is also underwater and the water can/will have an effect on the composite material. Then when there are 3 dis-similar materials used to make the exterior, composite, titanium, what ever the windows are made of, and the temperatures they are exposed to and how that affects each material, there is a 'huge can of worms' needed to be fully understood.
Knowing that a submersible craft (there is only one craft) has not gone through the amount of testing for the life cycles/types of pressures it will experience, not knowing how water will affect the composite material, nor fully understanding how each material will work with each other to make for structural integrity, I am surprised Titan has made as many dives as it has...
May peace be with the families and friends of those lost this week.
A submersible craft experiences a vastly different type of pressure. Also a vastly different amount. It is also underwater and the water can/will have an effect on the composite material. Then when there are 3 dis-similar materials used to make the exterior, composite, titanium, what ever the windows are made of, and the temperatures they are exposed to and how that affects each material, there is a 'huge can of worms' needed to be fully understood.
Knowing that a submersible craft (there is only one craft) has not gone through the amount of testing for the life cycles/types of pressures it will experience, not knowing how water will affect the composite material, nor fully understanding how each material will work with each other to make for structural integrity, I am surprised Titan has made as many dives as it has...
May peace be with the families and friends of those lost this week.
I haven't followed this super closely, but sure is an awful situation. I honestly can't think of many things I'd be less interested in doing than going thousands of feet under the ocean in a metal cigar. I'm far too claustrophobic for that sort of bullshit.
One thought I've had the last few days is that not only can I not imagine what their families and loved ones have been going through, I truly can't imagine being one of their family members who happens to hop on Facebook and come across the countless memes people have been making about this situation. People are free to their opinions on this situation and the decision these people made to undergo such a journey, but God damn the thought of someone's son dealing with his father being trapped under water with diminishing oxygen at best and dead at worst and then seeing people make jokes about it kinda makes my gut hurt.
I can't possibly understand those peoples justifications for climbing onto that vessel in the first place, and I never will, but man some of the stuff I've seen online has been tasteless as hell.
One thought I've had the last few days is that not only can I not imagine what their families and loved ones have been going through, I truly can't imagine being one of their family members who happens to hop on Facebook and come across the countless memes people have been making about this situation. People are free to their opinions on this situation and the decision these people made to undergo such a journey, but God damn the thought of someone's son dealing with his father being trapped under water with diminishing oxygen at best and dead at worst and then seeing people make jokes about it kinda makes my gut hurt.
I can't possibly understand those peoples justifications for climbing onto that vessel in the first place, and I never will, but man some of the stuff I've seen online has been tasteless as hell.
