LogFAQs > #974454008

https://www.insider.com/submersible-expert-worried-oceangate-stockton-rush-spurred-on-by-criticism-2023-6

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush received a warning from a submarine expert he was friends with about his ambition and the stability of his sub, four years before he boarded the Titan submersible trip that the US Coast Guard said imploded last week.

Insider obtained a four-year-old email chain between Rush and Karl Stanley, who runs a deep-sea exploration company in Honduras, Stanley's Submarines, and participated in a test dive on the Titan submersible in 2019.
"There comes a time logic has to overrule impatience," Karl Stanley wrote in an email to Rush: "The evidence suggests there is an issue/ defect in one area. Without knowing what that defect or issue is, your models and experts cannot say how it will affect the performance of the hull."

Stanley's email chain with Rush detailed what Stanley described as a defect with the Titan submersible that caused a loud cracking sound to occur during a test dive, prompting him to urge Rush to engage in far more testing 50 test dives compared to seven proposed by Rush before allowing passengers to board the vessel.


His suggestions were more stringent than the OceanGate CEO appeared willing to undergo; Rush said the 50-dive test suggestion was "arbitrary" and told Stanley to "keep your opinions to yourself" because the sub expert didn't have access to OceanGate's analysis of the Titan.

"Your recent emails tell me that we have had two fundamental misunderstandings," Rush wrote to Stanley after he said OceanGate should conduct more testing on the Titan: "The first is regarding your role while visiting us in the Bahamas. I value your experience and advice on many things, but not on assessment of carbon fiber pressure hulls."
Rush added: "The second, even more disturbing misunderstanding is your concern that I will either intentionally or unintentionally succumb to pressure and take advantage of our clients. I realize more than anyone that this is the primary pitfall and have taken multiple steps to guard against this."

Man... This is fucking tragic. What level of arrogant asshole do you have to be in order to ignore a loud cracking sound in a fucking submersible?