“Least I Could Do” weighs in.
From the BBC:
Chief investigator Cpt Jason Neubauer said its priority would be recovering debris, and precautions would be taken in case human remains are found.
Speaking on Sunday, he also said the investigation would be able to recommend civil or criminal charges.
Cpt Neubauer told reporters in Boston that the US Coast Guard had convened its highest level of investigation.
He said it would would try to establish what caused the disaster, and make recommendations to prevent future tragedies. He added that it would be run jointly with Canadian, UK and French authorities.
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He said the investigation could lead to tougher regulations and safety recommendations for submersibles, but could not confirm how long it would take to complete.
Once all evidence has been collected, Cpt Neubauer said investigators would likely hold a formal hearing to get witness testimony.
And that’s the point of the investigation. This shady operation worked in the gaps in jurisdiction and regulation. If the governments involved want to close those loopholes, they need to understand them.
And technological elements are very often the subject of regulatory standards, which explains the desire to gather technical evidence.
Speaking on Sunday, he also said the investigation would be able to recommend civil or criminal charges.
Criminal charges against whom? Stockton Rush?
Companies can be charged criminally.
For a really shallow “I am not a lawyer” hypothetical, for instance, their operations based out of Canadian jurisdiction could expose them to liability to Corporate Manslaughter for the deaths of the customers and employees:
" Rush told vlogger Alan Estrada in 2021. “I’ve broken some rules to make this. I think I’ve broken them with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon fibre and titanium, there’s a rule you don’t do that. Well, I did.”"
That’s just sad.
Unless someone wants to build a similar vessel in the future, at which point we’ll be glad we learned as much as we could from this mess.
Agreed.
When a bunch of billionaires die all at once, you should probably check to make sure it was really an accident.
And if it can be replicated.
I’m not happy when anyone dies, but I find myself wishing this guy were still alive just so he could face the consequences of his hubris. I mean, he never had to face the fact that he was wrong. And the other employees I’m sure now have plausible deniability. More corporate people getting away with corporate bullshit.
Moderating:
Reminder:
It was a unique vessel. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be others made with similar techniques or similar materials. So the investigation will (I hope) determine the point of failure, and thus prevent others from making the same mistake.
There’s a saying in aviation that ‘The Federal Aviation Regulations are written in blood.’ That is, when something goes wrong, and it’s determined what went wrong, a new regulation may be written to prevent the accident from happening again. But then there will be other accidents and other investigations. So the regulations are written incrementally, accident by accident. As you say, Titan was unique. There has to be a first accident sometime to begin making submersibles safer. And of course, this does add to the general database.
At least thirteen previous trips since 2021, per wikipedia. That was after the hull had already been replaced/repaired 2020-2021 after observed fatigue damage from the 2018-2020 dive testing. My understanding is that you cannot precisely test for/chart fatigue damage for composites like this (one of its largest flaws), but I find the timing rather suggestive. Test 2018-2020 - observable fatigue damage requiring repair. Run commercial dives 2021-2023 - kaboom.
That alone might score on the legal negligence meter.
I feel that he did face the consequences. Death feels like a pretty severe consequence. And it sounds like he even had a moment between hearing a crack and the kapow.
That can be said of many regulatory regimes, and for the same good reasons. When things go horribly wrong and people are maimed or killed, whether in the air, on the sea, in a factory, on a road crew, etc., if nothing is done to find out why it happened and put in place regulations to try to stop it from happening again, it WILL happen again, even when the circumstances aren’t entirely the same. So having the Titan disaster investigated is definitely a good thing, and worth all the resources being devoted to it.
I have a feeling the pool of available witnesses is going to be on the thin side.
And they’ll likely be pressed for time.
Only briefly. But they’re too dispersed to testify.