OceanGate's approach to engineering was 'ad hoc' and 'ultimately inappropriate,' says former consultant
Reuters
- A former OceanGate consultant said its engineering was "ad-hoc" and "ultimately inappropriate."
- Rob McCallum said it's "incredibly sad" the sub industry was being compared with OceanGate's Titan.
- He said it was like "comparing a home-built go-kart with a Formula 1 car."
OceanGate's approach to engineering was "ad hoc" and "ultimately inappropriate," a former consultant to the company said.
Rob McCallum told Insider that the Titan submersible was an "outlier" as it had been the only non-certified vehicle operating commercially.
"Comparing Titan to the commercial fleet is the same as comparing a home-built go-kart with a Formula 1 car," he said. "The differences in engineering standards are profound."
The deep sea explorer, who consulted for the company after it was founded in 2009, said it's "incredibly sad" that a sector with an "impeccable" safety record was being tainted by a "home-built" sub.
"This disaster validates the approach the industry has always taken," he said. "It's become evident that OceanGate's approach to ocean engineering was ad hoc and ultimately inappropriate. The people that enabled that culture and now are faced with some need for serious self-reflection."
He said the industry's record "validates" the safety of commercial submersible expeditions as there hadn't been any other fatal incidents in the past 70 years.
McCallum, who founded tour operator Eyos Expeditions, previously warned OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush in emails in 2018 that he was putting passengers in danger because the sub hadn't been independently assessed.
"Until a sub is classed, tested and proven it should not be used for commercial deep dive operations," he told Rush, according to emails seen by BBC News. "I implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very, very conservative."
Rush appeared to dismiss his fears and suggested experts were attempting to use safety concerns to block innovation.
"The Titan disaster verifies and validates the industry's approach to only using classed vehicles," McCallum said Sunday.
The Titan sub was reported missing on June 18. The US Coast Guard said the five passengers who were on board died after a search found debris from the sub on the ocean floor.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, who led the search, said the debris found was "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber" and an implosion.
OceanGate didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.