Titan engineer says he felt pressured to get submersible ready for dive to Titanic

-





AP


The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic has testified that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier.

"'I'm not getting in it,'" Tony Nissen said he told Stockton Rush, co-founder of the OceanGate company that owned the Titan submersible.


Mr Nissen, OceanGate's former engineering director, was the first witness to testify at what is expected to be a two-week US Coast Guard hearing. 



The hearing was told a 2019 dive to the Titanic was abandoned because the Titan was "not working like we thought it would". (Reuters: OceanGate Expeditions)


The Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, killing Mr Rush and four others on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.


Mr Nissen said Mr Rush could be difficult to work for and was often very concerned with costs and project schedules, among other issues. 


Conflict common at OceanGate: engineer 


He said Mr Rush would fight for what he wanted, which often changed day to day. 


He added that he tried to keep the clashes between the two of them behind closed doors so that others in the company wouldn't be aware.


"Most people would eventually just back down to Stockton," he said at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina.


Mr Nissen also noted that the Titan was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, and that might have compromised its hull.


When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, he responded, "100 per cent".


He said that he refused to pilot the Titan years ago because he didn't trust the operations staff, and that he stopped the submersible from going to the Titanic in 2019, telling Mr Rush that the Titan was "not working like we thought it would". 


He was fired that year. 



Read original and full article on AP

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

United States grand jury indicts Nigerian Catholic priest on three felony sexual assault charges

-
Image
  Anthony Odiong is accused of sexual assault by at least eight women whom the priest had been counseling Ramon Antonio Vargas The criminal case that authorities are building against a Roman Catholic priest accused of preying on women whom he met while working in south-east Louisiana and Texas is progressing, with a grand jury in the latter state indicting him on three felony sexual assault charges. Anthony Odiong, 55, faces two counts of second-degree sexual assault as well as one of first-degree sexual assault in the charges handed up against him recently in the McLennan county, Texas, state court. The charges against Odiong – who was first arrested in July – involve two women. He could receive up to life imprisonment if convicted of the first-degree charge, a stiffer penalty that stems from the fact that the alleged victim in the case was a woman whom Odiong was prohibited from “marrying or purporting to marry” under Texas law. The second-degree counts each carry up to 20 years in p
Read more

EMPLOYMENT: Chevron Nigeria begins recruitment for engineers, data scientists, financial analysts

-
Image
  Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), a multinational energy firm, says qualified candidates can now apply for multiple roles in the organisation. Announcing the recruitment opportunity in an advertisement in The Guardian on Thursday, Chevron invited professionals passionate about building a career with the company to apply. The multinational also encouraged individuals desiring to make a difference, share their values, and are ready to contribute to a dynamic and innovative team to submit applications. According to the company, vacant positions include attorney, commercial coordinator, communications coordinator, communications representative, HSE specialist, data scientist, decision analyst, facilities engineer, financial analyst, senior facilities engineer, HR generalist, geophysicist, wells engineer, senior security information specialist, petroleum engineer, and software engineer. “Apply online at https://careers.chevron.com/nigeria and browse through the list of open jobs for your pos
Read more

Flashback! Man marries his own mother after impregnating her

-
Image
  woman married her own son in Zimbabwe.  The woman and her son claim to be in love with each other and they decided to take their relationship to the next level and get married considering that the mother, Betty Mbereko (from Mwenezi in Masvingo) is now six months pregnant and expecting her son’s child, and her grandchild. Mbereko, 40, has been a widow for the past 12 years and has been living with her 23-years-old son Farai Mbereko. She confirmed that she is six months pregnant and that she has decided it is better to “marry” her son because she does not want to marry her late husband’s young brothers, whom she says are coveting her. Betty stunned a village court last week when she said the affair with her son had begun three years earlier. She said after spending a lot of money sending Farai to school following the death of her husband, she felt she had a right to his money and no other woman was entitled to it. “Look, I struggled alone to send my son to school and no one helped me.
Read more