Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I have not read this thread, however. I have a US Coast Guard submersible pilots' license (Only for a sub that goes to 300 feet deep). I say this because the submersibles I piloted, which carry 48 passengers and 3 crew had an emergency drop weight. This weight weighs 2-tons and when released made the sub buoyant and it would float to the surface.

This weight was mechanically released by the pilot or co-pilot from the cockpit and did not rely on electronics. It was a manually activated lever that if cycled a few times pushed a pin holding the weight and the weight dropped.

This weight was drop tested annually at the dock and was an requirement by the American Bureau of shipping and the USCG before she was certified to carry passengers. I am quite certain this Oceangate submersible is required to have the same thing.

The submersibles I piloted also had the capability for voice coms with the surface and we routinely talked back and forth to the surface support craft.

So as you have credentials of piloting a submarine, I must ask you about communication protocols with the surface. Do you communicate status (depth and whatever else) at regular intervals, or do you just "enjoy the experience"? There's a reason I'm asking the question and why I'm using quotes.

 

[Externet]

I really don't think that "one button" concept was a very good idea. Can you imagine even an airplane with just one button?

Hope nobody on board stepped on that chinese plastic toy and destroyed all chances of survival

 

[Lorenzoid]

This weight was drop tested annually at the dock and was an requirement by the American Bureau of shipping and the USCG before she was certified to carry passengers. I am quite certain this Oceangate submersible is required to have the same thing.

I recall reading (from I don't recall what source) that the Oceangate submersible was not subject to any requirements because it operates in international waters only. If I understood correctly, the submersible is considered "experimental."

 

[rhwestfall]

Perhaps for private use, but once a commercial operation (the paying customers), it should be subject to some form of regulation, no?

 

[Wookie]

Perhaps for private use, but once a commercial operation (the paying customers), it should be subject to some form of regulation, no?

Notice that they aren’t passengers. They are mission specialists. If they were passengers, the mother ship would have to have IMO certifications (I don’t know that it does or doesn’t).

 

[Dan]

Hope nobody on board stepped on that chinese plastic toy and destroyed all chances of survival

Early in the thread, there was a video of the CEO mentioning that they carry more than one of those joy sticks.

 

[rhwestfall]

Notice that they aren’t passengers. They are mission specialists. If they were passengers, the mother ship would have to have IMO certifications (I don’t know that it does or doesn’t).

All part of the mission finance branch? Yeah, I can see that....

 

[Wookie]

All part of the mission finance branch? Yeah, I can see that....

Well, they get awesome tshirts.

 

[Rearviewmirror]

The lack of some form of EPIRB (can't find confirmation or not of whether the vessel has on anywhere) would be criminal negligence in my mind. If the sub ends up being found intact on the surface days (or weeks) later it would be unbelievably tragic.

I think the most likely scenarios are probably total hull integrity failure during initial descent (60%), the vessel either becoming entrapped or the drop-weight system failing (30%), or having surfaced after some sort of systems failure and lost at sea (10%).

Actually the more I have thought about this, I don't actually know that there are any EPIRBs that would be even close to surviving the depths they were operating at. Even if an EPIRB was inside the pressure hull, it would instantaneously be subjected to crush depth on hull failure.

 

[Rearviewmirror]

A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information - Source

Press conference at 3pm EST to "hold a press briefing to discuss findings from the Horizon Arctic’s remotely operated vehicle near the Titanic"