Titan submersible hearing LIVE: Employee testifies company only wanted to make money

A key employee who labeled a doomed experimental submersible unsafe prior to its last, fatal voyage testified Tuesday that he frequently clashed with the company’s co-founder and felt the company was committed only to making money.
David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former operations director, is one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board. His testimony echoed that of other former employees Monday, one of whom described OceanGate head Stockton Rush as volatile and difficult to work with.
“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge said. “There was very little in the way of science.” Read more here: apne.ws/iHlr5kv
#oceangate #titanic #live

[@Amandavg]

The fact that Stockton was holding the controller behind his back like a child who wasn’t getting their way is crazy to me. So incredibly childish and unprofessional. I cannot even imagine being stuck underwater with that lunatic!

[@thescotster19]

Just listened to that story (33:45). Absolutely insane. Like having a 3 year old in charge of the submersible.

[@arttu4313]

timestamp?

[@Amandavg]

@@arttu4313 no idea I watched this 3 days ago.

[@thescotster19]

@@arttu4313 That story begins about 33:52 of the Andrea Doria, it is in that where he is describing his behaviour during the dive. It is worth listening to the whole story, lasts about 15 minutes.

[@streak222]

Wow, this build is absolutely horrific. David's knowledge is outstanding. You tried David, they were never going to listen to you 💰💰💰

[@michaelstokes9700]

“The glue will hold it together” could you imagine being a technical professional within submersibles and raising a serious set of concerns and being told in no uncertain terms that despite diving 3,800 metre with the PSI pressure of multiple Eiffel Towers that “the glue will hold it together”. As someone who has studied sea wrecks for over 30 years and knows multiple people within the industry on a personal level I can only say that this entire situation is so incompetent you probably won’t see or hear of anything to this level again in your life time. This is exactly why fanatics should never be involved in professional services.

[@ValCaPoNe]

The fact this man came up with the data EXPLICITELY displaying blatant irresponsible behavior and was shut down is upsetting to say the least. I hope this man will be rewarded in some way.

[@DoctorEnigma01]

Sign here, congratulations you’re a mission specialist!

[@drewbryk]

Someone asked this in the live chat: "what does this hearing accomplish? CEO is dead..." It seems from the questioning the Coast Guard is especially interested not in the *technical details of the craft's failure* but why this guy was able to raise an OSHA complaint, and the Coast Guard was notified of that complaint, and ultimately nothing came of it. They have an important inter-agency gap to understand here. Maybe they did everything right. Maybe not. But they need to understand the timeline of who knew what when to understand whether new procedures are necessary

[@Noitri]

This is fascinating and horrifying. Stockton was a lunatic.

[@JasonP6339]

Well said. Gripping testimony, but you can just hear the frustration that it even came to this. And you can even tell he knew he was going to have to give this testimony one day if nobody ever stopped Stockton

[@cellom.9227]

He must've been exhausted after this.

[@AdmiralLj]

He have been waiting years to be able to get this on the record

[@keithpenny1119]

I sure hope David Lauchridge writes a best seller about this, and gets to play himself in the Scottish Film Foundations's upcoming Blockbuster Film. He deserves the utmost respect he really does. only 2 COMMENTS!!!!

[@storminateacup9791]

This guy knows his stuff and is probably angry that this sad tragedy could've been avoided

[@HumanHamCube]

Lol get Jonny Lee Miller to play him

[@kimberlypullen7468]

​@storminateacup9791 Stockton Rush also sued him and kept him in litigation for years because he went public. They still didn't listen.

[@Whytho2000]

Sounds exactly like what Stockton said himself, he broke alot of rules. This just confirms that he did not do it with sound engineering.

[@starfall1189]

I liked that he specified that the controller hit him starboard. lol

[@B_011]

A very well presented and well spoken Scotsman, clearly knows his stuff. Hats off to him for speaking his truth.

[@AnaFernandez-jp5uh]

I was in the same type of situation as this gentleman from Scotland. Speaking up for following a corrupt process after relocating with family. Working for a narcissist that is in charge of everything and has no idea of what they are doing with a poor temperament.

[@AnaFernandez-jp5uh]

And yes, dealing with the U.S. Courts is difficult when it includes another agency. There is no recourse and they don't provide the protection they are suppose to because it causes a conflict for them. They will not order an agency to do what they are suppose to do to,remedy the problem. It is nerve rack8ng, stressful and never resolved. I lost money in legal fees as well and walked away.

[@omg1tsGriff]

I was under the impression before the hearing that this was a preventable tragedy. Now after watching this testimony, OSHAs complete incompetence and negligence is a big part of this tragedy and there were many stages throughout the years they could have helped stopped this.

[@BlueBarrier782]

They had one worker overworked with 11 cases. Meanwhile, Oceangate had the money to put pressure on him. As usual, the US is a capitalist hellscape that refuses to tax the wealthy.

[@DoctorEnigma01]

It baffles me how often rich people will risk their lives on meaningless endeavors: Mt. Everest, flying their own plane, skydiving, African safaris, etc. thousands of people that lost their lives just for bragging rights, we’ve all met someone like Stockton, his arrogance and behavior makes you want to just get away from them, but these people are just like him. I feel sorry for the kid who was roped into this by his father, and I feel bad for the families

[@angelainamarie9656]

The headline alone is everything wrong with not just Oceangate, but American companies in general. Boeing, Tesla, etc.

[@Whytho2000]

I want to shake Davids hand, trying so hard to fight a battle that took such a toll on his family and life. He fought a battle sacrificing money, health and honor, to try and prevent a tragedy. He just didnt have the resources to finish the battle. Human lives were lost because Stockton, the employees who willfully ignored Davids warnings, and OSHAs lack of capability to actually help David stop what was going on. Whats shocking to me is how OSHA handled Davids case. They either dont have the money to employ enough people to make it through case files, or the culture in OSHA is so bad they dont have the competency to actually do something. Personally Im betting OSHA is suffering due to DEI.

[@rayronnyd4659]

Lol. Yes. Hiring minorities is what caused OSHA to not have respond, and not because it had its budget cut.

[@Whytho2000]

@@rayronnyd4659 Hiring based on skin color rather than the ability to do the job. Thats DEI.

[@rayronnyd4659]

@Whytho2000 yeah I know what DEI is lol. But how do you know that that is what happened at OSHA?

[@Whytho2000]

@@rayronnyd4659 When you hear hoof beats do you think of a zebra or a horse? DEI is THE trend. Hiring someone incompetent hurts services provided, hurts the products, and it taxes people who are competent.

[@rayronnyd4659]

@Whytho2000 that's not an answer for my question. Do you have evidence that OSHA was hiring minorities. And that these minorities were unqualified?

[@yourma2000]

"Key Witness Testifies in Titan Submersible Hearing" Was anyone else expecting them to question a fish in bowl?

[@michaelripley4528]

Just the text written in red?? Screaming red flags!!!! 💯

[@udirt]

of course oceangates' lawyers don't have the documents sent by oceangates' lawyers. that company is true to itself! (as they later said, they're not the same lawyers but the company didn't hand it to them obvious as it may have been needed by them)

[@carlosdeno]

Imagine thinking that this boiled egg was safe, absolutely staggering!

[@vinceparker2888]

3:44:23 is jaw dropping! So Osha had info that unsafe things were in progress and that the Coast Guard should be involved?

[@kimberlypullen7468]

You got it!

[@onnonius]

Titan had made a couple of successful dives to the Titanic wreckage: in 2021 and in 2022 so it wasn't impossible at all. But the design was not safe enough for repeated dives. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

[@bigworldparty]

It's amazing the Titan succeeded with those dives, given the questionable engineering, makeshift components and low budget. In a way it was quite an achievement, but yes an accident waiting to happen.

[@littleloner1159]

​@@bigworldparty was about as much of an achievement as jumping off a building and only breaking a leg is one. Absolute lunatics. They tested it to failure, while they had people inside.

[@Kris-ib8sn]

Associated Press please include hearing in title or description. I should not have to ask as this is just basic factual journalism that should be common sense information to include.

[@Wings80]

Stocken's wife's great great grandparents died on the Titanic. Now over 100 years later Titanic claims her husband. Karma?

[@BeeLZBeeb]

How is that karma 🤔 The fact that they died suggests they faced their own karma in real time. His karma was entirely his own, born of his arrogance and idiocy.

[@littleloner1159]

I don't think it's karma when Stockton was clearly trying everything to die in his sub

[@nathanpapp432]

I dont think you understand what "Karma" means.

[@mich8292]

Grow up

[@oldones59]

Oceangate's business philosophy was disorganization and greed. Sad 😔

[@carysllewellyn2341]

this is soooo juicy I love how David came and served the tea piping hot.

[@MaxLib]

Just wow.

[@dinkybo]

His testimony is crucial. He’s a bit cocky but believable.

[@kimberlypullen7468]

He's angry and has every right to be. He told them for years this was going to happen and the thanks he got was dragged into lawsuits because he reported to the proper authorities!

[@werk62]

He doesn't seem cocky to me. Just angry that this could have been avoided if Stockton wasn't so arrogant and money-obsessed.

[@rayronnyd4659]

Angry and oceangate and osha. And maybe even the coast guard. So much negligence happened to allow this tragedy to happen.

[@Jet-h7q]

Ex military, Scottish, highly trained and experienced - not cocky. I’ve been lucky enough to work with men like that and although they are direct and tough, they really know what they are talking about. Once you realise that, you feel only respect and admiration for them.

[@samwallaceart288]

Men like this are the men who earned respect; the cocky boys who try to trade off that "respect" would crumble like a leaf under this guy

[@yvonnemoujalli6904]

There no words to how they treated Mr. Lockridge and his family ,you could say because he's not a US citizen has to do with it ? Or because ha has a lot of knowledge about this field ?? nothing make sense how they treated him .

[@littleloner1159]

Ofc it makes sense. Ocean gate wanted to do their thing on a budget and with a time crunch and he wanted to stop them. So obviously ocean gate will abuse the legal system in any way they can to prevent their delusional project getting shut down.

[@MrRj600rr]

Stockton rush, world’s wreck less person in the universe.

[@liamking2131]

OSHA is a joke

[@magicphred]

KZbin adding a warning about what the titanic is? Now they think this is part of that conspiracy? Joseph Stalin would be so proud!

[@iillestrs2153]

It’s not a warning…lol

[@fenix310]

There was a witness in the ocean

[@udirt]

if they start investigating why OSHA agreed to this settlement and was obviously overloaded anyway, I wonder if they check if that org was also affected by the mass firings / replacements when Trump 'drained the swamp' aka destroyed most public safety institutions in the first weeks in office. or if they were just understaffed all the time. i mean, it can hardly be corruption, oceangate wasn't rich enough for that ;-)

[@MissKonur]

What is going on with his hair?

[@HumanHamCube]

I thought it was a yamulka

[@morganmcdonagh2663]

nothing, what can you see?

[@BeeLZBeeb]

It's hairing?

[@jvanek8512]

What a shock employees attacking a man who can't defend himself to CYA

[@Pacemaker_fgc]

Maybe he shouldn't have risked their lives and the lives of the public out of greed.

[@gamerlest509]

His own words condemned him

[@rayronnyd4659]

Why can't stockton defend himself?🤔