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So, you turn diving down to the Titanic into a tourist business..what could go wrong?

Redundancy and safety aren’t concepts unique to only certain branches of engineering. Dude had no regard for the wellbeing of people who put their trust in him. Makes him a shitty engineer and human.
 
I googled Stockton Rush expired materials and the results were all tabloid-y
 
Abacinator said:
I googled Stockton Rush expired materials and the results were all tabloid-y
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yeah - carbon fiber in and of itself has no expiry that i’m aware of (reminder - all of my experience dealt with MIL-SPEC material under strict quality control - and the raw carbon fiber - however configured - fabric or otherwise, was was never age dated). also, being a unique design, it’s hard to imagine they purchased pre-fab layups that included potentially age dated material, e.g. epoxy (and boeing denies the story that alleges they are the source of the material).

the thing is - everyone desperately wants to know what happened, and we don’t have enough information for that yet. somewhat sad to say, but with rush out of the way, the path to the truth is hopefully clear.
 
True. I would think that's more or less what he would have hoped for; remarkable life, unremarkable (or at least blameless) death.
 
KQED aired "Run Silent, Run Deep" last night, I'm sure it was planned months ago.
 
True, doubtful that the carbon fiber cloth had an expiration date; however, the resins that bond the mess together do.
 
ThumperX said:
True, doubtful that the carbon fiber cloth had an expiration date; however, the resins that bond the mess together do.
Click to expand...

yeah - the variations on the story still seem sketchy to me. considering the cost differential between the carbon fiber material and the epoxy resin, it’s impossible to believe that the dude would brag about the ‘deal’ he got on expired material if that material were the epoxy resin (kinda like bragging about the deal you got on floor mats for your ferrari v. what you paid for the car). also would be weird to attribute that purchase to be from boeing as it’s so commonly available. and making a purchase from boeing? what the actual fuck? it would probably cost a company like boeing more to administratively process that transaction than the sale was worth. to make any sense at all, it would have had to have been impregnated material - which design-wise, doesn’t make any sense (+ once the epoxy is cured, the shelf life doesn’t apply - which also doesn’t make any sense). like i said - sounds sketchy to me. only possible thing i can think of if boeing material were actually involved is lot control. they may build aircraft from single lot material and sell the residual (their testing protocols and quality control may require single lot material for each aircraft). that would not imply the material was defective in any way. i’ve never studied the specific issue of mixing carbon fiber material lots, so can’t speak to that. may matter. may not.
 
The claim that OceanGate got the CF from Boeing seems like hearsay from a prospective passenger.

According to Insider:

OceanGate declined to comment on Weissmann's claims. Boeing initially declined to comment, but later said the company "has found no record of any sale of composite material to OceanGate or its CEO."
Click to expand...

https://www.insider.com/oceangate-ceo-said-titan-made-old-material-bought-boeing-report-2023-6

It seems like a lot of news outlets are rushing to publish stuff they haven't really checked out.
 
Dunno nuttin’ ‘bout this CF stuff but endlessly curious. The CF intel reportedly is from Weissmann, editor of Travel Weekly, who states that Rush told him over cigars after failing to descend all week. IF this stuff has an expiry date, mebbe during Covid shutdown Boeing or others unloaded some of this stuff through a third party. OR it was possibly rejected by quality control, perhaps at Boeing, and resold by a third party. I do know that carbon fiber bike frames have issues with UV, age etc. Not the thing to cheap out on to be sure. Thought it interesting that one passenger said the compass went wacky on the sea floor near the Titanic.
 
The Titanic is a big piece of ferrous metal. It stands to reason a compass would misbehave near it.
 
Thanx, I am now down an interesting rabbit hole of compasses, submarine et al and adjustments thereof. Mebbe he had the cheaper mariners kind(not shielded)? And non metal hull. Also read that they descended and ascended in darkness to save energy with just a glow stick.
 
Read Ben Taub's terrific piece in the July 1, 2023 issue of The New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-re...submersible-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen

The Titan was a DIY project from start to finish. Rush was not an engineer, did not know what he was doing, and had no regard for the people whose lives he was putting at risk. He ignored years of warnings from experts in the submersibles community. A classic case of ignorance, arrogance, and hubris.
 
Article says he graduated in aeronotical engineering so he had some background.

Good article.
 
Some of the most inept engineers I ever met were degreed. A diploma guarantees nothing.
 
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