Whistleblower blamed the Titan submarine for being in poor condition in 2018

Tragedy submarine titanSunken and lost in its tourist search for the Titanic, continues to raise unexpected suspicions as a report published by Techcrunch indicates that the former chief of operations for OceanGate, the company responsible for building the submersible, warned in 2018 of poor general conditions. devices.

It was his carbon fiber helmet that was condemned at the time.

David Lochridge was fired in January 2018 after submitting a scathing report on the ship’s quality control to OceanGate’s senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is believed to be on board the missing ship.

According to a statement from the Lawridge court, the preamble to its report stated: “The time has come to give due consideration to matters that may pose a risk to the safety of personnel. Oral transmission of the key elements that I have dealt with in my attached document has been excluded on several occasions, so I feel I must now make this report so that there is an official record instead.”

According to the statement, the report details “numerous issues that raise serious security concerns.” These include Lochridge’s concerns that “visible defects” in the carbon fiber supplied to OceanGate increase the risk that small defects will grow into larger breaks during “pressure cycling”. These are the huge pressure changes that a submersible would experience as it moved forward and away from the deep ocean floor. He noted that the previously tested scale model of the helmet had “prevailing flaws”.

Carbon fiber composites can be stronger and lighter than steel, making submarines naturally buoyant. But they can also be prone to sudden withdrawal when under stress.