>It (OceanGate) added that the classification agencies "slowed down innovation… bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation".<p>As a private pilot who is considering building a kit aircraft, this is certainly true. It can be exceedingly expensive to prove safety standards have been met for new designs, which is why so few new certified aircraft are on the market and old designs are so expensive. This leads to the whole industry slowing to a crawl. But that absolutely doesn't mean safety standards haven't been met with new designs.<p>However, if I build a kit plane, the FAA will require it be emblazoned "Experimental" and commercial activity - such as paying passengers - is forbidden.<p>I hope the paying customers of this sub were well aware of the level of risk they were taking.<p>All that being said, I'm supportive of anyone's right to go and build a contraption that may end their life, so long as they don't take anybody or anyone else's property with them.
<i>> When OceanGate was founded the goal was to pursue the highest reasonable level of innovation in the design and operation of manned submersibles. By definition, innovation is outside of an already accepted system. However, this does not mean that OceanGate does meet standards where they apply, but it does mean that innovation often falls outside of the existing industry paradigm.</i> [1]<p>Christ they even used the word “paradigm.” Put this down in the list of crazy startup stories that needs to be in the Silicon Valley reboot.<p>Anyone who works in DSVs needs to take the Ballad of James Cameron very seriously:<p><pre><code> No budget too steep, no sea too deep
Who's that? It's him, James Cameron!
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[1] <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220812024916/https://oceangate.com/news-and-media/blog/2019-0221-why-titan-is-not-classed.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://web.archive.org/web/20220812024916/https://oceangate...</a>
The hull was made from 5-inch thick carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is very lightweight for such a strong material, which makes it attractive, but it has a few critical downsides:<p>• it tends to fail catastrophically, without warning, after repeated stress<p>• it's very difficult to predict how many stress cycles it can endure<p>• it's very difficult to detect stress cycle damage<p>Considering every dive and resurface is a huge stress cycle, and the fact OceanGate didn't seem to have any sort of independent certification of their submersible's endurance, this kind of hull implosion event seems inevitable. Their real-time hull monitoring system was a boondoggle, n<p>Edit: In another interview, Cameron elaborated on these exact concerns: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-yu_wixdgE&t=1m20s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-yu_wixdgE&t=1m20s</a>
> "I knew that sub was sitting exactly underneath its last known depth and position. That's exactly where they found it," he continued.