Titan submarine hearing live updates: Whistleblower says submersible incident was ‘inevitable’ after safety concerns ignored

The hearings will continue on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

Until then, our blog will be on pause.

“The way this company approached this project, bypassing all the standardized rules and regulations set by experienced people … they bypassed everything,” Lochridge said.

It was inevitable that something would happen. It was just a [question of] when,” he continued.

Lochridge told the panel that there was “pressure” to launch Titan.

“They did everything they could to get this done as quickly as possible so they could start making a profit,” he said Tuesday.

Lochridge had previously said he had “no confidence whatsoever” in the way Titan was being built. “There was a lot of pressure to get this done and many steps were missed along the way,” including safety concerns.

A day earlier, Tony Nissen, the technical director, had also described the force needed to get the ship to set sail.

When asked whether there was “pressure” to start operations, Nissen told the panel: “100 percent.”

When he presented the inspection report to management, Lochridge said he received a message about a meeting in the boardroom.

“That meeting turned out to be a two-hour discussion about my resignation and how my disagreements with the organization regarding safety were irrelevant,” he told the panel.

“It doesn't just implode. It screams like a motherfucker before it implodes,” Rush said of carbon fiber, according to Lochridge.

The witness said the company had “completely disregarded safety.”

“I had no confidence at all” in the way the Titan was built, he said.

“There was a lot of pressure to get this done and many steps were missed along the way,” Lochridge said, including safety concerns.

“Stockton had no experience building submersibles. Nobody did,” he said.

Regarding social media posts where OceanGate boasted about photos of previous missions, Lochridge said: “It was all just a smokescreen.”

He reiterated that no one should launch a submersible without adequate safety precautions or with “faulty, inadequate equipment.”

Lochridge also revealed to the directors his note attached to his January 2018 inspection report. He wrote: “In my opinion, Cyclops 2 (Titan) should not be manned during the upcoming tests until appropriate corrective actions are taken and completed.”

He said he had “pretty much stopped talking sensibly to myself” after the Andrea Doria incident.

In late summer 2016, Rush and others informed him that OceanGate was “no longer willing to pay for the permanent residence of his wife and daughter.” Lochridge believed he had “embarrassed him in front of clients,” referring to the Andrea Doria crash, which marked a “turning point” in Rush's relationship.

The next day, Rush presented him with a new contract to sign, which stated that he would have to compensate the company if he left within the next 12 months. Rush instructed him not to tell his immigration lawyer about the new agreement.

David Lochridge said he was hired as a contract worker at OceanGate in 2015. He later became head of marine operations.

“They sold me as part of this project,” he said, adding that he was “responsible” for the training.

“They wanted to be able to qualify a pilot within a day,” Lochridge said of OceanGate. “That was a big red flag” because it is normally a “lengthy process.”

“I don't like being pressured into anything. I don't tolerate liars. If I see something that poses a risk, I'll speak up,” he said.

Lochridge also mentioned a dive with the Cyclops I to the wreck of the Andrea Doria that went wrong. The test submersible “crashed” into the wreck, but Rush refused to give Lochridge the “Playstation controller.” A “paying customer” insisted he let him take control.

Then Rush threw the controller at Lochridge's head, he said.

Former OceanGate chief operating officer David Lochridge is scheduled to testify before the Coast Guard Committee on Tuesday.

In his 2018 inspection report, Lochridge outlined his concerns about the Titan. He was fired shortly after writing the report.

Lochridge was mentioned repeatedly during the first hearing on Monday and was apparently considered a trusted expert.

After Lochridge left the company, Bonnie Carl, the company's finance and human resources director, began looking for another job. “If that's what their attitude toward safety was,” she said, she didn't want to work there.