00:00Would you have felt comfortable as the Director of Engineering going down in the Titan Submersible,
00:05specifically Hull 1, to full radio depth?
00:09That's almost the best question here, isn't it?
00:12So, Stockton's and my relationship started to turn sour.
00:18He asked me, he wanted me to be the pilot that runs the Titanic missions.
00:26And I told him I'm not getting in it.
00:29And he asked me why.
00:32And I said, because the operations crew, I don't trust them.
00:36But I didn't trust Stockton either.
00:39They would take a look at where we started and when I was hired, nothing that I got was the truth.
00:45I was held with a bag and trying to save and I couldn't quit.
00:51From my perspective, personally, it's very stressful and death by a thousand cuts.
00:56And if he wanted somebody to go in it and he was truthful with it,
01:04it's why the word experimental is in the waiver.
01:07I made him put that in there.
01:09We argued for a long time over that word, for sure.
01:13But you cannot do that without letting people know that it's experimental.
01:19Was there a designated safety officer for Ocean Gate operations during your time?
01:24That's a good question, that operations thing.
01:28I don't know.
01:34You would point out there were some young engineers, and by young I mean late teens, early 20s,
01:42without any experience that we were aware of, wrenching on the sub,
01:47and without supervision right there on them.
01:53That made me nervous.
01:54I don't know.
01:55I know I don't know what I'm doing.
01:57And to see these young people without somebody supervising just what they're doing,
02:02do they know what the torque specs are?
02:04Do they know if they're dissimilar metals?
02:07Things of that nature.
02:09Were you aware that the Titan was not classed?
02:12The Titan?
02:13Titan.
02:14Yes.
02:15Have you ever had a conversation with Mr. Rush regarding the classification procedure
02:19and or requirements for the Titan?
02:21Yes.
02:22Can you please tell me about that conversation?
02:25They're usually rather short.
02:29I guess that wasn't as big of a worry for him as it would be for most people.
02:34Did you feel in Expedition 2023 that Ocean Gate staffing was sufficient to ensure safety?
02:40Well, I think training and operations at sea could have been better.
02:53During Dive 88, was there any issues or problems with any of the materials
02:58or the sub or the launch and recovery system?
03:00No, no.
03:01Actually, it was an amazing day.
03:04Everything was just boom.
03:06It just took a long time, but there were no red flags.
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