BREAKING NEWS: TSB says Titan submersible not completely tested; unsafe at the time
Officials at OceanGate did not know whether their Titan submersible was safe to use before its fatal 2023 implosion. That’s according to a report by Canada’s Transportation Safety Bureau.
This morning, TSB investigators confirmed that Titan’s carbon fibre cylinder did not receive proper real-world testing, and safety mechanisms that OceanGate relied upon had not been comprehensively tested.
“A defect-free carbon fibre cylinder of the Titan’s design that met all of the properties set out by the carbon fibre manufacturer was unlikely to have failed at depths equivalent to that of the Titanic,” the TSB wrote.
“Some of the processes used in the manufacturing of the cylinder may have allowed defects to be introduced into the pressure hull … the process of grinding down the raised areas of the cylinder to make them flush with its design curvature potentially introduced defects on the surface of the cylinder.”
TSB investigators also noted that “normal engineering practice would be to expose full-scale models of the pressure hull to a very significant number (hundreds, possibly thousands) of test cycles, at representative pressures and loads, either in the ocean or at a test facility,” the TSB wrote. “However, such an extensive test program was not completed for the Titan.”
NTV’s Ben Cleary is covering the story and will have more this evening at 5:30 p.m. and 6.
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