OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush allegedly bragged to a reporter meant to be on the Titanic sub about using ‘expired’ materials which were past their ‘shelf life’ just a day before the trip
DAILY STAR
The OceanGate CEO, who was killed with four other passengers in the submarine which deployed to the Titanic wreckage, allegedly bragged it was built with old materials on the cheap right before the trip.
Just a day before Stockton Rush and four others were killed, he reportedly claimed to have used “expired” materials, according to one witness recalling the “haunting” conversation.
Arnie Weissmann, the editor-in-chief of Travel Weekly, said he was meant to be on the doomed sub, but that scheduling clashes made that not possible.
He told the Washington Post Rush spoke openly about getting carbon fibre sheets “at a big discount” for the submersible, with the cheapness due to the material being “past its shelf life use in aeroplanes”.
Speaking of Rush, Arnie said: “I responded right away, saying, ‘Don’t you have any concerns about that?’
“He was very dismissive and said: ‘No, it’s perfectly fine. Having all these certifications for airplanes is one thing, but the carbon fibre was perfectly sound’.”
A recently unearthed interview with Rush from two years ago showed the submarine CEO bragging about using a “carbon fibre hull”, despite there being no way to do so according to experts in the field.
He said: “This carbon fibre hull is a huge thing. Carbon fibre has been used for autonomous underwater vehicles before, but never anything as large as what we’re doing.”
