The Questionable Engineering of Oceangate

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus
Editor: Dylan Hennessy
Animator: Mike Ridolfi
Animator: Eli Prenten
Sound: Graham Haerther
Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster

Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Thank you to my patreon supporters: Abdullah Alotaibi, Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[morganknight]

The fact that hearing cracking noises on several of the descents, which was reported by many different passengers, was just completely disregarded by Rush or regarded as "normal" is absolutely mind blowing. Or the fact that they would lose contact with the mother vessel regularly and this was also regarded as normal and "not a big deal" is insane. Rushs arrogance had reached delusion and the negligence was to the umpth degree.

[botondnagy]

"Questionable engineering" should be a new series in this channel! I would devour every part of it!

[AmaraJordanMusic]

“This is not innovation; it’s profiteering, ” is so succinct, such an apt way to describe the whole thing. Well said.

[saydaddy]

Ocean gate reminds me of a lesson from my business ethics class where my teacher showed us seemingly ridiculous OSHA regulations. We all thought why would there be rules on things like waste storage and my teacher then showed us the real life cases that made those rules a thing

[Random_dud]

Man, you can feel the anger Real Engineering has against ocean gate incompetence, considering his thesis was on Composite materials

[TheShifu]

I am an engineer (retired now) and still remember what one of university lecturers said - when cooks make a mistake people get stomach ache. When engineers do, people die. Lesson I have remembered all my working life.

[seban]

To those complaining about the "lateness" of this video: this is what happens when you take the time to do things right. You may not get to be the first. You may not get all the hype clicks. But you do get to be the best. This is without question the best analysis of this accident on YouTube.

[doctorcaduceus]

The most important words that anyone can say who is involved in designing something are "I can't do that, it isn't safe". When I'm working on servers that handle the payment transactions of hundreds of thousands of people, and I get told to cut a corner, those are the words I use. Because I can't. It'll hurt too many people if I screw up and people's credit card details get leaked.

When my friends who develop software for medical equipment are told to rush something or bodge it, it's the words they use. It's the words my friends, mechanical engineers, use when they're asked to cut corners or rush something without sufficient testing or review.

[willo]

Oceangate’s brochure answering the question “why wasn’t it classed?” has completely backwards logic. It said that certifications were bad because they don’t protect against operator error and most marine accidents are due to that operator error. No…. the reason most accidents are due to operator error is that certification weeds out all of the terrible designs! If it weren’t for that process we’d probably have way more Oceangate type accidents.

[katiemackey]

I remember a friend studying engineering in college told me his professor said he was so strict about them making mathematical errors on exams because, “engineering errors lead to injuries and death. You need to take responsibility that a mistake could be deadly.”

[cleareyedliar]

it blows my mind that this is still considered an accident. this was entirely foreseen, predicted, and warned of. at best, it's negligence. at worst, it's murder.

[NWednesdayQuansah]

As someone who has never had a day of engineering education, I surprised myself by actually understanding this video. All the credit goes to how skilled you are at explaining these high-level concepts in an understandable way. Thank you! :)

[Kingjay]

My carbon fiber bicycle frame went through more testing than this freaking submarine. This thing is such an insane story the more we learn about.

[michaelhill]

This is exactly what I've been saying with regard to the stress strain curve for carbon fiber. Using acoustic sensors to warn you when a carbon fiber hull is failing is like having a sensor that monitors your heart and warns you that it has stopped. By the time you get the warning, you're effectively already dead.

[thatjeff]

My Youngest recently graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. She passed on the university commencement but attended her engineering school's ceremony. In it, all the engineers were given a steel ring to wear on the pinkie of their dominant hand. It was made (at least in the past) from steel recovered from buildings that failed due to poor engineering practices. The message spoken to all graduates was: "Wear this ring to remind yourself throughout your career that what you do matters. If you f*&k it up, there is a good chance someone will die."

[indigo]

That blog post is nuts. It's argument is, "Everyone else is taking this safety precaution and then not having the kind of accidents the precaution exists to prevent. It's clearly unnecessary, let's get rid of it."

[jacobsemus]

“The vast majority of marine accidents are a result of operator error, not mechanical failure.” Yes, because the regulators catch the mechanical failures

[MacandArney]

Oceangate did real time test runs with live subjects aboard. Problem is, everyone died when they discovered the failure rate.

[absolutionwolf]

"Regulations are written in blood" is a phrase that the CEO did not seem to heed. The bitter irony of this is that the Titanic itself (the very ship they wanted to see) caused many, many deaths, spurring safety regulation changes that were very much written with the blood of those who died.

[bartolomeestebanmurillo]

Stockton Rush spent more effort in avoiding regulations than he did making sure his craft was safe. He will be remembered all right, the topic in many engineering safety courses for years to come!