NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA: A submersible used to take tourists to see the Titanic wreck has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean, triggering a rescue operation by the Boaston Coast Guard. It is still unconfirmed how many were on board the submersible which reportedly has a capacity of transporting five people at a time.
The OceanGate, the company which offers deep sea expeditions has confirmed that one of its submersibles had gone missing as per Sky News. It also suggests besides UK billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, and French submersible pilot, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, the company's CEO Stockton Rush, was also aboard the submersible.
Who is Stockton Rush?
Rush, as per the OceanGate website, became the youngest "jet transported rated pilot in the world" at the age of 19. He obtained DC-8 Type Captain’s rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute in 1981. During the summers of his undergraduate years, the bio notes, he worked as a DC-8 first officer for Overseas National Airways, which was a subcontractor of Saudi Arabian Airlines. Rush traveled to Cairo, Damascus, Bombay, London, Zurich, and Khartoum throughout three summers.
Rush joined McDonnell Douglas Corporation in 1984 as a Flight Test Engineer on the F-15 program. During this period, he worked as McDonnell Douglas' only full-time representative at Edwards Air Force Base on the APG-63 radar test program and afterward on the Anti-Satellite Missile Program.
Rush built his own Glasair III experimental aircraft in 1989
Rush built his own Glasair III experimental aircraft in 1989 which he still owns and flies. He accomplished over 30 dives in a significantly modified Kittredge K-350 two-man submersible. In 1984, he received his BSE in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, and in 1989, he received his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. The OceanGates focus is providing crewed submersible services for "commercial projects, scientific research, and exploration."
After the company's 'Crewed mission to the historic Titanic site,' wreck was successful in years 2021 and 2022, it stated, "OceanGate Expeditions will continue to return annually to further document the Titanic and its rate of decay. The company emphasized the need for multiple missions given the "massive scale of the wreck and the debris field" and several years required to document it. For 2023 as per the OceanGate website, they had 18 dives planned for summer 2023 and beyond.
OceanGates' most advanced submersible
TITAN is the most advanced carbon fiber and titanium submersible with a depth range of 4,000 meters that provides access to almost 50 percent of there world's oceans. Besides CYCLOPS 1 which has a depth range of 500 meters and ANTIPODES which has 305 meters depth and is used for shallow water expeditions. "What strikes you is how beautiful it is," Rush told Sky News of the wreck in 2022. "You don't normally see that on a shipwreck It is an amazingly beautiful wreck." He had revealed that he station, "Next year we are hoping to send a small robot inside but for now we stay on the outside." At one point he said, "You can see inside, we dipped down and saw the grand staircase and saw some of the chandeliers still hanging."
The vessel hasn't pinged back for several hours
As the company is exploring options to bring the crew back, it has received help from several government agencies in the process. The vessel as per the report ping every 15 minutes signaling those ashore about its safety. However, pings haven't been received for several hours.
