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Titan owner’s scientific director says sub malfunctioned days before fatal dive to Titanic
The scientific director for OceanGate, which owned the doomed Titan submersible that imploded last year on an expedition to see the Titanic, told an investigative panel Thursday that the sub malfunctioned only days before it descended into the North Atlantic for its final, deadly dive.
Steven Ross told the U.S. Coast Guard panel that the malfunction rocked the submersible during that dive, causing people on board to “tumble about” as the OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush crashed into bulkheading. Ross said he did not know if the hull of the Titan was evaluated after the incident.
“One passenger was hanging upside down,” said Ross. “The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap.”
Earlier, the Coast Guard heard testimony from Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for OceanGate with ties to the company stretching back several years, who fulfilled that role on the doomed Titan mission after completing previous dives with Rush and operation director David Lochridge. Lochridge, in his own scathing testimony before the panel, on Tuesday said the company’s primary goal was to turn a profit and “very little” science was involved.
But Rojas told a different story. As a career banker with a lifetime passion for underwater exploring and a particular interest in the Titanic shipwreck, she said everyone tied to OceanGate and the Titan submersible expedition was fueled by a similar curiosity and sense of adventure.
“I was learning a lot and working with amazing people,” Rojas said. “Some of those people are very hardworking individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true.”
Rojas told the panel she was aware the Titan hadn’t been inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard and wasn’t built, or classed, to meet industry standards. She said the company made clear to anyone participating in its dives that the missions they were carrying out and the technology they were using was “experimental.”
“I found them to be very transparent about everything,” she said. “Anybody could ask any questions, and if you asked questions, like ‘I want to see the monitoring systems for this dive,’ it’s like, ‘Come on. I’ll show it to you.'”
Rojas said the company was honest about the Titan, in that “it was experimental and not classified.” But she still felt safe boarding the submersible to visit the site of the Titanic during a previous dive.
“I knew what I was doing was very risky,” she said. “I never at any point felt unsafe by the operation.”
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As housing costs skyrocket and the demand for affordable homes surges, builders across the U.S. are constructing entire blocks of single-family homes specifically designed for renters. These so-called built-to-rent communities can offer another option for those who want a home but cannot afford to buy one.
Texas resident Richard Belote says his rented home 90 minutes from Houston is a “good stepping stone, because interest rates are “just too high to manage.” Despite saving diligently to buy a home, he and his fiancee feel priced out of their house hunt.
“Just really kind of crossing our fingers that those rates go down,” he said.
Belote is far from alone.
A July CNN poll found 86% of renters say they can’t afford to buy a home and 54% say they believe it’s unlikely they’ll ever be able to. However, another poll found 81% of renters want to own a residence in the future.
“House prices have gone up by more than 40% in just four years,” said CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger. “There are a lot of people out there who really, really want to be in homes, and they just can’t afford to get there,” Schlesinger said.
Built-to-rent communities began in Phoenix during the Great Recession to meet that demand. They are higher density and smaller cottage-sized homes — a literal cottage industry now spreading in cities across the Sunbelt, including Phoenix, Atlanta and Dallas.
Brent Long leads the build-to-rent expansion for Christopher Todd Communities in Arizona. He says the renters range in age from Gen Z to Baby Boomers.
“It’s really renters by choice and renters by need,” Long said.
When asked if the concept goes against a more traditional view of buying a home to achieve the American Dream, Long said, “I don’t think it takes it away. It solves some issues that are out there in terms of affordability, availability.”
Cassie Wilson rents by choice in Phoenix, Arizona. She says the “perfect” arrangement allows her to enjoy many amenities without the homeownership responsibilities.
“I can live here in a house that is fully up kept by someone else. I would like to buy a house out here. But on the flip side, I still want to travel,” Wilson said.
Though a growing industry, these built-to-rent communities made up only 7.9% of new residential constructions last year, according to Arbor Realty Trust.
Arizona housing advocates warn that the properties are not enough to push prices down, but welcome anything that helps to address the housing shortage.
Back in Texas, Belote said he wakes up every morning and enjoys his backyard with the dogs and his cup of coffee. It’s a home-sweet-home as he waits for a break in the housing market.
