At least it was probably quick.
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I mean, it’s one thing if you want to push the limits of something before it is ready for prime time. Like the guy whose early parachute design killed him jumping off the Eiffel tower.
But if you’re selling TICKETS to ride in the thing? Then no way.
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As a rule of thumb, it’s usually good to avoid companies that are already named after the scandal they will become famous for.
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Several years ago I was looking at those powered parachute ultra light thingies to do some arial photography. The dealer had two models, a single seat and a two seater.
Cool, I’ll get a two seater and take up my wife or even offer rides.
Nope, if you fly by yourself no formal certification is required but as soon as your take up a passenger you fall under FAA rules and regulations requiring certification.
Same thing with boats, you can take family and friends out on the water all day long but as soon as you offer to charter your vessel Coast Guard regulations kick in including captains training at different levels depending on the size and number of passengers.
So it’s odd to me that a business could do this without some sort of inspections or training.
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Oddly enough, I once spent some time working on a project management software project for DNV (Det Norske Veritas) at their headquarters located on the shore of a fjord near Oslo. Among other things, they are one of the largest maritime certification, classification, and registration firms. They do a large amount of R&D work to determine best practices for safely constructing and operating various types of vessels, including ships, oil platforms, and, of course, submersibles. They inspect the vessel during the construction process to make sure these practices are followed, and periodically reinspect once in service. Basically, if you can’t obtain certification from DNV (or a similar firm), you can’t get insurance, and many countries won’t provide you with the registration papers necessary to operate under their flag. This is essentially the exact opposite of move fast and break things.
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When I was a young fluffy-tailed engineer, it was explained to me, slowly and calmly and clearly, that “every letter of the safety codes is written with the blood of some clever bastard who thought he knew a better way.” It stuck with me.
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A lot of people familiar with Mike Hughes think he actually didn’t buy into the Flat Earth theory but pretended to in order to get the rubes to foot the bill for his daredevil hobby project, kind of like how Ed Wood and his cast underwent a mass baptism in order to local church organization to finance Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Either way, Hughes clearly wasn’t much of a rocket scientist.
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Could be, but people also work really hard to say flat earth belief isn’t real because people struggle with the notion that anyone could genuinely believe that stuff. Personally, I say believe people when they tell you who they are and we need to get comfortable with the levels of irrationality that humanity is capable of.
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This! So much this!
I regularly remind people, when they’re complaining about a law that impacts them in an oh-so-minor way, that the law likely exists because someone died/got seriously hurt and the authorities went “Let’s stop that happening again”
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Oh come on, Heaven’s Gate, both the movie and cult ended on positive notes! /s
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If only these mediocre safety-flouting tech CEOs could “innovate” themselves out of society without taking anyone else with them.
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Why? They operate in international water, and I’d wager they operate on ships registered out of a carribean or latin america country thats only inspections and training are if the check / wire transfer clears.
There’s no certification out there. There’s not even a jurisdiction in some cases depending on where you make port. You can do whatever you want for the most part. The jurisdiction is the people with the bigger guns.
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Yep, I thought about that and tried to put some scale to the difference in depth: 350 feet is the distance from my chair to my neighbor’s tree across the street. 13,000 feet is two and a half miles away. Add water and atmospheric pressure to that? Yikes.
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He can have a go with Twitter while he’s at it
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Woah, now. I wouldn’t go that far. Maybe seeing the sky again. He did climb into an “innovation” sub, after all.
It’s also anathema to survival. But I’m not a techbro, so what do I know?
WTAF?!?
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The ocean is really big, and our ability to sense at range underwater is really limited. If they ever do find it I’m guessing we’ll discover it had a hull failure and was near-instantaneously crushed.
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International waters let you dodge tons of regulation!
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International waters, baby! No gods, no masters!
ETA - doh - post above me said the same…
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no one has a better chance of navigating through equipment failures than he does
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