on many diving's there, & that it was pretty well worn. It's also been said that, & this is a terrible shame, that people have to die to make some things work better!! I
There's no such thing as "many diving's." If you are going to write something, use the correct terminology.
The submersible was operating independently of ANY governmental regulations at all, and I don't mean just U.S. regs. The adult passengers knew this, as did the pilot. Those people took their lives in their own hands and knew the risks. I feel sorry for the 19 year old young man, and his family, who really didn't want to go and was pressured to do so by his own father.
Of course there will be changes now. No one will be fool enough to put blind faith in promises by any company, which then makes them sign away all their rights which really can't be done under U.S. law anyway.
The Titan company is done. I bet we'll be seeing a bankruptcy filing shortly.
Every time you dive underwater to a depth that you cannot ascend from on just 1 breath, you take your life in your own hands by trusting your air tanks, your regulator at the tank interface and your mouthpiece, and the person who last serviced them, and certainly, last but not least, the compressor that filled your air tank, and the person(s) who serviced the compressor and filled your air tank, especially if using mixed gas. A lot of people wouldn't dive if they knew just how much could go wrong at the compressor level and tank filling if proper procedures aren't followed, which was Craig's profession. If you are on a commercial dive boat, you trust the captain and crew to make sure you are on board before they leave. If you are diving with a buddy, which is a standard safety practice, you trust them to make sure you stay together and they don't leave you in a potentially bad situation. When I was learning to dive, pre Craig, my buddy ran out of air. If I hadn't been there to share my regulator, then....
Plus, crap happens underwater. Craig and I hunted when we dove, lobster when in season, and fish all the time via spear gun. One time, he was in front of me and I saw lobster antennae under a very large coral head. I whistled the high pitched signal we used as an alert, but he DIDN'T HEAR so went on his merry way. I didn't realize this as I had immediately climbed under the coral head. Got the lobster and was backing out when my tank caught on the bottom of the coral head. Tried again, caught again. I'll admit, I panicked, but after a minute or so got hold of myself telling myself he obviously wasn't around since he wasn't helping and I needed to save myself. All I had to do was a big exhale, which made me sink a bit, and pull myself down with my hands and back out, which worked perfectly. We both ended up surfacing, he was about 100 feet in front of me. Lesson learned, make sure your buddy acknowledges you if you give an alert, and make sure you check on your buddy behind you rather than assume they are fine. I still blame Craig for that one though as he was an instructor's instructor in diving.
