NTSB CONCEPTION HEARING - THIS TUESDAY @ 10AM

[KevinNM]

In both aviation and maritime people commonly say ‘Regulations are written in blood.”

The sinking of the Titanic created SOLAS. Most FAA and military aviation rules can be traced back to a specific accident. Like when American Airlines decided to come up with their own way of replacing engines, which ended with a smoking hole that killed 271 people.

That is unfortunately how things work. People will do things in ways you never expect unless you tell them that ‘you must do it like this, and we’ll take away you right to earn a livelihood or even your freedom if you don’t’.

 

[John Bantin]

It's very sad that there has to be a tragedy before regulations are introduced (SOLAS). I believe this was America's worst maritime disaster in modern history but it didn't stop a vitriolic thread on Facebook demonizing Undercurrent for reporting the NTSB inquiry. Undercurrent also received emails from people along the lines of: they used the Truth boats many times and they never caught fire when they were on them! (WTAF?)

For the record:
We at Undercurrent appalled that up to 40 guests were regularly accommodated on a fire-prone passenger vessel (fibrerglass-over-plywood) with no chance of escape from a fire because the emergency escape route was inadequate, there was no roving watch as required by U.S.Coastguard, and the operating company had scant regard for emergency procedures. That normalization of deviance had been occurring for more than three decades.

It was a terrible and unnecessary loss of innocent lives and nobody is more angry about it than we are. I personally once rejected a trip on a sister vessel of the Conception after boarding because, with my knowledge and experience of vessels at sea, I felt the prospect was too dangerous. Alas, the public is not always as well informed. It was an accident waiting to happen and we await the outcome of the criminal investigation.

 

[Colliam7]

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[tursiops]

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THANK YOU!

 

[sandiego_frank]

Unless I missed it (which is entirely possible) shouldn't the NTSB have been more critical of the Coast Guard for not enforcing whatever regulations there were in place? If no one is enforcing the regulations and there is no penalty for not following them (I am thinking specifically of the roving watch) the regulation isn't worth the paper it is printed on.

 

[rjack321]

Unless I missed it (which is entirely possible) shouldn't the NTSB have been more critical of the Coast Guard for not enforcing whatever regulations there were in place? If no one is enforcing the regulations and there is no penalty for not following them (I am thinking specifically of the roving watch) the regulation isn't worth the paper it is printed on.

Boardings at sea for both uninspected and T class commercial passenger vessels are exceptionally rare - unless there is obvious overloading or something like that the boarding parties are going to concentrate enforcement on other kinds of vessels. This is in part because a boarding would be a giant pain in the butt and delay paying customers.

And would never be in the middle of the night when you would "detect" the absence of the roving watch either. If everyone is awake and up and about its not obvious that the watch is absent.

 

[sandiego_frank]

That is all true, however, there are a lot of ways of that a log can be kept that a roving watch is on duty. There does not appear to be any requirement for even the simplest of logs

 

[uwxplorer]

Boardings at sea for both uninspected and T class commercial passenger vessels are exceptionally rare - unless there is obvious overloading or something like that the boarding parties are going to concentrate enforcement on other kinds of vessels. This is in part because a boarding would be a giant pain in the butt and delay paying customers.

And would never be in the middle of the night when you would "detect" the absence of the roving watch either. If everyone is awake and up and about its not obvious that the watch is absent.

They could have undercover agents, as Park Rangers did in the past to bust looting wreck divers:
Divers Face Criminal Charges in Pillaging of Wrecked Ship
But a simpler solution could be for instance QR codes at different locations on the boat, that the roving watch would have to scan (see QR-Patrol | Real Time and Online Guard Tour Patrol System |).

 

[rjack321]

That is all true, however, there are a lot of ways of that a log can be kept that a roving watch is on duty. There does not appear to be any requirement for even the simplest of logs

Yes i pointed that out above with 7-11 and scheduled bathroom maintenance :/

You would think some modest amount of oversight between the crew-captain-owners would be in place but apparently not, just winging it and luck.

 

[rjack321]

They could have undercover agents, as Park Rangers did in the past to bust looting wreck divers:
Divers Face Criminal Charges in Pillaging of Wrecked Ship
But a simpler solution could be for instance QR codes at different locations on the boat, that the roving watch would have to scan (see QR-Patrol | Real Time and Online Guard Tour Patrol System |).

I don't see either of these as likely USCG enforcement mechanisms but the second idea is a totally legit tool for owners to check up on their crew/staff