Mon Sep 23 20:11:54 UTC 2024: ## OceanGate Submersible Used “Idiotic” Notebook and Spreadsheet Tracking System, Former Contractor Testifies
**WASHINGTON, D.C. -** A former contractor for OceanGate, the company behind the ill-fated Titan submersible, has testified that the vessel’s position was tracked using a system involving a notebook and an Excel spreadsheet, a method she described as “idiotic.”
Antonella Wilby, a former robotics engineer with experience in underwater remotely operated vehicles, told the US Coast Guard during a hearing on Friday that OceanGate’s team manually updated the submersible’s coordinates.
“They would first transcribe the details into a notebook and then transfer the numbers to Microsoft Excel,” Wilby explained. “This data was then imported into a mapping software to track the submersible’s position.”
Wilby described the process as “a lot to do” and noted that it caused delays due to the manual transfer of data.
She expressed her concerns about the system directly to OceanGate, stating, “I told them it was an idiotic way to do your navigation,” adding, “The whole system was absolutely idiotic.”
When Wilby voiced her concerns, she was allegedly told by Wendy Rush, wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, that she could be retrained to understand the system. Following the incident, Wilby was removed from the navigation team, allegedly due to her concerns about the safety of OceanGate’s procedures.
Wilby is not the only former OceanGate employee to express concerns about the submersible’s safety. Tony Nissen, the company’s former engineering director, testified on Thursday that he refused to dive in the Titan due to safety concerns.
The US Coast Guard hearings, which began on September 16th and are expected to last two weeks, aim to investigate the incident and develop recommendations to prevent future tragedies.
The Titan submersible, carrying five individuals including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani multimillionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and former French navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, went missing on June 18, 2023, while exploring the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. A debris field discovered on the seabed confirmed that the submersible had imploded, killing all five aboard.
First Piper 