In a haunting audio clip newly released in Netflix’s documentary Titan:
The OceanGate Disaster, OceanGate founder Stockton Rush is heard firing his operations director, David Lochridge—right after Lochridge raised alarm bells about safety issues with the now-infamous Titan submersible.
The audio has brought a fresh wave of scrutiny over OceanGate’s practices and leadership decisions, just two years after the Titan tragically imploded during a deep-sea expedition to the Titanic wreckage.
A Dismissal That Sparked Alarm
The recording captures a heated moment in 2018, well before the Titan’s doomed voyage.
In the clip, Rush—who co-founded OceanGate and served as CEO—can be heard telling Lochridge:
“I don’t want anybody in this company who is uncomfortable with what we are doing… I’m definitely out of the mold, I’m doing things that are completely non-standard.”
He admitted he knew many in the industry thought he was “an idiot”—but insisted he would continue pushing boundaries.
Even when a woman in the room expressed that they still needed Lochridge on the team, Rush stood firm.
When Lochridge directly asked if he was being fired, Rush replied, “I don’t see we have a choice.”
Safety Fears Ignored and Dismissed
Lochridge, who had spent three years with OceanGate, had repeatedly voiced his concern that the Titan submersible wasn’t safe.
He said in the documentary that hearing Rush’s comments “gutted” him.
He also revealed that this was the first time he formally documented safety concerns—stressing that nearly every OceanGate expedition had experienced issues.
His warnings included critical flaws in design, construction, and equipment inside the sub.
From Concerned Employee to Whistleblower
After being fired, Lochridge didn’t stay quiet.
He took his worries to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), raising red flags about the Titan’s structural integrity.
Before that, he had already filed a lawsuit against OceanGate.
Among his concerns? Mounting bolts that could rupture under pressure and glue coming undone on ballast bags.
These weren’t minor technicalities—they were life-threatening problems.
He believed Rush was “playing Russian roulette” with people’s lives just to chase personal glory.
‘Doing Things on the Cheap’
At a Coast Guard hearing last year, Lochridge went further, testifying that Stockton Rush was obsessed with cutting costs.
He shared photos of a crude oxygen scrubber—a vital part of the sub’s life-support system—made from a plastic box and a computer fan.
Rush had rejected using standard manufacturers in favor of makeshift components.
Lochridge said he tried to “humor” Rush’s DIY testing, but the equipment ultimately failed.
A Tragic End That Could Have Been Avoided
On that fateful expedition in June 2023, Rush and four others—Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet—lost their lives when the Titan imploded under the crushing pressure of the Atlantic depths.
The Coast Guard later released footage showing Rush’s wife, Wendy, aboard the support vessel, monitoring the sub’s final descent.
In the video, she reacts to a loud noise, asking: “What was that bang?” Investigators now believe that was the moment the Titan catastrophically failed.
The wreckage was discovered just 330 yards from the Titanic’s bow, roughly 90 minutes after the dive began.
A Legacy Under Scrutiny
Lochridge’s warnings now feel tragically prophetic.
He once wrote in an email that he was afraid Rush would “kill himself and others” in his relentless pursuit of underwater exploration.
The fallout from the Titan disaster has sparked global conversations about the safety of private deep-sea ventures.
And with Netflix’s documentary bringing chilling new details to light, many are now asking: how many warnings need to be ignored before disaster strikes?