- OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush once said he preferred to hire a younger team of pilots to veteran ones.
- Rush said OceanGate's rivals typically hired "ex-military submariners" and technicians.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush said in an old interview that he preferred not to hire veteran submarine pilots or technicians to keep his team "younger" and "inspirational."
Rush, who died in June on board his submersible, the Titan, was speaking with executives from Teledyne Marine, a marine-equipment manufacturer. While the interview was undated, a recording of the video meeting was published by Teledyne in August 2020, according to metadata seen by Insider.
The recording has been deleted, but Insider reviewed an archived version.
In the video, the Teledyne executive Matt Burdyny told Rush that he accompanied OceanGate on a submersible dive in Puget Sound, Washington, and commented that many OceanGate employees were fresh graduates but seemed professional.
"You know, the tenure of a lot of these folks was obviously not significant, a lot of young folks coming out of school, but everybody knew their role, and they executed it flawlessly," Burdyny said.
Rush agreed.
"Ah yes, when I started the business, one of the things you'll find is there are other sub operators out there, but they typically have gentlemen who are ex-military submariners, and you'll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys," he said. "I wanted our team to be younger, be inspirational."
"I'm not going to inspire a 16-year-old to go pursue marine technology," the CEO said. "But a 25-year-old, you know, who's a sub pilot, platform operator, or one of our techs can be inspirational."
Rush said OceanGate aspired to hire "intelligent, motivated, younger individuals" because the company was "doing things that are completely new."
The CEO said he wanted a team from diverse backgrounds because he believed it would make expeditions to the Titanic more enjoyable for his customers.
"You're gonna go to the Titanic, you're going to be spending eight days on a boat, you don't want every person to have the same experience of having been on a US nuclear sub, or worked for Atlantis Submarines, and all have the same background," Rush said.
He said his team included a varsity hammer throw athlete and someone who "surfs in Iceland in the winter." Anyone who worked for OceanGate, he said, needed to be a "kind, fun, but highly confident individual."
"Really get people who have a diverse background, and then train them and train and train and train so that it does come off as a polished and safe operation," Rush said.
Rush also said OceanGate's safety standards, operations, and checklists aligned more with the aerospace industry than ocean-related industries.
"We can train people to do that. We can train someone to pilot the sub using a game controller, so anyone can drive the sub," he said. Rush graduated from Princeton University with a degree in aerospace engineering and was a certified commercial pilot.
The Titan was equipped with a 2D sonar system provided by Teledyne, according to OceanGate's website.
Rush's handling of OceanGate's safety standards has come under scrutiny amid reports of him repeatedly ignoring warnings from experts.
On June 23, authorities found debris from the Titan on the ocean floor. The vessel likely imploded, instantly killing the five people inside who were traveling to the wreck of the Titanic some 13,000 feet underwater.
If Rush and Teledyne recorded the interview in 2020, it was likely filmed during the years when OceanGate was preparing the Titan for commercial tours to the Titanic. It launched annual expeditions in 2021.
A team photo posted on OceanGate's Instagram account in December 2019 appeared to show 27 people — including Rush and his wife, Wendy Rush — of various ages dressed in company attire.
The Instagram account frequently promoted young pilots on its team, one of whom it described as "one of the youngest female pilots in the industry."
OceanGate also hired engineers in their teens who were paid $15 per hour, an unnamed company executive told The New Yorker. A Washington State University graduate said the company also hired student interns to design electrical systems for the Titan.
Teledyne and OceanGate did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.