[dwighttk]

>Fisker-Andersen wrote, “Captain Mike, diversion request heads up through Old Bahama Channel understood and authorized. Thank you for the heads up. Kind regards."

I'm not quite following that sentence. The article makes a lot of the "authorized", saying that meant the captain was being ordered to go directly to San Juan and not use the Old Bahama Channel. However, it seems to say that the diversion into the channel was authorized.

[bklyn11201]

The difficulty of "authorized" was that a captain at sea should have full control to make safe navigational decisions without corporate, profit-minded authorization. Captain Mike's previous experience insinuated that a captain could override company orders but could expect to be quietly let go soon after.

[macintux]

Seems safe to assume those two tugboats cost a hell of a lot less than this accident and the wrongful death suits, not to mention the unnecessary fatalities.

[clort]

Yeah, the trouble is though.. the tugboats got paid for and the steering gear didn't fail as it wasn't used.

Same here, he goes a different way and costs the company money and all of a sudden its not comparing the cost of the diversion with the cost of the loss of the ship and crew, its only comparing it to a safe but tense voyage.

[tomn]

captain: "Can i play it safe on the way back?"

boss: "Yes, authorized."

NTSB: "What do you mean authorized? It's not your decision. Did the captain ask you if he could go the safe way on the way out?"

[dwighttk]

I guess I still don't quite understand the importance of "authorized" since the captain wrote:

>Question I would like to transit the Old Bahama Channel on our return northbound leg

He was clearly asking, not informing.

[tomn]

That could be interpreted as "will it cause a schedule problem", or "is there another option I should consider" or "might this make it worse". Ultimately he never actually asks a question, just says what he's thinking about doing. To me it reads like the captain is keeping his superiors in the loop, but still has controll.

The problem with the response is that it has clearly been treated as a request ("diversion request heads up through Old Bahama Channel understood and authorized") that could have been denied.

It's obviously not an admission of guilt, but a red flag that's worth investigating.

[dwighttk]

thanks... I'm finally getting all the bubbles in that thought smoothed down.

[oldmariner]

As another said, the Captain didn't specify what the question was.

Saying "authorized" was a big mistake. I work somewhere now where I have to be careful using that word because it implies you're taking on the responsibility, and if something goes wrong through no fault of your own, the blame now lies on you where as it wouldn't have if you just simply acknowledged receipt of the question/statement.

Stupid, but that's the world we live in.

[JshWright]

> He was clearly asking, not informing.

Right, that's the problem. It implies the captain was not free to make the decision himself (as he should have been).

[aniro]

>Question I would like to transit the Old Bahama Channel on our return northbound leg to Jacksonville, Florida. This route adds an additional 160 nm to the route for a total of 1,261 nm. We will need to make around 21 knots for our scheduled 10/05 10:45 arrival time at Jacksonville pilot station.

[dwighttk]

oh, ok. So the presence of "authorized" in the response email brings up the question of routes in general being authorized by corporate. It isn't an order to go directly to San Juan.

[phlakaton]

Right--the authorization we saw was for the return trip, and the question was what that might have implied about the trip down.

The NTSB report notes that, earlier that year, during Tropical Storm Erika, the Captain felt no need to ask for authorization when changing course--he just made the change and notified HQ. This time, with his job on the line and future career in doubt, he seemed less willing to act independently.

The NTSB concluded that they had no solid evidence that the company was applying direct pressure for him to stick to the route, but they did note a whole host of implicit pressures, as well as a relative deprioritization of safety and crew management in the company culture as a whole, that might have adversely affected his decision-making.