Today's newspaper article about previous warnings and refusals to submit for certification on this project mentioned that the viewport was only certified for depths < 1300 m.
The shipwreck site is at roughly 4000 m depth.
I've been wondering how many subs are certified and what that means. Certainly safety is a thing and I don't want to understate its importance. In the world of electronics medical equipment is regulated and certified as are things that directly connect to the power grid. Heavy equipment used off road is engineered not certified. Look at the railway industry the locomotives and cars are regulated but the equipment the constructs the tracks is not.
This incident makes engineering look shitty when it's yet another corrupt CEO fraudulently gaming things.
OceanGate immediately fired and then sued the whistleblower David Lochridge FFS, that was how bad it is.
Engineering professional associations put the burden on the engineer, as if we are are supposed to quit our jobs and whistle blow, as a solution to corrupt leadership. Are they paying our legal fees, mortgage payments during the unemployment period for being "the good guy"?
Dennis Muilenburg got his $62M parachute and is sipping mai tai's on the beach, after heading new cheapola Flair Airlines. Let the tradition continue.
Safety certification doesn't mean much, it's not the answer. Boeing had the same attitude, that all the red tape was cumbersome and in the way, so they circumvented the FAA. You can lie to an agency, or subvert them as well.
We don't have a system to police and enforce unapproved cowboy products that can kill people, or the corrupt executives running the show.