Does anyone else not piling on the Concordia Captain

[DCLSecondChance]

Looking at this graphic of the timeline:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/20/graphic-the-final-moments-of-the-costa-concordia/

I begin to see how and why some of the reporting has been the way it has been. I am just not ready to throw the captain under the bus along with the rest of the world. There has been so much reported that contradicts itself and makes absolutely no sense.

Reading that graphic, I can see why lifeboats were not lowered right away. If the ship is still moving due to momentum, you cannot exactly lower them. When I listen to the conversation between the Italian Coast Guard and the captain without reading the translation, I hear a ranting and raving person on land miles away and a man confused and in shock. I don't hear an argument at all.

While mistakes were made, I also see the other side of the coin. As a pilot, we are taught in an emergency to Aviate, Navigate and then communicate. While the time between hitting the rocks and calling the abandon ship order, even Titanic had a 40 minute gap between hitting the iceberg and launching Lifeboat 7.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Surely telling the Coast Guard they "just had a black out" instead of they have or might have run aground, and then abandoning his vessel before everyone was rescued is enough?

The Titanic incident is irrelevant as that was 100 year's ago, and one would have hoped lessons and practices would have been learnt and changes made since.

The man is a reckless idiot and a coward who tried to first hide his mistake, then run away from the devastation and now loss of life his arrogance caused.

Ex Techie

 

[pxlbarrel]

The thing is ... if he doesn't do that bonehead move of heading close to the shore and hitting the rocks in the first place, the Costa Concordia would be still cruising along today. Launching lifeboats and rafts wouldn't be a factor. The fact that he may or may not have abandoned the ship before his passengers and crew, in my opinion, pales in comparison to the showboating that got them into that predicament in the first place.

You can't be a hero if you caused the disaster in the first place.

 

[DCLSecondChance]

He certainly wasn't the only captain who has passed that close to the shore. I have yet to see evidence that he abandoned ship.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

He certainly wasn't the only captain who has passed that close to the shore. I have yet to see evidence that he abandoned ship.

But he did so without authorization from Costa.
And the phone conversation between him and the Coast Guard indicates he did as he was asked then told to get back aboard?

Ex Techie

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

You can't be a hero if you caused the disaster in the first place.

SO WELL SAID!

Ex Techie

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

He certainly wasn't the only captain who has passed that close to the shore.

And to add, the course shown is closer and he must have been on a different course to have hit the rock's.
Rock's don't move.

Ex Techie

 

[Disney Dreams]

The ONLY thing I know about the entire situation (and people involved) for sure is that I know NOTHING first-hand. Every thing has been given to us through the media. Take the information for what it's worth.

- Dreams

 

[DCLSecondChance]

You can't be a hero if you caused the disaster in the first place.

And you have never once had an accident? Do you remember being in absolute shock? No you didn't have the 4,000 lives you we responsible for, but not everyone handles shock the same way.

I am just saying I don't join the masses wanting to pile on the captain. I never said I was calling him a hero either.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

And you have never once had an accident? Do you remember being in absolute shock? No you didn't have the 4,000 lives you we responsible for, but not everyone handles shock the same way.

I am just saying I don't join the masses wanting to pile on the captain. I never said I was calling him a hero either.

Saying you saved the lives of thousands due to your actions, when it was your own reckless action's that caused the accident in the first place is contradictory.

How do you explain the phone conversation between the Captain and Coast Guard if he hadn't abandoned ship?

Ex Techie

 

[jdb in AZ]

The captain keeps changing his story. Now he's saying that Costa forced him to take the ship close to the island.

 

[Tracerr00]

He certainly wasn't the only captain who has passed that close to the shore.

I understand that all of the facts are not in yet but when you said that he wasn't the only captain that has passed that close to the shore...he WAS the only captain that ran into the rocks there, sank his ship and people died. And he did do it without authorization. I would like to think that any captain of a ship would take more care with thousands of lives that he is responsible for.

 

[pxlbarrel]

And you have never once had an accident? Do you remember being in absolute shock? No you didn't have the 4,000 lives you we responsible for, but not everyone handles shock the same way.

I am just saying I don't join the masses wanting to pile on the captain. I never said I was calling him a hero either.

I have never been given the responsibility of keeping 4000 lives safe so any accidents that I have won't jeopardize that many lives and a $500 million dollar vessel. And if I'm ever given that responsibility, you can be sure I wouldn't be playing chicken with an immovable object.

You know what they say about accidents.... there are no such things as accidents, just preventable incidents. Now, I won't go as far as saying accidents never exist but I will say that THIS incident was preventable. He has admitted in court that he was navigating the ship himself as he has done before and turned too late.

And as for shock.... theoretically he wasn't given the title of Master of the Ship because he couldn't handle the stress of the unpredicted. I would hope that anybody in that position of responsibility wouldn't go into shock as soon as they hit a rock... but then again, maybe he just realized he'd done the worse thing a ship's captain could do ... he sank his own ship out of sheer arrogance.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

[SNIP] As a pilot, we are taught in an emergency to Aviate, Navigate and then communicate. While the time between hitting the rocks and calling the abandon ship order,

Being the pilot of a plane is a very different scenario.
Second by second thing's can change and you only have a co-pilot to help and discuss with.
A ship has the Staff Captain, First Officer, other Officers and many other people capable of assuming control of the ship under a command whilst you deal with other immediate danger's and necessary preparations.

The Radio and phone call's show he was deliberately deceitful in his explanations of their condition.

Ex Techie

 

[SmilingGrump]

Listening to the tapes of the conversations between the Coast Guard and the Captain, it was clear that he had abandoned the ship while other crew and passengers were still onboard. At one point he asked the Coast Guard how many bodies there were, to which their reply was "That's what you're supposed to tell us"

It is clear that there was considerable confusion onboard and that most of the crew had no idea what was going on nearly an hour after the incident. There's ONE person onboard responsible for that confusion and he's been charged with the deaths of those unfortunate souls who were killed because of his reckless actions and his inability to cope with an emergency that he caused.

40 minutes after the accident, Schettino was telling the Coast Guard all they needed was a tug and crew members were still telling passengers it was just a problem with the generator. 24 minutes after that, the ship was pinned against the rocks. 8 minutes later he finally gave the abandon ship order. How many people perished below decks because they went to their cabins waiting for the generator to be fixed? Everyone should have been topside when it was clear water was flowing into the ship.

Now, the Captain isn't the only one who should be blamed. I think Carnival/Costa should be reviewing their hiring policies. Captains are supposed to be calm and clearheaded during emergencies, it's their key quality. They should be able to make sense of confusing situations and put their passengers and crew safety first. Clearly, this "Captain" did not do that at all.

 

[breakingd_awn]

Who on this board has not accidently tripped and fallen into the lifeboat?? I hate it when that happens IMHO... he's a coward, I think he left because he knew he screwed up BIG TIME.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Who on this board has not accidently tripped and fallen into the lifeboat?? I hate it when that happens IMHO... he's a coward, I think he left because he knew he screwed up BIG TIME.

And that is the truth!

The media reporting may have been off or skewed, but those recorded phone and radio communications tell all about the Captain and what kind of person he was.
"Schettino: "But do you realise it is dark and here we can't see anything"
De Falco: "And so what? You want to go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"

Schettino: "… I am with my second in command."

*******, Cowards *******.

Ex Techie


Ex Techie

 

[DCLSecondChance]

Nope not a coward. No evidence of that at all just speculation. No law that a captain must remain with his ship. That phone call just shows a ranting coast guard officer and a man in shock and confused. He was not arguing with the cg at all.

If you look at the timeline, when could they have launched the lifeboats while the ship was still moving during to its momentum. I promise I am not yet ready to convict the captain based on the false and conflicting reports from the media. I remember the case of Richard Jewell all too well.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Nope not a coward. No evidence of that at all just speculation. No law that a captain must remain with his ship. That phone call just shows a ranting coast guard officer and a man in shock and confused. He was not arguing with the cg at all.

If you look at the timeline, when could they have launched the lifeboats while the ship was still moving during to its momentum. I promise I am not yet ready to convict the captain based on the false and conflicting reports from the media. I remember the case of Richard Jewell all too well.

Actually, I do believe there's an Italian law that states the Captain cannot leave his ship until his passengers are off. There's no law that says he has to go down with his ship but he certainly can't leave while the evacuation is still taking place.

In Italy, a commander who leaves before his passengers can be sent to jail for up to two years. If he jumps ship and people die, he can be sentenced to eight years in jail.

 

[rosermama]

So in the story he says that he was driving the boat by instinct...

“I was navigating by sight because I knew the
depths well and I had done this manoeuvre
three or four times . . . but this time I ordered
the turn too late and I ended up in water that
was too shallow. I don’t know why it happened
. . . I was a victim of my instincts.” CAPTAIN OF THE COSTA CONCORDIA
FRANCESCO SCHETTINO

I see a couple of problems with this
1)is this really acceptable in this day and age with all the technology of driving a boat that people would take 4000 lives in their hands and drive the boat by instinct not by instruments
2) I thought there was many people who said the captain was at dinner at the time of the accident- how could he be steering the boat and be eating dinner with a crew member at the same time.

I'm not throwing him under the bus but the captain no matter what is always responsible for the boat even if he wasn't driving the boat at the time, he is the only one that can order abandon ship.