Remember Summer Wind and Oil barge/tug collision in Houston Ship Channel

[obthomas]

Remember how everyone felt the tug/barge was at fault in the collision with Summer Wind the oil tanker in the Houston Ship Channel at the ICW intersection. Well, a sea lawyer friend of mine just told me that Summer Wind is getting a lot of blame because the pilot did not check into some kind of traffic control in the area and further was accelerating instead of backing down when the accident happened. HeHeHe At the time I told everyone that somehow the authorities would find fault with everyone.

 

[psneeld]

Remember how everyone felt the tug/barge was at fault in the collision with Summer Wind the oil tanker in the Houston Ship Channel at the ICW intersection. Well, a sea lawyer friend of mine just told me that Summer Wind is getting a lot of blame because the pilot did not check into some kind of traffic control in the area and further was accelerating instead of backing down when the accident happened. HeHeHe At the time I told everyone that somehow the authorities would find fault with everyone.

we will see....if the pilot is that unprofessional then it's only natural blame will be apportioned more in that direction....

I'm assuming the traffic control is mandatory or commonly used if not?

plus...didn't the article say that the pilot said even if he went to full reverse it wouldn't have mattered?...if he can show that full throttle had little to do with the actual collision and may have prevented it being worse by having more thrust across his rudder...we'll see where that goes.

 

[Ski in NC]

I've added power to get more steerage in avoiding a hit. You may get a better chance of avoiding the collision, but if the collision does happen, it might be worse. Dilemma...

Can't read much into the pilot adding power.