I saw the out of the water photos in the paper this morning and the
report that a stability test had to be stopped after 10 passengers.
As one who has designed several USCG certificated vessels and
conducted more stability tests than I can remember, all I can say is
"WOW!". No tests or calculations would have been necessary to
conclude that this thing was going to kill people some day with 50
passengers.

I think this accident is going to be one of those that results in a
major overhaul of the regulations. Actually, it probably won't. Post
911 nobody is paying attention to anything except chasing phantoms and
figuring out ways to use terrorism and natural disasters to push
political agendas and award no-bid contracts.

--

Roger Long