He nearly boarded the doomed Titan submarine until one safety question froze him in his tracks

Entrepreneur and University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen isn’t a stranger to risk. After all, he had traveled to 193 countries and even visited outer space. This is why, in June 2023, he initially agreed to travel in the Titan submersible on a deep dive expedition of the sunken Titanic led by explorer Stockton Rush. However, a week before he and others were to travel into the underwater depths, he asked a question that saved his life.

During a safety briefing, Kitchen asked the mission coordinators a series of questions. Many of them were reasonable, such as “What does the weather look like?” and “How long could they expect to be waiting at sea before making the dive?” But according to Kitchen, his concerns were waved off and everyone looked annoyed that he would even ask anything. Then came his last question: How many times did the Titan submersible make this dive down to the shipwrecked Titanic?

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“The answer was: ‘none’,” Kitchen told The Times. “So, I motioned to Rush and I said, ‘Hey, talk to me after.’ I didn’t want to spook everyone else in the group. I told him I wasn’t going to go. There was no way I was getting on board.”

A week later, the Titan submersible left shore without Kitchen and imploded deep underwater, instantly killing five passengers, including Rush. Kitchen’s personal discretion saved his life. Among his other explorational pursuits, Kitchen participated in an expedition down the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean. Partially based on that experience, he knew the risks and understood the consequences of riding in an untested seacraft.

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Based on the findings by the Coast Guard in 2025, death could have and should have been prevented had proper safety precautions, testing, and measures been taken. In fact, had Stockton Rush survived, he would have been criminally charged for skirting safety regulations and warnings.

"This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable," Titan Marine Board Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer said in a statement. "The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy."

While Kitchen survived, he feels “heartbreak” for the surviving family members of the passengers who died, some of whom didn’t even want them to go on the deep sea excursion to begin with. He hopes that this tragedy leads to further scrutiny and testing of deep sea vessels.

“If there are calls for additional safety — good,” he said. “I want to see deep-ocean vehicles made from the proper materials. I want to see them certified. I want to see them insured. I want to see them tested.”

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As Kitchen demonstrated, asking questions, especially when you're uncomfortable or something doesn’t feel right, can make a big difference. It may seem simple, but there are many different situations in which asking questions might make you feel stupid, uncomfortable (like Kitchen was when the coordinators glared at him), or a bit presumptuous. However, asking questions, even when it may seem obvious, creates trust, eliminates presumptions, and will ultimately either make you more at ease or more informed to participate (or not!) in an experience.