Hail Mary Analysis

[Bob Smith]

Just lay it aside Craig. Tomorrow is another day!

[Bill Lloyd]

Well, since Phoenix kind of got TIGHAR into a 'can't find her backside with both hands' situation on this thing (may as well laugh as cry)  maybe the return of that $860K would be a good start toward a redux... which might be a partial foundation for a more sweeping effort (broader and deeper...)?

Depends on the language in the services contract. Were any results guaranteed? Probably not.

[Ric Gillespie]

No results were guaranteed but they failed to deliver the professional services contracted for.

[ibscas]

At the very least there is a reasonable expectation of professional results, even if those results end up being nothing.  For any amount of money, certainly for just south of $1M, you don't expect for full equipment failure without reasonable backup equipment nor do you expect that the coordinates of the search are any other than correct.  For a total system failure there is no excuse.  For having submitted the sonar results as a single piece - thus providing incorrect data - and not correcting their results to include the dead spots of the sonar data again shows incompetence or lack of understanding of their job. 

I would be surprised if you got a 100% refund but based on the data gathered and the performance of the company I would expect a significant portion of it.

[Ted G Campbell]

Ric,
Does TIGHAR have an escrow account set up to deposit all the refund money into or does the money (if any) go into the general operating fund?
Ted

[Ric Gillespie]

Is it not to late to try and get any monies back of Phoenix? Or even if not surely the initial legal cost would be prohibitive what with the recent Tim Mellon cases es and the possible IRS investigation?

The only way TIGHAR would bring legal action against Phoenix is if we could find a law firm licensed in Virginia who would take on the case pro bono or on a contingency basis - but that has nothing to do with the Mellon lawsuit or his equally groundless complaint to the IRS.

[Ric Gillespie]

Does TIGHAR have an escrow account set up to deposit all the refund money into or does the money (if any) go into the general operating fund?

Were TIGHAR able to recover funds from Phoenix the money would be used as directed by the TIGHAR board of directors.

[Ric Gillespie]

It's not a good idea to speculate about possible litigation in a public forum.  Let's stay on topic.  The topic is the Hail Mary Analysis and I'm not sure there is much more to say.

[Jeff Palshook]

Is it not to late to try and get any monies back of Phoenix? Or even if not surely the initial legal cost would be prohibitive what with the recent Tim Mellon cases es and the possible IRS investigation?

The only way TIGHAR would bring legal action against Phoenix is if we could find a law firm licensed in Virginia who would take on the case pro bono or on a contingency basis - but that has nothing to do with the Mellon lawsuit or his equally groundless complaint to the IRS.

Phoenix is headquartered in Maryland, not Virginia, Ric.

Jeff P.

[Ric Gillespie]

Phoenix is headquartered in Maryland, not Virginia, Ric.

They're licensed as a Virginia corporation.

[Scott C. Mitchell]

The ingenuity of the improvised "Hail Mary" effort was striking.  Would there be a way to incorporate this low-tech approach into a larger planned apparatus? What I have in mind is a framework maybe twenty feet across with several fixed cameras mounted and pointing to cover a fair swath of underwater terrain.  The purpose would to "sweep" the area -- not a remote vehicle darting between the boulders with its pinpoint beam of light, but a broad mower approach looking for fairly sizable artifacts.  The frame could be constructed to be "deeper" at one end, to roughly match the slope.  The frame would be towed by a large vessell or its auxillary watercraft.  The frame could be shipped in components and easily assembled on site.  Progress and mapping could be matched with GPS positioning.  In other words, a "one-off" apparatus designed specifically for the conditions of Niku and the sole mission of covering lots of terrain.

Scott
#3292

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

The ingenuity of the improvised "Hail Mary" effort was striking.

Agreed.

Kudos to the MacGyvers who did their level best to find the anomaly!

[Ric Gillespie]

The ingenuity of the improvised "Hail Mary" effort was striking.  Would there be a way to incorporate this low-tech approach into a larger planned apparatus?

It's an interesting idea.  Thanks.

[Hector M Zapata]

I'm sure you have seen some impressive images using an array of gopro cameras. something like this but pointing "outside" of apparatus?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKtAuflyc5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToLg3IjfywU

[Greg Daspit]

The greater the horizontal aspect  of the device is,  the more chance of it getting snagged. There may be less control too.