The DeepFlight Super Falcon is a

personal submarine A personal submarine is a submarine, usually privately funded and constructed, which is usually primarily intended for recreational use. Some are also used for scientific or military purposes. Other uses include tourism, filming, water sporting, ...

designed by Graham Hawkes, a former civilian ocean engineer. It was hoped that the technology used in this submersible would allow travel to the deepest parts of the ocean.

Development

The Super Falcon was designed by Graham Hawkes. Later, he started designing submersible vehicles for both the

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

and those in the scientific research sectors. One of his earlier submersibles was featured in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' For Your Eyes Only''. Another was used in producer

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's ''

Aliens of the Deep ''Aliens of the Deep'' is a 2005 American documentary film directed in part by James Cameron alongside fellow cameraman and friend Steven Quale, who served as second unit director on Cameron's ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'' (1997) and later ''A ...

''. In 2005, Hawkes and adventurer

Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraf ...

teamed up to create a submarine that could be piloted by an individual to the deepest part of the ocean. This spot in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, called

Challenger Deep The Challenger Deep is the List of submarine topographical features#List of oceanic trenches, deepest known point of the seabed of Earth, located in the western Pacific Ocean at the southern end of the Mariana Trench, in the ocean territory o ...

, is approximately under the ocean's surface and is thought to be the deepest point in the ocean. Together they began to develop the ''Challenger'' submersible with this goal in mind. However, in 2007 Fossett lost his life in a fatal accident in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

Mountains of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

before the feat could be attempted. The first test flight of the Super Falcon in 2009 ran into a few problems including getting the submersible stuck in a

kelp bed Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on E ...

, which had to be cut free with the help of a safety diver. Other initial problems included a broken prop and rudder while performing vertical dives and 90 degree rolls.

Design

Mark I

The Super Falcon is classified as a winged submersible with a numerical design designation of DF 302. With its wings deployed, it measures wide x x long. The width is reduced to with the side wings folded. The electricity that drives the propulsion system is from batteries, the Super Falcon's cruise speed is between . Its maximum thrust is . The maximum rate at which it can make a descent is 200 ft/min and the maximum rate at which it can ascend is 400 ft/min. It can operate at a depth of 1,000 fsw with a payload of , or 2 people . It has a launch weight of .

Mark II

The redesigned Super Falcon is long, wide (wings folded or extended, respectively), tall, and a launch weight of . It has a cruising speed of , under thrust of , with an operating depth of . It can carry a crew of 2, and a payload of including the crew. The vehicle uses

lithium ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy d ...

for energy storage.

Submarines

The Mateschitz Super Falcon is a Mark II custom fitted to

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

billionaire

Dietrich Mateschitz Dietrich Markwart Eberhart Mateschitz (, ; 20 May 1944 – 22 October 2022) was an Austrian billionaire businessman. He was the co-founder and 49% owner of Red Bull GmbH. In April 2022, Mateschitz's net worth was estimated at US$27.4 billion. Ma ...

, for use at the island and resort that he owns,

Laucala Laucala (pronounced ) is one of a triplet of small islands that lie to the east of Thurston Point on the island of Taveuni in Fiji. The privately owned islands are the site of the Laucala Resort. The total land area of the main island is . It is ...

Island in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. It is the first resort-based Super Falcon.

References

External links

* *{{Cite web, url=http://www.outsideonline.com/1892206/just-dont-call-it-submarine, title=Just Don't Call it a Submarine, date=21 April 2010 by Thayer Walker - Outside Online May 2010 Submarines Personal submarines