Deep Flight Super Falcon Small Submarine
By Natsha Dorsainvil
It may look like something that should be zipping through the blue skies, but the Deep Flight Super Falcon is a small submarine meant to fly through blue seas. If the ‘falcon’ moniker rings a bell, there’s reason for it. This streamlined submarine was underwritten by Tom Perkins, who has just put his yacht, the Maltese Falcon, on the luxury market for $138 million.
The 20-foot long, two-person submarine was showcased at the California Academy of Sciences last Wednesday and will soon take researchers and adventure seekers up to 1,500 feet below the ocean’s surface. Through its two, thick Plexiglas surrounds, each passenger will be able to observe all that the underwater world has to offer.
The sea craft’s main appeal is its size. When we think of submarines, we often think of behemoth, whale-like vessels slowly traveling though the dark depths of the sea. While the 20-foot long Deep Flight Super Falcon still has the functions of those large vessels, marine engineer Graham Hawkes sees the advantage of having a pint-sized sub. In the past 20 years, he’s invented four subs, which, because of their size can be towed aboard other ships quite easily. Arguably, this advantage would give “educators, journalists, politicians, conservationists, and artists” the opportunity to see and learn firsthand about marine life.
The Deep Flight Super Falcon is set to peruse the depths of Monterey Bay in California between June 19 and July 17. No need to book a seat on this sea jet, because the only two seats available are already taken.
Via SF Gate
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