Underwater Flight with Graham Hawkes

Chris Bauer Post on May 01, 2007 by
Topics: Engineering, Environment, Television
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Graham Hawkes, an internationally renowned ocean engineer/inventor, has been responsible for the design of many of the manned and remote underwater vehicles in use today. Mr. Hawkes currently holds the world record for the deepest solo dive, which he achieved while test piloting his Deep Rover submersible. Now he’s taking that expertise and building new submersibles that “fly” underwater. The small, lightweight “Deep Flight” series of winged submersibles look and feel more like airplanes than submarines. Flying underwater, Hawkes and his team hope to “soar” to the deepest parts of the ocean.

We dive with Mr. Hawkes and learn how these machines work. We see how underwater flight may unlock the secrets of the deep and open up a whole new world. As Mr. Hawkes says, “We live on an ocean planet!” “As we enter the 21st century, we wonder what dramatic new developments await. One profound development is inevitable and predicable: Earth's oceans are a huge, untapped resource inextricably tied to the health of our planet in ways we now are just beginning to understand.”

You may watch the Underwater Flight with Graham Hawkes TV story online.

Video Games for All and Underwater Flight (episode #109), airs tonight on QUEST at 7:30pm on KQED 9, and KQED HD, Comcast 709. (full schedule)

Chris Bauer is a Segment Producer for television on QUEST, and is the producer for this story.

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  • http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/ Peter Sloss

    Always nice to see our stuff on TV.
    See more images at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/
    Also nice would be to see a source credit once in a while…

    – Peter Sloss, NOAA/NGDC (ret.)

  • http://www.homeenergy.org Jim Gunshinan

    Wow, that was really fantastic! Of course, water acts like air, only it is denser.

    I felt some of the same excitment watching Graham's underwater flight as I did watching the NASA space flights in the 1960s and 1970s. Thanks for the ride!

  • http://gamescc.rbkdesign.com Reid Kimball

    I found this to be really interesting and agree with the point that we should be exploring our own oceans just as much as we try to explore space. There is still much to be learned here at home.

  • David E Hinz

    I am interested in CA remnant fisheries. I'm
    wondering in the future talk about these
    exotic communities and how conservation is
    moving along?

    David E. Hinz
    Seattle, NY

  • Chris Bauer

    Hawkes Ocean Technology unveiled the latest Deep Flight Submersible, Super Falcon, on May 13th, 2009 at the California Academy of Sciences. Scientists are now itching to get into the cockpit and “fly” far beneath the waves to study places in the deep ocean that have never been seen by human eyes. This is no ordinary submersible and the chance to explore the ocean’s depths and keep up with the animals that live there is unprecedented. Imagine diving along with a pod of Humpback whales or zooming through a school of sharks or maybe being the first person to see a Giant Squid in its natural environment! Up! Up! And away! Or um… Down! Down! And away!

    For more (ahem) in-depth information on this incredible machine, check out these recent news stories:

    Super Falcon sub ready to fly in Monterey Bay
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/13/BAAN17JT6M.DTL&tsp=1

    Underwater “flying machine” launched
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8049179.stm

    A personal deep-sea submersible takes flight
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10240098-52.html

  • Chris Bauer

    STORY UPDATE: Hawkes Ocean Technologies announced that the experimental prototype DeepFlight Challenger submersible is being prepped to make a record 36,000 foot dive to the Mariana Trench. The dives are part of billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Oceanic Five Dives project, a series of deep water ocean expeditions. Hawkes Ocean Technologies is also prepping two Deepflight Super Falcon craft for separate expeditions; a Hawkes-led project in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan and a multi-year ocean expedition, led by venture capitalist, Tom Perkins.

    To read more about the planned deep sea adventures see: http://www.marinij.com/sananselmo/ci_17777061
    And
    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/billionaire-branson-plots-deep-sea-adventure-with-jet-like-submarine.html

  • Chris Bauer

    STORY UPDATE: Also see a cool animation of the DeepFlight Challenger "flying" through the deep sea here: http://www.virginoceanic.com/

  • Chris Bauer

    STORY UPDATE: It has been more than 50 years since humanity ventured to the deepest place on the Earth's surface, but one futuristic craft built by Graham Hawkes is in the race to return to Challenger Deep.

    Read more here: http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_18700740

  • Chris Bauer

    STORY UPDATE: Listen to a radio story about Graham Hawkes and his quest to explore the deepest place is the ocean:

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/08/21/san-anselmo-man-prepares-for-deep-sea-submersible-competition/