LAHAINA - A one-of-a-kind miniature submarine that flies underwater is visiting Maui this month. It doesn't "fly" very fast - only 6 knots maximum or around 7 mph - but it works just like an airplane, said its crew chief, Dave Harper.
"It has ailerons, elevators, a rudder and wings," he said at the end of another 18-hour day of shepherding the SeaAviator at Mala Wharf last week. The wings are upside down, to develop the opposite of lift, taking it down to its 1,000-foot working depth quickly. The pilots move the controls with foot pedals and direct the sub with a joystick, like airplane pilots.
Capt. Fred McLaren, who used to drive much bigger Navy subs, is the pilot/instructor. The submarine does not carry passengers (and is not rated by the Coast Guard to do so). Behind him, fitted with a set of dual controls, is the co-pilot/instructee. Last week, the submarine was carrying cameras for a German television crew.
The SubAviator is expected to stay at Mala Wharf for most of the month, and McLaren said he would be happy if it could spend several months each year off Maui, investigating coral reefs and other environmental questions.
Although it does not carry passengers and therefore did not need a permit from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Sub Aviator Systems of Bellingham, Wash., does advertise that anyone (who is not too tall or too short or too young) can ride - or learn to "fly" underwater.
"Learn to FLY underwater! Limited space available! Reserve your adventure today!" proclaims the company's Web site.
But bring your checkbook. A one-day course costs $3,350 (not including airfare, room, etc.), and the three-day course is more than $8,600.
DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said: "The sub is primarily functioning as a camera or film platform contracted to provide this service for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel and several other foreign film entities. Because they are not capable of carrying passengers for hire, they do not require a commercial use permit. However they will be involved with 'flight certification' training for associates and staff."
Just how noncommercial SubAviator is may be open to debate. A Forbes.com article included it among a list of "great commercial adventures." It is also being marketed to underwater archaeologists as a survey platform.
DLNR's Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation gave permission for the sub's support trailer to park for the duration at Mala, taking up five of 13 spaces. An inspection last week showed that there were empty spaces available and that other commercial operations that use Mala boat ramp were functioning normally, Ward said.
One fisherman, Willie Miyake, called The Maui News to object that there wasn't enough room for local users to park their trailers, but Ward said a check by state boating officials did not support that claim.
McLaren and Harper said they welcome visitors, although the state has required them to tell visitors not to park in any of the other stalls used by recreational boaters.
McLaren said SubAviator has "a great story to tell" and has attracted the support of many environmental organizations. Those supporters make up a large proportion of the "flight trainees."
Sub Aviator Systems is building a similar but more capable sub, ORCA. SubAviator is a working prototype, which has dived in Lake Tahoe and at several locations on the West Coast, as well as the Bahamas and the Florida Keys.
It is like a conventional electric submarine, in that, it is fueled by lead-acid storage batteries. The unpressurized hull is made of composite material, while the pressurized chambers for the crew are aluminum. The two domes for their heads are acrylic.
Unlike some other small research subs, SubAviator does not have any grasping or manipulating arms, just camera platforms. Such tools could be bought "off the shelf," but that isn't the purpose of the sub, Harper said.
That was not the impression of the reporter from Diver magazine, who speculated that it would be good for "picking up doubloons."
As a camera platform, and with its relatively high speed (double what other small subs can manage), SubAviator can usefully carry researchers along reefs for biological surveys, Harper said.
"We're not just taking people out for rides," McLaren said.
Although Harper had not heard about Maui's black coral before he got here last week, he has since, and he's intrigued.
For decades, scuba divers have tempted fate by diving to the upper range of the coral's habitat, which at around 200 feet is just barely within reach of tank divers using normal equipment.
The coral grows deeper, and has been safe from extirpation by hunters, who could not reach it.
Harper said SeaAviator, with its thousand-foot reach, would be an ideal platform to scout the black coral's habitat and learn just how much of it there is and how it grows.
But, without "hands," it could look but it couldn't touch.
(Before regulation, there were worries that a cheap, small sub would allow hunters to denude the seafloor of the scarce coral. Small subs don't come cheap, so that didn't happen.)
SeaAviator requires a crew of three to maintain it, Harper said. Its life-support systems would allow it to stay down for 30 hours, although if all its systems, including cameras and lights, were going full bore, the electricity would run out in two to four hours.
As a practical matter, SeaAviator is capable of carrying film crews as long as they are likely to want to go on one dive.
For more information, visit www.subaviators.com.
* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
