Flying submarine

[riggerrob 643]

Time to think outside the box (boat?) boys and girls
Can you dream up a profitable civilian mission for a flying submarine?
Delivery is easy ...... SEALS do it every day.
The challenge is taking off at the end of the mission .... sure, the USNavy launches cruise missiles from submarines every day .... Ho hum
You can launch anything with enough rockets.
The challenge in launching a civilian submarine is taking off gradually enough that you do not break the passengers' necks.

After a hard day of touring the Great Barrier Reef how do you return a submarine full of wealthy tourists to the beach-side resort for sunset cocktails?

[quade 4]

As fun as the "Flying Sub" was in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" it was also pretty dumb in terms of science. Submarines and aircraft have two fundamental design challenges to overcome which are largely mutually exclusive. The submarine has to withstand a LOT of pressure even if just going down a 33 ft. To do that requires quite a bit of weight. To fly requires things to be relatively light. Propulsion has similar issues.

I simply don't see a viable way to make that vehicle for commercial use.

Quote

After a hard day of touring the Great Barrier Reef how do you return a submarine full of wealthy tourists to the beach-side resort for sunset cocktails?

I believe this is already possible with sea planes.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[riggerrob 643]

Quote

After a hard day of touring the Great Barrier Reef how do you return a submarine full of wealthy tourists to the beach-side resort for sunset cocktails?

I believe this is already possible with sea planes.

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Any peasant can climb from a boat into a float-plane/helicopter but they get DAMP in the process!
Ick!
Ewwwww!

The challenge is keep wealthy, arthritic customers dry on their way back to the resort.

[riggerrob 643]

Can we start by agreeing that aircraft can only lift light-weight pressure hulls?
That limits our submarine to shallow dives.
What if you kept the "soft" hull pressurized during the flight back to the resort?
What if the primary goal was to avoid "bending" wealthy tourists by very slowly decompressing them?
Their time is far too valuable to waste during decompression stops, hanging unto a rope ten metres below the boat. They have more important things to do, people to meet, deals to seal, coke to snort, hookers to blow ??????
.... or is it the other way round?

[quade 4]

It's still silly.

Just build the hotel underwater.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[turtlespeed 226]

quade

It's still silly.

Just build the hotel underwater.

But what if you get pissed off at the concierge, and want to transfer to the Flying Fortress Hotel?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[riggerrob 643]

NASA tried undersea hotels back during the 1960s. The concept never took off.

[riggerrob 643]

What of Mr. Poutine wanted to assert his control of the Arctic Ocean floor below the North Pole, but had to return to Moscow for a dinner date
How deep is the sea bed under the North Pole.
How long does it take to fly from the North Pole to Moscow in an IL-76 jet transport?
Does that provide enough hours to gentle oh de-compress?

Though
My first thoughts were of a de-compression chamber small enough to fit in a Twin Otter or Sikorsky Sea King helicopter.

[WhirledPeas 0]

An AN-2 should do the trick.

[quade 4]

riggerrob

NASA tried undersea hotels back during the 1960s. The concept never took off.

Actually, you might want to do a quick google of that. There are a couple that are wildly popular.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[muff528 3]

riggerrob

NASA tried undersea hotels back during the 1960s. The concept never took off.

Of course not. They couldn't figure out how to keep the matches lit when they tried to light the fuses.

[riggerrob 643]

***What of Mr. Poutine wanted to assert his control of the Arctic Ocean floor below the North Pole, but had to return to Moscow for a dinner date

..............................................................................

Just answered my own question.
The sea bed is more than 4 kilometers below the North Pole.
Mr. Poutine is the only man on the planet strong enough to do that trip in one day ... shirt-less, riding a polar bear, passing Chuck Norris,
Hah!
Hah!

[HighJB 0]

WhirledPeas

An AN-2 should do the trick.

ça passe ou ça frotte

[turtlespeed 226]

riggerrob

***What of Mr. Poutine wanted to assert his control of the Arctic Ocean floor below the North Pole, but had to return to Moscow for a dinner date

..............................................................................

Just answered my own question.
The sea bed is more than 4 kilometers below the North Pole.
Mr. Poutine is the only man on the planet strong enough to do that trip in one day ... shirt-less, riding a polar bear, passing Chuck Norris,
Hah!
Hah!

Chuck Norris is just going so fast he just looks like hes being passed.

Now . . . Concrete Rebound Hammer - That's a WHOLE different story.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[DrewEckhardt 0]

quade

As fun as the "Flying Sub" was in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" it was also pretty dumb in terms of science. Submarines and aircraft have two fundamental design challenges to overcome which are largely mutually exclusive. The submarine has to withstand a LOT of pressure even if just going down a 33 ft.

Unless it can be vented or pressurized to ambient pressure, like the air SCUBA divers breathe....

[riggerrob 643]

Unless it can be ... pressurized to ambient pressure, like the air SCUBA divers breathe....

................................................................

Finally, a response from someone who can think outside the box ... Er ...... boat.
If you always keep the passenger cabin pressurized slightly more than ambient, it could work with a surprisingly light-weight cabin. I was even contemplating making most of the passenger cabin from flexible materials, like rubberized canvas used to make fuel bladders and Zodiac boats.
Granted, a soft hull would not work at 4 kilometres under the North Pole, but it might work at the 10 or 20 meter depths popular with tourist scuba divers.

[quade 4]

riggerrob

Granted, a soft hull would not work at 4 kilometres under the North Pole, but it might work at the 10 or 20 meter depths popular with tourist scuba divers.

At 33 ft below the surface, the 100 cubic foot cabin would be about 50 cubic foot.

I'm not really sure how your design is going to accommodate for that and is probably a significant factor in why such a design doesn't currently exist anywhere.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[riggerrob 643]

... At 33 ft below the surface, the 100 cubic foot cabin would be about 50 cubic foot.

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As long as internal (air) pressure exceeds external (water) pressure, you should be able to get by with quite a flimsy hull.

Think about diving bells.
Diving bells don't even have floors.
Diving bells depend purely on internal air pressure keeping water out.