flying -approved airplane,” Kohnen says in reference to the now well-publicized fact that OceanGate’s Titan sub operation was an outlier in lacking certification. “There’s a difference between flying an experimental airplane vs. The company’s two-person crewed vessels were initially conceived for research and tourism, offering hour-long trips off the coast of California. “No one has yet said, ‘Submersible tourism is a bad idea, let’s cancel it,’” says Charles Kohnen, co-founder of the pioneering, California-based, SEAmagine Hydrospace Corp. SEAmagine revolutionized the traditional submarine industry in the 1990s when Kohnen and his co-founding brother William, both engineers, designed and built the first known personal submersibles. Titan was intended to descend four times as far. Personal submersibles are used widely by cruise lines, yacht operators and a small number of tourist sub operations to explore pristine coastlines, arctic waters and coral reefs. They rarely achieve depths greater than 1,000 meters-3,280 feet. In 2023, submersible tourism has become more common that it might sound. The loss of five lives on the Titan has thrown into question the safety of underwater expeditions: Could this be the end of deep-sea tourism? “I don’t think I would do it now,” she adds, citing the implosion of OceanGate Expedition’s Titan. “I’m really glad I did it,” says the on-air host of Travel with Annita, recalling the 360-degree views of the sea bottom from the submersible’s transparent acrylic hull, at a depth just shy of 1,000 feet. The sound of pilot transmitting periodic safety checks was a comfort amid the thrill. The worry dissipated quickly as the seven-passenger underwater vehicle dipped below the surface of the water, leaving behind the Scenic Eclipse discovery yacht from which her adventure started. (Bloomberg) - Annita Thomas felt nervous about her first small submersible dive in the Sea of Cortez, off California’s coastline, in April 2023.
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