Virgin Oceanic & DeepFlight Challenger sub

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

The Virgin Oceanic catamaran will serve as the mothership for the DeepFlight Challenger sub, which is designed to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific.

It sure would be nice if they'd do some deepwater laps around Niku on their way to or from the big dive.

[Tom Swearengen]

Already sent Ric a message about this---

[Chris Johnson]

The Virgin Oceanic catamaran will serve as the mothership for the DeepFlight Challenger sub, which is designed to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific.

It sure would be nice if they'd do some deepwater laps around Niku on their way to or from the big dive.

Looks neat but I wouldn't want the motor to fail on at the bottom!

[Ric Gillespie]

Impressive technology but way overkill for our needs.  We can do what we need to do without putting people down where, if something goes wrong, they're gonna die.
Rule #1: It's not worth hurting live people to look for dead ones.

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

Impressive technology but way overkill for our needs.  We can do what we need to do without putting people down where, if something goes wrong, they're gonna die.

Rule #1: It's not worth hurting live people to look for dead ones.

My thought is that they wouldn't be TIGHAR people.

These folks are planning on sending a human or two to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Some sightseeing around Niku would be child's play for them.

They're planning to do five oceans and five record dives with the sub.

25,000 miles on that mother ship.

I know it's a long shot that they would help out or that any dives they could do would turn up good results.

But strange things do happen.

[Tom Swearengen]

But its the search to 'see' if anything is there. the trench is there. Whats at the bottom is anyones best guess---until they get there. Whats around the bottom of the reef at Niku? Hopefully parts of an Electra, but is it there? Thats the excitement of the search!
He'll go for it.
Tom

[Chris Johnson]

No harm in trying but Sir Richard is British and i'm afraid AE does not have a high profile over here compared to the States.  The number of people I have to explain who she is to!

I didn't even know who she was until I was watching the Mallory and Irvine (British early 20C mountiners who vanished on Everest) expeditions that my brain said 'Oi didn't a group claim to find some American Pilot on a Island in the Pacific.

On the Plus side Sir Richard is an avid aviator so who knows.

[Bill Lloyd]

No harm in trying but Sir Richard is British and i'm afraid AE does not have a high profile over here compared to the States.  The number of people I have to explain who she is to!

I didn't even know who she was until I was watching the Mallory and Irvine (British early 20C mountiners who vanished on Everest) expeditions that my brain said 'Oi didn't a group claim to find some American Pilot on a Island in the Pacific.

On the Plus side Sir Richard is an avid aviator so who knows.

I would suspect that Richard knows about AE and the search. As I recall he was involved with the Steve Fossett search a couple of years ago and if approached he might be interested in finding the Electra.

[Tom Swearengen]

I'm sure that Ric is intrigued by this, but there may be contractual issues with Discovery on other search partners. I think the more assets that can be brought in, the better the chance of finding parts of the Electra, and in the long term, save some money.
But---what could it hurt to ask?
Tom

[Ric Gillespie]

I'm sure that Ric is intrigued by this, but there may be contractual issues with Discovery on other search partners.

There are no contractual issues with Discovery about who we select to conduct the search.  We'll pick the technology and the contractor that, in our estimation, will do the best job.  We won't go hat-in-hand to deep pockets attached to big egos.  That's a good way to lose control of a project.

[Tom Swearengen]

I agree. I was thinking that any help could be useful.

[Bill Lloyd]

  We won't go hat-in-hand to deep pockets attached to big egos.  That's a good way to lose control of a project.

What is the status of your fundraising for the deep sea search?  What is your primary method of fundraising?

[Thom Boughton]

No harm in trying but Sir Richard is British and i'm afraid AE does not have a high profile over here compared to the States.  The number of people I have to explain who she is to!

I would bet bottom dollar that Branson not only knows who AE was ...but also knows her full history and every theory as to her eventual plight.  And if one could make a plausible case for it, I suspect it might not be terribly difficult to coerce him to do such a survey.  For no other reason than, should it prove successful, the publicity would be huge.  And it appears that Sir Richard is always quite motivated by publicity about Sir Richard.

I also believe in what Ric has said....'going hat-in-hand is a good way to lose control of the project'.  And THAT would be a crying shame.




TB

[Bill Lloyd]

I would bet bottom dollar that Branson not only knows who AE was ...but also knows her full history and every theory as to her eventual plight.  And if one could make a plausible case for it, I suspect it might not be terribly difficult to coerce him to do such a survey.  For no other reason than, should it prove successful, the publicity would be huge.  And it appears that Sir Richard is always quite motivated by publicity about Sir Richard.
TB

Based on his aviation activities and past involvements Branson might be entirely intrigued with the idea of finding the Electra. Due to the publicity that this project has received lately, there may be other "deep pockets" out there with investment money that might be interested, however, such comments by TIGHAR that "we won't go hat-in-hand to deep pockets attached to big egos" does not help the cause as some people would consider those comments offensive.  If TIGHAR is as under funded as they say, then perhaps a well organized fund raising approach to viable investors is in order.

[Ric Gillespie]

...such comments by TIGHAR that "we won't go hat-in-hand to deep pockets attached to big egos" does not help the cause as some people would consider those comments offensive.  If TIGHAR is as under funded as they say, then perhaps a well organized fund raising approach to viable investors is in order.

Thank you for your advice.  Perhaps your experience as a fund raiser has been different from mine.  I've been the principal fund raiser for this organization for 26 years.  I won't say that it has been easy and I don't think I've been very good at it. There has never been as much money as we've really needed to do everything we've wanted to do. But I can assure you that I've mounted countless well organized fund raising approaches to viable contributors (we can't solicit "investors").  I've made the mistake of accepting big donations from deep pockets with big egos.  I can show you the scars.  And yes, I've offended people and will undoubtedly do so again. Perhaps I have offended you. But I've found the money for ten trips to Nikumaroro without surrendering control of the organization or the project. It is my hope and intention to do so again.