Idabel goes up and down using the same basic buoyancy principles as nearly all submarines: by adjusting the amount of air or water inside the ballast compartments. On the surface Idabel is over 1000 pounds positively buoyant. The passengers are weighed and lead weight is added inside the sub that so when the ballast tanks are filled with water, the vessel will only sink by about 20 pounds. This is why it takes approximately 40 minutes to sink 2000 feet— we are just slightly negatively buoyant. To get neutrally or positively buoyant, a little bit of air from either of the large air tanks is injected into one of the two ballast tanks. Completely filling the tanks with air, dropping the weight, and/or using the vertical motors would rocket the sub to the surface in 5 minutes from 2000 feet.