An accident waiting for a place to happen

[pipedope]

While 200' is not DEEP it is deep on air.

Personally I would do a dive to 200' on air ONLY surface supplied, with a helmet and hard wire communications, on a time critical, high value job that doesn't allow time to get mixed gas gear to the site.

I would consider a FULL AL80 to be a bailout bottle on this dive as a minimum.

Anybody here want to guess how many times I have done dives into a pipe just to say that I did it?

 

[H2Andy]

18.7 times

 

[mania]

It's dangerous to dive that deep on air and with a single tank. But my friend - an instructor - is a diver for 30 years. He tells me that 30 years ago, at least here in Poland, there were no other gases - only air. And as commercial diver he did even deeper dives - like 80 or more meters.
He is still alive and I don't think it's only pure luck.
Mania

 

[H2Andy]

yes, no doubt that it can be done, and it has been done. just like once upon a time,
fires were put out by volunteers using horse-pulled wagons.

but is it necessary to fight fires with horse-pulled wagons when we have
modern fire engines?

wouldn't it be a shame if this person died because they did not take advantage
of the knowledge and techonologies available today?

 

[Kim]

yes, no doubt that it can be done, and it has been done. just like once upon a time,
fires were put out by volunteers using horse-pulled wagons.

but is it necessary to fight fires with horse-pulled wagons when we have
modern fire engines?

wouldn't it be a shame if this person died because they did not take advantage
of the knowledge and techonologies available today?

Put it like this - if I posted in a couple of weeks that this person HAD died doing such a dive, I don't believe too many people would be surprised. For me it would be more than a shame - I know his wife and kids.
Thank you Rick & Pipedope for educating me a little better on the oxygen toxicity thing - you are right and I was worried about that - less now. However I don't really see any 'marginal redundancy' here - presumably his buddies tank is emptying as fast as his is at that depth - they are not going to make it down there with full tanks that's for sure - lose one tank and that's surely going to be a BIG problem - or not?

 

[pipedope]

ZERO, zip, none, nada.

I did a dive into a pipe because someone was paying me to do a job that happened to be inside the pipe. I used the gear that best suited keeping me alive and getting the job done.

I didn't dive Farnsworth Bank to say I did it, but to see the purple coral with my own eyes. It was worth the trip, to me.

 

[simbrooks]

yes, no doubt that it can be done, and it has been done. just like once upon a time,
fires were put out by volunteers using horse-pulled wagons.

but is it necessary to fight fires with horse-pulled wagons when we have
modern fire engines?

The Omish still do it that way.....

I would imagine that a dive to 200ft would have to be a deco dive with stops on the way back up, does this instructor know about deco diving?? Fair guess he might not if he doesnt know about mixed gases, some of the fundamental laws of diving, the risks involved, extra equipment to make overhead diving less risky etc. It doesnt sound like something i would jump in and do, particularly if i had been diving a while.

 

[captain]

The point of my post was to point out that 200 foot air dives are not that uncommon in some areas of sport diving. As done in spearfishing it is drop down as fast as possible looking for the big one. If he's not there it's right back up, total time less than five minutes with 1500 psi left. If he is you shoot him and drag him up into shallow water. The total time maybe a little longer but not the time at 200 feet. Most of these divers have been doing this for many years. I know one who has over 30 years of this type of diving. To imply that if you do 200 foot air dives that eventually it will kill you is not fact. I know a lot of divers on this board frown apon spearfishing and many from interior areas of the country don't have a clue about it. IMO diving half a mile back in a cave only to see rock is a stunt.

Captain

 

[H2Andy]

The Omish still do it that way.....

i think the rest of the world calls them the Amish...

well, at least Weird Al Yankovick does

 

[simbrooks]

Really dont pay attention to correct spelling of words i have only ever heard, never met the people and never seen the name spelt.... maybe i should, but that would be too much trouble. I stand corrected, the point still stands.