It was.
David Shaw, what happened? Who was he?
- Thread starter xsports
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It was.
Sas
Contributor
Widget, I still don't see how it is a good thing that access was lost. People abusing it were the problem, not the cave being open in itself.
There is a great in depth review of his fatality here:
Mitchell SJ, Cronjé FJ, Meintjes WA, Britz HC (February 2007). "Fatal respiratory failure during a "technical" rebreather dive at extreme pressure". Aviat Space Environ Med 78 (2): 816. PMID 17310877.
Dr Mitchell also presented a step by step review of the video of his death at the DAN Technical Conference a while back. That should be available for download from DAN. This is the first recorded case of a effort-independent expiratory flow.
Mitchell SJ, Cronjé FJ, Meintjes WA, Britz HC (February 2007). "Fatal respiratory failure during a "technical" rebreather dive at extreme pressure". Aviat Space Environ Med 78 (2): 816. PMID 17310877.
Dr Mitchell also presented a step by step review of the video of his death at the DAN Technical Conference a while back. That should be available for download from DAN. This is the first recorded case of a effort-independent expiratory flow.
Kevin Carlisle
Contributor
The mask belonged to the body of the diver he was trying to recover. The body had been there almost a decade.
I
idocsteve
Guest
Yes, that's what I figured, thanks.
The video I saw was dark, and it was not possible for me to see if there was a face and head behind the mask, so I was wondering if that brief shot was the entire head.
I will take from your post that the head is still floating around down there and that was just the mask I was seeing.
Kevin Carlisle
Contributor
He was suppose to put the body in a bag. The trouble started when the skull detatched fro the body, after 9 years I think it is no surprise. When the skull come off the body floated a little and then he was tangled. Too much went wrong at those depths.
Bogie
Contributor
Diving into Darkness, book by Phillip Finch is an excellent read. Good decision making in diving is essential for staying healthy and staying alive in diving. You start a dive long before you enter the water.
Andy_HFC
Contributor
Incidentally, "raising the dead" and "diving into darkness" are the same book, same author. In case you spend the money twice.....as my wife did. 
Just finished reading the book, watching the video, listening to Ron Shirley comment on it and feeling really sad. I think people should always voice their opinions on diving accidents. It keeps them thinking. I might not agree with folks, but I'm really glad they're thinking.
This accident has been thought and talked to death. It's really hard to step back and let people have their say because there was such a tragic loss.
The book, at the end, does have great advice. The statistics for deep tech diving losses are phenomenal. The odds are so harshly against a person. The book also chronicles other losses like Exley (sp?) Now that guy was a titan. Instead of Shaw's paltry 333 dives, Exley (and others) had thousands. It proves you only have to die once. One o-ring, one snag, one bubble, on grounded device, open circuit, you die.
I feel that the dangerous diving is fun, in part, for the same reason motorcycle riding, skydiving etc. is fun. Your brain KNOWS it's at hazard. That adrenalin trickle is there. Being just a little scared, concerned, task overloaded, at hazard, it's addictive. There's a reason.
My problem with the hazard of it is that when your gas gets messed up, it affects your brain. It affects the only thing keeping you alive. No matter how much you train. Look at Shaw's video. He went into training mode. Situational awareness escaped him. Then you read about Shirley's escape, a true mastery of a completely catastrophic situation. His capabilities were the only thing that saved his life. He never ever gave up on the mental, or the physical struggle.
I know, deep in my heart, that I'm not capable of doing what they do. I can do very complex operations. Can I do them with a plastic bag on my head or someone sitting on my chest? I highly doubt it.
The commercial industry has established what it takes to do it safely and NO recreational diver adheres to those standards. If safety's not a concern, well, I guess that's the choice. Safely vs. recreationally.
I know this will incite comment. That's ok. People have a huge investment in emotion and money into their fun and will defend it. All said and done, I'll defend their right to do it. I don't agree with it, but it is their decision. I'm just talking about why I won't do it.
Amazing stories. Sad stories. That's diving.
This accident has been thought and talked to death. It's really hard to step back and let people have their say because there was such a tragic loss.
The book, at the end, does have great advice. The statistics for deep tech diving losses are phenomenal. The odds are so harshly against a person. The book also chronicles other losses like Exley (sp?) Now that guy was a titan. Instead of Shaw's paltry 333 dives, Exley (and others) had thousands. It proves you only have to die once. One o-ring, one snag, one bubble, on grounded device, open circuit, you die.
I feel that the dangerous diving is fun, in part, for the same reason motorcycle riding, skydiving etc. is fun. Your brain KNOWS it's at hazard. That adrenalin trickle is there. Being just a little scared, concerned, task overloaded, at hazard, it's addictive. There's a reason.
My problem with the hazard of it is that when your gas gets messed up, it affects your brain. It affects the only thing keeping you alive. No matter how much you train. Look at Shaw's video. He went into training mode. Situational awareness escaped him. Then you read about Shirley's escape, a true mastery of a completely catastrophic situation. His capabilities were the only thing that saved his life. He never ever gave up on the mental, or the physical struggle.
I know, deep in my heart, that I'm not capable of doing what they do. I can do very complex operations. Can I do them with a plastic bag on my head or someone sitting on my chest? I highly doubt it.
The commercial industry has established what it takes to do it safely and NO recreational diver adheres to those standards. If safety's not a concern, well, I guess that's the choice. Safely vs. recreationally.
I know this will incite comment. That's ok. People have a huge investment in emotion and money into their fun and will defend it. All said and done, I'll defend their right to do it. I don't agree with it, but it is their decision. I'm just talking about why I won't do it.
Amazing stories. Sad stories. That's diving.
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