Experienced Divers and OOA emergencies

[Rhone Man]

Since we are on the topic, here is a question relating to OOA techniques. While the argument of which do we hand over - primary or octo, and should the octo be RH or LH, I was wondering: Has there ever been definative testing to see which method is safest when dealing with an OOA diver in full panic? I don't mean opinions, but actual testing?
Does anyone know?
Safe Diving,
George

I assume donate whichever has the longer hose. For standard recreational rig, that will normally by octo - for technical divers it will often be the primary.

 

[SDAnderson]

And no, I have never run OOA. There is simply no excuse for it, other than amateurish inexperience.

Accident analysis requires divers to emotionally expose themselves. It's important to limit the criticism to the situation and to avoid making it personal. Sniping at the participants only reduces the likelihood that the next guy will be willing to undergo the process - and then we all lose.

Besides, I think you're wrong. In nearly 40 years of diving, I've had first-hand exposures to four OOA/LOA experiences, though only once as the OOA diver. I've found three factors tend to get divers in trouble: inexperience, arrogance and equipment issues. I've also found that only inexperience can be assuredly resolved...

Brief summaries:

#1: J-valve screw-up back in the days before pressure gauges - the old-timers understand the problem even if it never happened to them. Fair to attribute the problem to my inexperience as much as primitive equipment.
#2: HP hose failed inside the swage and blew out. Everybody was experienced and a pre-dive safety check and bubble check showed no sign of an incipient problem.
#3: Free-flowing first stage. The water temp was over 50F so it would be hard to predict that an environmentally sealed diaphragm regulator would fail.
#4: A complex situation involving a lost deco bottle and an uncontrolled ascent. A sequence of great big stinking brain farts on the part of a highly experienced diver.

If we live, we learn. That pretty much sums up the path from inexperienced amateur to arrogant professional.

 

[ozziworld]

Seems most of the divers that have posted managed their OOA situation quite well and I think that says a lot about the sport and training agencies. I would assume that OOA is the number one concern of most beginning divers. However their are so many other 'hazards" that should be given the same attention in traing.


Another thread should be started discussing other types of emergencies that most experienced divers find insufficiently covered in dive training? Uncontrolled ascents? Emergency Ascents, stuck inflators?

 

[Rhone Man]

Seems most of the divers that have posted managed their OOA situation quite well

True, but arguably the flip side is that those who didn't handle it well aren't here to share their experiences.

 

[hobodiver]

The situation was passive panic in a very new diver - holding a reg out at arms length may or may not have worked, I suspect not as she had tossed her reg and was about to bolt. (As told after the fact. I only saw the situation as the DM arrived - DM mask to mask with the OOA diver.) Grabbing her, pushing the reg into her mouth, getting eyeball to eyeball and calming her down was a much better solution in this particular case.

This is what was taught to me in my recent rescue class.

 

[Zippsy]

dangerously close to OOA and alone at 30m on dive #690 but I still don't believe the goofy holier-than-thou attitude of a few posters here who think that puts me in the "bad diver" category. **** happens. How I reacted to the situation counts just as much and I am able to type this reply so I guess I survived to dive another day.

 

[drbill]

Your tanks run OUT of air? Wow, never heard of that before.

Seriously, in some 47 years of on-again-off-again diving with many thousands of dives I can only remember four times when I've come to the surface with effectively no air in my tank:

1. Back in 1969 or 1970 a student of mine and I took tanks from the filled rack at the school I taught at. The topside pressure gauge was missing and we didn't use SPG's back then. We both ran low on air at 90+ ft, but surfaced safely.

2. About 5-6 years ago I went out with a newly filled tank (3,500 psi). I didn't take my pone as I expected to stay above 40 ft. A bat ray took me down to 75 fy where the air stopped flowing. I made a long slow ascent without much in my lungs (I had full exhaled before trying to suck air from the tank). Turned out to be a dip or debris tube that got clogged from some crud in my tank.

3. and 4. Was filming in shallow water (~30-25 fsw). The subjects in both cases represented unusual behavior so I sucked my tank dry before stopping my filming. Easy slow ascent to the surface both times.

After all these decades I pretty much know what profiles I can do on a given tank. However, I still monitor my SPG frequently in case I lose track mentally while filming.

 

[ozziworld]

. . . . . .

 

[ozziworld]

dangerously close to OOA and alone at 30m on dive #690 but I still don't believe the goofy holier-than-thou attitude of a few posters here who think that puts me in the "bad diver" category. **** happens. How I reacted to the situation counts just as much and I am able to type this reply so I guess I survived to dive another day.

So true, how one handles oneself in an OOA is as much testimony to their skills and training.

There are too many posts on this thread from people I would never even presume to call 'bad divers".

Luck plays such a big role as there are so many factors involved that skills alone cannot be credited with avoiding an OOA in a lifetime of diving.

Ha! maybe in some minds, the fact one has never experienced an OOA may be viewed as lack of experience, having neither "been there or done that". Of course, I think that most would not subscribe to such thinking.

 

[Standingbear56]

Running out of air can be caused by many things, not just carelessness. And IMHO it does not mean someone is a bad diver. The fact that so many here were able to handle a situation that can easily become life threatening if things go from snafu to fubar attests to that. Saying that there is no excuse for running out of air implies that it only happens due to human error. Many of the posts above show that is not true at all.
Safe Diving,
George