We don't know for sure if this was a training dive with a camera, but much of the interesting discussion in the A&I forum of necessity is based on hypothetical speculation. Nothing wrong with that, because it's pretty rare that we ever get a formal, accurate investigation report within the time frame of these threads.
While many have commended on the problem with having a camera on a training dive, from the information that we do have it doesn't seem like that was necessarily the issue. Loop out at shallow depth within a minute or two of splashing sounds like hypoxia, especially if this was a hypoxic trimix course, where filling the loop with dil on descent could cause unconsciousness quickly. I doubt that the diver would be using the camera at that point in the dive.
On the other hand, it's possible that just holding the camera or thinking about it could have caused distraction. Maybe he didn't isolate his automatic diluent valve (ADV), so that on descent it added dil that was unbreathable in shallow water. I can actually imagine an instructor allowing a camera since they often deliberately task load a student to see how they respond in a real world situation. If you are doing training so that you can use a camera while diving, maybe your instructor would want to see how you handled it before certification. My instructor would do things like sneak up and shut off my O2 to see what I would do, and that's what makes him a great teacher.
But if that was the case, you would think that the Instructor would be in the water with the student. Since we don't know the details, I wouldn't publicly criticize anyone, and maybe what's going around on social media isn't fully accurate.
While many have commended on the problem with having a camera on a training dive, from the information that we do have it doesn't seem like that was necessarily the issue. Loop out at shallow depth within a minute or two of splashing sounds like hypoxia, especially if this was a hypoxic trimix course, where filling the loop with dil on descent could cause unconsciousness quickly. I doubt that the diver would be using the camera at that point in the dive.
On the other hand, it's possible that just holding the camera or thinking about it could have caused distraction. Maybe he didn't isolate his automatic diluent valve (ADV), so that on descent it added dil that was unbreathable in shallow water. I can actually imagine an instructor allowing a camera since they often deliberately task load a student to see how they respond in a real world situation. If you are doing training so that you can use a camera while diving, maybe your instructor would want to see how you handled it before certification. My instructor would do things like sneak up and shut off my O2 to see what I would do, and that's what makes him a great teacher.
But if that was the case, you would think that the Instructor would be in the water with the student. Since we don't know the details, I wouldn't publicly criticize anyone, and maybe what's going around on social media isn't fully accurate.