Learn from this

[Hawkeye Mark]

Yesterday five of us went on a 24' boat to a gulf oil platform to dive. Seas were flat(best this year). Divers were as follows:

Boat Owner=Former instructor who had dove Andrea Doria and numerous technical dives.
Myselt and other recreational diver with at least 300 dives each
Other adult and his son. Adult is DM with hundreds of dives all over world. Son is student at Commercial diving school.

Not an inexperienced group by any means

Adult and son leave home with tanks that they think are full as they have caps on when sitting in garage Get to rig everyone does first dive no problems. Boat owner and myself and other recreational diver(buddy team) do second dive and return to boat.

Then trouble starts. Adult and his son enter water. Son does not look at his gauges before jumping. They go to 130' to touch bottom. Either son or father(who looked in dispute) looks at son's gauges at bottom and sees only 500 lb of air. The tank wasnt full to start with. Just because it had a cap on doesnt mean it was full. They make immediate ascent to surface. No one hurt.

Lesson is look at your gauges before jumping. Just because a cap is on a tank doesnt mean its full. Son said father told him it was full. I check my tanks myself every time. Some well meaning person(like my wife) could put a cap on an empty tank.

 

[String]

Mistake not even a novice should make, checking gauges on surface and checking buddy gauges are taught at a basic level. Both take the blame for failing to even bother to do a basic buddy check.

 

[Rick Inman]

I have no caps on my tanks. How do I know if one is full or empty? Not by the cap. Helps prevent confusion (and I get easily confused ).

 

[DiveGolfSki]

Same reason J-Valves are less in favor than K-vales (is the reserve used? on/off?) Of course, if all the divers where DIR/Tech, then they may have DIN Y valves? Either way, rely on your guages rather a cap to tell if it's full.

 

[H2Andy]

Son does not look at his gauges before jumping. They go to 130' to touch bottom.

he didn't look at the gauge before jumping, and apparently, at no point before
they got to the bottom.

i always check my gauge immediately before beginning the dive (once all suited up),
not to mention prior to that, as soon as i turn the air on and test my regs.

and then, usually within 30 seconds of hitting the water i check my gauge
again, to see what effect the cold water has had on my air supply (as most
of you know, you can lose 200-300 psi when you jump in water that is colder
than the out of water temperature)

 

[String]

Generally i check when assembling gear in the cark park (tank full...yep..Leave it pressurised but air off for boat journey to see if theres a leak on arrival). Check when kitting up, further check with buddy check and read theirs pre dive.
On getting into water if its deep i tend to check after 30 seconds or so to see how much the cold has reduced my supply and on arrival at the bottom i check mine and buddys.

Thats pretty standard - its not as if an air check takes very long.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Adult is DM with hundreds of dives all over world. Son is student at Commercial diving school.

Adult and his son enter water. Son does not look at his gauges before jumping. They go to 130' to touch bottom. Either son or father(who looked in dispute) looks at son's gauges at bottom and sees only 500 lb of air. The tank wasnt full to start with. Just because it had a cap on doesnt mean it was full. They make immediate ascent to surface. No one hurt.

Lesson is look at your gauges before jumping.

This isn't a lesson that a DM with hundreds of dives or a commercial diver should be having to learn ... it should've been drilled into their routine starting in their Basic Open Water class, and by the time they've had a few dives under their belt should take about as much forethought as drawing your next breath.

Humans make mistakes ... and that's why buddy checks are also taught as part of Basic Open Water.

The lesson here extends way beyond looking at gauges ... carelessness can kill, and to my concern this incident shows that they've gotten careless in following the basic protocols they should've learned before they were ever certified to dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[scubagirl15]

Carelessness that comes from complacence. They had luck on their side that day.

 

[scubatwinned]

Generally i check when assembling gear in the cark park (tank full...yep..Leave it pressurised but air off for boat journey to see if theres a leak on arrival). Check when kitting up.

Here Here...

 

[scubatwinned]

Carelessness that comes from complacence. They had luck on their side that day.

I'll say, a slap to the face this time...