Learn from this

[ScubaSarus]

Yea. I say check the tanks in the garage before putting into car.

 

[georgelawrence]

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.

Boy, this story sure sounds familiar. Just a few weeks ago I did the same thing. I was kneeling at the bottom at 100' when I discovered I had 600 lbs. The thing that irks me the most about my careless mistake was that it only takes 2 seconds to glance at the psi.

 

[david.tolan]

<SNIP>.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)

I always wondered on cold deep dives how I used SO MUCH air in the descent. That could explain it. It's worrying to look at the gauge and think "how have I used 15 bar already"

On the main topic. Familiarity Breeds Accident. In skydiving I had a set of prejump checks. Pilots have a written checklist. Divers have "Begin With Review And Friend".

When we start skipping the checks because we "KNOW" it's ok, there be dragons.

 

[jcm996]

Maybe I'm anal, but I think I check my psi at least 3-5 times before I even get wet. Or maybe it is because my last 10 dives have been with someone who still has less than 20 dives and I check him and myself just to be safe. But even before that I think I still was overcausious.

 

[phlee]

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 ).

NO CAPS, Good idea, I'll use it.
Touching bottom--why?