Lost diver at Catalina 11/17

[Vicente]

It's useful to wait until incidents are published in DAN magazine or Rodale. Things have had time to settle out, litigation if any is over, so details are more abundant. You never get the best story on a current event, reporters are in a rush to write something down it doesn't have to be correct.

 

[wetrat]

This is really sad, my condolences to all involved. Let's take this opportunity to renew our dedication to the basic safety guidelines we all learned in OW. Stick with your dive buddy. Never find yourself submerged with less than 500 psi in your tank.

John

 

[socaldiver]

definitely sad news, you really have to feel bad for Captain Tim as well as the family and friends of the departed. It seems as the GE has had it fair share of bad luck.

Dive California, I thought I read a few months back (maybe a little longer than that) that Captain Tim was trying to sell the GE. I believe he had posted something on diver.net about the asking price and other info.

 

[daniel f aleman]

The diver was 24 years-old, with wife and two kids - just staggering... my condolences.

 

[Codyjp]

The problem with recreational dive accident analysis is that the whole story is never available. Buddies and non-professionals at the scene usually don't comment because they're afraid of being involved in litigation. Professionals on the scene are almost certainly going to be involved in litigation so they can't comment. Those at the chamber and any health care workers can't comment because of medical right to privacy laws.

The only people that you'll usually find discussing the accident on the web are those with 2nd or 3rd hand information. It's really unfortunate because we could all learn a lot more about how to be better divers if info was readily available.

When I was learning to fly, my instructor made me read years of back issues of the National Transportation Safety Board accident summarys that are published quarterly. If something like this existed for SCUBA, it would be sad, morbid, and sometimes viewed as disrepectful of the diver when they were at fault, but I think it could help the community learn. If nothing else it would serve as a reminder that things can go wrong so be prepared. The problem is that it is impossible to compile due to the legal concerns listed above.

My heart goes out to Daniel's wife and kids.

Ross-O

Ross, you make a VERY valid point with this. You had a good flight instructor. The NTSB reports are writen with some degree on animonity so everybody can learn from this. It would really be nice to have something similar for diving. Maybe dan needs a service like the NASA reports to report violations and incidents.

again, my best wishes to all who were involved.

 

[Rpeiffer]

The problem with recreational dive accident analysis is that the whole story is never available. Buddies and non-professionals at the scene usually don't comment because they're afraid of being involved in litigation. Professionals on the scene are almost certainly going to be involved in litigation so they can't comment. Those at the chamber and any health care workers can't comment because of medical right to privacy laws.

The only people that you'll usually find discussing the accident on the web are those with 2nd or 3rd hand information. It's really unfortunate because we could all learn a lot more about how to be better divers if info was readily available.

When I was learning to fly, my instructor made me read years of back issues of the National Transportation Safety Board accident summarys that are published quarterly. If something like this existed for SCUBA, it would be sad, morbid, and sometimes viewed as disrepectful of the diver when they were at fault, but I think it could help the community learn. If nothing else it would serve as a reminder that things can go wrong so be prepared. The problem is that it is impossible to compile due to the legal concerns listed above.

My heart goes out to Daniel's wife and kids.

Ross-O

Very well put Ross-O. Sometimes when reading these accident threads I get concerned over the vast speculation that occurs about an accident based on second and third hand information.

After giving my concerns some more thought, I find that the "information" in the "speculation" is often of value to those reading the thread. So as long as we understand that what we read here may or may not be actual fact and proceed with the goal of gaining more dive knowledge....then I'm ok with it.

I do get a bit dissapointed when two people start "arguing" in a thread when the facts tend to be so suspect. "Can't we all just along"

 

[drbill]

I'm waiting to see what information might be in the Avalon Baywatch report on this as they were one of the responding parties.

 

[Dive California]

definitely sad news, you really have to feel bad for Captain Tim as well as the family and friends of the departed. It seems as the GE has had it fair share of bad luck.

Dive California, I thought I read a few months back (maybe a little longer than that) that Captain Tim was trying to sell the GE. I believe he had posted something on diver.net about the asking price and other info.

Socaldiver...yeah, it seems every year, Tim starts talking about selling the boat...it usually last about a month, then he "get's over it" and goes on boating. He's about due for another "I'm going to sell this boat and get out of this business." Let's hope he doesn't follow through...we've lost enough boats in the LA area...but, then again...who would blame him?