Most Basic Errors Caused Death

[Rick Murchison]

I am still amzaed that people allow their tanks to get to 0 psi and that they will have to make an emergency ascent. Why not follow the rules and start ascending with at least 750psi in the tank? I mean I know the general rule is 1000 - but why go below 500 when you start or even 300 or 200 - Why not follow rules and safety procedures? By breaking those rules , what do people prove? I can understand if it because of an emergency situation that happened, but just for the sake of sport diving and letting your air run out - I just will never understand that.....

My prayers to a fallen diver go out to the friends and family......

I've never known a diver who "allowed" his tank to get to 0 psi. Every diver that I have ever talked to who actually ran out of gas (so obviously I've only talked to the survivors) has said that they were surprised - either when they ran out (thinking they had plenty) or at how low their gas supply was when they checked it just before running out. In other words, in all the out-of-air cases where I've had an opportunity to talk to the diver, they haven't intended to break any rules... they've been negligent in their execution of the rules of gas management. The most common two reasons behind the negligence are (1) diving at a greater depth for the first time and failing to realize how much faster they consume gas, or (2) distraction by something "really interesting" or by a problem.
Rick

 

[The Kraken]

Rick,
Thanx for hitting the nail on the head.

If you run out of air it's because you weren't paying attention - 'nuf said.

 

[scubadiverjunkie]

Rick,
Thanx for hitting the nail on the head.

If you run out of air it's because you weren't paying attention - 'nuf said.

Whatever X 2

 

[Rick Murchison]

I havent found a computer yet i can hear the alarm on underwater wearing a thick hood anyway.

The "noisey computer" is just a case of papering over the cracks anyway regarding skills (or lack of)

What alarm? Must be one of those whippersnapper thingies.
Rick

 

[diverbrian]

That's one of those annoying things that I hear out of my own computer. Gee, I am at the safety stop and coming up and the Cobra yells at me to tell me that I have 750 psi left while I am doing the safety stop. Thanks for the info, I kind of knew that or should have known that. When I first started diving, I thought that the audible alarms were a great idea. Now, I think that they are are terrible. They are distracting and telling me something that I know is happening anyways.

Gas management is a concern that should be addressed in OW training. (Mike, Walter, etc. ... I know that it is lacking, no need to dogpile here.) Typically, being in cold water, our dives aren't long enough in OW for it to become an issue unless the student is real good at sucking down air. Someone with the four-six divers that we are taking out gets cold and we have to turn it before this happens. AI computers do not teach gas management. I have two of them. I really do happen to like them. But, I rely on the info that they give me and reason through it. I make my own decisions and many times override what the computer is telling me to do. As long as I come up without an ER on the screen, I haven't violated the computer. That didn't mean that it was a completely perfect dive. If the computer is alarming me on a thirty foot dive that I have 500 psi in my twins (Yes, I have been known to use doubles for thirty ft. dives.), I appreciate it's concern but I will take my chances, LOL.

I had my VyTec tell me that I had 2600 pounds in my doubles for about 10 minutes of the dive. Why? I turned off the post to isolate a FF and turned it back on. That screwed up the signal from the transmitter. I had a manual pressure gauge and continued the dive on that. No big deal there.

 

[Wreck]

my sugestion would be to pratice out of air ascents
i started at 30 feet and worked my way down to 110 feet

I might start trying that with my buddy, within safe reason. Perhaps if I have the memory of that sort of experience sitting in the back of my brain, it will be what I revert to thinking of in an OOA emergency. However, my feeling is that there won't be as much stress in an emergency if I have a feeling for what to expect and the reassurance of "I've done this before."

 

[Wreck]

Maybe it's time to start phasing out analog gauges, or at least have shops strongly recommend them for new divers.

The newer SSI OW training books stress getting a computer many times throughout the text. I'm sure the dive shops would love to promote this as well, but at the bottom I think it would be safer to have this as part of your kit.

 

[Wreck]

I've never known a diver who "allowed" his tank to get to 0 psi. Every diver that I have ever talked to who actually ran out of gas (so obviously I've only talked to the survivors) has said that they were surprised

When I go down, that gas in my tank is the most important thing I think about. Mentally, I see it as the only thing keeping me attached to life. Maybe with more diving experience I'll become a little less fixated on that, relax and enjoy the area I came down to see. But the thought of any complacency about it makes me uneasy. I find myself checking remaining pressure every time I change depth by 5-10 feet or two minutes, whichever happens first. I use an air integrated Vytec so it seems easier to glance at it than grab a console and maybe this is why I watch it so much. I enjoy reading its estimated air time remaining to help me project what that deeper circuit around a wreck is going to cost in terms of extra air minutes, but I treat it as a rough estimate and watch the PSI much more closely. The irony of this is I have a 119 and my buddy uses an 80 so I should be paying more attention to his air time than mine!

Is it really the case that you become more complacent or distracted about gsa management as you gain more experience? I would think after a few hundred dives in varying conditions that it woudl be well-etched into every diver's conscience.

 

[Wreck]

I had my VyTec tell me that I had 2600 pounds in my doubles for about 10 minutes of the dive. Why? I turned off the post to isolate a FF and turned it back on. That screwed up the signal from the transmitter. I had a manual pressure gauge and continued the dive on that. No big deal there.

The Vytec will only let you go six minutes without a pressure transmission before flashing that "Fail" warning. I guess with doubles emptying so slowly you wouldn't have noticed a slight decrease in pressure over several minutes.

 

[Wreck]

I havent found a computer yet i can hear the alarm on underwater wearing a thick hood anyway.

I should loan you my Vytec for a try then. During my OW cert dives it went off during our emergency bouyant ascent test (Exceeded safe ascent rate). I wear a thick hood with my mask straps over my ear area and I heard it plainly. I looked down at my instructor but he was looking at his computer to see if it was his that had sounded off.

The "noisey computer" is just a case of papering over the cracks anyway regarding skills (or lack of)

I mostly agree on your second statement. I would say I agree 100% except my conservative attitudes are being chipped away at by a lot of age-related second-guessing. The older I get the more I realize that I'm not as infallible as my ultra-conservative self-assessments used to allow for.