Out of Air Emergencies - what are the principal causes?

[BACAUMI]

Seen it happen to some diver in another group on a boat dive. Guy was moe excited about diving from the boat for the first time and just didn't pay any attention. His dive partner was as new as he was and never noticed his buddies lack of attention to his SPG. Of course he got his attention real quick when his buddy was wrestling him for his reg. Fortunately the buddy with air had enough common sense to just grab his own octo and breathe from it as his buddy drug him to the surface. Could have been a lot uglier. They were only in 20 feet of water and nearly back to the boat.

 

[scubatexastony]

I would not extend a dive by sharing air. Sharing air, in my opinion, is restricted to allow safe ascent rates and a safety stop. Once one runs out of air, the dive is over.

Should be done prior to one running out of air....i.e. Bren's SAC is in the lower .30s, while mine is lower-mid .40s.... diving at local lakes she goes about pound for pound with her 63's to my 80s. On vacations where she can't get 63s, when I hit 1000psi, we burn hers down to 1000 getting an extra 6-10 minutes of dive time. This is all planned prior to the dive and we let the DM know we plan on sharing. BTW, the long hose really makes it comfy too.

tony

 

[MikeFerrara]

Running out of air is caused by...

Breathing it all.

Blindly fallowing a guid assuming he knows when to take you home

Being so busy trying to survive you don't have the presance of mind to watch other important things

Being so busy trying to get that last picture you think is going to make you famous that you don't watch

and Last but not least...Not having a clue how to plan your gas usage because no one ever told you how and knowing there is always a guid to blindly fallow anyway

 

[pt40fathoms]

I would welcome comments on this as I always feel torn between ascending or sharing air. I am working on improving my air consumption but I still use more than most divers, ascending between 10 and 20 mis before the main group.

This is too simple; buy a set of doubles and strap on a pony bottle to good measure. Now you will be the one with lots and lots of air to share with anyone else who emulates a leaky steam pipe.

 

[Charlie99]

diverbrian once bubbled... I would not extend a dive by sharing air. Sharing air, in my opinion, is restricted to allow safe ascent rates and a safety stop. Once one runs out of air, the dive is over.

Extending by sharing air isn't a good idea if either diver is low, but I've done it on the 2nd dive of the day, after a new buddy has cut my dive short by being an airhog. Do it early in the dive and both divers will have appropriate reserves throughout the dive.

Preplanned. Other divers told that we will be doing an "air sharing drill" about the middle of the dive. Start sharing when he's at 1700psi or so and you are xxx psi higher. Share until your tank is xxx psi lower and you will match again around 500psi.

Charlie

 

[annie]

>>Running out of air is caused by...Breathi...
Running out of air is caused by...

Breathing it all.

Blindly fallowing a guid assuming he knows when to take you home

Being so busy trying to survive you don't have the presance of mind to watch other important things

Being so busy trying to get that last picture you think is going to make you famous that you don't watch

and Last but not least...Not having a clue how to plan your gas usage because no one ever told you how and knowing there is always a guid to blindly fallow anyway
<<

Mike I don't think it's always down to the above! My OOAs involved a first stage failure, a tank o-ring blowing (potential OOA I guess), a rental gauge showing 20bar when it was empty. So while the above is true (and I did once blindly follow a dive guide on an unplanned deco and barely had enough left for the stops), as someone else said, **** happens too. What I'm doing different now is servicing my reg every 50 dives not every year, checking tank o-rings, and now have own regs.

 

[Iruka]

Scubatexastony--sometimes I don't mind sharing air...but conditions have to be accounted for. If I bring up 6 customers with half a tank left after 20 minutes because of 1 heavy breather, they're not too happy. If I can SAFELY share air with (usually) him, I'll do so. For me, safely means 1) we both have plenty of air left at the time..as others said, don't wait until there's not enough to make a comfortable safety stop/slow ascent, 2) I share during the portions of the dive where we're not "moving"...while stopped for a few minutes to watch something interesting, and 3) the diving conditions have to be "easy" and I can keep my eyes on everyone else while sharing air. Since we do 40~45 minute dives normally, I'll usually finish with about 1/2 a tank left...so ME running low is not really a concern. I'll discuss the possibility of sharing in the briefing, and if a diver seems "iffy" then I won't do it. But I DO sometimes get very competent, relaxed divers who are nevertheless very fast on air. I realize many people feel air should be shared only in an emergency and I respect their opinion, but I don't feel I'm compromising safety under these circumstances. I've done a bit over 4300 dives & led 15,000+ divers, and have NEVER had a problem doing this...a diver getting dangerously LOW on air during the dive is a problem I take steps (alter depth, exertion, tank size, frequent SPG checks, etc) to avoid...for me, this is another option I'll use under optimal conditions. An OOA diver getting an octopus can be a panic-laden situation; a calm/competent diver & guide sharing air in a "semi-planned" situation is not.

 

[Virgil]

got to be the truth that some divers, sometimes, don't keep an eye on their guages... not a necessarily a criticism but true anyway.

last month, diving in Malta, a guy in our group was busy testing his new camera. Claimed he checked his air at 100 bar, next thing he's calling for his buddy's octopus, (buddy was too far away from him in my opinion but that's another subject).

you don't have to stare at guages for the entire dive but you need to keep the dive time and depth in your mind. getting distracted, and we all do it, can leave you short.

 

[dc4bs]

I know an instructor who brings an AL30 pony bottle setup as a sling so he can easily pass it off to another diver if needed.

Just clip it to the BC of the low/ooa diver. You can have them share off your back tank while setting them up with the pony if it's a real emergency.

I've been thinking about riging my AL12 as a tiny sling rather than using the X-bracket just to save myself the aggravation of dealing with that #&@$%! X-bracket when NJ boat diving (the only time I ever use it anyway - the captains insist)...

 

[Diver0001]

dc4bs once bubbled...
I know an instructor who brings an AL30 pony bottle setup as a sling so he can easily pass it off to another diver if needed.

<snip>

Isn't this a solution to the wrong problem?

He's treating the symptoms. What does he do to treat the cause?

R..