Out of Air Emergencies - what are the principal causes?

[ScubaJana]

I had a OOA experience due to mechanical failure. When inhaling my reg not only gave me air but gave me lots of water also.

 

[The Chairman]

did you switch to your back-up? BTW, a ruptured diaphragm, is not the same as an OOA. You should still have that octo/safe second ready to breathe off of. Your training should have taught you that!

 

[Dyno Bill]

My experiance with an out of air situation was on a charter boat out of Santa Barbara Ca. I lived a distance to the south so myself and my buddy drove up the night before. It is customary for divers to spend the night before sleeping on board in my area. Another group of divers also did the same thing but they partied a bit much that night. The next day we were just ending our first set of dives and back on board when the group from the night before got wet. They did a longer surface swim before they dropped down but one of them had apparently made the surface swim on his tank while his buddies were using their snorkels. As the story was told the group got seperated from one another in a heavy kelp bed not too long after they hit near 100 feet. Another diver on the boat was a DM and was approached by the surface swimmer who was frantically indicating having no air left. The DM offered his second and the frantic diver passed out at maybe 90 feet. The DM surfaced him and signalled the boat that he was in trouble, the DM on deck grabbed a life line and hit the water full tilt and was on the twosome in what seemed no time at all. They secured the life line and the deck crew reeled the pair in like a tuna on a line. When they got to the swim step the diver had blue/ purple lips and with what looked like purple nail beds. He wasnt responding to stimulation so a fellow diver/ EMT jumped on him with o2 and cpr and the Coast Guard helo recovered a still living but retired diver from the stern of the boat. This was maybe 10 or 12 yrs ago and its the only time I have had that type of experiance. Thats how I remember it anyway.
Bill......Dive safe

 

[Manfred]

After 600 dives I've only been out of air once, my regulator froze in 125 feet. I grabbed my buddies alternate and shut my tank off.
By the time we got to the safety stop my regs had thawed and everything was cool.
Running out of air, or low can be serious but doesn't have to be an emergency, as long as you have a buddy or at least a redundant airsource.

 

[ystava_nl]

I completely emptied my deco bottle during the second training dive in which we simulated deco (40 cft nitrox50). I knew beforehand contents of the bottle would be just enough. When my buddy experienced buoyancy problems I had to get after him to get him back down.
Shortly after I noticed increased resistance while breathing. After checking the gauge (which read zero) I switched back to my backgas (plenty of that left) and finished the dive with that. I was amazed by the fact you could actually get at least four breaths from the almost empty bottle after resistance increased. You had to inhale slowly though.

As said before, this was a training dive in which we simulated deco. I would not have done the real dive with this amount of deco gas (less than half a bottle).

Wim.

 

[H2OHead]

scuberd once bubbled...
It was my fault for not watching my gauges closely enough and for having inadequate experence at those depths.

There you have it. You just accounted for 99.99372% of the incidence of being OOA.

 

[Stingray81888]

The closest i've been to an OOA situation was during my certification dive. I was at 7-- psi but decided to wait until the instructor gave a signal to ask for how much air we had left. At the end of the dive, i had about 100 psi left. I ptomised myself to check my gauge frequently i go up at 700 psi.

 

[Pepsi]

OOA situtations are just plain user stupidity. It is not from lack of experience- you get the proper experience when you are certified- what you do with that knowledge after that is your choice.

You are taught to regularly service your gear and to always make sure it is in good shape.
You are taught to keep yourself in shape.
Fact is- you know yourself - that is, only you know if you are uncomfortable going into a dive, yet most will not speak up because they feel the "security of being with their buddy- god only knows if they buddy is feeling the same way!

Everyone, when new at scuba, whats to go deep. Problem is, they lack the knowlegde of what it takes to get back up that 100+ ft- its a lot longer than the recomended 60ft you are advised to stay around until you GRADUALLY get more depth experience.

I look at my gauge(S) AT LEAST every 30 seconds, that means my pony also.

 

[Ari]

Not paying attention to ones SPG is probably the common cause fo OOA situation. It will be probably coupled with poor dive planning or a distracting situation, which will cause the diver to find out he/she doesn't have enough air for a safety stop.

During one of my last group dives, in a Safari, one of the guys found out he has about 20 bar, at 10 meters under, after a long deeper dive. He just did not look at the SPG and was fighting a slow current for some time.

Due to the fact that I (and probably others as well) had some air to spare, he took his full safety stop on my Octo. No problem there.

Lack of experience, changing dive conditions and not aying attention will get you to an OOA situation soone ror later.

Ari

 

[PhotoTJ]

Inattention to detail.

Nuff said.