Rob Stewart Investigation

[MarkFlory]

Allowing dives to a maximum of 100 metres/330 feet and utilizing custom helium, nitrogen and oxygen mixes, the TDI Advanced Trimix Instructor Course is the crowning achievement for technical instructors. During the course, the instructor candidate studies a well-rounded curriculum and completes four training dives to demonstrate mastery of advanced trimix skills.


Topics that candidates may be asked to present include:

• HPNS
• Use of travel gasses
• Hypoxia
• Equipment considerations
• Dive planning
• Omitted decompression
• Oxygen toxicity

Advanced Trimix Instructor Course Prerequisites

• Minimum age 21
• Certification as a TDI Advanced Trimix Diver or equivalent
• Certification as a TDI Extended Range Instructor or TDI Trimix Instructor or equivalent
• Provide proof of 250 logged dives, of which 30 must be Trimix dives
• Provide proof of 20 dives deeper than 55 metres / 180 feet

And meet one of the following experience requirements:

• Certify at least 10 extended range divers or Trimix divers to depths of at least 45 metres / 150 feet
• Assist with at least 2 complete TDI Advanced Trimix classes taught by an active TDI Advanced Trimix Instructor and provide a letter of recommendation from the assisted instructor(s)

 

[Superlyte27]

Legal help for Peter Sotis, organized by Claudia Sotis

Bwuhahahahahaa, lol lol lol. She even quoted proverbs.

 

[Protondecay123]

The article says he was a “Trimix Instructor; Advanced Trimix Instructor; Extended Range Instructor; Advanced Gas Blending Instructor; Advanced Nitrox Instructor; Advanced Wreck Instructor; Decompression Procedures Instructor; and Equipment Specialist Instructor.”

I myself being OC Trimix diver before my CCR certs remember setting through the CCR Trimix class and the gas theory lessons are almost exactly the same. The only difference was the focus on dive planing with time limits connected to bail out gas supply and more of a focus on on your oxygen clock then in OC diving.
To me it’s a stretch with his Trimix certifications to say he didn’t realize the risk he was taking on that third dive.

Nor the immense amount of peer pressure he must have been under by, and the immense amount of faith he placed in his instructor. Go look up " en loco parentis" Wikipedia has a great explanation. Also if I'm ever killed in a diving accident with an instructor, please do not allow the instructor to have his lawyer with him to help recover my body after they have sent the Coast Guard on a three day wild goose chase. Just sayin'

 

[MarkFlory]

Nor the immense amount of peer pressure he must have been under by, and the immense amount of faith he placed in his instructor. Go look up " en loco parentis" Wikipedia has a great explanation. Also if I'm ever killed in a diving accident with an instructor, please do not allow the instructor to have his lawyer with him to help recover my body after they have sent the Coast Guard on a three day wild goose chase. Just sayin'

I think that was the Dive operators lawyer not Peters

 

[Wookie]

I think that was the Dive operators lawyer not Peters

You are correct.

 

[Protondecay123]

I think that was the Dive operators lawyer not Peters

Exactly. The entity for which Sotis and Stewart were acting as agents by going to retrieve the anchor line. An entity that is and continues to be involved in the litigation. Simply put there is no agency that certifies rebreathers with guidelines by which Stewart should have been at that depth on the rEvo. It's clear from the subsequent explusion of Sotis from IANTD, that this training was dangerous and not within it's guidelines. To say that with all of Mr. Stewarts advanced training he should have known better is contrary to the guidelines for rebreather training by every certifying agency. And in particular the guidelines for the qualifying agency for the training that was occurring during the incident, i.e. IANTD. I don't know who is funding this and by what manner, but this documentary seems more of either incompetence/shoddy research or someone with an agenda against Mr Stewart. It is victim blaming in the least. Did Stewart make some mistakes? Sure, he was a student doing something new. Students always make mistakes. But his biggest mistake was trusting a convicted felon, who had committed armed robbery, committed fraud by relabeling tanks as DOT certified, and violated US Export Law by selling rebreathers to Libya.

 

[MarkFlory]

Exactly. The entity for which Sotis and Stewart were acting as agents for by going to retrieve the anchor line. An entity that is and continues to be involved in the litigation. Simply put there is no agency that certifies rebreathers with guidelines by which Stewart should have been at that depth on the rEvo. It's clear from the subsequent explusion of Sotis from IANTD, that this training was dangerous and not within it's guidelines. To say that with all of Mr. Stewarts advanced training he should have known better is contrary to the guidelines for rebreather training by every certifying agency. And in particular the guidelines for the qualifying agency for the training, i.e. IANTD. I don't know who is funding this and by what manner, but this documentary seems more of either incompetence/shoddy research or an someone with an agenda. It is victim blaming in the least. Did Stewart make some mistakes? Sure, he was a student doing something new. Students always make mistakes. But his biggest mistake was trusting a convicted felon, who had committed armed robbery, committed fraud by relabeling tanks as DOT certified, and violated US Export Law by selling rebreathers to Libya.

He is a grown man with more then enough experience to know what he was doing, Just to qualify for that Advanced Trimix instructor class that he graduated from He had to Assist with at least 2 complete TDI Advanced Trimix classes taught by an active TDI Advanced Trimix Instructor and provide a letter of recommendation from the assisted instructor and he had to;

• Provide proof of 250 logged dives, of which 30 must be Trimix dives
• Provide proof of 20 dives deeper than 55 metres / 180 feet

And meet one of the following experience requirements:

• Certify at least 10 extended range divers or Trimix divers to depths of at least 45 metres / 150 feet

 

[Protondecay123]

He is a grown man with more then enough experience to know what he was doing, Just to qualify for that Advanced Trimix instructor class that he graduated from He had to Assist with at least 2 complete TDI Advanced Trimix classes taught by an active TDI Advanced Trimix Instructor and provide a letter of recommendation from the assisted instructor and he had to;

• Provide proof of 250 logged dives, of which 30 must be Trimix dives
• Provide proof of 20 dives deeper than 55 metres / 180 feet

And meet one of the following experience requirements:

• Certify at least 10 extended range divers or Trimix divers to depths of at least 45 metres / 150 feet

That may be your opinion, but not the opinion of TDI, PADI, IANTD or any other certifying agency. Using that reasoning anyone with those qualifications could go to any depth on any rebreather they like. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your relationship with Peter Sotis? Until today when you posted a link to @Rosborne XRay article, you hadn’t posted on SB for almost two years. And every post you have made in the last 60 are defensive for Sotis in regards to this incident or the Scuba Tank Scam. Do you and Mr Osborne have a relationship? Or is your timely posting of his article coincidence and not previously planned?

 

[MarkFlory]

That may be your opinion, but not the opinion of TDI, PADI, IANTD or any other certifying agency. Using that reasoning anyone with those qualifications could go to any depth on any rebreather they like. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your relationship with Peter Sotis. Until today when you posted a link to @Rosborne XRay article, you hadn’t posted on SB for almost two years. And every post you have made in the last 60 are defensive for Peter in regards to this incident or the Scuba Tank Scam. Do you and Mr Osborne have a relationship or is all of this coincidence?

Peter was my CCR instructor and my sons CCR instructor. I have many safe hours of tech diving on my rEvo (with carbon fiber tanks just like most rEvo divers including the man the built them)
Many people including myself do multiple tech dives per day when you go to a place like Truk lagoon , I seen plenty get bent doing this but we know and accept the risks just like this guy did. This guy chose to do a third dive with Peter knowing the risk and he probably passed out on the surface and flooded the loop and sunk like a brick. The divemaster should have never taken his eyes off him once he hit the surface knowing Peter was having problems. We teach this in basic first aid class, the first thing you do when you think a diver is bent is send someone to find his buddy because you most likely will be work on two bent divers. So if you want to point fingers look toward the boat operator, once the drivers head breaks the surface of the water the dive is over the people are the boat captains responsibility again. Capt Frank can correct me on this if I’m wrong.

 

[MarkFlory]

As far as the “carbon tank scam” , you don’t have correct information on this, you can buy these tanks right from rEvo , they are used all over the world except in the USA because they are CE certified but not DOT certified.
Everyone knows this that dives a rEvo it’s never been a scam.
R261 - 2.1L Carbon Tank - 300 Bar