Wow. I do hope that I miscommunicated. As someone who has been a military flight instructor trainer, flight safety officer and instructor trainer of such, as an Advanced Aviation Accident Investigation Trainer for the last 20 years, I am following the EXACT procedure used in military and civil aviation. The primary difference is that root cause is often not found because there's no budget in the industry to really do it, and LE efforts often stop once foul play is eliminated.
I never advocated any of those things, especially financial burden. What I said was, I need to think and evaluate what I am currently doing, and decide whether I am still ok with my approach when new information is added.
No, I used the lights as a quick example. The cause of her incapacitation has zero evidence, yet, so right now there is no point in looking at that, for me. I have already considered all the causes of incapacitation that I am aware of and have mitigated them as best I can. I expect that her cause will be one of the known ones, if we ever find out, and if not I will add it to the list and see what effect that will have on my diving.
Having no experience as a recovery diver, that is helpful info to have and will definitely factor into my evaluation, thank you.
I agree completely, however in the dive accident world, it is astounding how often the final root cause is never truly established.
Please let me be clear, I never meant to imply that knowing the actual cause wasn't important. What I meant to convey was that, if I have a list of 5 things it might have been, and the actual cause is one of those, then I am ok with that since the actual cause is being addressed in my own diving, even though I don not know exactly which one it is. For example, the Rob Stewart case has had no final decision on cause, but the thread on SB and other discussion has narrowed it down to 3-4 possible causes, all of which I have considered in my risk mitigation matrix.
Ego has nothing to do with it. I assess the risks, using various risk assessment matrices as required, then decide based on the final evaluation how I should adapt my diving practices based on discussion with peers, with senior folks and also my own judgement. When new information comes up that I haven't considered, such as the "rescuers couldn't find a light" part, I incorporate that into my matrix and decide whether or not I should change my approach.
That isn't ego, that is the bare minimum any instructor should be doing when confronted with new (to them) information, in my opinion.
I agree with the sentiment I think you are expressing, but I do that all the time. When I have a new student, I "force" procedures and such on them that they haven't experienced. Diving a long hose on tech courses for example, very very few divers on an intro tech level course have ever had a gas donation in real life, never mind in a restriction where they need the length. I have never had a mask loss under water, nor have any of my students. I (and the standards) make them carry a spare.
There is also a difference between force and encourage and discuss.
I did say that only entities with a professional interest will pursue down to a final cause, which those agencies do have.
It could, I guess, except the very last thing I have as an instructor is any sense of security. I live with the awesome/awful responsibility that I have toward those under my care. I have been a CS/HTE instructor for over 20 years now (Critical Skills /High Threat Environment) and if you care at all about your students that carries a lot of weight on your shoulders. I have had 3 former flying students of mine die later in their careers, in incidents that had nothing to do with their training, and I still wonder and worry to this day whether I could have said or done anything that would have made a difference to the outcome.
I think I understand what you mean, but let me clarify what I mean. Lets say that in an accident, we as a community can narrow down the cause to one of three things. If I address all three in my approach then I have addressed the true cause, even if I never know which cause it was.
Believe me, I care a great deal, but the reality is that in diving we very often don't know the real causes. I can live with that, reluctantly, as long as I have done everything I can to safeguard my students and myself based on whatever information I do have. I prefer my approach to the one I often hear, which is "when we know what really happened, then I will look at it" and then nothing ever happens.
I hope this clarifies my position, it is industry standard in industries that care about their losses, but I am fully aware that I am not always the best at conveying my thoughts clearly.
