Are there many diving pilots out there?

[DennisW]

I am a private pilot and my wife, Donna has her ATP, she is a CFII and teaches in the School of Aeronautics at Florida Tech. I've worked as either an Engineering Manager/Program Manager or a Systems Engineer in the aviation field for nearly 20 years. We were certified for our YMCA OW in 1988. I really love diving as much as I love flying. Donna likes flying much more, but she truly enjoys diving as well.

 

[cummings66]

I'm a PP ASEL and I can't say why I got into diving, it's just something I've always wanted to do. The same thing goes for flying, I just wanted to do it, no real reason. I'll be doing my openwater soon enough and based on my aviation experiences I'd say the flying complements diving nicely. For example the emergency procedures, navigation, yearly equipment checkups, ongoing training and a structured environment very similar to flying. It's pretty similar to diving except for the buddy system which we don't have in small GA planes. I tend to relate diving to flying when the instructor is teaching, that way when we cover the checks I'll relate it to a preflight and what's necessary for safety before launching. I kind of treat the instructor as an ATC controller and find it helps out, except I don't repeat back stuff unless asked to. I wonder if we could reword IMSAFE and CIGARS for diving? Actually IMSAFE works. For non pilots here it is, see how similar it is?

I - Illness - Do I have an illness or any symptoms of an illness?
M - Medication - Have I been taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs?
S - Stress - Am I under psychological pressure from the job? Worried about financial matters, health problems or family discord?
A - Alcohol - Have I been drinking within eight hours? Within 24 hours?
F - Fatigue - Am I tired and not adequately rested?
E - Eating - Am I adequately nourished?

Because I'm a pilot I tend to think about what can happen and how to solve problems more so now than I would have in the past. Reflecting on my river swimming days when I was much younger I think I'm lucky all I ever got into was leaches... I had no plans other than to get wet that day, not too bright. Age might also help out here because I now know I'm not immortal and wish to get older.

For what it's worth, at the flyin's I attend I've started asking other pilots if they dive and I get a surprising number that say yes, and I've found many of the medivac pilots are also rescue divers.

 

[AV8R]

Now from my psychology days I might look at some statistics and see that over 90% of pilots are type A controlling people, who also do not like heights.

I must be pretty textbook - because this sounds a lot like me. Starting flying when I was 18. Now, have a King Air 200 for business/pleasure. Just got my OW certification last month [at 32 - must have been too busy with other things ].

 

[radinator]

I'm a commercial glider and private powered pilot. I used to instruct gliders once upon a time.

I agree about the structured format for the training, and the techniques that are learned. I really didn't see much diving/flying instruction crossover until I recently took DIR-F. I recognized a lot of the structure, and then found out that one of the big developers of the course took a lot of his inspiration from his flying. He's a pilot (may have been a flight instructor, I don't remember).

Anyway, a lot of the Fundies class was called "running the simulator" where they throw lots of things at you to get you used to handling them in controlled conditions. As pilots we all know that when the excrement hits the cooling unit, it is not just one problem...a single problem tends to start a sequence of others if handled poorly.

Anyway, the Soaring Society of America recently held their annual convention here in California, and one of the places they advertised it was in the California Diving News, because their market surveys showed a large crossover of glider pilots and scuba divers.

The mental focus helps too. Just as you "fly ahead of the aircraft", try to dive ahead of your wetsuit.

Ray

P.S. I love that statistic. I hate heights, which is part of the reason I learned to fly.

 

[kenlt]

I think you're reading too much into it. I fly and dive because I enjoy both of them! I do and have done a lot of other things as well. Just like a lot of people.

Some people are driven, some people just like it.

 

[The Kraken]

UH-1D, UH-1H
Sunny Southeast Asian War Games
1969-1971

No "traps", but a WHOLE BUNCH of "hover-downs"

Flying/diving - parallel universes

the K

 

[princessmc]

Not a pilot, but all the Army pilots I work with dive. This was true here and on my last posting. Thought maybe it was location but definately a concentration in that field. Maybe it is the dunker trianing....

 

[The Kraken]

Dunker training ?????

 

[princessmc]

Yeah, Dunker training. haven't you seen an officer and a gentlemen. Its when they flip you upside down int eh water while stapped to your seat and make you get out. Sometimes with a pony bottle. My point I guess was that most soldiers can't even swim, but all pilots and crew chiefs I know can because they have to fly over water.

 

[The Kraken]

We didn't do that.

In helicopters you try to exit the aircraft before it hits the water.

If you're still in it when it hits the water you really don't have to worry about exiting anyway, because when the advancing rotor blade hits the water, it kinda makes the helicopter break down into a whole bunch of small parts!

the K