Can i fly??

[Dive Right In Scuba.]

The current guidelines have been in place for 14 years. It is hard to imagine any instructor or reputable website is not aware of them.

As hard as it is to believe, it seems as if whenever someone starts a thread like this, someone will state with seeming authority that the standard wait time is 24 hours, even claiming that DAN recommends it (which they clearly don't).

Additionally, DAN's recommendation of 12/8 hours assumes actual dives, not a pool experience at the depth mentioned in this thread. There is a difference. Decompression theory says that you can always ascend a certain amount without any issues, and going from the depths mentioned in this thread up to the pressurization of a commercial aircraft should be well within that range.

 

[tursiops]

As hard as it is to believe, it seems as if whenever someone starts a thread like this, someone will state with seeming authority that the standard wait time is 24 hours, even claiming that DAN recommends it (which they clearly don't).

The old recommendation was 24h; that is what changed in 2002. What we are seeing is people not keeping up, and ignoring or refusing to learn new things. Scuba is not unique in this problem, but it may be more vulnerable to the negative consequences. Some still ascend too fast, or skip safety stops, or indulge in other discredited practices.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
Additionally, DAN's recommendation of 12/18 hours assumes actual dives, not a pool experience at the depth mentioned in this thread. . . .

Exactly. And it may not even occur to someone whose only exposure to scuba has been a quick Discover Scuba Dive in a pool that there are dives and then there are dives. As far as he knows, he did a "dive." He may have no knowledge of how deep a typical dive might be. He might surmise that it's deeper than six feet, but is it 20 feet, or 50 feet, or what? He might have only a vague notion that depth and time are factors. These recommendations from DAN and others refer to a "dive"--they rarely mention depth or time, and are based on an unstated presumption that the dive was deeper than a pool.

I think we sometimes forget just how little knowledge some people begin with. "What constitutes a 'dive'?" Just being immersed in water? A newbie would have to exercise a little thought to realize that it surely must be more than just being immersed in water to have some effect on whether it's risky to fly in an airplane afterwards, since that would preclude taking a bath in the tub. The OP here apparently did give it some thought.

 

[Neilwood]

Exactly. And it may not even occur to someone whose only exposure to scuba has been a quick Discover Scuba Dive in a pool that there are dives and then there are dives. As far as he knows, he did a "dive." He may have no knowledge of how deep a typical dive might be. He might surmise that it's deeper than six feet, but is it 20 feet, or 50 feet, or what? He might have only a vague notion that depth and time are factors. These recommendations from DAN and others refer to a "dive"--they rarely mention depth or time, and are based on an unstated presumption that the dive was deeper than a pool.

I think we sometimes forget just how little knowledge some people begin with. "What constitutes a 'dive'?" Just being immersed in water? A newbie would have to exercise a little thought to realize that it surely must be more than just being immersed in water to have some effect on whether it's risky to fly in an airplane afterwards, since that would preclude taking a bath in the tub. The OP here apparently did give it some thought.

As has been said on this forum a number of times - you don't know what you don't know. A little knowledge can be dangerous so as you say the OP was right to ask the question.

 

[tursiops]

I'm not so worried for those who don't know what they don't know.....they usually DO ask questions. What worries me is those who don't know what they DO know.....that is, what they "know" is wrong or irrelevant. They tend not to ask questions, but to defend their (incorrect) position and pass it on. And so we get all kinds of diving myths, some of them funny (e.g., Martini's Law), some of them irritating (e.g., mask on the forehead indicates panic), but a few of them dangerous (e.g., no need to worry about oxygen toxicity unless you are a technical diver).