Diveco says fine for me to fly 4-ish hours after a dive

[Rhone Man]

Personally, I'd be pretty relaxed. The old PADI/USN tables recommended a wait of 4 hours before flying after diving for everything except planned decompression dives. The science hasn't changed since those days - just greater fear of litigation.

At 10 meters/30 feet I certainly wouldn't worry unless you were planning to do a 5 hour dive.

 

[String]

10m or shallower flying is fine. No issues at all. A commercial airliner is pressurised to 5000ft or lower (not 8000 unless something breaks) but as someone else said the real risk is the possibility of rapid loss of cabin pressure.
If it was the only option to dive i'd happily do it. If you want to be extra safe why not ask for some nitrox 40 or something? That'll give you an EAD of 5m. Or get 70% with an EAD effectively of snorkelling!

 

[HowardE]

The pressure maintained within the cabin is referred to as the equivalent effective cabin altitude or more normally, the ‘cabin altitude’. Cabin altitude is not normally maintained at ground level (0ft) pressure throughout the flight because doing so stresses the fuselage and uses more fuel. An aircraft planning to cruise at 40,000 ft (12,000 m) is programmed to rise gradually from take-off to around 8,000 ft (2,400 m) in cabin pressure altitude, and to then reduce gently to match the ambient air pressure of the destination. That destination may be significantly above sea level and this needs to be taken into account; for example, El Alto International Airport in La Paz, Bolivia is 4,061 metres (13,320 ft) above sea level.

It's not 5000 feet.

[QUOTE="NOAA Required Surface Interval Before Ascent to Altitude After Diving - TABLE" ]NOTE 3 The cabin pressure in commercial aircraft is maintained at a constant value regardless of the actual
altitude of the flight. Though cabin pressure varies somewhat with aircraft type, the nominal value is
8,000 feet. For commercial flights, use a final altitude of 8000 feet to compute the required surface
interval before flying.[/QUOTE]

 

[String]

It's not 5000 feet.

Things have moved on since the table you quoted. Modern high altitude commercial jets try to maintain roughly 5000ft and not creep higher unless something goes wrong.

 

[vladimir]

Vladimir, I don't know who published the table to which you linked us, but
NOAA's table is not the same. I'd trust NOAA's table with gives an equivalent depth of 50 feet for a 30 ft dive at 8000 ft altitude. Another consideration is 10 meters is not 30 ft, but 33 ft or 35 ft on the tables. Luckily, 35 ft still comes out at 50 ft at 8000.

Thank you. I was just suggesting a method of analyzing the risk rather than prescribing a dive plan, but your point is well taken. Hopefully nobody dives plans given to them by random posters on the internet. (And yes, I can convert meters to feet with the best of them.)

 

[HBO MD]

Personally, I would have to say that their advice is poorly thought out. Gas uptake and off gassing are functions of multiple factors, ranging from temperature ,level of fitness, previous injury, exertion etc.
The tables are guidelines rather than absolute with individual variability being a significant component.
I would say it's not worth the risk.

 

[HowardE]

Things have moved on since the table you quoted. Modern high altitude commercial jets try to maintain roughly 5000ft and not creep higher unless something goes wrong.

So Wikipedia is wrong too?

 

[String]

So Wikipedia is wrong too?

Quite often it can be yes. Anyone can change it to something they think is correct that they read elsewhere. That is both its strength and weakness.

 

[HowardE]

While high-altitude passenger jet aircraft are pressurized, they are not pressurized to sea level or to ground level where most passengers reside. Aircraft cabins are usually pressurized to an equivalent of six or seven thousand feet above sea level (moderate mountainous elevation) and cannot, according to Federal Regulations, exceed an equivalent of eight thousand feet.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51173,00.html

So for dive planning... Assuming 8,000 feet is prudent.

 

[Web Monkey]

Things have moved on since the table you quoted. Modern high altitude commercial jets try to maintain roughly 5000ft and not creep higher unless something goes wrong.

Well, that's the kicker, isn't it?

Terry