Excel Formula's For Dive Table Training

[Grant R]

One of the reasons I created my own Excel dive table from NOAA tables was because I'm cheap, have a sick fascination creating tables in Excel and like to get something back for my tax dollars.

Speaking of which, I downloaded the 900+ page US Navy Dive Manual rev6. One thing that caused me a double-take, was that the Navy air tables are more conservative than published NOAA tables, especially on long shallower dives. I'm beginning to think that those safety stops are more important than people know. I checked the Excel Dive Planner and it matches NOAA, but not NAVY rev6.

Also, the Navy Nitrox "Working Depths" are shallower than NOAAs MODs too. In part because they state that too many repetative dives using nitrox above 1.6 partial pressure will eventually take a toll on your lungs. In fact, repetative dives are not permitted if the first dive pushes 1.6pp. Their EAD tables are supposed to be based on 1.4 pp, but it looks like their "Working Depths" for Nitrox seem closer to 1.2pp. It'd be nice to have a dive planner where you can fiddle with all this and make it fit the tables you want.

At the end of the day, I'll be trusting my dive computer, but a good dive planning tool is certainly important.

 

[Grant R]

As indicated below, this is just a table I made for myself, which I'm providing to show how Excel can be used. REAL Dive planning should be done following your certification agency's training. I should say too that in making something like this, you do notice some significant benefits in planning dives carefully, such as 50 foot sw dives instead of 60.


Disclaimer
This excel dive planner is for reference only to show how Excel could be used to populate an Excel spreadsheet using NOAA and NAVY tables as a resource. THAT IS ALL. Never dive without proper training. Do not use these tables to plan a dive. Remember that NOAA and Navy divers have to meet strict physical and fitness requirements that recreational divers may not be able to. Therefore using these dive tables, OR ANY OTHER, is no gaurantee that a diver will not get Decompression Sickness. NEVER DIVE USING NITROX without proper training from legitimate certifcation agency.