Several agencies respond to research vessel distressed diver - Lake Superior
- Thread starter DandyDon
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I'm only discussing the missed stops....not "in-water" recompression....You have about 2 minutes from the polaris missile ascent, to get back down to 100 before any tissue damage or inflamation is going to become problematic....which is what you are discussing if the diver missiles to the surface, gets on the boat, and then a discussion ensues about returning them to the water--in this case, it is likely MUCH too late.
In what I was talking about, there is an instantaneous heading back down to 100 feet immediately after surfacing...
One proviso....I am also only talking about "deep air"....if the diver was on Trimix, I do not believe that the helium would remain hypersaturated like air for 2 minutes....with helium in the mix, it may well be a moot point if the diver gets all the way to the surface from 250 in a missile ascent--he'd be bubbling like crazy on hitting the surface. Air is far more forgiving in the way nitrogen can stay in solution and hypersaturate for a while.......but air is also so much more narcotic, that catastrophic results would be far more likely with it
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This is from a few years ago but it sounds like the diver is very experienced:
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society has named Terry Begnoche as Site Manager for its campus at Whitefish Point.
Begnoche will begin in April, preparing for the summer celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Whitefish Point Light, the oldest on Lake Superior. As Site Manager, Begnoche will oversee the Shipwreck Society museum buildings, grounds, store and educational programming.
Begnoche has a long and deep history with the Shipwreck Society.
He was involved with all three of the earlier Shipwreck Society expeditions to the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, in 1989, 1994 and 1995.
He is a certified technical diver and still underwater photographer.
He assisted the Shipwreck Society in the underwater lighting for the productions "Graveyard of the Great Lakes," "The Osborn Incident" and programs relating to the Edmund Fitzgerald.
In addition to being a volunteer with the Shipwreck Society for more than 20 years, Begnoche has served as President of its Board of Directors for nine years and was a leading figure in its successful effort to collaborate with other stakeholders at Whitefish Point. The effort resulted in a land use plan, signed in 2002.
Begnoche holds a Bachelor of Science Environmental degree from the University of Michigan, Dearborn, a Masters in Business Administration in Quality and Operations Management and has spent most of
his career enhancing the environment and developing management systems to safeguard or improve the environment.
He currently teaches at Oakland University on Environmental topics.
His career evolved from responding to environmental emergencies to managing liabilities through controlled compliance and on to proactive prevention and creative re-design.
"I am delighted to be working with so many good people, assisting us at Whitefish Point for so many years. I look forward to being able to reinforce the values of teamwork and collaboration on a site that is both historically significant and environmentally sensitive," Begnoche said.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, Michigan Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service together developed a court-ordered Human Use and Natural Resources Management Plan for Whitefish Point, which provides a model for sustainably enhancing and preserving one of Michigan's very special places. A resident of Farmington Hills, Terry participated in the development of the Plan and signed it on behalf of GLSHS.
He will provide insight into the issues and the evolution of a National Historic Site in Michigan.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society has named Terry Begnoche as Site Manager for its campus at Whitefish Point.
Begnoche will begin in April, preparing for the summer celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Whitefish Point Light, the oldest on Lake Superior. As Site Manager, Begnoche will oversee the Shipwreck Society museum buildings, grounds, store and educational programming.
Begnoche has a long and deep history with the Shipwreck Society.
He was involved with all three of the earlier Shipwreck Society expeditions to the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, in 1989, 1994 and 1995.
He is a certified technical diver and still underwater photographer.
He assisted the Shipwreck Society in the underwater lighting for the productions "Graveyard of the Great Lakes," "The Osborn Incident" and programs relating to the Edmund Fitzgerald.
In addition to being a volunteer with the Shipwreck Society for more than 20 years, Begnoche has served as President of its Board of Directors for nine years and was a leading figure in its successful effort to collaborate with other stakeholders at Whitefish Point. The effort resulted in a land use plan, signed in 2002.
Begnoche holds a Bachelor of Science Environmental degree from the University of Michigan, Dearborn, a Masters in Business Administration in Quality and Operations Management and has spent most of
his career enhancing the environment and developing management systems to safeguard or improve the environment.
He currently teaches at Oakland University on Environmental topics.
His career evolved from responding to environmental emergencies to managing liabilities through controlled compliance and on to proactive prevention and creative re-design.
"I am delighted to be working with so many good people, assisting us at Whitefish Point for so many years. I look forward to being able to reinforce the values of teamwork and collaboration on a site that is both historically significant and environmentally sensitive," Begnoche said.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, Michigan Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service together developed a court-ordered Human Use and Natural Resources Management Plan for Whitefish Point, which provides a model for sustainably enhancing and preserving one of Michigan's very special places. A resident of Farmington Hills, Terry participated in the development of the Plan and signed it on behalf of GLSHS.
He will provide insight into the issues and the evolution of a National Historic Site in Michigan.
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I would hope you are correct, and that this was a fluke. On an accident forum like this, the tendency is to look at an accident, and try to help others NOT have a similar accident.
From what it sounds like, one other possible cause of the rapid ascent was that his Drysuit became very buoyant while he was ascending during his shooting video....The task loading of the shooting video may well have had him not paying strict attention to his dry suit and exponential change in bouyancy....if the bubble in the drysuit got to be huge, he may have needed to rip open the neck seal....and he may have found that impossible in the first few seconds with a large camera in both hands--maybe by the time he considered letting go of the camera with one hand, and trying to rip open a seal, he way already on the surface.
Maybe he did not have a lot of dive time on this dry suit??? There are an awful lot of questions remaining, given the information released.
I read this report, and it made very little sense to me. He could not have been severely underweighted and have been able to make it to depth and stay there for 20 minutes of bottom time. If he was only mildly underweighted, he shouldn't have had a lot of trouble at depth, although he could have had more in shallow water. But you can swim down quite a bit of positive buoyancy; I have done it myself, when improperly weighted for an unfamiliar set of tanks.
Short of losing my entire 20 lb weight belt, I can't think of anything that would cause me to be forced to do a 100 fpm ascent, except losing control of my dry suit. If he was head down and videoing down on the wreck, perhaps he got too much air in his legs, and by the time he realized how bad things were, it was too late to vent effectively. A weird mistake for a veteran diver.
Short of losing my entire 20 lb weight belt, I can't think of anything that would cause me to be forced to do a 100 fpm ascent, except losing control of my dry suit. If he was head down and videoing down on the wreck, perhaps he got too much air in his legs, and by the time he realized how bad things were, it was too late to vent effectively. A weird mistake for a veteran diver.
He was a very experienced diver. He has done many things for GLSHS and has been diving since the late 70's. All it takes is one thing to go wrong and all those years of experience can go to the wayside. The article is a little off on the weight issue, along with what else went wrong during his ascent, I can elaborate later. We lost a very experienced diver on our team a month ago as was posted on this board "Persian Fatality", meaning it does not matter how experienced you are, things go wrong that can kill or seriously injure you.
But every now and then everyone makes mistakes, occasionally even big ones, or amateurish ones, or mistakes at times when we knew it was really important not to make any mistakes. I can esp. see handling a problem wrong because I thought I could control it, and being proven wrong. Esp. when events often accelerate into a blur exactly at the point that they started to go wrong.
On the occasions an experienced diver comes thru a bad accident their story often includes bits about 'I screwed up' and 'I should have know better'. We really don't need to find any better explanation, just take home a healthy respect for the fact that we all screw up occasionally.
On the occasions an experienced diver comes thru a bad accident their story often includes bits about 'I screwed up' and 'I should have know better'. We really don't need to find any better explanation, just take home a healthy respect for the fact that we all screw up occasionally.
OP
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Years ago, one of the best liked SB Mods ever flew to Egypt with his rebreather, an expert diver as far as it seemed, and died on dive #1. Info was slow forthcoming, we got to know his daughter in gentle discussion here (before condolences were prohibited on A&I) - and then we got the word: Diver equipment error. The thread vanished...
Then we lost another one.
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