I am a newish diver and found this because I had a question and wanted to see what people thought but can't post it yet...grumble grumble And now am discovering the neat little characters you guys have...anyways, hope I can get this Q posted soooon
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Well I def do not plan to ever stop jumping!!! I love it much more than diving-most of the time lol. My question involves skydiving and diving. I understand it's fine to jump and then dive but knowing me I will come across a time where I will dive and then jump. Does the time needed between the dive and jump alter when going to a higher altitude say like 23,000agl? Or if it were a deep dive and then a high alt dive or even a deep dive and a normal alt dive which for most dzs I'm at is 13500 agl? Obviously these are none pressurized planes so I am curious if anyone has done a study on it...
I have not kept up on current standards, but in the late 1980's the US Navy expected 48 hours between your last dive and first flight in high performance aircraft. This was due to the potential for rapid climbs (i.e. rapid decrease in pressure) or the potential for sudden loss of pressurization and the potential to get bent.
The common advice for pressurized commercial aircraft is 24 hours, but that assumes an 8,000 ft cabin altitude in most cases. 23,000 ft is a whole different ball game.
At 8,000 ft you still have about 0.43 atmospheres of pressure (about 6.2 psi). In contrast at 23,000 ft you have only got about 0.045 atmospheres of pressure (about 0.65 psi). If you've been diving anytime in the recent past, you are going to have a whole lot of bubbling going on even if you are on supplemental O2.
13,500 ft is not much better. The pressure is around 0.20 atmospheres (about 2.9 psi) - only half of what you have at 8,000 ft, so you still need to pad it a bit over the 24 hour recommendation for 8,000 ft. If you decide to do it with less than a 48 hour surface interval, I'd pre-breathe O2 for a few hours before the flight.