Experience diver?

After all the post this year on the accidents section I saw that some of them said "he was an experienced diver". So what's an experienced diver?

License to do what ever you want?
Dive solo ?
staying away from your buddy during the dive?
Ascent alone with out your buddy?
Break you depth record for fun?
no need for safety accesories?
Almost empty your tank to have more time diving?

Almost all the accidents have something related with the list above...

for me experience diver is the one who respect all the rules and stay close to your buddy..

Experienced and safe are not the same word.

Sometimes some of us get careless when we have cut a few corners, and there are no dire consequences. Cross lines, push limits, begin to feel superior, show machismo and bravado, whatever. The risks begin to slowly increase, until one day they may suddenly, unexpectedly catch up with the less cautious diver.

Thinking, weighing risks and consequences, before acting is a big part safe diving. Something we need to keep sharpened, no matter how many dives we have under our belts, or in a log book. Not everyone acts this way even after years of experience.

Uh-huh, all of the above.

After almost 4 decades of diving I have done all of the above.Sometimes they were planned other times they weren't.Sometimes they were done all together other times they were done seperatly.Wouild I recommend anyone else doing them....NO!Would I do most of them now....Probably not.I do dive solo,buddy in same ocean,and sometimes drain a tank under certain conditions.

Experienced does NOT equate to safety all the time.I am not saying experienced divers are not safe just that some of them do things others don't consider safe practices.

Your post and the replies remind me of 2 sayings: "there are old divers and bold divers, but no old bold divers" and "the fearless soon become the lifeless".....

i'm new to diving but have been trekking the himalayas for a long time, i think some one with experience in any extreme sport knows when he can push the limits and till where. and most importantly when to stay far from the limit. experience is being able to sense the environment around you and acting accordingly. one could be a very experienced cave diver and yet have no experience drift diving from a boat out at sea. so the very experienced cave diver could make a stupid mistake out at sea and pay the price....

Experience is primarily relevant to the specific activity undertaken and, to a lesser degree the conditions and circumstances in which the activity takes part.

Without a specific frame of reference, describing someone as an "experienced diver" is valueless.

Gaining experience tends to increase confidence. This confidence can grow without check until, at some point, that experience extends to being involved in an incident. Thereafter, the experience balances confidence against a self-awareness of capability. People tend to get safer once they've had a 'near-miss'.

If you keep rolling the dice- and taking risks you shouldn't- then one day you lose. We have a tendency to think " it won't happen to me" and when it does- look out. To me, an experienced diver is one who can withstand an unexpected situation- like an equipment malfunction or another diver in trouble- and calmly do what is needed so no one is hurt.

I have a blog post from Septemebr that gives my reply to the question, When are you no ,longer a beginner? It is the same as asking , When are your Experienced? Here is what I posted:

When are you not a beginner any more? You are no longer a beginner when you are an active diver who can, with no one's help, properly maintain and assemble all your gear, check it for proper operation, weight your self properly, don you gear properly, and plan and carry out a safe dive in an environmentally sound manner (with good buoyancy control) with a buddy but no other supervision. And they carry, know how to use, and use a compass on every dive. The fact is, most divers never reach that level or even want to, and that's fine. I love leading divers on tours of interesting sites, some even quite challenging. But what I love the most is planning and diving with my buddy without a crowd around. By my definition, there are people at all credential and experience levels who are still beginning divers, and there are people at all credential levels who are not beginners. My wife Debbie, the Scubadiva, has an open water certification and is the best diver I have ever had for a buddy on recreational dives. My entire response in this thread is of course focused on recreational diving. Competent "techies" are in their own class. There are no beginners there. Its not about credentials, it's about competence in and out of the water. Any questions? (end of blog post)
When I read that an "experienced diver" was involved in an accident or incident, I never assume the news story writer means the same thing I mean in using the term "experienced." Often the writer means simply that it was a certified diver as opposed to a student. Sometimes the term means no more than the diver had dove before. Experienced divers who are not active and current can become victims of their own lack of planning and safety consciousness. I encourage all of us to remain active divers, planning and executing safe dive profiles, and maintaining or having our equipment properly maintained.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com

DivemasterDennis:

When I read that an "experienced diver" was involved in an accident or incident, I never assume the news story writer means the same thing I mean in using the term "experienced." Often the writer means simply that it was a certified diver as opposed to a student. Sometimes the term means no more than the diver had dove before.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com

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Excellent analysis. Long ago I took a college news writing course. One critical point was "Write to your audience". Another is "Know the point of view of the author". With all the mis-information we read about diving in the mainstream news, especially in accident stories, the term "experienced diver" has no real value (IMHO).