flying ( ceiling of 1000ft) after one no de comp dive

[Gene_Hobbs]

You have to be a DAN member to download the PDF summary of that workshop.

Oh come on, I have not been away from the board *that* long.

Sheffield PJ and Vann RD, eds. Flying After Diving Workshop. Proceedings of the DAN 2002 Workshop. Durham, NC: Divers Alert Network; 2002. RRR ID: 5611

[farsidefan1]

Interesting stuff here. I live at 4,800 feet and the nearest dive site (non pool) is the Crater. A warm water spring in a mountain - depth 64 feet. To get to the crater I drive over a pass around 8,000. then drop down to the crater at about 5,500 feet (elevations are near guesses, Scott, if you see this chime in). After a couple dives we repeat the process in reverse. This seems to be incredibly dangerous given the discussion here yet it is what many scuba divers here do on a regular basis. Makes a super short 1,000 flight seem something superfulous but obviously there is something here I'm missing. It will be interesting to follow this thread.

[Thalassamania]

Interesting stuff here. I live at 4,800 feet and the nearest dive site (non pool) is the Crater. A warm water spring in a mountain - depth 64 feet. To get to the crater I drive over a pass around 8,000. then drop down to the crater at about 5,500 feet (elevations are near guesses, Scott, if you see this chime in). After a couple dives we repeat the process in reverse. This seems to be incredibly dangerous given the discussion here yet it is what many scuba divers here do on a regular basis. Makes a super short 1,000 flight seem something superfulous but obviously there is something here I'm missing. It will be interesting to follow this thread.

How long does it take for you to get out of the water, pack up, and drive from 4,800 feet to say 7,000 feet?

[boulderjohn]

Homestead Crater is at about 7,000 feet, so the elevation changes you describe are nothing to worry about.

[Thiad]

Great discussion. I appreciate the insight as I've been talking about this with a fellow pilot for the last few weeks. He wants to dive Key Largo and isn't particularly interested in waiting around for the requisite 24-hours after our last dive. Though the plane is equipped with oxygen, I feel the risk of getting shoved to a higher airspace coupled with other unknowns is too great. Even if one bypasses ATC (no flight following) and cruises along in unrestricted airspace, you just never know what you might run in to.

My solution? I have the keys to the plane. We're going to wait whether he likes it or not. I just don't see the need to push it.

Yet we live in a very similar situation, as FarSideFan1, where we dive the coast and travel inland to 3,500 feet. When I first started diving, that seemed to break all the rules as generically written in the OW dive book. But, to the point, it's usually 3 to 4 hours after the dive that one finally makes it home.

[Rubber Duckie]

I do not have any training in diving at higher altitudes but if one was to dive a profile as if they were at 5,000msl even though they was at 500msl then fly at say 3,500msl wouldnt that keep the dcs risk at a safer level? Please let me know if my logic is messed up.
Thanks Jacob.

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I do not have any training in diving at higher altitudes but if one was to dive a profile as if they were at 5,000msl even though they was at 500msl then fly at say 3,500msl wouldnt that keep the dcs risk at a safer level? Please let me know if my logic is messed up.
Thanks Jacob.

Hi Jacob,

You would still be making an ascent to altitude after diving. Using tables adjusted to 5000' MSL and minimizing the post-dive altitude would be more conservative and may lower the risk of DCS in some cases, but a lot would depend on the dive profile and the preflight surface interval. There are too many variables to make a blanket statement.

Best regards,
DDM

[theduckguru]

I think a better question might be, is a single dive at Salt Cay really worth risk or the cost to go over there for a single dive?

[beanojones]

Resurrecting an old thread, but inside tenders at the Hyperbaric Treatment Center when it was in Kewalo Basin got paid for an extra hour after a shift as an inside tender to keep them from ascending over the Pali Highway. (1300 feet).

At least one person got bent because skipped the rest period and they went straight over the Pali, and came right back as a patient because they got bent. I always wonder if being at Kuakini makes enough of an altitude difference.

HTC in those days did 220 foot dive for the first tender in, on 36 with air breaks so that's different.

[Thalassamania]

You will note that the flying after diving rules are different for a no-D and a deco dive. 220 foot chamber dives are deco dives, the tenders would have benefited more from extra O2 from 60 on up if their OTCs could handle it.