Comparing Diving to Flying

[MasterFritts]

I am also a private pilot and from reading these boards and watching the NAUI DVD as I prepare to start my course next week I am finding a lot of similarities to this and flying. Of course one of the big differences is you are going down instead of taking off and surfacing instead of landing.

Some of the similarities I have noticed are:
Airplane: Preflight
Diving: Gear Check

Airplane: Post flight check
Diving: Gear rinse, check and store.

Airplane: Do not fly if you feel bad
Diving: Do not dive if you feel bad

Airplane: Do not fly if conditions are bad
Diving: Do not dive if conditions are bad

Airplane: Call a flight short and land if trouble or uneasy
Diving: Call a dive if trouble or uneasy

Airplane: Flying above 12,000 feet without oxygen is bad
Diving: Diving without oxygen is bad

Airplane: Running out of gas is bad
Diving: Running out of air is bad

Airplane: Control your takeoff keeping a constant speed
Diving: Control your decent keeping a constant dive rate

Airplane: Control the landing by not going too fast
Diving: Control your ascent by not going too fast

There are more including planning your flight/planning your dive, etc.

I just found this interesting and wonder how I will do applying those things I learned from flying into my dive training. Yes before flying wait 24 hours after diving.

I already know that I am pretty cool under pressure as I had to make an emergency landing once (best I landing I ever made too).

Will be interesting to find out.

[ThailandDivers]

Don't know much about flying but it seems like you have the basics for diving under control..

Good luck on your course.

Sanna

[dg808c]

I fly professional, dive for fun and yes it is a lot like. Most importantly, have a plan B just in case. If pushing the limit have also a plan C and D. Just like in flying, never push your limit unless you have back-up (instructor / chief pilot) that you really trust. And just like in flying, the instructor that thinks he is the best diver around.....don´t dive/ fly with him. Choose instead the old guy in the back of the room, who´s been around as long as anyone can remember but nobody never seen him break any records.
best regards
happy landings/ safe dive
Kim Bjoern

[TSandM]

I think there are a lot of similarities, one underlying one being that whether you are flying or diving, you have to exit that environment safely if you are going to survive . . .

I used to read the NTSB reporter, and there are a lot of commonalities between flying and diving accidents, too. Complacency, failing to execute checklists, ignoring "minor" problems, and allowing external pressures to push you into conditions you shouldn't be in all cause flying accidents, and diving accidents, too.

[MasterFritts]

As I "excuse the pun" dove more into learning about Diving, it was funny everything that popped up with a similar feel.

I go and read the posts here where people have had problems, etc to make me a better diver, not because I am morbid. I do the same when flying too. I always try to learn from others mistakes before I make them.

This site is really incredible. I have picked up so much helpful advice and information here. However my one complaint is there is not enough time in the day to read it all

[cavew0man]

I've thought the same thing a number of times - did my private license about ten years ago. Here's a couple more similarities -
- Always be thinking a couple of steps ahead of what you are doing right now
- Things don't happen quickly - making small, controlled adjustments and waiting to see what the results are works a lot better than wild overcorrections.
Water's a lot like air... but a lot thicker!

[Wobbegong wannabe]

As a novice in both disciplines I agree, there are many similarities between diving and flying (ten dives, about 50 flying hours). All your points are valid.

IMHO, the most fundamental similarities between the two are the following mindsets that apply to both:
I am in control of my destiny.
I will be answerable for my mistakes.
My inattention to detail may cost me my life.
My inattention to detail may cost someone else their life.
Check the equipment. Once it's checked, check it again.
Trust your instinct. If it feels bad, it probably is.
Ego needs to be stowed securely beneath the seat.

What I like about both sports is that in this modern day world of dimished responsibility, blaming the other guy and group hugs, in diving and flying I am mistress (master in your case) of my own destiny. No excuses, spin or blamestorming will remove that.

You also get to see cool stuff

Good luck with both pursuits, and I'll be interested to see other responses as I know a lot of pilots also dive.

Wobbegong

[Alex777]

More similarities (I'm thinking of buoyancy here):

- A light touch is required; a relatively small movement at the controls can have a relatively large effect;

- there is a delay between a change at the controls and the corresponding effect; things don't happen instantly.

[DA Aquamaster]

Originally Posted by Alex777

- there is a delay between a change at the controls and the corresponding effect; things don't happen instantly.

You've never flown a Pitts.

I'll skip the obvious stuff and add a bit more commentary on the complacency issue.

Statistically one of the most dangerous eras in a pilot's career is from about 250 hours when they get their commercial ticket and "think" they know how to fly to about 1000-1500 hours or so when they finally realize how little they know about how to fly.

I see divers with similar trajectories. They get a few dives, collect a few cards and suddenly think they are God's gift to diving. Tech divers are not immune and if anything are more prone to the phenomenon. If not emotionally mature and stable, they get confident, get cocky and then unless they are really lucky they have a stupid attack, push the limits too far and either get dead or come close to getting dead.

Always take it seriously. Always.

Alcohol and aviating used to be the thing - we'd go to the airport party, get drunk and then go do something stupid like try to loop a Thrush or something aerobatic directly off the runway, fly under a bridge, go waterskiing with the main gear, etc. Stupid. Then almost equally stupid everyone hit the O2 the next morning to try to cure the hangover and go flying some more.

Unfortunately some parts of the dive community have similar practices. Go on a dive vacation, drink like a fish, dive all day, and repeat for the whole week. Supposed to be great fun, but even if you manage not to utilize poor judgement, alcohol = dehydration = elevated risk of decompression illness. I am not real sympathetic when I hear about "undeserved" hits experienced by divers mixing drinking with diving weekends or vacations, especially on multi-day multi-dive trips. In my opinion, a diver bent in that manner earned every bit of it.

Even in the tech community, a bender the night prior to a dive is not uncommon and they really ought to know better. Alcohol the night before a deep or deco dive = really stupid.

Some of the similarity between diving and flying is due to the similar nature of the sports. Both are "adjustable risk" extreme sports where you can more or less choose how far you push the envelope. Of course, things tend to get out of control a lot faster inverted at 180 mph, if you pull instead of push, but a relatively slow motion silt out in that cave you are not properly trained or configured to be in or a gas planning error in a soft or hard overhead environment will kill you just as dead - it just takes a little longer to do it with more time for the victim to contemplate what an idiot he or she is.

[F106A]

Diving costs lots and pays little.
Flying costs more and pays lots (unless you're a commuter, instructor, crop duster, fire bomber or co-pilot).