Poor/dangerous behavior by instructor (not mine) -- what to do?

[Mayor]

I have offered to teach instructors how to teach such things more safely, but thus far no dive center has been interested.

This is sad because there are so many instructors that I know who could benefit from your training. I want the best of the best training me if my life depends on it! It's not easy to find when the norm is hit the easy button.....

[Jim Lapenta]

I use actual silt outs in my AOW class. Just for the reason that Trace describes. There is a difference in that I am doing this in open water with direct access to the surface and have the students on a line the first time it is created. Using a black out mask does not create the same feeling as swimming along and being able to see, then seeing a great deal less, then seeing nothing. I never do this with more than one diver or buddy team at a time. Sometimes I don't even have to create the silt out. We just follow certain instructors open water checkouts and I know we'll hit good example of a silt out!

It can be disconcerting and is one of the reasons that it is done after we have made a few dives and I see how the divers react in general. Of course there is always the possibility that they will freak but as yet that has not happened and I am always in touch contact with them the first time. They need to see that it is not a reason to panic or even get concerned as long as they have air. I love to see the understanding in their faces after they have done this. It's a real confidence builder and at the same time builds a great deal of respect for how soon things can go bad.

[D_B]

I'm glad that others have finally picked up on the "silt out" inside of a wreck part of the OP's post
... that sounds so dangerous .. in general ... for someone not trained .. not in the class .. not under direct supervision by the instructor ..

It sounds as if that is an instructor I'm glad I never had

[TSandM]

I'll testify as well that a real siltout is a different experience from being in the dark. I had the pleasure (and it was) of getting to experience this under the supervision of an instructor/friend, who had offered the experience as an option for me and my husband. Both of us were fully trained cave divers before we did this, though.

I saw the "siltout" portion of the original post, and seriously wondered if this instructor intended to silt out a wreck with recreationally trained divers in it -- I hope, at the very least, that they had some training in line following and that there WAS a line to follow, and that the space they were in was not extensive. So many things can go wrong in such a setting . . . there is a reason why instructors for overhead environments are required to have such extensive training.

[Blue Sparkle]

I'm coming to this a bit late (orphan tab that I just noticed), but a silt-out inside a wreck and on a night dive? That's a lot going on. If I were the student I think I would have felt a bit nervous that my instructor was inviting two or more additional people in, one of whom he did not know.

I think I'd want his attention focused on me and any other planned students, not "extras." Maybe it's because that's still above my level, but from my perspective now it would have affected my confidence in the situation (as one of the "legitimate" student(s).