Officer died in Chesapeake Dive Team training

[Ayisha]

It is difficult to understand why the regulator was out of his mouth if his power inflator and weight release were the issues unless he was trying to orally inflate, which no one has stated yet. Even then, it still doesn't make sense with the fact that he said that he couldn't breathe and pushed a reg away. He had precious seconds above water and cited his breathing, not "I'm sinking" or something to that effect. Something doesn't jive here.

 

[Garth]

Something most definitely doesn't "jive" here. My only experience with a failure with a power inflator was when it got stuck in the open position, over inflating the wing instead of this case not inflating it at all.

 

[TechDeep]

Saw that a few minutes ago and bumped over here to see if there was any more information.

Wasn't sure how many locals participate on here.

We'll see how bad the Pilot does in reporting the details of the incident.

Just saw this on the news, and jumped on here. I live in Suffolk, very close to Chesapeake. Here's a link to an article from Wavy news, obviously written by a non-diver.
Officer Schock investigation results
The article does mention "weight belt" failing to release, but they just showed one of the employees of Dive Adventures demonstrating a Zeagle rip cord system. The police department is claiming they tested all 12 BCs and the weight release failed on all 12. They also said that the equipment had not been serviced in 3 years. Hard to say for sure without seeing the gear, but to me, an equipment failure such as this in all 12 BCs is highly unlikely.

The article also said the diver knew his power inflator wasn't working, but chose to dive anyway. Would I have made that choice? I have to be honest and say yes I have chose to dive with power inflator issues. There must have been something else going on. It appears as though this diver had enough experience to have been able to get out of his BC if the weights did not release.

PANIC? Could have come into play. I have always thouhgt that panic preceeds the vast majority of diving fatalities. Condolences to the officer's family. They showed his picture on TV. He was young, and they didn't say if he had kids. Just a terrible, most likely preventable tragedy.

 

[Thalassamania]

He had a child and a fiancee (they may not be related).

 

[DandyDon]

The police department is claiming they tested all 12 BCs and the weight release failed on all 12. They also said that the equipment had not been serviced in 3 years. Hard to say for sure without seeing the gear, but to me, an equipment failure such as this in all 12 BCs is highly unlikely.

Yep, and divers are supposed to test their releases before they dive. Did all of them fail to test, or dive after failure?

 

[Hetland]

power inflators are generally crappily made. not servicing or replacing one for a year is pretty much a sure bet of failure.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Just saw this on the news, and jumped on here. I live in Suffolk, very close to Chesapeake. Here's a link to an article from Wavy news, obviously written by a non-diver.
Officer Schock investigation results

TechDeep thanks for the link. I watched the two relevant videos.

I find it inexcusable that formalized, comprehensive, functional pre-dive equipment & buddy checks were not a part of the dive team's standard operating procedure. There's plenty of blame to go around. It's clearly a failure in leadership, but such checks are so fundamental that any scuba diver with a basic OW certification should know better.

FWIW, I don't know any active divers who pay to have their BCDs serviced annually by an authorized service technician. In my opinion, it's not necessary. What is necessary is frequent testing of the equipment to ensure that the power inflater will work properly during a dive. At a minimum, it makes sense to do such tests immediately before a dive as part of the pre-dive ritual. That's the right time to test whether there is any inappropriate inflation/deflation/leaking and whether oral inflation works. In addition, tank-securing straps and weight-ditch mechanisms should also be tested.

I have a pretty good idea why the dive team did not test the weight-ditching mechanism on their Zeagle BCDs on the dive in question and before all dives as part of the pre-dive checks. It can take several minutes to re-string the ripcord once it has been fully deployed on a BCD. The video mentioned that 3 months prior to the incident all of the divers on the team had tested their BCD weight-release mechanisms and all functioned appropriately...but after the incident all of the weight-release mechanisms "failed testing" (failure mode was not disclosed). There seems to be some sort of disconnect here. To have all 12 BCD weight-ditch mechanisms fail within a 3 month period is very peculiar. Something ain't right.

It's unclear why the victim didn't just ditch his entire rig at the surface if he was having problems maintaining positive buoyancy.
The report did not mention whether the victim had ample gas supplies. Assuming he did, he should have had plenty of time to extricate himself from the rig.

I wonder whether the victim was properly weighted.

Does anyone know the amount of dive experience a diver needs to join a police department search-and-rescue team? Just curious.

power inflators are generally crappily made. not servicing or replacing one for a year is pretty much a sure bet of failure.

Power inflater assemblies can function fine without servicing for years...or just a few months. It depends on how often they are used, how well they are cleaned/stored, and the kind of water exposure (fresh vs. salt).
They do fail, though. The two most common failure modes I have encountered are:

1. Some minor bubbling/leaking originating from the button.
2. A sticky power inflation button leading to inappropriate inflation.

The appropriate pre-dive checks should reveal the above issues.

Overhauls for a standard power inflater assembly are very straightforward and only require the right tool, a few o-rings, and some lube.

 

[Thalassamania]

I just listened to the Chief's explanation and this accident gets weirder and weirder. I have never heard of a BC infiltrator that failed in a mode that prevented filling of the BC. I know of fair number if integrated BC failing to drop the weight incidents, going back to the At-pac days. Despite what the shop owner said, this is a know problem for the ripcord type releases if they sit unused for for long periods of time.

But that still leaves unanswered the overall level of training and competence of the dive team, which looks pretty amateurish at this juncture. I'd recommend that they hire a competent outside expert to look at the incident and make recommendations, and I'd don't mean some recreational instructor who's been diving forever, I mean someone from International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists, Lifeguard Systems, etc.

 

[DandyDon]

I have a pretty good idea why the dive team did not test the weight-ditching mechanism on their Zeagle BCDs on the dive in question and before all dives as part of the pre-dive checks. It can take several minutes to re-string the ripcord once it has been fully deployed on a BCD.

That sounds like a good reason to not use that model. My first BC had an integrated weight system I did not like so I used a belt until I replaced it.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

That sounds like a good reason to not use that model. My first BC had an integrated weight system I did not like so I used a belt until I replaced it.

@DandyDon: My DUI Weight and Trim utilizes a similar release mechanism. The big difference is that the DUI product is a standalone item, and the entire length of the ripcord can be inspected easily. The Zeagle ripcord is hidden inside the lining of the BC, which complicates inspection and re-threading. Here's a link to a video demonstrating the re-threading procedure for the Zeagle ripcord. It takes some time to do. It's not something you want to be doing on a rocking boat, in the dark, or when it's cold out (due to diminished manual dexterity).

If the ripcord fails for whatever reason, the diver can still open up the velcro or zipper-secured top of the pocket holding the weight, reach in, and remove the weights manually.

Overall, I don't think it's a bad system, provided that the kind of ditchable weight being used will slide out freely once the ripcord is deployed.

Thalassamania mentioned the AT-PAC. The AT-PAC was comprised of a backplate with a cavity that could be filled with lead shot. When the release was pulled, the lead shot would pour out. The problem is that over time and with exposure to salt water the lead shot would fuse together, preventing its exit from the backplate cavity. More than one scuba incident involved this sort of AT-PAC malfunction. If you're interested, feel free to read up on the Mia Tegner fatality which occurred here in San Diego. In addition to equipment failure, the diver made several questionable choices which had tragic results.