i was not sure where to post this. if there is a more appropriate forum for this pls move as you see fit. if this is a repeat posting of a known incident, i apologize. i only heard details on this recently.
i have no inside knowledge this event. i do not know anyone that was involved personally. i do not dive back mounted doubles. the information that was passed on to me sounded like the type that should to be shared and discussed. i will try to be brief.
diver enters the water wearing back mounted doubles. this diver is joining two other divers during their class. the two other divers are a student and instructor performing shallow water skills for some type of advanced training.
diver was wearing a dry suit but only had one lp hose on their rig.
at some point near the end of the training the student and instr headed for the surface while the other was to follow. unfortunately the inlet fitting on the bcd power inflator came dislodged somehow. seeing as the lp hose was attached at the time, the inlet fitting was still attached to the lp hose. this would obviously lead to a rapid loss of gas.
the belief is that due to excessive suit squeeze, (from not inflating the dry suit) the diver was not able to reach back and close the isolator valve on the manifold to stop the loss of gas.
the divers computer showed they made it briefly to the surface. it seems the diver could not establish positive buoyancy and ended up on the bottom again and eventually ran out of gas.
the result was loss of life.
so what should we learn from this?
some questions come to my mind and i would appreciate any further input.
1 - how do people feel about entering the water with only the one lp hose while in a dry suit ? i certainly do not think it is appropriate. but i can see why a diver might think that because this was an "easy shallow dive" that maybe this one time they might not really need it. if this was the case (not that i am in favor of diving with one lp hose) would the better option have been to leave the lp hose attached to the dry suit and manually inflate the bcd as needed ?
2 - does the instructor and / or other student have any role in this ? (i am not saying they necessarily do) but should we ask, was it ok to allow the diver to join them using only one lp hose ? that being said, perhaps they did not even realize this was the case at the time. but if they did know, would either of them have any responsibility to that diver ? particularly the instructor ? even if the diver was not their student ?
3 - i don't want to ignite a debate on whether or not to carry drop able weight but.....seeing as the computer showed the diver did mange to make it to the surface at one point, would having the ability to drop lead have prevented this loss ? (it is my assumption the diver had no drop able lead)
as would be expected, this tragedy was not the result of one simple problem but a series of choices and failures that added up to a sad ending. what are your thoughts ?
i have no inside knowledge this event. i do not know anyone that was involved personally. i do not dive back mounted doubles. the information that was passed on to me sounded like the type that should to be shared and discussed. i will try to be brief.
diver enters the water wearing back mounted doubles. this diver is joining two other divers during their class. the two other divers are a student and instructor performing shallow water skills for some type of advanced training.
diver was wearing a dry suit but only had one lp hose on their rig.
at some point near the end of the training the student and instr headed for the surface while the other was to follow. unfortunately the inlet fitting on the bcd power inflator came dislodged somehow. seeing as the lp hose was attached at the time, the inlet fitting was still attached to the lp hose. this would obviously lead to a rapid loss of gas.
the belief is that due to excessive suit squeeze, (from not inflating the dry suit) the diver was not able to reach back and close the isolator valve on the manifold to stop the loss of gas.
the divers computer showed they made it briefly to the surface. it seems the diver could not establish positive buoyancy and ended up on the bottom again and eventually ran out of gas.
the result was loss of life.
so what should we learn from this?
some questions come to my mind and i would appreciate any further input.
1 - how do people feel about entering the water with only the one lp hose while in a dry suit ? i certainly do not think it is appropriate. but i can see why a diver might think that because this was an "easy shallow dive" that maybe this one time they might not really need it. if this was the case (not that i am in favor of diving with one lp hose) would the better option have been to leave the lp hose attached to the dry suit and manually inflate the bcd as needed ?
2 - does the instructor and / or other student have any role in this ? (i am not saying they necessarily do) but should we ask, was it ok to allow the diver to join them using only one lp hose ? that being said, perhaps they did not even realize this was the case at the time. but if they did know, would either of them have any responsibility to that diver ? particularly the instructor ? even if the diver was not their student ?
3 - i don't want to ignite a debate on whether or not to carry drop able weight but.....seeing as the computer showed the diver did mange to make it to the surface at one point, would having the ability to drop lead have prevented this loss ? (it is my assumption the diver had no drop able lead)
as would be expected, this tragedy was not the result of one simple problem but a series of choices and failures that added up to a sad ending. what are your thoughts ?
