The Big Secret...

[Firebrand]

Those should be sobering thoughts for some.

I love this thread but really and truely I still support "the more training the better" idea. At the end need a card? I dunno anymore. But for brand spanking new students, unless your name is Jesus or the child of a very experienced diver - you better get the mininum card. I mean really! The basic card isn't enough as it is, IMHO but it's a start.

I'm the (adult now) child of a man who was a scuba instructor for 15 years; heck, he even did a couple of dives with Al Giddings! However, he stopped teaching by the time I was old enough to learn. If you had asked me anything about diving before I started my OW program, I wouldn't have known the answer. With that said, even children of "experienced" divers should still get proper instruction. Why do you need a driver's license? Certainly the skills can be self learned, but really would you want someone out on the roads who has no idea what the difference between the gear selector lever and the windshield wipers is? I don't want a buddy who doesn't know the difference between a BC inflator hose and the octopus. Same thing applies. With a certification card, you have a standard to judge where your dive buddy's skills are.

 

[crlavoie]

Same thing applies. With a certification card, you have a standard to judge where your dive buddy's skills are.

IMNSHO, I would have to disagree. All you have is a standard to judge that your dive buddy passed a test.

 

[Heffey]

Yep

Ok Don,
You have been telling me the way it is with a number of short snippets and proclamations of fact.

You post a law link and say “happy hunting” and now you post as though you know exactly what the statute is.

What are you basing these statements on?

This is not some big political thing for me. I am simply curious about the legal technicalities of this issue.

How do you know that it is legal?

Is it legal for me to ban the sell of canned tuna to people without a high school education for fear that they may cut themselves while opening the cans? I just find it difficult to believe this would be legally acceptable, especially in the USA’s rights oriented society.

Jeffrey

 

[mrobinson]

I'm the (adult now) child of a man who was a scuba instructor for 15 years; heck, he even did a couple of dives with Al Giddings! However, he stopped teaching by the time I was old enough to learn. If you had asked me anything about diving before I started my OW program, I wouldn't have known the answer. With that said, even children of "experienced" divers should still get proper instruction. Why do you need a driver's license? Certainly the skills can be self learned, but really would you want someone out on the roads who has no idea what the difference between the gear selector lever and the windshield wipers is? I don't want a buddy who doesn't know the difference between a BC inflator hose and the octopus. Same thing applies. With a certification card, you have a standard to judge where your dive buddy's skills are.

LOL - I should clarify! If I was 17 and if my dad/mom was a PADI/GUE instructor.... I'm sure even that Dad/Mom would say - you better take a course.
Sorry for the confusion! The art of illustrating my sense of humor, or lack of one, can be hard to demonstrate on a computer... LOL!

 

[mrobinson]

IMNSHO, I would have to disagree. All you have is a standard to judge that your dive buddy passed a test.

I don't disagree with you on the idea of a passed buddy at all! I think everyone starting to see some of the short-coming of this industry... but nothing is perfect.

 

[redacted]

Is it legal for me to ban the sell of canned tuna to people without a high school education for fear that they may cut themselves while opening the cans? I just find it difficult to believe this would be legally acceptable, especially in the USA’s rights oriented society.

Jeffrey

I suspect that it would be --- unless there is a correlation between HS education and protected demographic variables. If there were, then a judge or jury might well not believe your somewhat absure explanation and decide you are really attempting to violate someones constitutional rights.

No C-card - no air would probably be OK unless its implementation was done in a manner that was not protected demographic variable blind.

 

[ppilot]

That’s OK, you don’t need a pilot’s license to fly a plane if you never enter federal airspace and remain over your own private property at all times – possible, but very limiting.

Sorry, this is absolutely not true, in the U.S. anyway. There's no such thing as federal airspace, and you don't own any airspace over your private property. Gotta have a license to fly a plane.

 

[drbill]

Am I incorrect in this... I believe California requires a c-card for an air fill? Of course this still means you could dive if you have a compressor or get someone else to buy your air for you. When I first started diving, I didn't have no stinking c-card. Heck PADI didn't exist and NAUI was just a year old. When I moved to California, I was required to cerify with LAC (which, under Al Tillman, was responsible for creating the course NAUI used when it started).

Of course anyone who dives without certification these days is crazy. And, yes... we were also crazy back then... we just didn't know any better! The only thing I knew was not to hold my breath.

 

[H2Andy]

Gotta have a license to fly a plane.

yup... more properly, a pilot's certificate or airman's certifcate:


FAR 61.3(a):

Persons may not act as pilot in command or in any other capacity as a required pilot
of a civil aircraft of U.S. registry, unless they have a valid airman certificate in their
physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft when exercising the privileges
of their airman certificate.

 

[Firebrand]

IMNSHO, I would have to disagree. All you have is a standard to judge that your dive buddy passed a test.

Well, I for one won't be signing up for any classes from the Crlavoie School of Self Instruction!