Article on Death In Ginnie Springs

[Lorenzoid]

I don't understand the purpose of the article. To cast some small amount of doubt on the conclusion the authorities made and suggest that the investigation wasn't thorough enough? Thorough enough for what purpose? Since it's not a criminal investigation, there's no need to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

[Akimbo]

… He remembered that they had been filled with air when he broke his foot. He remembered wrong. They were filled with 36%, and his failure to double check that memory proved fatal...

After panic, complacency is at the root of most preventable incidents. Complacency is primarily the bane of active and experienced divers. Fortunately “most” of the time the accident doesn’t kill them because they have the skills and experience to overcome the oversight, providing it isn’t part of a cascade of problems.

I am certainly guilty and learned a lot from it. It is a sad truth that familiarity breeds complacency.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The tanks he had were left over from a trip to the Doria. He was sure that he had filled it with air. His buddies were somewhat in awe of him as he had accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time. He was asked if he analyzed it. He insisted he knew what was in it. One of his buddies on that day was a student of mine. Carlos was someone who did not take questioning his word well. He pissed off as many people as he had admiring him from some accounts. A lesson to be taken from this is if your buddy refuses to analyze when you ask them to, don't dive with them. It might be a good idea to try to keep them from diving. If it was someone I really cared about I might just steal their regs until they did the right thing.

 

[Akimbo]

... Carlos was someone who did not take questioning his word well. He pissed off as many people as he had admiring him from some accounts...

Hmm. The trouble with pig-headed is nobody has your back. “Fine, kill yourself” comes to mind… which it appears was an accurate prediction. Darwin never rests.

 

[Superlyte27]

I just think the guy breathed from the wrong tank.

That is the most simple and obvious explanation.

Everything else I have read is simply implausible (but possible).

Call it whatever you will, but the facts are the facts. He argued with his team on the surface who told him to check his gas. He used the bottle as a stage not a deco bottle. He breathed on it from the surface all the way to Hill 400. Guys, stupid kills. PERIOD. Analyze your friggin gas. This one was completely avoidable, had carlos simply checked the content of what he was breathing.

 

[hroark2112]

I hope you're a better diver than you are a journalist. Your writing is amateurish at best, your article lacks facts, and your assertion that we've lost an opportunity to learn from this incident is just plain wrong. The lessons learned have been covered a thousand times on this and other forums, so I won't repeat them, but the lessons have been stated clearly.

That article is a waste of bandwidth!

 

[divad]

What is "bandwidth" and how is it wasted? And yes, the article looks specious.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I usually avoid getting into debates or accident analysis about cave diving, because I'm not a cave diver. But this wasn't a cave diving accident, this was a nitrox diver accident. Back when this happened, I looked at my shiny row of identical deco tanks with identical regs and rigging, into which I would generally place whatever mixes I wanted for a dive and then label them by hand...and decided that maybe I needed to be more open to dedicated tanks with dedicated mixes (now with CCR bailout, it's much less of an issue...those are some really dedicated tanks). Sure, I hadn't screwed up yet...but the possibility was not absent.

This accident just shows that keeping an open mind about our own fallibility is probably one of the most valuable skills we can hammer into ourselves, after self-reliance and panic control. Like someone's signature line reads, it's not what you don't know that kills you - it's what you know that just isn't so.

 

[HIGHwing]

As a result of this accident, I purchased a TruMix 4001 Trimix Analyzer within 24-hours from Dive Gear Express. Additionally, my dive buddies now cross-check gas to labels, and we remove all the tank labels at the end of the dive/dive trip in an effort to prevent a duplication of the error present in this accident. I am content to believe the story about how Carlos died, because all the links of the accident chain are easily assembled, and he was known to have a bit of hubris to accompany his confidence. The sad part is he had a responsibilty to his wife, children, and dive buddies to check that gas. In my opinion, nothing will excuse the fact he didn't know for certain what he was breathing. In this case, I think the police have a clear case of a "death by misadventure". /CaseClosed

 

[Superlyte27]

I want to bring something else up... not completely related.

I only analyze with a combo helium/oxygen analyzer. Here's why. In my locker that I share with several friends, there are literally dozens of tanks. One day, my buddy grabbed a bottle and threw an oxygen analyzer. It measured in at 25%. He used the bottle as a stage bottle making a 2 hour dive at 100'. He got bent on that dive. What he didn't know was that the bottle also contained 40% Helium. Did helium play a part in his DCS? The world may never know.

I analyze every single bottle I breathe, every single time.