18hr Flight Ban Valid After 5' Dive?

[tomboone]

Well, after all the fighting that happened in my last post, I'm a little hesitant to bring this up, but it's pretty important for myself and my 3 travel buddies. I am going to finish my last of 4 OW classes on August 13th (Wednesday) night. I just spoke to the instructor, and we'll be finishing up in the pool by 10. The pool is only 10 ft deep.

We were hoping to fly somewhere (I work for an airline, so it would be standby, and therefore, as we would like to go to Hawaii, it might end up being Florida depending on flight availability) the day after. As it is, they are already waiting around an extra 2 days for me to finish my classes so we can all go together. I am going to do my OW certification dives wherever we go (I have several possible dive shops lined up), and then we'll leave around the 19th or 20th (again, depending on flight availability).

Here's the problem:
As they are already waiting 2 days for me, and we need to leave as soon as possible in order to maximize vacation time (not to mention the problems of if there are open flights on that Thursday and none on Friday), it would be more than ideal to be able to leave on Thursday (and preferably early Thursday). The issue is that this would be less than the recommended 18-24 hr hiatus on flights after diving.

Here's my question:
I certainly don't want enter the world of diving cutting corners, as I want to be a safe diver. However, is it possible for this rule to be reduced or are there other guidelines for people who are only diving very shallow? As I mentioned, the pool is only 10 ft deep, so obviously it is a very shallow dive.
Also, if there is a reduced rule and it is possible to fly sooner than 18-24 hrs, are there any activities to reduce nitrogen content in the blood? I would think that anything such as running or other aerobic exercise would increase blood flow and breathing rates, possibly reducing nitrogen content in the blood and reducing potential for decompression sickness. Is that accurate thinking at all?

Thanks all in advance, and I really do want to be a safe diver, I am just wondering if the rule still applies in the same restrictions to people who are diving very shallow. Love to hear your thoughts.

Tom

 

[deco_martini]

18 hours is a ballpark minimum guideline for recreational diving. It is not meant to apply to swimming in the deep end of a typical pool.

 

[OH-JJ]

does your dive computer have a time to fly readout?

don't take this as advise, but...
after doing three dives in one day all deeper than 60 feet,
my time to fly was around 12-18 hours.

so I really would not sweat it too much.


Of course if you wanted to really cheat the system, you could get a bottel of O2 and breath that for a couple of hours after diving joking of course...

 

[mkutyna]

Actually, aerobic exercise increases the risk of DCS. Take a nap, you'll probably be tired after your pool session.

Other than that, I'll just echo what deco_martini said. Assuming you're not planning on taking a red-eye flight on Wed night, you'll be fine.

 

[ruready7]

Agree with mkutyna...aerobic activity after diving has lead to an increase of DCS.

 

[Blackwood]

I wouldn't think twice about flying after a pool dive. Unless it's hours and hours underwater (most classes aren't), you should be fine.

 

[Thalassamania]

Use common sense. If you'd been under 5 feet of water for 24 hours and were fully saturated you could still ascend to 8,000 feet. Go fly!

 

[Blackwood]

Use common sense. If you'd been under 5 feet of water for 24 hours and were fully saturated you could still ascend to 8,000 feet. Go fly!

While I agree with your analysis, I don't know if it's fair to call a judgment about decompression which requires both knowledge of max gradient theory and atmospheric properties/airplane standards "common sense."

 

[Thalassamania]

Sorry, you are quite correct. Should be: once you realize that you can go to 8,000 feet after complete saturation at 5 FSW the application of common sense should indicate that you may go fly.

 

[Teamcasa]

One can use big words and complicated decompression theories but in the end, it was a shallow swimming pool, short dive. Even if you stepped out of the pool directly onto the plane the biggest worry you are going to have is the quality of the food on the flight.