DAN Flying and Diving Study published

[shoredivr]

Flying After Diving: Finally, the Facts (Not Just Theory)

DAN Europe has published a study tracking bubbles before, during and on the flight home from a week-long live aboard. Apparently a very thorough study, which is great, done on recreational profiles with safety stops. All divers in the study had never been bent previously, and none were bent during the study. They were able to see what actually happens in diver's bodies during flight.
Read the article, I'm paraphrasing it.

DAN Europe now recommends 24 hours as a safe time for no bubbles forming after a weeks' worth of diving. Except for those who are prone to bubbling, where they recommend waiting 36 hours.

I appreciate the innovative and award winning study, and that DAN undertook and published a scientific study that had them measuring for bubbles while flying.

Surprising to the researchers, longer flights were less problematic for divers than shorter flights, due to cabin pressures being different on the longer flights. I did not know that.

However I can't find the answer to the following in the article (answers must be in the actual study):

*Age, sex, fitness level, smokers/non-smokers in study.

*how one finds out if they are prone to bubbling (ie. do you need to be Dopplered).

Maybe there's a link somewhere that goes to the actual study, it's not showing up on this device.

Anyway it's an interesting article.

 

[Altamira]

Hopefully this study will convince divers that are constantly trying to figure out ways to push the dive/fly envelope to rethink the risks they are assuming, and realize that as a passenger, they have no control over what might happen to their cabin pressurization or cabin altitude. Unfortunately, I do not know if there is a way to safely and accurately evaluate the actual effects on the bubbles in the event of a cabin pressurization failure where the cabin pressure can go from 4500-8000 ft to actual aircraft altitude in a matter of minutes or seconds. So I suspect there are still going to be divers that keep posting "Is it OK to fly (fill in the blank) hours after diving to (fill in the blank) feet?"

 

[Anthony A.]

My rule of thumb for the last 15yrs is to avoid alcohol the day before and after a dive, in addition to waiting minimum 24hrs flight (landing and taking off). Its probably conservative, but who cares its worked for me and i've never been bent.

 

[NYCNaiad]

Appreciate the info. It made me rethink my policy of a hard 18 hours & am now changing to a minimum of 24 hours.

Side note: @Anthony A.: I'm pretty conservative as well. I'm all for a drink or 2 with your buddies after you dive (making sure to drink lots of water as well), but it freaks me out when I see divers guzzling down a number of drinks and/or drinking into the night & then diving the same day or the next. Ugh!

 

[boulderjohn]

I am going to need some help from some experts interpreting the data.

As I read it the divers were tested at the airport before flying, and no bubbles were detected in any of them. In all cases, the divers had had at least a 24 hour surface interval since their last dive. They were then tested in flight, and the only ones who developed bubbles were the ones who had previously been shown to be bubble-prone.

Here is what it then says:

The examination of divers in the airport before the return trip, in which no bubbles were observed, has allowed us to estimate that an interval of 24 hours wait time is sufficient when remaining at sea level, so no bubbles can form.
​

Look at the wording. It says that "an interval of 24 hours wait time is sufficient when remaining at sea level." It does not say "an interval of at least 24 hours...." If they had waited 48 hours, would they then have estimated that "an interval of 48 hours wait time is sufficient when remaining at sea level, so no bubbles can form"?

We know they were ALL bubble free at 24 hours. We do not know, at least as far as I can tell from this story, when they became bubble free. It could have been after 12 hours or 18 hours or 20 hours. Now, we know they were tested during the dive week as well, but this article does not mention what those tests indicated. It says they were tested immediately after each dive. Would it not have been wide to test before the first dive of each morning, to see what effect being out of the water for 12-15 hours might have had?

 

[lermontov]

I am going to need some help from some experts interpreting the data.

As I read it the divers were tested at the airport before flying, and no bubbles were detected in any of them. In all cases, the divers had had at least a 24 hour surface interval since their last dive. They were then tested in flight, and the only ones who developed bubbles were the ones who had previously been shown to be bubble-prone.

Here is what it then says:

The examination of divers in the airport before the return trip, in which no bubbles were observed, has allowed us to estimate that an interval of 24 hours wait time is sufficient when remaining at sea level, so no bubbles can form.
​

Look at the wording. It says that "an interval of 24 hours wait time is sufficient when remaining at sea level." It does not say "an interval of at least 24 hours...." If they had waited 48 hours, would they then have estimated that "an interval of 48 hours wait time is sufficient when remaining at sea level, so no bubbles can form"?

We know they were ALL bubble free at 24 hours. We do not know, at least as far as I can tell from this story, when they became bubble free. It could have been after 12 hours or 18 hours or 20 hours. Now, we know they were tested during the dive week as well, but this article does not mention what those tests indicated. It says they were tested immediately after each dive. Would it not have been wide to test before the first dive of each morning, to see what effect being out of the water for 12-15 hours might have had?

so other words we dont really have any new information

 

[KeithG]

so other words we dont really have any new information

no news here.

The article is from 2015 and the study was from 2013 (or before).

 

[shoredivr]

Sure, Giffenk, 2015, however I've never seen this referenced here on SB, though it is possible it's been mentioned before.

 

[gfaith]

Here is a link to the full report pdf file.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276209631

@uncfnp did make a link to it recently. Here is the tread where it was mentioned.

Planned deco on a recreational dive?

 

[NYCNaiad]

Not sure how I missed it, but I hadn't seen the study so it was news to me. @gfaith, thanks for the link & @shoredivr thanks for the original post.