Gas Planning

[pnw_diver]

Have you taken Nitrox yet? If so, try to get a TDI Nitrox (not the advanced, the basic) manual.

I was certified in Nitrox by PADI, but the TDI manual opened my eyes to a lot bigger world out there.

Yes, I have taken PADI nitrox - based on reviews, I'm seriously considering taking the TDI course as well.

 

[rongoodman]

It's not covered, as far as I can tell, in anything not 'advanced'. Not gas planning as we're doing in Adv Nitrox/Deco procedures.

The first good gas planning I've seen was in the TDI Nitrox manual. SDI Solo Diver touched on it with basic planning, but it was the TDI Nitrox manual in which I first saw full-up gas planning.

I took TDI Nitrox too, and liked it, but I don't remember doing any gas planning in it. I'm sitting here with the text and don't see any mention of it. (No mention of bubble models either, which is surprising since it was published in 2006.) The only "not advanced" courses I know of that cover it are GUE's Fundies, and I would assume, their Recreational classes.

 

[Jax]

Really?

One of the end-of-chapter questions was

Using the US Navy dive tables, complete the planning worksheet for the following series of dives: first dive, EAN34 at 30 m / 100 ft for 33 minutes; surface interval 0:45; second dive, EAN40 at 18 m / 60 ft for 64 minutes.

Previous questions had you compute the Best Mix, MOD, CNS & OTUs, etc.

 

[muddiver]

I keep seeing this "Rock Bottom" term, but it doesn't come up in the SDI / TDI manuals or classes. Does it mean a flat bottom profile?

 

[Jax]

:mooner:

 

[rongoodman]

Really?

One of the end-of-chapter questions was

Previous questions had you compute the Best Mix, MOD, CNS & OTUs, etc.

There were questions about planning NDL limits, surface intervals, and O2 exposures, but nothing about gas usage or requirements, which is what I think of when I hear "gas planning". It's a good nitrox course, though, and my instructor was thorough enough to make the Adv Nitrox materials just a review.

 

[pnw_diver]

Gas planning of this kind is not covered in the PADI recreational curriculum.

Incidentally, I completed my PADI wreck cert last weekend, and although it was not specifically part of the curriculum, the instructor did cover both rule-of-thirds and rock bottom calculations. It wasn't covered in the classroom, but the class was conducted as part of a 4 day trip to dive the Cape Breton and Saskatchewan up in Nanaimo, BC - and we had a lot of time to discuss a lot of off-curriculum material.

P.S. The diving was great, calm seas, no current, and 80+ foot vis on the wrecks!

 

[TSandM]

My husband adds this kind of information to some of his more advanced PADI classes, too; you can do that, you just can't test on it and require it for certification. But this is instructor-dependent; the material is not in the PADI curriculum at any recreational level, including professional.