One dead at Cow Springs - Live Oak, FL

[Hiszpan]

I watched a service video on Youtube. It's got a metal lever that is held on by a 3/8" nut on the inside of the barrel. The nut would have to fall off inside the DSV and I doubt you could break the lever another way. Maybe someone who has one can weigh in.

Would the original fall from the truck that made the initial damage which was then ‘fixed’ by the tape could cause the DSV lever damage?

 

[LI-er]

From the report "There is no immediate danger to other divers.. as this was an isolated event".

As if it was necessary to throw that in there to avoid mass hysteria among the diving community.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Would it increase the work of breathing on this rig?

I feel sure it would on any DSV.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

From the report "There is no immediate danger to other divers.. as this was an isolated event".

As if it was necessary to throw that in there to avoid mass hysteria among the diving community.

My guess is that the comment was made to differentiate this incident from being caused by a design flaw rather than user error/isolated event.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I feel sure it would on any DSV.

Thanks Jim. That's interesting to note in the context of pulmonary edema. Negative pressure pulmonary edema can happen in the setting of high inspiratory resistance, and it would be difficult to differentiate between that and IPE.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Marie13]

Would the original fall from the truck that made the initial damage which was then ‘fixed’ by the tape could cause the DSV lever damage?

Note that he had been diving for a week after the unit fell off the back of the truck, per @Whitrzac ’s post that the victim has been diving with just the HUD for a week after the unit fell.

 

[Tracy]

Note that he had been diving for a week after the unit fell off the back of the truck, per @Whitrzac ’s post that the victim has been diving with just the HUD for a week after the unit fell.

As with almost all rebreather fatalities.
Everything was fine until it wasn't anymore.
I have ended dives with only the HUD. It isn't difficult and is a basic skill taught in a mod 1 course.
Starting the dive with only the HUD and an open cable allowing water access to the cells is a recipe for disaster.

 

[Moerae]

IMO the HUD is an accident analysis red herring.

The combination of no necklace and solo diving was the key issue with this dive. Any multitude of issues could cause a need for immediate bailout and it's not the HUD that interfered with bailout deployment. If they were unable to deploy bailout effectively then that would have been true with any event that impacts mental faculties or a situation involving entanglement, etc.

The solo aspect comes into play in terms of mental state and bailout deployment. The need for complete and total self rescue capabilities even when mental faculties are compromised, makes a necklace or BOV an absolute requirement for solo CCR overhead diving. When you're confused from CO2 or hypoxia, or if your 2nd stage is entangled, if you don't have a buddy to help notice your altered mental state or assist with bailing out, you still need to be able to self rescue. A necklace or BOV with an already open valve seems the best way to ensure you can bailout even if you're down to two functioning brain cells.

 

[crofrog]

IMO the HUD is an accident analysis red herring.

The combination of no necklace and solo diving was the key issue with this dive. Any multitude of issues could cause a need for immediate bailout and it's not the HUD that interfered with bailout deployment. If they were unable to deploy bailout effectively then that would have been true with any event that impacts mental faculties or a situation involving entanglement, etc.

The solo aspect I think comes into play in terms of mental state and bailout deployment. The need for complete and total self rescue capabilities even when mental faculties are compromised, makes a necklace or BOV an absolute requirement for solo CCR overhead diving. When you're confused from CO2 or hypoxia, or if your 2nd stage is entangled, if you don't have a buddy to help notice your altered mental state or assist with bailing out, you still need to be able to self rescue. A necklace or BOV with an already open valve seems the best way to ensure you can bailout even if you're down to two functioning brain cells.

Why don’t more people run BOV vs DSVs

 

[cerich]

After years of reading this A & I section, so many of us 100% follow the "3 strikes - You're OUT ". It can be the smallest, tiny, thing that you "miss/drop/break/redo" and it signals you don't have your focus on diving. So you start counting them out loud. Something simple breaks > That's # One !! ..... So 'Break the Chain of Events" and stop the dive. Sit out the dive, sit down and recheck every single step of your setup. I've hit 3 strikes several times and each time I sat it out/aborted and then did a perfect next dive.

what I have been doing and teaching for 30 years.