Rob Stewart Investigation

[Subfiend]

Has the Stewart parents case against Sotis and Horizon Divers progressed?

The case has resolved.

 

[Subfiend]

When the Medical Examiner was deposed in the lawsuit following Rob Stewart's death, he testified that he reached his hypoxia conclusion based on his assumption that the divers were out of oxygen when they reached the surface and they had nothing to breathe other than their hypoxic diluent. He also testified that he never reviewed the dive profile data obtained from Stewart's rebreather controllers by NEDU and the U.S. Coast Guard before he issued his final report. This data showed that Stewart was manually adding oxygen to his rebreather on the surface, his ppO2 never dropped below 0.6, and he closed the loop and breathed air for the last two minutes he spent on the surface. The case is now over and the evidence obtained can be discussed publicly.

 

[The Chairman]

The case has resolved.

Which way? What did they conclude? Was Sotis found liable?

 

[Wookie]

Which way? What did they conclude? Was Sotis found liable?

Settlements are typically not discussed

 

[bubblemonkey2]

This data ... The case is now over and the evidence obtained can be discussed publicly.

Finally some real data here, that could save more diver's lives.

The diluent says "10/20." Possibly a lie to the computers to avoid helium penalty (?)
What was the actual diluent?

Triple dives to 60+ metres with GF 90/90 (on "10/20") is hyper aggressive.
Did they consider gas emboli resulting in stroke?
Maybe they did, but I can't keep track of the dozen different "conclusions" aired in the absence of open data.

 

[Subfiend]

Which way? What did they conclude? Was Sotis found liable?

The case was resolved before trial, so nobody was found liable.

 

[Subfiend]

The diluent says "10/20." Possibly a lie to the computers to avoid helium penalty (?)
What was the actual diluent?

Triple dives to 60+ metres with GF 90/90 (on "10/20") is hyper aggressive.
Did they consider gas emboli resulting in stroke?

The actual diluent was 10/50. The divers filmed themselves discussing the dive plan the day before, including programming the dive computers to calculate decompression obligations using a 10/20 diluent instead of 10/50. Stewart and Sotis discussed doing this to avoid the helium penalty, with Sotis saying: "If you don't account for it, it won't penalize you." Stewart was a TDI-certified Advanced Trimix Instructor, so he knew exactly what this meant.

Gas emboli resulting in a stroke was considered by rEvo's medical expert, particularly given 90-120 minutes of decompression each day and a fast ascent on the final dive (75 fpm from 220 ft. to 20 ft. for Stewart, 90 fpm for Sotis), but not by the Medical Examiner. The Medical Examiner clung to his hypoxia theory like a dog to a bone, even in the face of irrefutable evidence showing hypoxia was the only malady that could NOT have happened.

 

[Wookie]

Finally some real data here, that could save more diver's lives.

The diluent says "10/20." Possibly a lie to the computers to avoid helium penalty (?)
What was the actual diluent?

Triple dives to 60+ metres with GF 90/90 (on "10/20") is hyper aggressive.
Did they consider gas emboli resulting in stroke?
Maybe they did, but I can't keep track of the dozen different "conclusions" aired in the absence of open data.

I can't imagine that they weren't on 10/50. It's a favorite mix in the USA, I've made thousands of cubic feet of it. They wouldn't be the first folks I know personally that fudged the numbers on their shearwaters.

A GF of 90/90 is also quite popular amongst a certain group of wreck divers.

Remember, Stewart wasn't exceptionally experienced (is that a nice way to say it?) He likely did as he was told.

 

[Subfiend]

Remember, Stewart wasn't exceptionally experienced (is that a nice way to say it?) He likely did as he was told.

Stewart was a TDI-certified Advanced Trimix Instructor. The B-roll shot on January 30, 2017 shows that he knew exactly what he was doing and he agreed to the dive plan. They filmed the dive plan meeting twice from different angles, and the camera picked up a further side conversation between Sotis and Stewart discussing programming 10/20 into the dive computers to avoid the helium penalty and get more bottom time.

 

[Wookie]

Stewart was a TDI-certified Advanced Trimix Instructor. The B-roll shot on January 30, 2017 shows that he knew exactly what he was doing and he agreed to the dive plan. They filmed the dive plan meeting twice from different angles, and the camera picked up a further side conversation between Sotis and Stewart discussing programming 10/20 into the dive computers to avoid the helium penalty and get more bottom time.

How was Stewart a TDI-certified Advanced Trimix Instructor? He didn't log enough hours to be a trimix diver according to what I've heard.