There have been many posts, in many threads, comparing solo diving and solo flying. It seems to me solo diving is inherently more risky than flying solo. Perhaps some of you pilots can explain the analogy? It would seem to me diving offers far more risk from injury or death. Thanks.
Solo flying vs. Solo diving?
- Thread starter tropitan
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Solo diving- Run out of gas? Use your backup, and surface.
Solo flying- Run out of gas? Splat!
Solo diving- Equipment malfunction? Stay calm, and surface.
Solo flying- Equipment malfunction? Splat!
Can you tell I don't like to fly?
Solo flying- Run out of gas? Splat!
Solo diving- Equipment malfunction? Stay calm, and surface.
Solo flying- Equipment malfunction? Splat!
Can you tell I don't like to fly?
Kiwi303
Contributor
Solo diving... Heart attack? you die.
Solo flying... Heart attack? you die, and so do the twenty little kids at the school your newly unguided missile hits.
Solo diving... you die, the crabs dine well.
Solo flying... you die, blazing gas from the wreck sets the forest ablaze, 5 firefighters roast putting it out.
Both have risks, but being up in the air in a heavier than air missile seems more inherently risky to others IMO.
Both are long odds, but the flying has more potential to involve outsiders.
Solo flying... Heart attack? you die, and so do the twenty little kids at the school your newly unguided missile hits.
Solo diving... you die, the crabs dine well.
Solo flying... you die, blazing gas from the wreck sets the forest ablaze, 5 firefighters roast putting it out.
Both have risks, but being up in the air in a heavier than air missile seems more inherently risky to others IMO.
Both are long odds, but the flying has more potential to involve outsiders.
captain
Contributor
My view is that pilots are taught from the beginning to fly solo in single engine aircraft. They don't start in twin engine aircraft and then have to have X number of hours with a co-pilot before allowed to fly solo in a single engine aircraft.
Diver training should be the same, once you are trained you should know enough to dive solo under the same conditions you were trained in just as a pilot is.
Diver training should be the same, once you are trained you should know enough to dive solo under the same conditions you were trained in just as a pilot is.
I am a pilot (private pilot, single engine - land) and an dive instructor. During pilot training, you are working toward a goal of being a solo pilot. At an uncontrolled airfield you don't even need a tower or anyone else involved to get in a plane and fly. As an instructor I train OW and advanced students to be equally self-sufficient. The difference is the industry pounds into students heads that there is something wrong with being a solo diver. Is it helpful having a copilot (even someone who does not fly) in the cockpit - yes indeed. Is it helpful to have a buddy in the water if things are going bad - oh yeah. Are either necessary - no.
Ragnar
Contributor
I totally agree. I'm a lot further along in my flying than diving, but there is WAY more going on physiologically when diving and the chances of that causing a problem are greatly increased. Of course both can be managed, and it really depends on the type of diving, but solo deco dives in the changing ocean often makes flying seem pretty simple.
DennisW
Contributor
Solo diving- Run out of gas? Use your backup, and surface.
Solo flying- Run out of gas? Splat!
Solo diving- Equipment malfunction? Stay calm, and surface.
Solo flying- Equipment malfunction? Splat!
Can you tell I don't like to fly?
I've been flying for over 30 years. So, I know just a bit about flying. I've been diving for over 20 years, so I think I know a bit about that as well.
Solo diving- Run out of gas? Use your backup, and surface. (You assume that you have a backup source of gas, mine is my buddy.)
Solo flying- Run out of gas? Splat! (Run out of gas, you are stupid and don't deserve to be flying, but you look for a spot to land and you land the airplane.)
Solo diving- Equipment malfunction? Stay calm, and surface. (Staying calm is harder than most people know, but it is the thing to do. If you panic, you may very well die.)
Solo flying- Equipment malfunction? Splat! (Basically, you do the same thing, you stay calm, find a place to land and you land the airplane. It all depends on what kind of equipment malfunction. Splat is only a result when you panic or if there is a major structural failure.)
There really is no comparison between solo diving and solo flying. However, there is a comparison between diving and flying.
Both activities are considered somewhat risky. (I dissagree, driving on the highway is much more risky than either one.)
Allowing panic to rule in either activity can kill you.
Inattention to detail in either activity can cause undesirable results.
Equipment maintenance is very important.
A Flight/Dive plan is not necessary, but useful.
They are both extremely satisfying activities and provide a feeling of freedom.
Quality of training is extremely important.
Currency is not the same as proficiency.
Any of you pilot/divers out there have any more comparisons?
- Messages
- 735
- Reaction score
- 65
- # of dives
- I just don't log dives
In solo flying there aren't toooo many issues that a second person can help with. For example, if you run out of fuel, you have run out of fuel. Having a co-pilot won't change that. Similarly, if you have an "entanglement hazard," for example hitting a goose, a co-pilot won't change that either.
In contrast, a dive buddy has more fuel (air), and can untangle you from the exploded goose (fishing line, etc). So, it is an apples to oranges comparison in a lot of ways.
In contrast, a dive buddy has more fuel (air), and can untangle you from the exploded goose (fishing line, etc). So, it is an apples to oranges comparison in a lot of ways.
Kiwi303
Contributor
true, both are actively risk-managed activities, in that you have training and procedures to make life safer, 1000 hr flight checks on the plane, Ditchable weight belts if your BC pops, etc. but given the total random acts of god, I still think a plane is more inherently dangerous than a diver... How often have you heard "diver lands on house, homeowners crushed"
If you're 60 feet down enjoying the reef and a shark decides to see if you really are a seal, and swims off spitting out the foul rubber taste leaving you minus a leg and all your blood, sure you die, but you don't kill any bystanders.
With a plane you have at minimum, several hundred Kgs for a sport microlight, or several dozen Kgs for a paraglider, complete with fuel, and the complete kinetic energy store due to gravity pulling you down. Say you're in an ultralight experimental, one of those teenie things that look like a hangglider married a lawn mower... and you catch a goose in the face, like a diver with a shark, you'd be lucky to survive, but where a diver only has himself at risk, the pilot also has everyone underneath his out of control bomb playing crap shoot with death.
Very long odds, you'd have more risk standing in the local walmart car park with a 5mph speed limit, but when the dice come up snake eyes, I'd rather be on a boat above a dying diver than on land under a dying pilot.
But frankly with the risks involved, I'd rather be out of the walmart carpark!
If you're 60 feet down enjoying the reef and a shark decides to see if you really are a seal, and swims off spitting out the foul rubber taste leaving you minus a leg and all your blood, sure you die, but you don't kill any bystanders.
With a plane you have at minimum, several hundred Kgs for a sport microlight, or several dozen Kgs for a paraglider, complete with fuel, and the complete kinetic energy store due to gravity pulling you down. Say you're in an ultralight experimental, one of those teenie things that look like a hangglider married a lawn mower... and you catch a goose in the face, like a diver with a shark, you'd be lucky to survive, but where a diver only has himself at risk, the pilot also has everyone underneath his out of control bomb playing crap shoot with death.
Very long odds, you'd have more risk standing in the local walmart car park with a 5mph speed limit, but when the dice come up snake eyes, I'd rather be on a boat above a dying diver than on land under a dying pilot.
But frankly with the risks involved, I'd rather be out of the walmart carpark!
I worked for an FBO for a few years and had the oppertunity to take flight lessons and soled but was never able to finish my ticket due to an automobile accident. I have to say the mental stress on a student pilot is far greater than that of diving. As other posters have said, the splat factor is very real in your head on every landing. Also the fact that as a student, you are using someone elses 100k aircraft and the chances of damaging it on a hard landing are real.
I have also seen other student pilots that were soloing and panic, become lost and run low on fuel. Just in the last 3 years 2 pilots that I know and worked with have been killed in seperate aircraft crashes. Both with 30+ years behind the yoke, and one was an FAA check pilot.
The demands of flying are far greater than diving. If you think diving is expensive, try flying!
I have also seen other student pilots that were soloing and panic, become lost and run low on fuel. Just in the last 3 years 2 pilots that I know and worked with have been killed in seperate aircraft crashes. Both with 30+ years behind the yoke, and one was an FAA check pilot.
The demands of flying are far greater than diving. If you think diving is expensive, try flying!
Similar threads
