Strange APEKS first stage (maybe a modified US4) ?

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gypsie king

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Location
Houston, TX
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Hello,

I found a strange unicorn. It's a small survival scuba tank, it seems to be designed for passengers of an aircraft who could crash in water and it would allow them to exit the aircraft.
It's a simple design, a small luxfer scuba tank with a SPG on it and a special connector to attach an APEKS (I believe a US 4 variant) with an APEKS EGRESS octopus used as a compact second stage.

I was able to remove the special connector and fit an APEKS DIN connector so now it works on a scuba tank. It has limited use as it has only 2 IP ports and NO HP port.

I couldn't find this regulator on the APEKS website or when browsing the internet. I thought that some members of this board would be interested to see this setup.

It's called a PSTASS
 

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the tank
 

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This is Apeks Extrair for the aeronautic industry. For the SCUBA industry it usually comes with a DS first stage, aeronautic mostly gets a US first stage. The body of the Extrair is different from a US4 as it has only two intermediate pressure ports and no high pressure, as you mentioned above. The inner parts are exactly the same as a US4 though. One difference is the H.P. balance plug itself, which I believe to be just cosmetic. The O-Rings, etc. are all the same.

A lot of manufacturers have similar setups, often for the military. Aqualung has their H.A.B.D. (Helicopter Aircrew Breathing Device) for example.
 

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  • Extrair - Schematics (2006) (First Stage).pdf
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  • Extrair - Schematics (2011).pdf
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  • Extrair - Service Manual (2011).pdf
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How good is this, and how good is Tanks A Lot providing us with so many schematics to open our own scuba shop
 

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