10 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Rec'd via email from one of our members Lee and written from his perspective...

Personally I knew Amy and her husband Johnny well. SD was planning a trip with them in the near future to dive the outerbanks wrecks. I am floored at how quickly it can all end. Please keep her family including two children and close friends in your prayers. In fact I met Amy and Johnny thru Stevie aka CaptSteve another one of our members. This is a very sad day. kamala

http://www.starnewso...AKING/111019751

From Lee....I have got a call into Buck Wilde who first reported this. And sadly it is Amy Pieno, Johnny’s wife. She was such a nice lady and always went the extra step to help me. She will be missed. (this makes three dive industry deaths in the last five years. Buck’s brother, George Purifoy, and now Amy).

“Coast Guard Sector North Carolina in Wilmington is now investigating two diving deaths in four days related to an area off the Wrightsville Beach coast known for yielding megalodon shark teeth.

In the late afternoon Sunday, a woman in her late 40s died while diving for megalodon teeth about 30 miles off the coast of Wrightsville Beach, said Lt. Chuck Mellor, chief of investigations at the Sector North Carolina. Dives searching that type of fossils usually take divers to depths of more than 100 feet. The woman's name has not been released, and a coroner's report of the cause of death is expected mid-week.”

Add'l details:

“It was Amy and she will be missed greatly. From what I've heard is that apparently she went OOA and did and emergency ascent from around 110'. She was unresponsive from that point on. I'm sure more details will follow at a later time. For the ones that have dived with Outer Banks Diving or just visited the shop, we've lost a great friend. Keep the family in our prayers.”

[Jerrymxz]

My condolences to her family and friends. My prayers are with them.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Condolences to the family, especially the kids.

A hard lesson for all divers, though. For the love of pete, watch your air gauge!!

[WreckWench]

An OOA or OOG can happen to anyone ESPECIALLY at deeper depths like these. However Amy was a very seasoned diver so I have to believe that she encountered a problem that kept her down too long...it would not be like her to just lose track of her gas like that. I await more details elaborating on the this tragic accident.

[Valmuse]

I haven't been here in a while, so am only just seeing this thread.

I was diving the same ledge on another boat the day Amy died. The weather was rough enough that the boats probably shouldn't have gone out - it was the hardest time I've ever had catching and ascending a boat ladder, and I was getting very queasy on the ride out. Current on the bottom was kicking, and there was a lot of sediment so vis was not good. From several days beforehand I'd had a terrible feeling about the dive weekend, to the point where I hand-wrote a will and left it by my computer (never done that before). When I surfaced from the first dive the feeling was even stronger and I announced that I was not going back in. Thus it was that I was the only diver on deck with the emergency calls started to come over the radio; I sat and listened to the transmissions until Amy was transferred to a Coast Guard ship (they would not send a copter, apparently because she was unresponsive). It was horrifying.

My own awful OOA event happened this summer, a result of a burst o-ring, very leaky octo, and pure stupidity. I was being swept backwards and fighting the current every time I tried to check my gauge so stopped checking it and went into auto 'I have this much time left in the water' mode. Thank goodness Kamala was there to save me (I have switched where I carry my gauge and have become an obsessive gauge checker!)!

What struck me most about Amy's death was the cavalier attitude of the divers on my boat. This was the 3rd diver death on the ledge in a 6 month period, and the divers on my boat, mostly very experienced and tech divers, seemed to chalk everything up to diver error. More than half the time when I have done the fossil ledge dive I have had a disappearing buddy due to bad vis, inability to stay on the reel, or simple carelessness - I am going to assume there was nobody nearby when Amy went OOA. Given her experience and training, I am further going to assume some equipment problem, rather than carelessness, and I know that could happen to anyone.

Be careful out there, divers!

[WreckWench]

ANY one of those conditions could cause a serious incident...any combination could be lethal. I still pray for her and her family. And I hope her life brought meaning to others.

Thank you for sharing some insight we did not have.

[grim reefer]

What struck me most about Amy's death was the cavalier attitude of the divers on my boat. This was the 3rd diver death on the ledge in a 6 month period, and the divers on my boat, mostly very experienced and tech divers, seemed to chalk everything up to diver error. More than half the time when I have done the fossil ledge dive I have had a disappearing buddy due to bad vis, inability to stay on the reel, or simple carelessness - I am going to assume there was nobody nearby when Amy went OOA. Given her experience and training, I am further going to assume some equipment problem, rather than carelessness, and I know that could happen to anyone.

Be careful out there, divers!

It was a very sad moment for North Carolina diving.

Divers, and tech divers especially, are quick to blame incidents on diver error. I don't think it's so much a cavalier attitude as it is the defense mechanism of denial. We don't want to admit that our next dive could well be our last. If it's the diver's fault then we can more easily maintain the illsusion that it can't happen to us because we wouldn't make THAT mistake.

[peterbj7]

I've only just seen this thread, and very sad reading it makes. It isn't clear how personally experienced Amy was, but she was certainly part of the industry. Shows that we must all be careful when diving deeper - things happen so quickly. RIP Amy, and condolences to her husband.

[Valmuse]

The Coast Guard asked a lot of questions over the radio. We were two hours out of Wilmington and everything was relayed via a fishing boat, thus I heard the dive boat, fishing boat, and Coast Guard questions and responses. From the answers I overheard, and keeping in mind that Amy's husband was apparently still in deco so it was the dive boat captain doing his best to answer, Amy had well over 3,000 dives, more than 30 years experience, and she owned a dive shop. She was last seen in the water heading towards the anchor line and apparently fine, and next seen at the surface without any equipment and unconscious. They had already been giving CPR for a while before they were able to raise the Coast Guard, but could not start towards shore because they had divers still in the water. Amy had been out of the water getting CPR for 1.5 hours before the dive boat met up with the Coast Guard vessel.

Grim Reefer - you are exactly on target with your statement. Since I had just had my own OOA episode due in part to equipment malfunction (though I freely admit my own part in failing to keep an eye on my gauges), I was likely hyper-aware that 'accidents happen'. Two months ago my regulator jammed twice during a dive - some membrane was stuck or something, and I did most of that dive clutching my primary in one hand and breathing from my octo and wishing I had a pony. Ponys are heavy and awkward, though, and I keep wondering if there isn't a better (and more portable for travel) way of having extra air. Even a few extra breaths can make an enormous difference when one goes OOA.

At any rate I have been thinking about Amy since that day, and hoping the best for her family.

Edited by Valmuse, 09 January 2012 - 01:01 PM.

[cat fish]

Such a sad story. My condolences as well.

And thinking of you, Valmuse, as you process all of this with a heavy heart.

[Greg@ihpil]

I thought I'd add some other information on this sad story.I just picked up a copy of the Midwest Dive News.The Dec. issue,has a full story on the family & event.Their dive shop Outer Banks is up for sale & a fund was set up for Kailee & Johnny her children.Pieno College Fund C/O 1st Southbank,P.O. Box Buxton,NC 27920 .
Sorry members, I tried to get the link from the publication.Only has current issues on line.

RIP Amy