32 replies to this topic

[TexasDiver]

I witnessed today for the first time an actual out-of-air diver. The divemaster might have been of assistance except he was the one OOA! lol. He went from diver to diver taking a few breaths from each octo. As they say "this was no drill." There was no apparent emergency so I stayed down to finish the dive, about 10 minutes.

[ScubaTex]

Just shows, it can happen to anyone.

[WreckWench]

The secret is to not panic...and you should be fine.

[Parrotman]

Several years ago I was diving Bonaire, one of the divers in the group was an assistant instructor. We were at about 60ft when he came over and gave me the OOA sign. I gave him my octo and we proceeded up to our safety stop and surface. At first I though he must be testing me or something although I was not his student. He actually was OOA. I still had half a tank.

Goes to show you C cards are not everything.

Jim

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I truly do not understand how someone with diving experience, during the course of a normal dive, could possibly run out of air. ('Normal' dive intended to mean a typical recreational dive with no emergency situations involved). To hear that a DiveMaster and an Assistant Instructor did so is alarming to me.

I check my gauges a lot.... I look at air, no deco limit, oxygen uptake and time elapsed every few minutes, as I was taught to do. It was drilled into me during my OW training to do so. Even when I picked up a camera and started looking through a viewfinder, I did not forget to watch the gauges!

Even if my pressure gauge is faulty, I have enough dives under my belt that I know fairly closely how long a tank will last me for the dive I am doing (depth, current, water temp, etc). If my pressure gauge is reading higher than it should for the time elapsed and my dive profile, I'm not likely to assume my SAC rate improved drastically overnight! I would assume there were an equipment problem and begin my ascent.

I just don't get how someone who has DM or AI training and is responsible for other divers in the water can run out of air and set such a poor example.

[TexasDiver]

I truly do not understand how someone with diving experience, during the course of a normal dive, could possibly run out of air. ('Normal' dive intended to mean a typical recreational dive with no emergency situations involved). ... I just don't get how someone who has DM or AI training and is responsible for other divers in the water can run out of air and set such a poor example.

Diving here in Belize is very normal and exceedingly easy. OOA occured during 2nd dive of the day ... DM completed his 600th dive on 1st dive! lol

[TCdamsel]

I truly do not understand how someone with diving experience, during the course of a normal dive, could possibly run out of air. Even if my pressure gauge is faulty, I have enough dives under my belt that I know fairly closely how long a tank will last me for the dive I am doing (depth, current, water temp, etc).

If my pressure gauge is reading higher than it should for the time elapsed and my dive profile, I'm not likely to assume my SAC rate improved drastically overnight! I would assume there were an equipment problem and begin my ascent.I just don't get how someone who has DM or AI training and is responsible for other divers in the water can run out of air and set such a poor example.

I hear you, Tammy! When I was in my first year of diving and working very hard at improving my SAC rate, it did improve so dramatically from one trip to the next that I thought my pressure gauge was faulty and I terminated the dive! The situation the OP described reminds me of the fatal dive accident that happened in Cozumel last fall to a dive shop owner (I realize that is another topic)where she did a dive that was just plain insane. What are people thinking????

[Mermaid Lady]

I had a sort of OOA experience at twin lakes. Actually my valve was not opened fully. But I was only in 15 feet of water, so I made a quick but orderly ascent to the surface. (IOW the surface was closer than my buddy)

[peterbj7]

I must talk to you about that, Craig! When I dived with you this morning I followed my usual practice, which is to check my air by breathing from the regulator before I get in, then to check it when I first reach the bottom, then again around 10 minutes later to ensure it isn't dropping faster than it should (I was aware that I had a leaking alternate). I don't then usually check it again until my no-deco time reaches its minimum, or I go into deco, or I come up from a particularly deep section of the dive. I was a bit alarmed that I seemed to be using more air than usual, which may have been the leaking reg but more likely was that I was out of practice. Then I checked it again when I started my final ascent towards the safety stop. Once it drops below 1000psi I check it more frequently, but that doesn't often happen and it didn't today.

I agree with LlDN. Unless a fault develops in the equipment during the dive there's no excuse for coming close to running out of air on a recreational dive. It shows bad planning and poor control. If any of my DMs had run out of air in those circumstances I would insist he underwent more training, with me. In fact that did happen a few years back, and that's just what I did. I don't want that DM accompanying customers until I'm happy he's safe himself.

With technical diving the issues are quite different, and although it's still an unhealthy thing to happen there is a bit more excuse for it.

I would regard running out of air during a dive when the diver is on a course as a show-stopper. I could not certify such a person until I had confidence in their situational awareness. I'm not talking about people with heavy air consumption, though that in itself isn't good - I'm talking about not being aware of it and putting yourself and others in danger.

[WreckWench]

A couple of things to keep in mind...

If a tank is low on the boat and there are no extras...who do you think gets the low tank? The DM.
If a client's regulator malfunctions or is leaking from a hose...who do you think dives the faulty equipment if necessary? The DM.

I have watched many a DM dive on a low tank leaking air like a sieve.. so its only logical that every once in awhile they will actually run out before the dive is over with.

It has nothing to do with skill or lack of training or even awareness...its part of the business of diving. I've seen in happen in Fiji, Belize, Mexico and other places.

The trick is to not panic, keep calm and work your way to safety.

And don't forget a certain DM who jumped in the water and dove 50-55 mins only to find she had sucked the last breath of air out of her tank...a feeling she had not experienced since her very early days of diving. As it turns out this certain DM dove someone's empty tank for the dive rather than a full tank. So it can happen...I know as I was the DM that did a dive on an empty/partially full tank a few years ago in Bonaire.

[Mermaid Lady]

Once it drops below 1000psi I check it more frequently, but that doesn't often happen and it didn't today.

Can't remember the last time my tank pressure went below 1000psi...

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Can't remember the last time my tank pressure went below 1000psi...

To use get your tank's worth in the Caribbean, you have to shore dive (or have your own boat). Caribbean boat dive operators always limit you to 45-60 minute dives, or worse yet make everyone come up as a group with the first person to get low on air.

I did get my tank down to 500 psi last year from a boat in the Philippines, but that was on a 107 minute dive. As long as we had 300psi left in the tank when we got back on the boat and did not do any deco diving, we could stay down as long as we wanted....and we wanted to stay down!

[WreckWench]

Once it drops below 1000psi I check it more frequently, but that doesn't often happen and it didn't today.

Can't remember the last time my tank pressure went below 1000psi...

This is another reason why DM's and excellent divers can otherwise get into trouble and have a OOA (out of air) or OOG (out of gas) situation...because they rarely run low they may not check as often as they should and if they had a leak that they were not aware of or a low tank...they may encounter problems.

I guess I NEVER checked my tank in Boniare when I grabbed an empty tank that had a cap on it. I blame no one but myself for not checking it properly before using it. I thought I did but apparently that one time I did not. So I did deserve what I got as there is no excuse for it...but it can happen to people who dive frequently...even pros...and the trick is to be calm and work your way thru it. That way you only suffer from *one* mistake and not two!

[georoc01]

I guess that's one plus of having a wrist mounted air intergrated computer. Its a single look to see time, depth and air, including an estimate of minutes remaining. As long as I remember to look at it before every dive, I can catch such situations. I do have a connected backup pressure gauge, but the AI is a nice luxury if you can afford it.