Real diving mishaps please

[arcFlash]

So like MaxFactor said the board is kind of slow and I've been reading a lot of stuff about diving and I have some questions about books and real diving.

Running out of air is always listed. What the hell are people doing running out of air! I don't consider myself very experience (70 dives) but at this point I can't see ever running out of air. I monitor my SPG, I rig my gear carefully, I carry cutting devices, pony, buddy ... So can anyone share a first hand OOA story and how to help me understand how this can happen to experience divers who try and do things by the book?

Second question: Has anyone ever flashed the OOA signal to their buddy to get a real test? I did once and they freaked, I would have had to pull the octo myself had I been able to get to it. (I'm a long hose fan and we did work on that skill) Is this fair to do without pre-dive warning? I wouldn't mind as you don't get notice in real life.

Third: Whose been tangled up? How did it happen? Did you learn anything or make gear changes?

[LKunze]

Good topic.  I'll bite first and swallow my pride to admit my dumb mistake.  This occurred a few years ago on a dive with Dan G and Jason Baker at Wazee.  I wasn't technically completely out of air so to speak, just didn't have my tank valve turned on all the way.  I turned on the tank while setting up my gear but didn't end up going in the water for another hour or so.  I must have turned the tank valve off for some reason but not off all the way.  When I was ready to get in the water I made the mistake of not checking the valve pre-dive.  Instead,  I just purged the reg and breathed off of it at the surface and confirmed the pressure gauge was reading fine and my reg was working fine.  It wasn't until I got down to about 130 feet that my reg started breathing really hard all of the sudden.  It wasn't gradual, it was instant.  I signaled OOA to Dan G and he donated me his primary on long hose, and we did a safe ascent to 100 feet.  Once there at the ascent line I put my reg back in and it was breathing fine and it then dawned on me what the problem was.  I wrote Jason Baker a note on my wetnotes to check my tank valve (I was diving a single 119 at the time and couldn't reach the valve by myself like I can in my doubles).  He confirmed that my valve was only on about 1/4 turn if that. :-[  He wrote me a deserving note back which read STROKE!  Anyway...lesson learned.  There was no panic by myself or Dan in this incident.  I had practiced OOA drills several times prior to this incident so was prepared.
Also, I did get hung up a little in fishing line a couple times in Perch Lake and in Ore Be Gone.  Pretty easy to cut through it with the knife though. 

[DiveCaptDean]

I have had a divemaster do a dive to 65ft on a wreck that ran out of air after 15 minutes..he performed what i have no choice but to call an "Emergency Blow"( as i think i saw his entire body out of the water..he ascended so fast)...i got him in the boat and on O2 immediately and monitored him.........his excuse..."  I am using one of those new hp80's and they just dont seem to have the same amount of air as the aluminum 80's do"...me thinks something wrong with that statement and most probably his cert card.......also..after they finished their dive..his 2 buddies had no idea where he was....yet they finished their dive....hhhhmmmmmm.

I have had  pretty solid diver forget to turn on his air( twins) before jumping in( as a rule..i ask if you want me to check your air supply when diving twins..if you say no..i dont check..singles i always check..he said no until this day)....he also forgot to inflate wing..he dropped like a stone to 70 ft....alone..to his credit..he resolved his issue and finished his dive without incident..this was, of course after he spent upwards of 8 minutes finding the wreck that he missed by 40 ft or so.......he kept his cool and resolved his issue..i still think he i a very solid diver..he just had a smack in the face of a reality check...

I have also had a very very very good diver  pull a bone head play.....he dove to 120 ft scheduled to do a 45 minute run time on a single 130cf tank with an 80 cf deco bottle ...he did not check his deco bottle and while doing deco, found it to be empty...he went ot his back gas and apparently did not plan correctly as he did not have enough to finish the dive..he had two divers in the water with him all on basically the same plan....both on twins..one of them shared gas......It was a laughing matter to him...not to me.....i kept my mouth shut...he didnt return to my boat...

[Qix]

Good topic.  I'll bite first and swallow my pride to admit my dumb mistake.  This occurred a few years ago on a dive with Dan G and Jason Baker at Wazee.  I wasn't technically completely out of air so to speak, just didn't have my tank valve turned on all the way.  I turned on the tank while setting up my gear but didn't end up going in the water for another hour or so.  I must have turned the tank valve off for some reason but not off all the way.  When I was ready to get in the water I made the mistake of not checking the valve pre-dive.  Instead,  I just purged the reg and breathed off of it at the surface and confirmed the pressure gauge was reading fine and my reg was working fine.  It wasn't until I got down to about 130 feet that my reg started breathing really hard all of the sudden.  It wasn't gradual, it was instant.  I signaled OOA to Dan G and he donated me his primary on long hose, and we did a safe ascent to 100 feet.  Once there at the ascent line I put my reg back in and it was breathing fine and it then dawned on me what the problem was.  I wrote Jason Baker a note on my wetnotes to check my tank valve (I was diving a single 119 at the time and couldn't reach the valve by myself like I can in my doubles).  He confirmed that my valve was only on about 1/4 turn if that. Embarrassed  He wrote me a deserving note back which read STROKE!  Tongue Anyway...lesson learned.  There was no panic by myself or Dan in this incident.  I had practiced OOA drills several times prior to this incident so was prepared.
Also, I did get hung up a little in fishing line a couple times in Perch Lake and in Ore Be Gone.  Pretty easy to cut through it with the knife though.

I have to ask Lonnie, you never noticed your SPG needle bouncing as you took breaths? Or perhaps your descent was quick enough to be within your regular window of checking the SPG?

[LKunze]

Good question.  No I do not recall the needle spiking, it was a direct descent to the planned depth.  I'd have to look at my dive log data from my computer to see but I would guess we hit 130 feet within 4 minutes.  Like I said, the reg was breathing totally fine until I hit max depth and then bam...the reg breathed like I was sucking a golf ball through a garden hose.

[AandA]

Have I ever run out of air :.  That used to be the only reason for me to come up .  That was also one of the reasons I bought a "J" valve regulator. The last few breaths would pull pretty hard.  Then I'd know I had to pull my reserve lever, which would give me another few minutes of air to end the dive.   I much prefer the equipment I use these days....


Tangled up.
Only once (so far).  I was diving a bend in the Mississippi up near Bemidji.  The depth was ten to twelve feet.  I was following some fish around this really weird tangle of weeds, not to far from a beaver lodge.  I saw a really big one quite a ways in, so I swam in a bit.  All the fish immedietly left.  Thats when I tried to back up and realized I was stuck on something.  It seemed like whenever I moved the whole section of weeds moved with me.  I grabbed a section of the weeds to try and move them aside and realized what I was dealing with was NOT weeds.  The weeds were actually just camoflage.  I was stuck in a big loose tangle of barbed wire.  My GIANT commando style dive knife strapped to my calf would NOT have been of any real use.  Took me a few minutes (seemed a whole lot longer at the time) but I slowly just felt around and worked my way out.

[tim]

Haven't run out of air but I did get snagged up in the boiler room of the Emperor.  This was during my search for my guide who was MIA.  I stayed calm realized that I swam into it and tried to push my self back out, it worked.  The culprit a piece of pipe hanging above my grabed my primary hose.

My lesson learned, never go inside with out a line even if your guide has tons of dives in a location.

Tim

[SmithDiving]

I've never really run out before.  I've had a few occasions when I just couldn't tear myself away from the reef and those instances required some real sucking by the end of my safety stop.  I did once have an interesting "out of air" situation.  I was diving with my mother-in-law in Cozumel and upon reaching the safety stop she reached over and looked at my pressure gauge.  My needle was a little under the 500 psi mark but I had plenty of gas to make a comfortable stop.  I thought nothing of it until I felt my 2nd stage being pulled from my mouth.  By the time I'd turned my head she had removed my reg and was pushing her octo into my mouth.  I tried twice to go back to my own reg but she kept insisting that I breathe off her tank instead.  Looking around, I could see that the rest of the group had showed up and were intensley interested in what we were up to.  I had been married long enough at this point to realize that, whatever her motivation was, I should just accept her octo and finish the stop with her holding onto my forearm.  She claimed that she was just trying to take care of the tank but I still wonder how that dive would have finished if the rest of the group hadn't showed up when they did.

[MAXFACTOR]

ArcFLASH
Great topic.   I thankfully have never been even close to being out of air.  But,  I attribute that to the fact that at virtually anytime in my dive, I have a very good idea as to where my gas levels are.  Without looking I should be able to tell you if I'm ok on air levels.  The reason that is,  is very simple.  I CHECK MY AIR at regular automatic and normal diving habits.
and to those like yourself, arcFLASH,  I think you'll remember I asked you as a buddy, about your air levels at least 10 times during the dive.  We both checked and ok'ed each other and when we got down to the rule,  we implemented it properly.


As far as someone wanting to practice out of air under water situations,  I"m all for it.  Most divers do not practice it enough in my opinion.  However,  if a diver gave me the OOA signal and caused me to react in an effort to help him, I would be pissed if I found out that he was just testing me for my reactions.  Because, any act that does not have to happen could in fact cause a  real problem. 

LET me know in advance and we practice.  I could use it and so could you, but don't trick me.

As far as entanglement, man..... rope is easy to get tangled in.  Even when you assending with a floation device over you, and your not reeling in your rope fast enough that stuff just is an accident waiting to happen.  ALWAYS DIVE WITH YOUR KNIFE or Scissors.

Thank god, I always try to be observant of the situations and the environment around me, as I"m diving.  An example is going through the trees up in Crosby.  Some times, its easier to just drop down a bit or ascend a bit then try to go exactly at 60 feet and in a straight line while your gear gets tangled in the 59 ft. branch area.  etc.

Entanglement kills divers.  Prodivers out of Ft. Lauderdale, (I THINK THEY TRAIN MORE INSTRUCTORS THEN ANY OTHER SHOP IN THE US)  two years ago lost a very skilled instructor in 35 feet of water because he got tangled up, and to make matters worse, his wife who I think was also a very experienced diver died with him as they ran out air.   ENTANGLEMENT......SUCKS.....
avoid at all costs.

maxfactor   

[SmithDiving]

As with most diving skils it is essential to discuss contingiency plans during the dive briefing and buddy checks.  Most divers gloss over this either because they've become complacent or because they're not really sure of themselves and are willing to let the buddy (who ever it is) take the lead and set the tone for the dive procedures. 

One thing that would really help is if divers took a few minutes on every dive to actually practice a simple skill with their buddy.  Not only would this create a safer situation for the buddy team, but other divers may see this and emulate some good behavior. 

There are lots of divers who say "I already know how to dive" and think they don't have to practice anything again.

I tell my students this; Imagine you learn to drive a car when your 16 years old and then don't drive again till your 40 years old when soemone puts you in a car in the middle of downtown Minneapolis during rush hour and you have to get yourself home.  No matter how good a driver you were when you were 16, the stress and lack of practice are going to make you much more likely to have an accident or cause unsafe situations for other drivers.

There are lots of 40 year old divers out there who were certified at 16.

We address these things in all our cert. classes.  During our NAUI Master Diver Course we create a "blind, out of air" situation where one buddy needs to follow along a line through the trees at Crosby till they come to their "out of air" buddy.
At this point they need to give the buddy their alt. air source and lead him/her back to shore, following the line, while blind.  This session is a real eye-opener for even the most experienced students.