Scuba Diving...

[LewisU_Pilot]

What as a pilot should I be aware of regarding scuba diving?

I remember something about the bends? If you go scuba diving and have an uncontrolled accent you should wait 24 hours before flying 8000 feet or above? And if it is a controlled accent to wait 12 hours. Am I close with this info at all? I cant seem to find the info anywhere was hoping someone here could shed some light

 

[HMR]

What as a pilot should I be aware of regarding scuba diving?

The sea is full of amazing creatures.

EDIT: Now that you've changed the original question- the poster below me has the right idea.

 

[jknight8907]

Don't fly for 24 hours after diving.
Either stay hydrated or don't dive for a while after flying since flying dehydrates you.

Those are the main things, the first being far more important. You'll learn why in a diving class, here's the basics:

You've heard of the bends, right? (The bends are what decompression illness is called) Basically what causes 'the bends' is ascending from depth to quickly. Once you're out of the water you aren't out of the woods yet. If you hop in a plane shortly thereafter, as you climb to altitude the pressure keeps decreasing which can cause you to get the bends.

 

[Lear2460]

If you are a certified diver, you should know this, but here's the jist:


SCUBA diving exposes your lungs to a high pressure environment, whereas airplane travel is a low pressure environment. Your lungs undergo a dramatic change in pressure when going between these two extremes. The bigger the change in pressure the greater the risk for arterial gas embolism. The best thing you can do to avoid this is to leave at least a 24 hour period between your last dive and the time you board the airplane for your flight home.

Many avid divers who want to maximize their dive time are tempted to schedule their flight home in the evening, to get in one last morning dive -- you should avoid this! Your last day in the islands should be spent re-acclimating to sea level pressures.

This will also give you and your companions time to observe you for the symptoms of arterial gas embolism. If you manifest any symptoms, such as lightheadedness, dizziness, mental confusion, numbness or tingling or sensory disturbances of any kind, you should be brought to a re-compression chamber. Under these circumstances, the last thing you need is to be up in a plane.

 

[urflyingme?!]

I don't think that this would be kosher by any means if you were piloting the aircraft, but you could get a dive computer that will tell you when it's safe to fly. Usually it's a lot less than 24 hrs, so I hear.

Or you could fly low!

PS One major problem would be the $$$ of being able to jump seat to exotic destinations for expensive world class diving.!! (sweet!!)

 

[80/20]

Various simplified rules of thumb exist. Sport diving associations such as PADI, NAUI; or CMAS have such rules in many of their books. For a more complete answer try to locate decompression tables with information about high altitude or flying. Most tables are based on US Navy tables so you can always explore some of the navy publications if you really want to dig into it. There have been examples of deep sea divers (saturation bell divining) who have gotten decompression sickness while flying more than 24 hours after diving.

 

[LewisU_Pilot]

Thanks for the Info guys. They want me to know a little bit about it for my end of course multi at my school.

 

[Guam360]

the problem isn't so much the flight itself ,it is if the cabin equalizes with the ambient outside at altitude(ie.37,000). where the pressure differential is the greatest.

 

[jknight8907]

The plane doesn't have to be unpressurized for this to be a problem. For example most airliners have a cabin altitude of about 8,000 at cruise. That's more than enough for problems to arise. Some of the newer business jets would not be a problem, as they have sea-level cabin altitudes in the FL300-400 range.

 

[Guam360]

ok, 8000 feet, sure but the issue is depressurization, 18,000 feet is close to the same as 33 feet of sea water, the change at 8000 feet is very little, the only symptom occuring at flying in an aircraft at your cabin altitude of 8000 feet would only be type 2(pain) AGE may occur but most AGE symptoms occur in the first ten minutes after surfacing.