Scuba Diving...

[jknight8907]

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.

Maybe, maybe not.

Wanna risk it?

 

[Fury220]

Good advice when you are strapped to an F-18 going vertical to FL410

Except that very few USAF pilots will be strapped into an F/A-18


But you have a great point. Think "explosive decompression" and the how nasty "the bends" would be in that scenario ugh.

 

[LewisU_Pilot]

This was the answer I was looking for
AIM 8-1-2

A pilot or passenger who intends to fly after scuba diving should allow the body sufficient time to rid itself of excess nitrogen absorbed during diving. If not, decompression sickness due to evolved gas can occur during exposure to higher altitudes and create a serious in-flight emergency.

The recommended waiting time before flight to cabin pressure altitudes of 8,000 feet or less is at least 12 hours after diving which has not required controlled ascent (non-decompression diving) and at least 24 hours after diving which has required controlled ascent (decompression diving). The waiting time before flight to cabin pressure altitudes above 8,000 feet should be at least 24 hours after any scuba diving.

 

[jumppilot]

When you SCUBA dive, your body absorbes Nitrogen at an increased rate. When you surface from a dive, your body has a higher content of Nitrogen, due to the increased metabolism of the gas due to an increase in partial pressure.


Partial pressure of Nitrogen at sea level is .79 (79% Nitrogen in the air we breathe). At 33 feet, where the atmospheric pressure is twice that at sea level, the partial pressure of N is 1.58. At this pressure, the body has a higher absorbed Nitrogen in the blood steam.

If you decrease altitude without time to 'off gas' this increase Nitrogen, it can come out of solution in the form of bubbles....Which can hurt.

That is why you need to wait before you expose your body to increase altitude.

You can get the bends even if you haven't been SCUBA diving. Reference the astronauts who must breathe pure Oxygen for a few hours before an EVA. Their suites are at a pressure of about 5 psi. At that pressure, even atmospheric Nitrogen can come out of solution.

The Bends suck. I did an 8 hour chamber ride about 7 years ago. Not fun.