On Monday, October 08, 2001 3:32 PM, Carl G. Heinzl wrote:

(snip)

> > I'm almost certain that it's out of the 'teens and into the twenties.
And

> Given the total number of units sold a number like this is simply
> unacceptable.  Of course, most of the fatalities have been labelled as
> "heart attacks" but if people had heart attacks at THAT rate we'd
> see several thousand heart attack victims die during open water dives
> every year!!!

Leaving the machine's peculiarities to one side, it's probably also fair to
say that many of the tragedies - and near-misses - are a direct result of
poor, or 'let's-suck-it-and-see', training.  Something, of course, that is
seldom acknowledged by those who, having splashed out the money, want to run
before they can walk!  :-)

> > that it's not higher is, in at least one instance, due to the good buddy
> > skills of an open-circuit diver.  I don't know if the new manufacturer
has
> > now corrected the problem, but it's hard to maintain serious interest in
a

> Yes they have.  From what I've heard they have "spun off" a different
> company to manufacture the units (to make themselves supposedly more
> lawsuit proof).  Of course the address and everything else has stayed
> the same.

> > machine in which the electronics invite the user to re-calibrate - at
> > 50-metres!!!!  :-)

> Using no less than pure O2 as well!

Which is once again, to my way of thinking, where training comes in.  If the
skills to operate a machine at any depth aren't second nature - leaving the
diver free to concentrate on the challenges of the dive without needing to
exercise the front of their mind on the life-support system -  then they
shouldn't be using the equipment!   It's not as though the principles of a
rebreather are cutting edge technology!  :-)

 > > (Having said that, one of the local guys has modified his machine, and
has
> > been doing a lot of diving in the 90-metre range on the 'Niagara' - a
famous
> > bullion ship that sank off of New Zealand.)

> I've heard things like this a few times, only to be followed up a few
> weeks later with the obit.  I'm curious though, what mods did he make?

He's running it with Closed Circuit redundancy.   I was shown some pics the
week-end before last by the guy who was flying an ROV that followed them
around the wreck, but it was difficult to see how the unit had been rigged.

> Also, what types of bottom time and deco profiles is he running?

Now that you've got me thinking about it, I'll see if I can contact him this
week and ask him what plan he was using. :-)

> For most ow dives, yes, even at this depth, I'd rather take along my gas
> with me rather than depend on an electronic rebreather.

At that depth, with that machine, I'd be another 'heart-attack' victim!  :-)

Strike