Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUB Fatalities...

["Captain Nemo" <vulcania@interpac.net>]

This thread is developing in an educational direction, which is good.

I'm not going to offer a scenario; I think that's being done already.  One
thing I hope is becoming apparent here is that different conditions call for
different emergency procedures, and safety can be best served by planning
for the environment we'll be operating in.

If I'm operating in conditions where I can't exceed recreational diving
depths; say,  doing a photo shoot of the sub in a quiet lagoon that's 50
feet deep at the max; SCUBA will do just fine, and I won't need HELIOX or
the like.

A SPARE AIR is never a complete life support system unto itself; but it can
be a handy thing to have around as a backup under the right conditions. I'd
hate to find myself in a situation where a SPARE AIR might be the difference
between making it or not, and I don't have one.  Cheap insurance.  Valuable
within the parameters in which it's designed to operate.  I'll take one
along, if I have a choice.

If there's any chance that I might end up stuck at a depth where air won't
work as well as HELIOX, I should logically take the mixed gas along.  Now,
HELIOX requires special training; but if you're going to be operating at a
depth where that's what you might need, then I think it behooves you to go
out and get certified for mixed gas diving.

Safety divers, lift bags, cable attach points on your hull, boats on the
surface: all these things increase safety.

So does the availability of communications.  If sophisticated com gear is
not available, a diver can put his ear to the hull and hear what the pilot
is yelling; and a diver can press his mouth and chin into a dive glove,
inflate it, press it up against the window (or alongside the ear of another
diver), yell into it and be heard and understood.  It's not AT&T, but it's a
trick people have used to talk to each other underwater for years.  Then
again, there's always the old standby: dive slates.

On the surface, communications should also include a means of summoning any
help that might be needed: radios are nice; and nowadays we've got cel
phones.  Those emergency numbers (Coast Guard / Rescue; the local hyperbaric
chamber if there is one in your area; the Fire Department; Ambulance;
Hospital, Pizza Hut, etc) should be written down and handy.

One of the most important things I can think if is HAVE A DIVE PLAN AND
STICK TO IT.  This means organization: talk it out thoroughly and "dirt
dive" it with your crew before ever launching the sub or boats.  Everybody
should know what his job is; what the dive schedule is from launch to
recovery; and what to do in forseeable emergencies.

Remember, inside that sub, the occupants are in potential danger from launch
to recovery.  I have an understanding with my crew: WHEN IN DOUBT, GET ME
OUT.  If something goes wrong, abort the mission, get me back on the surface
and / or on the trailer, and get me out of the sub A.S.A.P.  The occupants
are not safe until they are breathing community air.

This thread can go on and on.  There's a lot more to this: lockout / escape
procedures; emergency rescues of an incapacitated pilot; raising the
stricken sub; various types of emergencies; variables of visibility
conditions, depth, changes in weather, etc. etc. etc.  Just when we think
we've figured it all out, something else will occurs to us.  And that's
good.  That's how it should be.  What usually "gets ya" is what you didn't
expect or plan for; continual contemplation and discussion of potential
problems reduces the odds of being taken by surprise.

I see a lot of bright minds here, all wanting to be heard.  That's good, but
let's also try to cooperate with the other guy.  We're all trying to share
knowledge for the common benefit.  We should try to see what the other guy
is saying; even if some aspect of it isn't quite right, or maybe wasn't
expressed too well, because there's still probably an element of truth in
it, and it's to everyone's advantage to seek out that grain of truth rather
than shout the other guy down.  The erroneous concepts will disclose
themselves, and preferable methods will rise to the forefront, as we go
along.   And if we sift through the input together, we can develop a greater
awareness of what safety in small subs is all about.

This thread has already disclosed things I hadn't been thinking about; if
any of those concepts saves my life or my sub, I'm really going to be
grateful, you can bet.

Pat