Greetings & Salutations...

DeepSeaDan

I see a few familiar names here from other boards, & many names form many countries - truly an international forum!

My rebreather use is limited to an ancient U.S. Navy semi-closed unit we trained on in commercial dive school back in 1979. I spent 10 years in the offshore oilfields doing construction & production diving using surface air, surface gas & saturation diving modes to 22 ata. - all open circuit ( probably because helium was relatively cheap & contractors were making ALOT of money ).

The tragic death of BJD brought me here looking for more information on the circumstances of his passing; now that I'm here, I'll spend some time familiarizing myself with modern rebreather technology. I must admit, I find the fatalities of seasoned, expert recirculating divers to be worrisome. It appears that despite the degree of knowledge or skill, our very humaness can spell the end of life. I will, however, study the incident profiles available to try & reason out the root causes of the tragedies.

I've been at this u/w game going on 33 years. That kind of subaqueous longevity is born of no small degree of conservatism & caution. I will be taking a long, hard look at the entire spectrum of rebreather use prior to strapping one on for a ride.

Your thoughts & opinions in this regard would be most enlightening - I look foreward to the exchange of views.

Regards,
Daniel J. Vale
U/W Technologist
Fire/Medic
Scuba Inst.
EMS Instructor