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From: "Mike Bruic" <mikebruic@di*.co*>
To: "Joel Markwell" <joeldm@mi*.co*>, <cavers@cavers.com>
Subject: Re: Vote Tally
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 18:41:22 -0400
JoeL- For the sake of argument, lets say what Tom said was true. What he
didn't say was that the FAA requires two pilots (redundancy).

Bruic


----- Original Message -----
From: Joel Markwell <joeldm@mi*.co*>
To: Mike Bruic <mikebruic@di*.co*>; <cavers@cavers.com>
Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 2:36 PM
Subject: Re: Vote Tally


> Mike,
>
> It's just common sense that someone who has had heart surgery is not a
good
> candidate for a sport like ours that is:
>
> --Stressful
> --Dangerous
> --Physically demanding
> --Has moments of easy swimming and low stress punctuated by extreme
>    physical effort and high stress.
> --Requires good flexibility.
> --Requires good blood perfusion and low blood pressure.
> --Requires a clear head at all times.
>
> I'm not here to specifically criticize Bill. I don't know enough about his
> condition. He's devoted a lot of effort to cave diving and has done some
> good things for cavers, like the steps at Peacock. However, I know that if
I
> required heart surgery in my 50s, that'd be it. It's very likely I'd give
up
> cave diving altogether, but I KNOW that were I an instructor, I'd give up
> in-water teaching.
>
> Tom makes a point about airline pilots:
>
> >There are numerous airline pilots who have had heart attacks
> >and have been returned to their jobs as Captains on airlines
> >with a hell of a lot of responsibility.
>
> This may be true, I don't know. But I do know that at age 60, healthy or
> not, no matter if the guy's running marathons in his off-hours, all
> commercial pilots must retire--no exceptions.
>
> And flying an airliner is no where near as physically demanding as cave
> diving routinely is.
>
> The point is that we all will have to stop someday. Some sooner than
others.
> We all die. But it's the responsibility of those who hold other's lives in
> their hands to take a hard look at themselves every time they go out. To
me,
> overweight might be passable (though not really acceptable), but
overweight,
> advanced age and heart condition/surgery is not.
>
> This is why as cave divers we have a higher responsibility to keep fit if
we
> really want to pursue our sport responsibly. The problem is that the
> physical demands are negotiable even to a totally out of shape diver until
> the shit hits the fan. Then that diver just might die and take a buddy,
> endanger a recovery diver and leave a family in grief and financial
> hardship. Responsibility is something that maybe just doesn't get taught
> enough in the cave course. And Responsibility is 99% of characterizes the
> instructor's job.
>
> Later,
>
> JoeL
>
>

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