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The entire quotation was not used in the story in AquaCorp. I was asked about the degree of complexity of CCR versus OC. I said LEARNING to dive a CCR is MORE like learning to fly an airplane in the sense that there are more than a couple of gauges and valves to keep track of in addition to those devices a diver is familiar with in OC diving. You certainly do not need to have the skills of a fighter aircraft pilot in order to successfully dive or own a rebreather. Rich, in matters of life support, I've noticed that some individuals (not you) who have unique skills and equipment, OFTEN overemphasize the degree of difficulty in developing the skills and using the equipment because it enhances their status as being one of the few who can do it. You see this in the general diving and in the tech. community and certainly see it in the rebreather marketplace. Not only that, fear of the unknown often exagerates and distorts reality for the novice. Some may take advantage of both components to market rebreathers at exorbitantly high prices, to require very expensive training before purchase and to require mandatory periodic expensive factory refurbishing of the units- when in fact none of these need be. There is no argument that safer is better but there is no doubt that the concept has often been distorted to gain market share of products inside and outside of the diving industry. There is no question that rebreathers are more complex life support than OC scuba. They do require good units, competent training and regular use to become and maintain proficiency-JUST LIKE OC SCUBA. With my personal rebreather, I am as comfortable diving it after a months layoff as I am after diving it regularly for days. The same is true for me on OC. And I am not unique in this. What I gather from all of your excellent posts on rebreathers and on the CisLunar is that the Cis Lunar is vastly different in complexity than the BioMarine system (I have never used the Cis and I am sorry that I didn't have the time to do it in New Orleans when you offered) and as such requires constant training to maintain competency even for the brightest of divers. I suggest that this factor, the extremely high cost of the unit, the extremely high cost of training, the mandatory retraining schedule, the mandatory factory recall and the apparent complexity of the unit takes the CisLunar of reach of ordinary tech divers and puts it in out there for only those good enough to be fighter pilots. Given that scenario, it is no wonder that the CisLunar- as a production unit for tech divers- has achieved distinction as the longest running science fiction project in the history of diving. There is no question that on paper it is a highly desirable unit for some applications. Recreational tech diving is not one of them. Rod On Mon, 12 Feb 1996, Richard Pyle wrote: > > > There is no connection between the between the skills needed to fly > > fighter aircraft and diving a rebreather. > > -Rod Farb, Techdiver, 11 Feb 1996 > > "Learning to dive a closed circuit rebreather is more like learning to > fly an airplane than to open circuit diving lessons." > > -Rod Farb, AquaCorps: WRECKERS, p. 70, January 1995. > > Well...where do you stand? Is it like flying an airplane or not? ;-) > > Rod, > What's the longest period of time you've gone without diving the > 'breather? When you got back in the water again, were you just as > comfortable as you were on the last dive you made before the hiatus? > > Rich > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'. > Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'. >
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