The restrained (bungee) wings have elastic cord or surgical tubing
laced around the bladder to supposedly keep it tight and streamlined at
all times.  What actually occurs is that surface folds are created in
the wing, which with the bungees themselves increase turbulent water
flow over this surface and thus the diver's drag.  The fore and aft
profile is also greater with the bungeed wings.  (More drag, heavier
exertion, CO2 loading, etc.)  The restrainers also serve to hold the
bladder close to the diver's center of gravity, which makes it easier
to roll, but makes it more difficult to maintain a perfect prone
attitude in water.  The standard unrestrained wings will float upward
against the side of your tanks, resulting in a greater applied moment
which helps keep you in a horizontal position, which is generally the
position of greatest function for the diver (certainly from a
decompression perspective).  The bungees also create a slight positive
pressure within the bladder at all times, which will act to forcefully
dump the wing when you hit the deflate.  This is a faster dumping than
the standard wing, but if you have a valve or fitting failure your gas
may be all inadvertently dumped - very dangerous in an emergency
situation.  The positive pressure in the restrained wing also creates a
lung loading problem when orally inflating - just one more thing to
contribute to injury or DCS.

-Sean


On 24 Oct 99 03:09:21 WST, Thomas Wernberg wrote:

>Hi all
>
>Bungee wings has been mentioned as dangerous in some recent posts to this
>list. What are they and why are they (potentially) dangerous?
>
>Cheers
>
>Thomas


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