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>Ron Fuller's body was found yesterday in 60' after a solo dive using a >homemade rebreather. stuff Bill Wolk wrote snipped... > > Bill, > > You seem to be insinuating that DIR and GUE didn't go through this same > process to come up with its current configurations. Which would of course > be a load of crap. The losses are indeed high and heartfelt and hopefully > people will learn from the mistakes. > > DIR didn't magically create its configuration overnight and it worked > perfectly. It took time and experimentation. The fact that no one died > during the process is pure luck. When any experimentation with theory and > the unknown is undertaken, a certain amount of risk is accepted. I applaud > those who accept this and continue forward, but I don't think anyone can > say there isn't a little luck in the process and a few crossed fingers > before trying something new. > > Chris Ward Acceptable risk isn't the issue. I wouldn't say that doing a solo ocean dive with an experimental homebuilt rebreather was acceptable risk. It was dumb. If you are going to test equipment like that you have to assume it is going to fail and take steps to recover when it does. Why didn't he use support divers? How much pool testing did he do? The purpose of testing is to actually invoke failure so that you can either redesign or establish the operating parameters of a device. With a rebreather there is a risk of O2 tox and hypoxia. How did he plan to recover if/when he ran into those situatons? People have been diving rebreathers for years. There is very little basic science about them that is not known. I can understand people getting killed when the research is into basic scientific questions that are not understood. The unknown can jump up and bite you in the ass. He was not doing research. He was doing development and testing. This testing was of a new implementation of an existing technology. The risks are well known and can be planned around in the testing phase. He could have designed a test program that had nearly zero risk. Instead he went solo ocean diving with a piece of experimental gear and got killed. I feel bad for him and his family, but he did something dumb and got killed because of it. The best thing we can do is not defend his actions but use it as a negative example so other people don't die the same way. By all means innovate, try new stuff but do it smart so you live to perfect the innovations and pass them on. It looks to me like the DIR/GUE people have had a low incident rate because they rigorously test their changes with a set protocol before they field it, and because they use an extensive team of support divers and suface support people to minimize risk and maximize survivability when things do go wrong. Best Regards, Rick Fincher Thunderbird Technologies, Inc. rnf@tb*.co* -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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