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Date: 03 Aug 95 08:33:49 EDT
From: Richard Taylor <100237.2220@co*.co*>
To: RODNEY NAIRNE <rnairne@oz*.co*.au*>
Cc: Tony Davis <adavis@oz*.co*.au*>, techdiver <techdiver@terra.net>
Subject: Re: Rebreather experience
Rodney Nairne posted:
>
>
>Richard, as I am sure you know, fully closed circuit rebreathers are 
>electronically controlled. The oceanic unit is also computer controlled. Now 
>all <<real>> tech divers know how well dive computers work on deep
dives, (yeah

>right) the diff is now your life support is reliant on the operation of the 
>computer. (remember what happened to your Bridge at 99mtrs? A pico at 60 mtrs? 
>) I don't think Oceanic dive computers are highly regarded among tech divers. 
>Why should the breather computer be any different? Is a useless computer made 
>anymore reliable by having triple redundancy? 
>
>I too saw the Oceanic breather in Sydney, and attended the seminar. I have 
>never seen as much misinformation in 30 minutes. No one else at that seminar 
>seemed to notice. Therein lies the problem: salesmen and tech instructors 
>thinking they know it all, and Joe Diver beleiving what the experts have to 
>say. I like some of these guys, but have never heard them say "I don't know". 
>

Whoaa.....Rodney....flames down matey......

I am happy that "real" tech divers know all that.......Me? .. I must have missed
the cutoff..

Agreed, equipment usually does fail if pushed beyond the specs (Bridge at
99mtrs).  The solution is to know those limits, know what will happen if they
are reached & know what to do to resolve it.  You  can easily dive a 50m air
deco dive with a Seiko bottom timer and manual tables, but you would be less
guranteed of success if you wanted to do a 75m mix dive with a Pico & USN manual
in your pocket.
As for the "now your life support is reliant on the operation of the
computer..."......
Every day your life is in the control of a computer.  Hope in a car, the traffic
lights are computer controlled.  Take a train, train movements are computer
controlled.  Take a lift, floor  access is computr controlled........take a
plane, catch a bus, have an operation...."skeit",  we trust computers with the
world's missle launch systems.  The reason that they work the way they are
intended is that they operate under  specificied conditions & THERE IS USUALLY
MANUAL OVERIDE.
I would rue the day that diving equioment was deemed "too elctronic"..next it
would be "too mechanical".....next we would all be breathing from inverted
buckets with hoses inserted!
If we are to ever accept "the brave new world" we are building then we need to
accept that computers control MOST thing (I am still glad to say not
EVERYTHING!!!!) and (to revist the postings on privacy) have access to MOST
information more readily than people do.
Give me a psuedo bio-mechanic organism any day....and that is what a diver using
a rebreather is....a biological that has merged (for the duration of the dive)
with an artificial (read man made) lung system.  I know I want a computer system
to feed me information that I make decisions on.....
IMNSHO (for those that do not know me....my opinions are NOT SO humble!) in the
end each of us must accept our own risk level; I deem mine safer if I can have
all the user information I can!  I either buy or hire a car to drive on a
trip....I am more interested in the trip itself & getting there than building
the car myself.

As for point 2, being the OCEANIC presentation....since I know the person you
are talking about quite well (and he is on this list) I will leave it up to them
to pass comment.....but I would recommend you don't visit Sorrento or Melbourne
on your dive trip to the Mount next week!!!!

Safe diving dude.......

Regards
Richard T
----------------------------
Diver: Do Not Bend
---------------------------- 

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