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Greg Ryan wrote: > Greg Dawe has made some interesting points about IANTD structures as > they are now, and I think he has made a welcome contribution to this > discussion. I wasn't aware of this structure but it now helps me understand the perspective from which some of the comments I received on the nitrox Q&A were made. In Scotland I don't think there is much of an issue. SSAC have a nitrox course and it covers all recreational use of nitrox. That means any SSAC sanctioned dive down to 50msw (165fsw) using whatever mix is appropriate including staged decompression if necessary. As a historical note: SSAC have been involved in the investigation into recreational use of nitrox since the mid 1970's. > Part of the problem, though, stems from IANTD's response to changes. > I welcome their introduction of new courses to fill what they see > as gaps in their training (and the market too I suppose). But as > a result, those who do the courses under the old structures remain > in the dark about how they fit in under the new schemes. > > ... > > So when I did these courses, the structure Greg outlined did not exist. > It was only in its formative stage. I think IAND/IANTD needs to clarify > how people who went through earlier incarnations of this system, with certain > assumptions and guarantees about what their certification allowed them, > now fit in with the current (and as I see it) rapidly evolving system. I think there should be some form of grandfather rights issue whereby you don't have to pay to qualify in something you have been doing all the time. It would really bug me if I was suddenly stopped from diving deeper than 130fsw because I didn't have a deep air certification. The people who dream up these qualifications were not certified when they put the course in place. I do not hold the SSAC nitrox qualification, but I hold the same nitrox certification as they had prior to becoming instructors so I would expect to be either cross-certified as a right without payment or be recognised as having the same rights as those doing the SSAC course. There will be a stink if this doesn't happen. Unfortunately this probably won't work outside the non-commercial club system that we operate. However, IMO, if IANTD are truly "International" they will have to take into account regional differences in training and recognise that some people already have the prerequisites for some courses and should not have to do them in order to do the more advanced courses. Alan
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