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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUB Fatalities...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carsten Standfuß" <MerlinSub@t-online.de>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUB Fatalities...
>
>" The look with divers for the sunken german two-man-submarine. Also with
> a sistership. Unfourtunatley the sunken submarine was out of the area
> which was accord before diving. So they have looked in the wrong area.
> They found it after months. Two sportdivers did the claim."
Thanks for the input, Carsten.
Sounds like several factors contributed to the fatality.
1. Pilot had a heart attack.
2. Passenger was untrained in emergency procedures.
3. No SCUBA or emergency tools (drop weight key missing).
4. Deviation from dive plan (sub out of area).
Being in good physical condition would seem to be a pilot requirement. The
Class 1 flight physical for commercial aircraft pilots comes every 6 months,
and includes an electrocardiogram. I don't know if there's any such
requirement for commercial sub pilots; and there certainly isn't any for the
sport sub operator. How to avoid this possibility? Hmmmm....
Passengers I carried in skydiving planes got a briefing on how to work the
emergency parachute they were supplied with; explaining to the passenger of
a submarine how to save his life in all possible conditions (like, if the
pilot dies) is a tough one. Hmmmm...
Sounds like, in this case, even if the passenger had known what to do, he'd
still have had problems, as there was no bail out bottle or drop weight key
on board. Obviously, having things like this and knowing how to use them
can help save lives.
We'll never know why they deviated from the dive plan; might have drifted
out of the area inadvertently after the pilot died. Still, in most cases,
having a dive plan worked out with your support crew, and sticking to it,
can do a lot to improve safety.
Hope to hear from you soon. I still want your sub in my video; are you
ready to send me that tape of yours? I'll pay for it! Let me know.
Very best regards,
Pat Regan
vulcania@interpac.net