Diver one of sixteen to die using high-tech gear

[DRE]

I cross posted this from another list - this is the 16th diver who dies using a Buddy Inspiration rebreather since the company changed its name to AP Valves. They did that to avoid lawsuits from divers using the same piece of equipment but sold under the Buddy brand (in actuality the deathtoll is over 20 now). This, however, is the first lawsuit in which a coroner reports that the diver did not die from "natural causes," such as a heart attack (which you get anyway when you become hypoxic).


"19/02/03

Diver one of 16 to die using hi-tech gear

By Eddie Cassidy


A TOP diver was one of 16 people who died in the last five years using sophisticated re-breathing equipment, an inquest heard yesterday.

Nicholas Gotto died within minutes of entering waters leading to the sunken Kowloon Bridge shipwreck in West Cork.
Rachel Gotto, pregnant at the time of the tragedy, said her husband Nicholas was considered the third most experienced diver in the country and always thoroughly checked his equipment. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane was yesterday advised by medical and technical experts they could not determine which metabolic disorder - high oxygen or excess carbon dioxide levels - was the primary cause of 42-year-old
Mr Gotto¹s death.
A P Valves, the British-based manufacturer of the computerised Buddy Inspiration device, was legally represented at the hearing, which will resume on March 4.
User error with the Buddy Inspiration device, it was suggested, was a possible factor in some of the other 15 deaths, which occurred in
Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany and the USA.
Plymouth-based engineer David Crockford, a technical expert on re-breathing equipment, said the 30kg machine used by Mr Gotto was functioning properly after its recovery from the seabed several days after the July 1998 tragedy.
However, Mr Crockford said it was interesting to note Mr Gotto¹s diving partner or others among the party-of-six did not witness an alarm-warning sound from the deceased man¹s hi-tech equipment. Mr Crockford said he assisted coroner courts in Britain and Ireland at four similar inquests, but he was aware of 16 deaths of divers using there-breather sports model.
Mr Gotto was found lifeless at 24.4 metres with his face mask removed and his mouth open. His diving partner, Tony O¹Mahony, said Mr Gotto had difficulty calibrating the machine earlier that day, but it was working correctly
before the dive. He said he was three to four metres behind and above Mr Gotto as they descended on the wreck. They exchanged OK signals twice
within minutes. But at a depth of 24.4 metres, he found Mr Gotto on his back with the re-breather out of his mouth. Mr O¹Mahony, who lost his mouthpiece trying to assist Mr Gotto, rose to the surface to raise the alarm before returning to help recover the body, which floated to the surface within minutes.
Pathologist Dr John Hogan said there was no evidence of natural causes leading to the death."

[jasondbaker]

My condolences to the family.

The article does not describe what happens between the time the divers decended and the time Mr. Gotto was found on his back. Did this turn into a solo dive once they reached the wreck?

[DRE]

That is the part that is the most troublesome to me too. In the article it said "his buddy" found him on his back - but if it had been truly his buddy, the guy would have noticed something was wrong in the first place before Gotto turned on his back. Then again, the onset of hypoxia or oxtox can happen extremely fast (and with the Buddy there are some design flaws that would not warn the diver in time) - too fast even for a buddy to react. But it seems that every single time someone croakes on the YBOD the "real buddy" seems to be a mile away. This definitely goes against any sound diving procedures (look at the very first page of the PADI manual, or thereabouts) but is totally accepted by so many so-called technical divers.

[tbrown]

I've noticed the lack of team in other reports as well. They all seem to have a similar flavor. Victim had x amount of dives (insert very large number for x), and were found dead, sometimes by people other than their "buddies". I realize that these rebreathers seem to be the Ford Pinto of gear, but where the heck are the rest of the team? Is it over confidence, or the belief that a buddy would not be able to assist with a rebreather problem?

[Skruff]

I have very little knowledge on maintainance and operating procedures for a rebreather but it seems to me that the technology is still a bit new to let your life depend on it. Nothing against anyone who has the training and knowledge to operate that equipment safely but I don't think it’s for me quite yet...

I will note that I probably sound like the people who were against using Nitrox and Tri-Mix for Recreational/Technical diving. It’s just sad to hear about someone giving their life I the name of progress.

[DRE]

Rebreather technology is older than OC, and certain types of rebreathers ared well worth the investment if, and only if, the dive cannot be done on OC. These are the SCR's though. CCR's have been around since WWII as O2 rebreathers for Secret Ops, and work extremely well for what they're designed for. The problem is that when that design is being used for mixed gas diving it just begs for problems - I mean, I only trust my O2 analyzer's readout when I have mixed my own gas, but to think that that same O2 analyzer is going to mix my gas on the fly at 300ft in Lake Superior is just scary.
Don't also forget that Navy divers are very well trained to work as a unit and constantly check up on each other, something YBOD divers don't even have the very first clue as to how to do that (at least the ones that are found floating beneath the surface).

[chrisw]

what do SCR and CCR standfor?

[freedivernd]

semi-closed circuit rebreather and closed circuit rebreather.. but I can't explain the differences.
Fred

[FMT]

Were talking about the breathing loop here. A semi-closed circuit rebreather recycles most of the breathing gas on each pass through the breathing loop while a closed circuit rebreather recycles all of the gas. The gas is scrubbed (meaning CO2 is taken out) and fresh O2 or other gas is added to make up for that used. A CCR uses O2 and a diluent gas and must use complicated electronics to control the process. This is what DRE means about the CCR mixing gas on the fly at 300ft. An SCR uses "back gas" containing everything you breathe appropriate to the max depth and adds gas on a small constant basis. This results in the SCR "burping" gas from the loop occasionaly to control the process and hence they are only semi-closed. The SCR requires very little electronics to control the process. There are differences in how they can fail and what can fail and how you handle the failure because of the different gases involved and the control processes involved. O2 CCRs do not have the problems of multiple mix CCRs because they only have O2 and the control process is therefore very simple - scrub the CO2 and make up for the O2 used by the body - but they are then limited to 20-30ft depth. As well as the military having very developed team based skills, they also maintain their CCRs extemely well (its gov't - they can afford it).
T

[rcojr]

This whole thread is so full of mistatments that I don't know where to start. So I will start at the top and work down. In the first line DRE said this is the 16th diver to die on the Inspiration he isn't he is the 3rd diver to die . He died in July 1998. I don't know why you keep recycling five year old info and pretend that is brand new this post is dated Feb 19,03.
In the first paragraph "This is the first lawsuit in which a coroner reports that the diver did not die from natural causes". In fact only one diver has died from natural causes and that was Garrett Wineberger. Four or five were diving in the ocean and were never recovered. The rest have a lot of details including Coroner's reports. You can checkout all the deaths at a website called Mad Mole