How long should you wait to fly after diving?

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How long should you wait to fly after diving?

Postby zenas » Sep 18, 2005 7:41 am

Image Scuba diving and flying. How long should you wait to fly after diving?

If you paid attention during your beginner diving course, you should know that you are not supposed to fly after diving. The big question is how long must you wait? This is a subject of great debate and really depends on what type of diving you have been doing. If you dive before you fly, you put yourself at an increased risk of decompression sickness. Residual nitrogen that is still dissolved in your body at sea level could leach out of your system upon the airplane's ascent. The more nitrogen in your body, the more likely this would happen. You must give your body time to off gas the nitrogen. The UHMS Flying After Diving Workshop has established the following guidelines for recreational divers:

1. Less than two hours no decompression diving in the last 48 hours - wait 12 hours.
2. Multi-day unlimited diving (no decompression) - wait 24 hours.
3. Dives with decompression stops - wait 24 - 48 hours.

Source: http://divesouthafrica.blogspot.com/200 ... -long.html
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zenas
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Postby kelly » Sep 18, 2005 7:27 pm

A few years ago there were two people leaving Jamaica by commercial flight and they had been diving. They developed symptoms of DCS during the flight and had to seek medical help. Unfortunately it was the pilot and co-pilot.

When I go cave diving in Mexico I typically allow enough time to outgas residual nitrogen before flying. Some people think it is happy hour when they quit diving,but that just adds to the dehydration.
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Postby George Dasher » Sep 28, 2005 8:44 am

I was told the story on a dive boat of a fellow who had been diving in either FL or NC, and had this problem while driving home when they hit the mountains.

They had to turn around and drive back to the bottom and wait a day and try again.

I guess it is fortunate the diver with the problem wasn't the driver.

But can you really trust dive boat stories...
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Postby George Dasher » Sep 28, 2005 8:44 am

I was told the story on a dive boat of a fellow who had been diving in either FL or NC, and had this problem while driving home when they hit the mountains.

They had to turn around and drive back to the bottom and wait a day and try again.

I guess it is fortunate the diver with the problem wasn't the driver.

But can you really trust dive boat stories...
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George Dasher
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Posts: 693
Joined: Sep 22, 2005 2:00 pm
Location: West Virginia
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