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Old 21st October 2006 | 19:47
  #43 (permalink)  
Baboon Boy
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 45
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From: Scotland
Bose-X, what you say is interesting regarding it being impossible to get DCS at VFR heights, i think you might be right and have come up with a fairly reaonable mathematical proof.

Lets say you fly at 5000 ft, the pressure there is about 850 hpa. This is about 150mb than a typical surface pressure (1000 mb say).

Now, any diver will know that when you dive, the pressure is doubled for every 10 depth of water you are in. Ie a pressure increase rate of 1000 mb / 10 m, or 100 mb / m.
Now, say a diver were to dive to say 20m and thenjump in a plane and go up to 5000ft he would be subjecting himself to an decompression of 2000mb in surfacing from the dive, plus an additional 150mb due to the climb, ie a total decompression of 2150mb.

A diver who dived to 21.5 m would experience the same decompression of 2150mb in reaching the surface.
Hence jumping in a plane and then clmbing to 5000ft straight after diving gives you the same chance of getting DCS as if you had dived to a mere 1.5 m greater depth, ie bugger all!
Essentially, the pressure loss in climbing to VFR heights is insignificant compared to the pressure change in surfacing from a decent depth, hence it is my opinion that the risk of getting DCS from VFR flights, or for that matter passenger flights, where the cabin altitude is I believe 6000 ish ft (?) is minimal.

I may well be wrong however, as there are complex phisiological factors associated with DCS that I dont know about but the above argument does make good sense.
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