freediving and flying on airliner?

[The111]

I know after SCUBA you aren't supposed to fly on a plane too soon, I'm honestly not too sure of the technical explanation but I know it has something to do with pressure changes and nitrogen (I think).

The same does not apply for freediving, right? I didn't think so, but I figured better safe than sorry. I plan to spend Friday freediving and Saturday on a plane.

I skydive and I've gone freediving an hour after making several skydives, with no incident. It never even crossed my mind then actually...

 

[cdavis]

Depends on how deep and how long you dive and how much the plane's preasure drops. Airliners are preasurized but the preasure is considerably less than sea level.

A friend of mine got bent after freediving for a half day in about 50 ft. He flew home in an unpreasurized airplane that wasn't flying very high and got nailed while he was in the air.

Connor

 

[Baur]

Am no expert on physiology, but how severely could one get bent in similar situations, freediving-flying same day?

Is it reciprocal to getting bent from scuba?

Does the same principle of nitrogen expansion apply?

Bit more info please as I am positive I have flown within a few hours of spearing quite a few times. Could be bent but havent noticed...

Baur

 

[Alison]

Depends on how deep and how long you diveas cdavis says, in general an aicraft will be pressurised to about +7000 feet. Ive flown for the last 24 years most days and freedived almost every day of that time, usually no deeper than 20m and not for that long but without so much as a twinge. If your concerned about it, dont do it.

 

[Jon]

It also depends upon your dive profiles.

The last time the shop I work for ran a DIR-F class the instructors flew in from the west coast about 2 hours after completing a 270' trimix dive. They ran their deco correctly and just hooped on the plane and flew 2500 miles without a second thought.

I've met others who did a deep dive and then drove up the mountians and got bent at the top of the pass. The difference was in the way they conducted their stops and the gasses used for both the bottom and deco.

I, personally, am not worried about flying and freediving. This comes after many scuba diving trips for an entire week, or two, 5 times a day, follwed by a final full day of freediving before the plane took off.


Jon

 

[beaker]

I didn't think it was possible to get the bends from freediving, but the following link suggests that it is:

http://www.skin-diver.com/departments/ScubaMed/FreedivingCauseDCS.asp?theID=626

 

[The111]

Hmm, so the verdict still seems uncertain.

How about this. Even with SCUBA, if you wait 24hrs you are ok to fly, right? (I think I heard that somewhere, which means absolutely nothing, so tell me if it's true). I will probably have 18hrs between my proposed freediving and my flight. That should make it much less of a worry, right? If I add slow, shallow dives to that equation, I think I'll probably be ok... what do you guys think?

Don't be afraid to answer - I will neither take your word as gospel nor sue you if you are wrong.