Question

Have you ever run out of air? What happened/how did it happen?

Answer 1

Nope, never have except for the practice you get during certification where your tank is turned off and then back on again.

Answer 2

Well, with all the crazy dives I did for Cousteau, never an issue but more recently, in 2014, when I visited Classroom Under The Sea I did run out of air. Here is an excerpt. For more you can check out my longer blog entry titled "Back to the Past" @ http://frogmenbook.tumblr.com

This was in shallow water but frankly quite scary, since I was stuck...

"Best laid plans…we headed toward the corner of the habitat and the common room window for Jess to take the photo. Rather Bruce did. My tank’s cylinder valve became tangled in a line that anchored the habitat. I quickly unhooked and hustled after Bruce but was surprisingly short of breath. Something was wrong. Although I had no air gauge, I knew I was out of air. I had no choice but to surface.

I was concerned that Bruce would be worried. He could not surface or he’d lose the record..

I made my way to the diving dock. We confirmed a leak in the tank. - Megan said, “oh and by the way your nose is bleeding”.

Shame on me for not checking the air before the dive. I “assumed” that since I’d had 2,200 psi before the prior day’s descent, that I still had a mostly full tank. Overnight it had leaked."

Answer 3

I havent but came real close one time. I was supervising check out dives for OW, AOW and Rescue Divers and was in the water all day at Vortex Springs FL. I was down to around 600 with 2 more rescue senerios to go. I thought no problem Ill make it. These 2 decided to take their time finishing  and I came out of the water with around 100 psi. Never in any danger but I wont cut it that close again.

Answer 4

I wanted to spearfish a flounder and was getting low on air. So I went to my dive buddy and and hunted until time to surface. When I got to the surface i didn't have enough air to blow up my BCD.