When Bad Software Can Kill

bhoman writes "A wrist computer that tracks and calculates safe diving times and limits for SCUBA divers had a dangerous software bug that may have been covered up by company executives. This SF Chronicle Article details the problem, product, company, and some of the lawsuits. According to the Chron article, company execs tried to cover up and deny the problem for years, but their official website makes it look like they did a voluntary recall."

Comments

Re:Diving Computers

[skroz]

Agreed. Personally, (and according to PADI recommendations, I believe,) I don't trust computers at all. I have one, yes, but I still trust the tables a whole lot more. Someone recently showed me the wheel, which is apparently easier to screw up than the tables but far more accurate.

Checks and balances. I use the computer to make sure I'm doing the manual calclations correctly, and the manual calculations to keep the computer honest.

Then again, I'm strictly a recreational diver. Pros and semi-pros are a completely different story.

Re:I wear an insulin pump

[CatPieMan]

However, your insulin pump probably has a warning (or the doctor who gave you the instruction on how to use it) that says if you do item A and item B, don't do item C.

As a certified diver (of about a year and a half), I know that they specifically say that you should never go flying less than 12 hours before you take a plane ride (even a small cesna), and, if you do multiple dives you should wait at least 24 hours.

This is not to say that the company was not at fault on this one, but, the divers themselves said that they finished the one dive at 10pm for a flight at 6:30am. I know that the absolute minimum is 4 hours (I did a flying after diving study with DAN), but, this is the limit of the dive tables and should NEVER be approached. All of the major certifying organizations will tell you this.

-CPM