Introduction to Glider Flying > Introduction to Glider Flying > Medical Factors Associated with Glider Flying > Scuba Diving

The reduction of atmospheric pressure that accompanies flying can produce physical prob-lems for scuba divers. This is because the increased pressure of the water during a dive causes excess nitrogen to be absorbed into the body tissues and bloodstream. When flying, reduced atmospheric pressures at altitude allow this nitrogen to come out of solution in the blood-stream and body tissues at a rapid rate. This rapid outgassing of nitrogen is called the bends and is painful and incapacitating. The bends can be experienced from as low as 8,000 feet mean sea level (MSL), with increasing severity as alti-tude increases. As noted in the AIM, the mini-mum recommended time between scuba diving on nondecompression stop dives and flying is 12 hours, while the minimum time recommended between decompression stop diving and flying is 24 hours. [Figure 1-14]