Scuba diving before flight

Diving under pressure supersaturates your tissues with nitrogen. As the cabin climbs and pressure falls, that nitrogen can form bubbles and cause the bends (decompression sickness), so wait before flying (TC AIM AIR 3.4):

• No-decompression dive, flight up to 8,000 ft ASL: wait 12 hours.
• Dive that needed decompression stops: wait 24 hours.
• Any flight above 8,000 ft ASL: wait 24 hours regardless of the dive, because even a pressurized cabin can lose pressure.

Trap: assuming the 12 hour figure always applies. It only covers a no-stop dive below 8,000 ft. Decompression stops or a climb above 8,000 ft push the wait to 24 hours.

Practice