PADI Enriched Air Course Revised

[Colin]

Just got my advance copy of the PADI Instructor Development News, and there's big news regarding Nitrox classes:

From the newsletter and the 2nd Quarter Training Bulletin:

"Enriched air diving has become a mainstream pursuit, with increased safeguards and more widespread reputable enriched air providers. Because of this, many instructors have requested a reevaluation of whether or not dives should be mandatory. Since the critical objectives of the Enriched Air Diver course are both learned and applied out of the water, the performance requirements for the dive can effectively be addressed in a predive simulation. As a result the PADI Enriched Air Diver course no longer requires dives for certification, although they are still recommended. Instead, when divers are not conducted, a predive simulation is required.

Here is a short summary on the changes:
Addition of a predive simulation that covers equipment setup, blend analysis, label confirmation and dive planning.
Dives are now recommended but not required.
Divers must have logged at least one enriched air-dedicated dive to be eligible to earn Enriched Air Adventure Dive credit towards the PADI Adventures in Diving program.
The PADI Enriched Air Diver Specialty course may be credited toward Master Scuba Diver with or without dives taken during the course.
There is no change to the Discover Enriched Air Nitrox program.
The PADI Enriched Air Diver Specialty Instructor training course no longer requires a dive."

This should be a great thing for those who wanted to get nitrox certified during the winter months up here in the frozen tundra.....

Colin.