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Calculator

When can I fly after diving?

Answer three questions and enter the time you last came out of the water. The calculator gives you the earliest time to board a plane.

How many dives did you do?
Did you dive on more than one day in a row?
Did any dive need mandatory decompression stops?

If you're not sure, the calculator applies the strictest rule.

Date and time on your device's clock.

Answer the questions and press “Calculate”. If your browser doesn't run JavaScript, use the table of the rule below.

This is a minimum, not a target. It is not medical advice.

The rule

These are the flying-after-diving guidelines set by a DAN workshop in 2002.1 It is the same rule ORKA prints on the manifest of every trip.

Minimum surface interval before flying
If you did…Wait at least
A single no-decompression dive112 hours
Several dives in a day, or diving on several days in a row118 hours
Dives with mandatory decompression stops24 hours, the figure agencies such as PADI use; DAN says “substantially longer than 18 hours” without giving a number. The calculator uses 24 hours.123

The hours count from the last time you came out of the water.

Why you have to wait

Going up to altitude after diving raises the risk of decompression sickness, because the atmospheric pressure drops even further. On a commercial plane, the cabin is usually equivalent to an altitude of 6,000 to 8,000 feet.1

What it covers and what it doesn't

  • It applies to dives on air, followed by flights with the cabin pressurised between 2,000 and 8,000 feet, in divers without symptoms.1
  • The guidelines do not guarantee you will avoid decompression sickness.1
  • The trials behind them were done with divers who were dry and at rest.1
  • If your dive computer tells you to wait longer, follow the computer.3

If you have symptoms: these guidelines are for divers without symptoms, so they do not apply to you. Do not fly, and get medical care.1

Diving with us?

If you fly out of Talara or Piura after diving in Los Órganos, the trip manifest carries this same figure for each diver.

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Sources (3)

  1. DAN, «Flying After Diving»: dan.org/health-medicine/health-resources/diseases-conditions/flying-after-diving/
  2. DAN Europe, «Cuándo volar después de bucear», Alert Diver, 15-07-2009: alertdiver.eu/es_ES/articulos/cuando-volar-despues-de-bucear/
  3. PADI Blog, «7 cosas que nunca debes hacer inmediatamente después de bucear»: blog.padi.com/es/7-cosas-que-nunca-debes-hacer-inmediatamente-despues-de-bucear/

Reviewed 21 October 2026