Biography

Mike spent 20 years in the Royal Air Force, most of it flying fighters on frontline squadrons. He now works as a flying instructor in the Royal Australian Air Force teaching young pilots to fly fighters. As well as being an accomplished instructor, he is an experienced flying supervisor and holder of a commercial pilot’s licence.

He has been an active diver since 2015 and has around 300 dives in his logbook from as far north as Iceland and as far south as New Zealand. He works part-time as a Dive Master and is also an active CCR diver. Wrecks interest him the most but he gets just as much satisfaction taking groups to see Grey Nurse Sharks at his local dive sites.

Due to his career in military aviation, Mike has lived and breathed Human Factors for his entire professional life. As he became involved with diving expeditions and supervision, he realised how much the diving world could learn from aviation.

He is a great believer in Human Factors and how an awareness of them can make time spent underwater safer and more rewarding. Mike has taken his experience and knowledge of Human Factors to the next level and now instructs for ‘The Human Diver’ in Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region.

Mike got into Cold Water diving in North Scotland when he was based there with the RAF. He was part of a very active dive club and, soon after joining, bought his first O’Three drysuit, an MSF500. The suit got a good work out in Scapa Flow where it provided perfect insulation against the cool sea and excellent protection when occasionally brushing up against the local wrecks.

The waters of Australia, where Mike now lives are a bit warmer than Scotland but he still prefers the comfort of a drysuit and has recently bought a 90Ninety. The tri-laminate material is comfortable when spending all day Dive Mastering and is also better suited to deeper diving which Mike wants to do more of as he progresses to trimix on his CCR.

Mike's Blog

May 19, 2022
Status Quo Bias - Mike Mason

The Status Quo Bias. We don’t like to change…

In a perfect world, there would be no distractions, plenty of time and our equipment would always work. In reality, this is not the case. Whenever we go diving, there will always be things competing for our attention and prioritisation in a limited time window. Pre-dive checks are just one of those things. Consider, on the boats you dive from, how you can make it easier to do checks and indeed, what else you can do to make the diving safer for everyone.
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February 24, 2022

How to conduct effective pre-dive checks on a busy dive boat…

In a perfect world, there would be no distractions, plenty of time and our equipment would always work. In reality, this is not the case. Whenever we go diving, there will always be things competing for our attention and prioritisation in a limited time window. Pre-dive checks are just one of those things. Consider, on the boats you dive from, how you can make it easier to do checks and indeed, what else you can do to make the diving safer for everyone.
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February 23, 2022

How and Why Checklists Work

Checklists work by helping to compensate for the limitations of our brains. We forget things, we get distracted. Using a checklist helps to keep you on the right path and gives you prompts such that you don’t necessarily have to remember to do things - you just have to remember how to do things. Pilots and surgeons use well-designed checklists all the time despite being experts in what they do.
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Kit List

Qualifications

BSAC Dive Leader
AP Inspiration CCR diver
PADI Dive Master

Links

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