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PADI history
PADI company history timeline
1966: Ralph Erickson and John Cronin form Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) in the United States.
Hal & AJ after surfacing from their World Record Deep Air Dive in 1966
1967: The Undersea medical Society is founded in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
In 1969 the name was changed to Florida State Skindiving Schools (FSSS). FSSS at the time was one of the largest dive schools in the world, with four locations in Florida and one in St Lucia.
1970: The National Underwater Accident data Center is established. the center begins to keep track of dive accidents for statistical analysis.
In the late 1970’s, Gary purchased one of the first models of the Radio Shack TRS-80 computer.
1977: Miami hosts the first DEMA Show, thus establishing DEMA Shows as “neutral ground” where the entire industry can meet.
A much younger Gary Taylor (yellow arrow) in the early 1980’s with a group of NASDS Instructors in San Diego, California.
The nature of the altitude work of the team’s projects became more demanding by the mid 1980’s, therefore the team chose to use nitrox for a safety factor during decompression.
The Handicapped Scuba Association, HSA (USA with an H), was named in the parking lot of US Divers Corporation on June 22nd 1981 when Gatacre received the first equipment donation for the new organization.
1983: Co-inventors Craig Barshinger, Karl Huggins and ORCA Industries founder Jim Fulton, introduce the Edge, the first commercially successful American electronic dive computer.
In 1984 the Handicapped Scuba Association conducted their first accessible international dive trip to the island of Bonaire off the coast of Venezuela.
In 1986 the Handicapped Scuba Association became an independent diver training and certifying agency.
As the organization had expanded well beyond the borders of Florida the name was again changed to the Professional Scuba Association (PSA) in 1988.
In 1988 PSA, in the FDS & FSSS tradition, continued training Cave Divers and issuing Cave Diver certifications.
Left to Right: Gary Taylor, Tom Mount, Terrance Tysall, Hal Watts on Trimix dive summer 1992.
Publication of these methodologies didn’t take place until April 1996, when Gary authored the IANTD Altitude Diving Manual.
The following SCUBA history is extracted from the Third Quarter 1999 issue of The Undersea Journal, published by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).
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PADI may also be known as or be related to PADI, Padi Americas, Inc. and Professional Association of Diving Instructors.