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Maggie’s doing it in mid air

Re: doing it in mid air

My Dad came along something like a 4160 that had come down off the line and sorta burned itself into a little channel in the gravely dirt. Crew came along and just stood on these thick rubber pads or bricks or some shape, after the local fire department shot water in the crack to cool it off.

He did *not* move in for a closer look, and the next year I was born. Actually, no one died that day, but some of the onlookers scared him.

Congress has outlawed earthquakes during such hot line operations, but it only applies if the crew schedules the work at least 12 hours in advance and registers the work plan with OSHA and DOE first.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 65nut</div><div class="ubbcode-body">nah, no joke. only inches from instant death. </div></div>

Ohhh Sheeesh...
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 65nut</div><div class="ubbcode-body">HAHAHA!!! drama queen my ass. let's see you grab a fully energized piece of primary. one little pin hole in a glove and you are going to be toast. 12,470 volts, plust huge amounts of fault current from being about three blocks out of a sub. turn you into a crispy critter real quick like. or if you would like, come work some 24,900 volt three phase hot. you can help us swing dead ends. </div></div>

Nah, I'll let you think you're the only person in the world who is "inches from instant death" in their daily job. After all, there are no other dangerous jobs such as fighting overseas in combat, commecial diver (don't think being at 300' and having a problem is instant death?) A crop duster, or what about the picture of the guy climbing the tall tower to change a light bulb? We get it, you have a dangerous job, join the club. But the "no joke, only inches from death" reeks of "check me out, I think I'm a bad ass". Just post the pic and let it talk for itself.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

i love how words written on the internets can get misconstrued. i never EVER tried to take ANYTHING FROM ANYBODY. Especially people serving in the military, LEO's, or other dangerous jobs. I was just stating a simple fact. Yes, inches from death is the truth. I do not think i was trying come off as "bad ass". If I wanted to be that guy, i would take a picture of myself standing in only cowboy boots, holding a rifle, with a cig hanging out of my mouth. I'm sorry if a few words typed on a keyboard really portrayed me as a wanna be bamf. i have absolutely no idea when or where i was trying to take anything away from people, but if thats what you want to think, go ahead. our thoughts arent outlawed yet.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 65nut</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i love how words written on the internets can get misconstrued. i never EVER tried to take ANYTHING FROM ANYBODY. Especially people serving in the military, LEO's, or other dangerous jobs. I was just stating a simple fact. Yes, inches from death is the truth. I do not think i was trying come off as "bad ass". If I wanted to be that guy, i would take a picture of myself standing in only cowboy boots, holding a rifle, with a cig hanging out of my mouth. I'm sorry if a few words typed on a keyboard really portrayed me as a wanna be bamf. i have absolutely no idea when or where i was trying to take anything away from people, but if thats what you want to think, go ahead. our thoughts arent outlawed yet. </div></div>

65nut,
It's not the picture itself, the job you do, or how dangerous it is.

It was the fact that Boltripper tried to make a joke and you turned the serious knob up to 10. We all know it's dangerous. We all know if you get zapped it's instant bye-bye. But when you type something like "inches from instant death" it sounds stupid. All I'm saying is you don't have to reiterate what everyone here already knows. If you had come back with a good joke about it, it would have been classic. After all, the title of the thread is "doing it in mid-air". That's all I'm sayin'

Stay safe and remember your rubber underwear. (for grounding purposes not because I'm implying you pee your pants)
 
Re: doing it in mid air

I honestly didnt try to turn it up to 10. but next time, i will make sure i keep it on the 3 level on the 10 scale.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mike</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 65nut</div><div class="ubbcode-body">HAHAHA!!! drama queen my ass. let's see you grab a fully energized piece of primary. one little pin hole in a glove and you are going to be toast. 12,470 volts, plust huge amounts of fault current from being about three blocks out of a sub. turn you into a crispy critter real quick like. or if you would like, come work some 24,900 volt three phase hot. you can help us swing dead ends. </div></div>

Nah, I'll let you think you're the only person in the world who is "inches from instant death" in their daily job. After all, there are no other dangerous jobs such as fighting overseas in combat, commecial diver (don't think being at 300' and having a problem is instant death?) A crop duster, or what about the picture of the guy climbing the tall tower to change a light bulb? We get it, you have a dangerous job, join the club. But the "no joke, only inches from death" reeks of "check me out, I think I'm a bad ass". Just post the pic and let it talk for itself. </div></div>

Mike, it looks like 65nut is an Electrical Engineer, not a Lineman. I dont know of any Journeyman Lineman that would "Big Deal" hot 12.5kv. Maybe he was out of the office on a sunshine tour one day and was impressed.

65nut, thanks for posting the pic, its nice to see a Line Crew doing the work they love but this is everyday work so please, dont big deal this.
btw I"ve been in this Trade for 26 yrs, so I know what I'm talking about.
Thanks, Mike
 
Re: doing it in mid air

Interestingh post. Thanks. Mabey we can save the thread. Post your dangerous job. I used to cut timber up in NW Montana. Some of the trees were 7 ft in diameter and you were working on a 50% (or steeper) slope.. Fuck up and your crushed. But the topper, the spar poler ...not for me thanks. Imagine if the tree splits, not to mention the whip when the top seperates. Check this...........


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Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kinsman</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I wonder if one of those tree toppers ever sawed his belt in two..... </div></div>

Maybe once.....never twice.
grin.gif


Some guys got balls bigger than grapefruits.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kinsman</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I wonder if one of those tree toppers ever sawed his belt in two..... </div></div>
Belt or line?

I've seen news stories of a guy that accidentally cut his line, fell 35' to his death.

Also heard a first-hand account of a guy that was roping a tree down (cut it down piece by piece and lowering them down with the rope.

Anyways, saw a rope on a limb and thought that was the limb he was getting ready to cut. Turns out, that was HIS rope, and when the limb let loose, it pulled him down and pinned him up against the branch he was standing on, with the weight of the tree branch hanging on him... Lucky he didn't get pulled off the branch. He spent a few weeks in the the hospital...
 
Re: doing it in mid air

What stops that damn thing from turning and swinging your ass off of it?!?
 
Re: doing it in mid air

I'll assume this is directed at me,
The blades are pitched to 90 deg. so there is very little to no force being applied. There is a high speed rotor lock (which is about 3 teeth on a gear meshed together) that is used.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

Well, when I'm driving down the two-lane, I'm usually about 8 feet from instant death every time an oncoming car passes. In the days after 9/11, I often reflected on the trust our society is built on. Some suicidal/homicidal goof's twist of the steering wheel and any of us could be gone right quick.

The line work is much more impressive. And the trees. And so on.

Yup, truck driving is always in the list of top 10 most dangerous jobs, based on deaths per 1,000 workers per year. Tower monkeys are even more dangerous, death-wise.

My hat's off to all of them. And you. I like my desk job.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

maggot, pardon my ignorance, but why don't they just cut the tree down & deal with it on the ground? I mean, it didn't look like there was a whole lot happening in that neighborhood to get in the way...

I suppose there is a perfectly good reason that I am missing.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: J-Ham</div><div class="ubbcode-body">maggot, pardon my ignorance, but why don't they just cut the tree down & deal with it on the ground? I mean, it didn't look like there was a whole lot happening in that neighborhood to get in the way...

I suppose there is a perfectly good reason that I am missing. </div></div>

Perfectly good question.

1- With the really big trees, generally bigger than the one in the photo, like redwoods, if you fell it without limbing it the limbs cause the tree to tear itself up when it hits the ground, wasteing a lot of very expensive and beautiful wood. A redwood ids considered mature at 1000 years. On the really big valuable trees dozers will pushup beds of needles and small tree limbs making a "nest" to fell the tree into.

2-The tree in the photo was probrably to become a "spar pole", a tree which will receive a metal cap with a steel ring. A cable will be attached to the ring and to another tree at the bottom of the mt. Other trees will be hooked to the line by chains or cables, and sent down the line to the staging area where they can be loaded on a truck and taken to the mill. Some times they float them down a river or across a lake to a mill. Picture a line you can slide down over a lake and then let go. Same idea.

Thanks for the inquiry.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

THAT IS AWESOME!!!

What a fascinating industry for something that at it's most basic level is pretty simple... cuttin' down trees.

I've never watched the show "Axemen" & I doubt that it is a very accurate portrayal of the true industry, much like the rest of "reality" television.

Anyway, thanks for enlightening me, I found that very interesting!
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: J-Ham</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
I've never watched the show "Axemen" & I doubt that it is a very accurate portrayal of the true industry, much like the rest of "reality" television.
</div></div>
Actually, it's a lot more accurate than most reality shows. I recommend you watch it sometime.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

Teggy1, from one blue meatball to another, you guys in wind are absolutely stone cold nuts.

You wouldn't believe the training these guys go thru, they are true professionals. They are required to torque in every bolt on one of those windmills annually, and they have suprisingly very few reportables.

They're not happy unless they're 250 feet in the air with their knees in the breeze, I have trained some of these guys on CSE, they get my vote on being absolutely fearless.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

Everyone seems to have forgotten the WalMart greeter. It takes real balls to make eye contact with some of the people that walk through.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CountryBoy19</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Actually, it's a lot more accurate than most reality shows. I recommend you watch it sometime. </div></div>
Noted, thanks.
 
Re: doing it in mid air

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: chuck1974</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Everyone seems to have forgotten the WalMart greeter. It takes real balls to make eye contact with some of the people that walk through. </div></div>

Espcially on Black Friday. Could be the most dangerous of all.....trampled by a herd of frothing, snorting, animals.