Posted by our resident crane operator, DonKnee... you get your own thread. -Z
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Zane- that is pretty awesome and worth looking at the whole vid.

I posted a time-lapse video of the crane I co-operated in California on Youtube. We are lifting 1,000,000 pound coke drums at a radius of 110' with the Lampson LTL-1100 ton crane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sRTvGIShdE

Very cool, Don!

Up until two years ago I worked as a design engineer for Manitowoc. I miss that big stuff.

My Dad and my brother used to be crane operators. As a kid, I wasn't interested. I wanted to be a pilot.

My Momma cried, and my Dad threatened to kick me out. My brother laughed, because that made him the favorite son.

Now, I not only fly for a living, I fly helicopters.

Sometimes, when I walk by a construction site, I stop and smell the oil and dirt in the air. Thin I think back to my childhood, and wish I'd followed in my Dad's footsteps.

Tailwagger2000 wrote:Now, I not only fly for a living, I fly helicopters.

Sometimes, when I walk by a construction site, I stop and smell the oil and dirt in the air. Thin I think back to my childhood, and wish I'd followed in my Dad's footsteps.

Ya know.... Looking back at my professional flying career there's only a few instances of regret, mostly in remembering the scores of lost comrades, but all in all, I wouldn't trade a minute of flying time or pull a page out of the logbooks.

That being said... Now that my commercial days seem to be over, and I get to just fly for fun, and never, never, never have to fly in weather that I don't want to fly in, or haul a load or passenger I don't want in my airplane...

Never again.

Gump

I own and operate a Terex 3470 boom truck, and setting trusses is most of my work. For years I have used airplanes to keep an eye out for new construction, and to check up on future jobs. Tomorrow AM for instance I will be flying over to the next valley to check on the job I'll be at next Tuesday. I'll check for access, maybe take a photo or two to give to the builder, and of course have a nice flight also. Every year a few thousand bucks worth of work results from keeping an eye open, my competition sits and waits for the phone to ring! I also take good customers (and their wifes and kids) flying as a perk. There seems to be an inordinate number of crane operators who are pilots, don't know why, but it has occurred to me that setting trusses quickly and safely, on a windy day (like I did yesterday) is every bit as challanging as a cross wind uphill landing (which I also did yesterday).
The Rans S7S is also good for landing at jobsites, and I have been known to drop bills off from overhead. It beats buying a stamp.

Hi Courierguy,

I see you have a Rans S7. I'm considering building one either late this year or next year. I've got a few questions. If you have time, would you email me.

Thanks,
David

[email protected]