A Climber’s Perspective – Stacking of a 490′ Self-Supporting Tower via helicopter
An evening pause: The tower is in Watts, Oklahoma. When the lineman looks to his right he is looking at the helicopter, which for the first few minutes, before it rises above the horizon, is difficult to see.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
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These guys are probably making a dollar to every seventy-seven cents a female receptionist makes. UNFAIR! /s
All joking aside, this was fascinating and these guys, including the pilot, are some serious bad asses.
Just…NO. That made me physically queasy just watching the first few minutes. No way I could watch the whole thing, so I just kind of skipped through it. You couldn’t get me to climb that thing for less than about 20 million dollars, tax-free. I’ve designed and helped erect some medium-large filter structures (6-story office-building-size) and never had a problem with heights, but knowing how that thing must be waving around in the wind until they get the final guy wires in place would be just too much.
Whatever it is they pay those guys, it’s not enough.
Our dad fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam as a pilot. G-d brought him home each time. While he would fly up to the heavens, he was afraid of heights. He did not like climbing up a tree, or a rollercoaster. Put him in a plane, he loved it. Seeing those workers so high up made me wonder if they have any small parachute gear. Dad said that there are two kinds of people that jump out of airplanes: idiots, and people in the armed services. Even if his airplane engine(s) failed, if he still had two wings, he was taking the plane down.
Ronaldus Magnus: Having done a lot of cave exploration, which relies a great deal on vertical rope techniques similar to the ones these workers are using, I can tell you that they are quite safe. Parachutes are the last thing they want.
The gear involves harnesses with multiple slings attached, each with a carabiner at the other end. You attach the biners to attachment points on the tower (put there in construction for this very purpose). If you need to change position you unclip alternate biners so that one is always clipped to the tower.
I have actually done vertical practice on towers like this that is far more complex, though never quite so high. It is perfectly safe, but requires one to focus very hard on the task in front of you. Only while taking a break is it wise to enjoy the view.