Ask a crane operator.

[EyeLovePoozy]

Hello everybody.

As some of you know and most do not. I'm a tower crane operator that builds sky scrapers in Miami.

When people discover what I do for a living most of the time they have a whole slew of questions about what I do and how I do it. So I've decided to make this thread for just that reason.

So if there's is something that you would like to know ask it here and I will answer all of your questions to the best of my ability.

Click here, to view an album of pics of and from some of my past cranes.

Here's the view from the apex of my last crane.

[Jaketheclonetrooper]

Does the wind ever blow hard enough to risk you falling off?

[stosh1919]

drop stuff on pasing cars!!!

[Sawdust]

When will you kill all those people in the Hyatt Hotel?

[JustsTrollingAlong]

Did your ego get so large that you believed people would care about what you do for a living because the air is thinner up there?

[Raza-Sharp]

At 6/19/08 06:46 AM, stosh1919 wrote: drop stuff on pasing cars!!!

What are you, 6? Grow up ffs.

[shackles1]

Does it get loney 300+ feet in the air pulling levers and shifts until the day is gone and then an entire day of your life was spent in solitude?

[Nikenick]

Nice picture!

[AniMetal]

Don't fall!

I'd miss you if you did that.

[EyeLovePoozy]

At 6/19/08 06:45 AM, Jaketheclonetrooper wrote: Does the wind ever blow hard enough to risk you falling off?

The highest wind I've ever experienced was during a gale that came out of nowhere. The winds peaked at 65MPH and the whole thing lasted about 20 minutes. Keep in mind that I'm sitting in a cab up here so unless I do something really, REALLY stupid. I'm relatively safe from falling to my death.

At 6/19/08 06:46 AM, stosh1919 wrote: drop stuff on pasing cars!!!

I am constantly chucking trash, flicking cigarettes and hocking loogies out of the window. Throughout the 8 years that I've been running these cranes. Chances are very good that at some point or another one of those things I threw out of the window has hit a car or possibly a pedestrian.

At 6/19/08 06:46 AM, Sawdust wrote: When will you kill all those people in the Hyatt Hotel?

Tomorrow.

At 6/19/08 06:49 AM, shackles1 wrote: Does it get loney 300+ feet in the air pulling levers and shifts until the day is gone and then an entire day of your life was spent in solitude?

It is a solitary existence being a crane operator being that I'm up here for about 80 hours a week.
But I do have access to the internet as I am in my crane typing this right now. So I always have access to my family and friends. I also am constantly communicating with the people on the ground and on the deck and pulling pranks and fucking with them as well.

I also have a CB radio up here that I use to communicate with alot of other different people including other crane operators...

[schmeeble]

omg 1st post looks like somewhere in GTA4

[Tahnok]

At 6/19/08 07:10 AM, schmeeble wrote: omg 1st post looks like somewhere in GTA4

No. Just no.

How do you generally like your job, also compared to others if you have had any? Is the pay good?

[cast]

What could possibly make a crane collapse like those cranes in New York?

[Ragnarokia]

I have a queastion, why has the paltalk we both knew turned to shit lately.

[FullyClothedMike]

How do you pee? =.

[Tribalfusion-X]

At 6/19/08 06:48 AM, Raza-Sharp wrote:

At 6/19/08 06:46 AM, stosh1919 wrote: drop stuff on pasing cars!!!

What are you, 6? Grow up ffs.

What are you, level 3? Newgrounds is here to make fun, asshole.

[Ragnarokia]

At 6/19/08 07:06 AM, EyeLovePoozy wrote:

Keep in mind that I'm sitting in a cab up here so unless I do something really, REALLY stupid. I'm relatively safe from falling to my death.

lol.

[Killers123]

That's cool, how much do you get payed?

[Ragnarokia]

At 6/19/08 07:49 AM, Killers123 wrote: That's cool, how much do you get payed?

He gets payed by the hour ha I know about him ,I follow him, give me credit.

[fat-barry]

How to you get up to your cab at the top of the crane? Elevator or ......... ... L...L...L LADDERS!

[Rebbay]

Like someone said a few posts up, what do you do when you need to go to the toilet? Do you climb all the way down the scary ladder?

[Ungar]

At 6/19/08 07:10 AM, schmeeble wrote: omg 1st post looks like somewhere in GTA4

The yellow ball outside is called "the sun"

[JackPhantasm]

How'd you manage to get such a kickass job?

[EyeLovePoozy]

At 6/19/08 07:08 AM, TomsPulp wrote: Were you ever scared of being so high?

When I first began learning to run these cranes as an apprentice operator. I was nervous walking out to the tip of the jib (long yellow thingy sticking straight out) to inspect and grease the tip. But after so many years of doing it. It has become second nature and I would compare it to driving a car, nervous while learning and nonchalant afterwards.

At 6/19/08 07:10 AM, schmeeble wrote: omg 1st post looks like somewhere in GTA4

You're probably thinking of Vice City being that is was based on Miami.

At 6/19/08 07:29 AM, Tahnok wrote: How do you generally like your job, also compared to others if you have had any? Is the pay good?

I like it very much. The pay and benefits are excellent and it affords me the opportunity to do whatever I like. For instance on my last job I had a small plasma TV up here and a 360 not to mention my laptop. There are few jobs that allow you the chance to do those things while fucking around on the internet all damn day. haha

At 6/19/08 07:34 AM, cast wrote: What could possibly make a crane collapse like those cranes in New York?

Well the last two collapses happened for two distinct reasons:

The first collapse was due to human error. The collar (apparatus used to attach the crane to the building when it's raised higher) was rigged to the crane's hook improperly and broke loose and smashed into the lower one which broke free and then both of those smashed into the collar below it. At that point the crane was no longer tied back to the building so it fell.

The second collapse was due to inspectors taking bribes and not reporting damaged/worn crane parts. That crane collapsed due to structural failure. The crane operator was in the cab when it happened and he died on the way to the ground with the crane. That's on of an operators worst nightmares btw.

At 6/19/08 07:35 AM, Ragnarokia wrote: I have a queastion, why has the paltalk we both knew turned to shit lately.

Non-thread related question. But I'd say it has to do with general fa- stupidity.

Here's a pic of an early morning concrete pour.
We started at 3:00 in the morning that day and this pic shows the sun rising over downtown Miami.

[mranarchy]

I would so totally throw paper airplanes out of the cab...immature but fun!

[JackPhantasm]

lol that's a ton of concrete

What's the most beautiful thing you've evah seen while up there.

[Ajax-Cubed]

I have two questions.

1: How do you physically move a crane from one point in the city to another? Do you have to disassemble the crane and then reassemble it using another crane?

2: Do you use a safety cable when you're climbing up the ladder?

[Sawdust]

At 6/19/08 08:08 AM, EyeLovePoozy wrote: Non-thread related question. But I'd say it has to do with general fa- stupidity.

Oh goody, I have done my job then.

[EyeLovePoozy]

At 6/19/08 07:39 AM, FullyClothedMike wrote: How do you pee? =.

With my fat twisted spic dick.

At 6/19/08 07:49 AM, Killers123 wrote: That's cool, how much do you get payed?

On a good year I pull down better than 100k

At 6/19/08 07:59 AM, fat-barry wrote: How to you get up to your cab at the top of the crane? Elevator or ......... ... L...L...L LADDERS!

I climb a ladder that's on the inside of the tower of my crane. After the building/crane reaches a certain height. An elevator is installed on the outside face of the building at that point I'll take that elevator up to where my last tie back is located and cross from the building into my tower and climb the rest of the way up on the ladder.

At 6/19/08 08:01 AM, Rebbay wrote: Like someone said a few posts up, what do you do when you need to go to the toilet? Do you climb all the way down the scary ladder?

Oh is that what he meant? haha xD

To piss I use empty water bottles that I whip out the window when no ones watching and to shit I try not to and just wait till I climb down for the day and if mother nature insists I have a 5 gallon bucket, garbage bags and ass wipes handy.

At 6/19/08 08:07 AM, JackPhantasm wrote: How'd you manage to get such a kickass job?

Persistence and sacrifice. I went through a 4 year apprenticeship program and practiced running these cranes on my days off until one day they needed a crane operator and I was available.
The rest is history...

[SuperFlonic]

At 6/19/08 08:11 AM, JackPhantasm wrote: lol that's a ton of concrete

What's the most beautiful thing you've evah seen while up there.

This is what I want to know. It'll probably be a sunrise/sunset or something.