http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...rane-collapses-east-end-bridge-site/80614120/ With 50 mph winds I'd say that was probably a factor. Apperently it blew over backwards. Boomed up fairly high and the wind did the rest I bet.
http://www.whas11.com/news/metrosaf...s-into-ohio-river-at-east-end-bridge/48987611 Little better article.
I'll sure curious as to what the mechanical failure that contributated was. Sure looks like it was boomed high enough to blow over backwards. One thing about a luffer, they do catch a lot more wind than just one stick. Lucky no one was working in the fall zone and everyone including the operator went home with out injury.
They don't use boom snubbers anymore? I wonder if he had a load on and the rigging failed, it's like letting go of a rubber band when that happens, everything recoils backwards.....
I can't tell for sure by the pics, but I'm thinking that wasn't a luffer boom and more likely a heavy lift live boom with a counterweight mast boom configuration. That boom configuration is even more tricky to tip backwards if the live boom gets light, like the wind pushing against it.
Avid listener to WHAS 840 out of Louisville . Heard the bad news around noon today . Wind blew like hell today in south Indiana, surprised we still had electricity . It sounded like the crane operator bailed out in the water ?
Hard to tell from the crappy pictures and all the damage but yeah, I don't see a luffer or jib at all. I'm not all that familiar with the terminology but it does look like a second shorter lattice boom setup as an intermediary between the main boom and the counterweight... I can see how that extra weight hanging behind the boom would tend to bring it over backwards. Like I said, does nobody use boom snubbers anymore? Not that that would have stopped this maybe but....
WAVE 3 has a pretty good video of the accident . I paused it at 00:05 and to me it looks like it has "boom stop's ". Maybe that was the mechanical failure ? http://www.wave3.com/story/31264728...collapse-at-east-end-bridge-construction-site
The last video shows a double boom crane on the other side of the river. It could have been a matching rig but as pointed out it is not a luffer. Appears it would still help pull on the main boom over if it started going. Add in more wind surface with the wind hitting two booms with one being near straight up to start with. The video shows the tube type boom stops on the main boom with the boom folded back over them. I to wonder now if a load slipped out of slings or if some rigging broke letting it snap up.
Makes me pucker up every time I see a crane go down, makes me wonder how I'm going to get by without the same happening to me.I bet 50% of the time I roll into a job some-one tries to get me to do something stupid and wreck my machine or kill them. I am trying to build up my crane business so as I get older I don't have to drive nails and wheel concrete, and that makes it real hard to tell some-one no, but seeing videos like this really drive home what can happen.
It occurs to me that carrying a couple pictures like this to show those people that tell you "You can do it, just be careful" (been there) what happens when you try to break the laws of physics... you can bend them a tiny bit, but eventually.... Stay safe.
Yesterday we had 35 mph sustained winds and 51 mph gusts. I'm a little north of louiseville but I can't imagine the conditions being that different. I really can't believe they were working with a crane in that much wind. I've never been around crawler cranes and don't know much about them but I wouldn't have ran a crane around here yesterday. And I've set stuff in a pretty good breeze. I'll guarantee a hydro with a boom and jib out couldn't have swung into the wind. Which may have been why his boom angle was so high. I've seen guys running a crane where they had to be at max boom angle for the swing motor to pull it into the wind. Those guys are braver then me.
She was welded to the barge and all four corners spudded, operator probably thought he had the world by the cojones.. found a weak link somewhere though...
I live just a few miles from where this happened.. it was very windy that day & my exact thoughts when it came across the radio that a crane collapsed was *** was they trying to do in such high wind!!! my first thought was they wanted to get it put in a safe position for the high wind, but from the hearsay they were actually trying to set steel for a temp structure.... it was a heavy lift 2 boom crane..
Kinda strange how the back stops are against cwt then bent? Must of been boomed up? Don't see boom hoist cable layed over everything. Heel section looks ok but damage started on the first insert.
Looks like the back stops were for the rear lattice boom. I don't know enough about those setups to grasp all the ins and outs.
Yep. No matter how "careful" you are-if you are exceeding the structural capacity of the rig, you are taking a big risk. And nowadays with the computers in the machines, your overloading is being recorded by the manufacturer.
I oiled for my Uncle Hughie, one of the best crane operators I ever saw, we were both members of 825 in NJ. He drilled into my head the following "If you don't feel comfortable with their direction just say NO. Let them scream and yell. If it goes bad YOU are responsible, it is your neck on the line, they will scatter like smoke leaving you holding the wet full diaper"
very smart man right there!!!!