I hope they had insurance http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=435349
:OMG :jawdrop He's one lucky guy to get out of that, I doubt he was feeling very lucky when his boss caught up with him though :badidea
There comes a time when one has to know when to stop.....at least when he had the bucket on the barge he was somewhat stable. Sitting on the rocks he was, I imagine the traction was somewhere between poor and terrible. Getting something on the flat of the bank behind him with a cable to the undercarriage would have been a really good idea IMO.
let's just say it sucked to be him. I mean how do you explain that one?
"Boss, listen, we went to lunch, and the excavator is gone." "What the $&@* do you mean it's gone!?!?" "I dont know, it just disappeard, maybe it was aliens?" After hanging up with the boss. "Guys, do you really think he will buy that story?"
Wow, I mean....umm....well, umm....I don't really know what to say about that. I'm glad he made it out, I just hope he has some good luck in his search for a new job. Brian
he HAD it somewhat secure on the barge...why the HELL didn't he wait until he got it tied off on the backside to a wrecker/dozer/loader, SOMETHING before he started moving anything, you could see that happening a mile away.
man he drove right in to the water... must have not known where his drive motors were...
Strong contender for "dumb-ass of the year" ! How many basic operaing rules was he breaking there ?
I betcha he wished he would of wore his "Speedo's" that day instead of his "Boxer's with Stripes in them!" Dumb Ass!!!!
Video was a bit grainy but I don't think the tracks ever moved. I've got to wunder why he was down there on the rocks without some kind of a tether or some thing. A lot of unknowns. I've pulled some bone head moves before and had to stop, get out and choose the best way to "recover". I don't know if it's luck or skill but in 26 years of opperating heavy equipment and heavy haul trucks, I've had no major accidents(knock on wood)and only a few minor ones.
Yellow Submarine
:laugh It's hard to know how deep the water was further out, but with the dipper tucked way in under the boom that way, he wasn't going to get any help from it, either by way of pushing him back up the bank, or even simply holding him where he was. Actually, one false move and the dipper pulls the machine further toward itself, which in this case means into the drink...
I watched again last night to show my son, it almost looked like the dipper starts to fold in on it's own, like the cylinder let go or bent, just before it goes into the water. Having the long boom and stick, there would be a lot of leverage against it. Regardless, it'll be a mess to clean up!
I aint no digger driver but that did not seem like the best action to take in that situation, tell me this... would he be better of swinging around and pulling himself up???
A better way?????????????????? Hi, Redline. You may be no digger driver but I think you've picked it in one. There's not a digger that I have ever run, and that's been a few, that doesn't have more power pulling the dipper in than pushing out with it. Hydraulic face shovels, yes, but excavators, NO. And the long reach would have been a bit handicapped in the 'power' department anyway, especially pushing out. How-wevver, the other commenters have a point too, in that it ought to have been anchored off to something substantial before doing anything to rescue it.
Steel tracks on a rocky slope is allways risky. Once he got into that situation he should have taken steps to secure the machine before atemting to either push or pull himself out. Hined sight is 20/20. Very expinsive lesson.
i wonder if that was the boss/owner who just turned around and walked up the hill like he dident even care about the operator. those guys jumped in before that thing even hit the bottom. those are the kind of guys you want on your crew. o ya the operator is a moron shoulda sat tight and got a line on that thing.:usa
all bosses aren't pricks. it would be rather devestating to see a 200k invesment fall in the drink....yeah, he should have hired a more competent employee/employees....hindsight says EVERYBODY there, at least those who profess they're professional operators........anybody concerned about their job would have said...WHOA, stop right here....let's get this freakin machine secured/tied down before we try anything else. common sense says nothing less. easy to call the boss a ******** when in acuality......it's an employee he trusted that just flushed his machine into the toilet
what all you fellows have said is right but i`m not sure that he hasn`t drove that thing in the water cause you can hear the tracks squarking when it starts moving maybe he slipped in the seat putting all his wieght on the forward drive pedals ?
I wunder if they trainsported the excavator on the barge and were trying to climb the slope to begin with?? Would that barge handle an excavator??
looking at the video, it'd be my guess that barge was sent in to haul away the spoils the excavator dug from the river. had nothing to do w/transport of excavator
I cant make out the audio at the end but it sounds like some says....."if.........that wouldn't have happened" can anyone else make it out
The guy on the bank says some thing that rimes with truck just before he turns and walks up the hill. Must of been the boss.
If i owned the machine i wold say something stronger than truck
What did he do ? Looks like he had undercut the toe all along the slope for whatever reason. Why was he down the slope on top of loose rock ?? He should never have been on the slope to begin with. When the machine slid into the drink, looks like a whole bunch of slope let go at the same time. He did suck himself into the drink with that last movement. The "operator ??" sure looked awful young to be on that machine. How deep was the water, well it disappeared from sight. 10' deep at least, I'd say. Hard to tell about some things from the grainy video. Ha, at least some fortunate bystander was there anyway to capture it on film.
Nah then he would tilt backwards and fall in. I would stay right there untill help arrives.
He had a Long Reach ! Why the hell was he sitting on the rip rap in the first place:beatsme Steel tracks on rock are like Bambi on ice, funny as long as you aint Bambi Just read from the start and realised I missed a few posts. When he pulled clear of the barge he was not in the ideal position, but was not in trouble. He could have slewed 180 deg and gone back up the rip rap. I feel he got hooked on something in the water, probably the wire mesh on the rip rap, and !!!!! maybe he PANICKED ! WHAT ! you never had that heart stopping moment ! Funny when you get away with it. A different story when it goes wrong! Luckily he got away with it. AND I 2nd the comments on the 2 that went in after him, though I think they panicked! They should have waited 2 seconds longer.
I'm at a loss for words
watch it again and after it slides in the guy standing on the bank he just stands there doesn't jump in get on a cell phone or nothing then he walks up the bank crosses his arm and shakes his head and walks off he must have been the forman on the job its just funny to see him not do anything he looks pissed from his body movements granted he just bought an engine and a fluid flush off all the systems or a brand new 300,000 dollar hoe
yikes. he definitley should have killed the engine.
He did he drowned it!
:roll
Thats a tricky situation to be in and i dont beleive i would have put myself there. IMO he should have swung the boom around and dug the bucket in the ground for at least some kind of an anchor until another peice of equipment showed up to assist. If i were the boss i would have jumped right in, just so i could choke the air out of him and say he drowned.
it dose look like he hooked something and why he didn't have his arm seems alittle odd i almost did the same thing a 200 deere but got the bucket out and stopped the side them got a D6 and pulled out
Hey now.... It ONLY a rental :beatsme
I would have swung it down and pushed my boom down so that I didn't slide down any farther. But yours might be better for when they come with a chain that they put it on the bucket, you would have to think fast...
His objective? Hard to know what this guy trying to achieve. Was just there to provide anchorage for the barge to stop it drifting on the tide?:beatsme
I've never ran a hoe with that long a boom and stick so don't know the balance point. I have done a whole lot of dredging with a hoe though and it always made me nervous to have to turn the counter weight to the water side without backing up though. I wouldn't have swung it around without snubbing it off, even with the stick all the way out. All of this is speculation though because no one seems to know what is going on. If I was in the video I wouldn't be commenting either.
Need to make some T-shirts to sell online.....:cool2
Yeah, we don't know the whole story, the operator does look young, but there seemed to be someone older around. There's nothing saying that the kid didn't want to do it but was told to get down there.:beatsme Without being able to get the whole story it's extremely hard to tell. He should have killed the engine, but hey I don't like water much, once that machine started sliding I probably woulda forgotten all about the machine and been fighting for just myself. Those two guys on the dock though you just hafta commend them for what they did the first guy in the water didn't even appear to hesitate he was just IN that's the kinda person that I sure would like to work with.
been nice if those 2 friends on the dock would have had the smarts the operator didn't...and said, STOP, tie that thing off before you move it, or we'll be diving into the cold drink after you.
Theres always an oxy moron somewhere
uhhhh boss about that long reach we had down at the marina.....that was a rental, no....? ointhead:Banghead
IMO you are exactly 100% RIGHT. .You can hear him start to travel but in the wrong direction.He is one lucky son of a gun. Of course as history as proven,he is now the new Project Manager for that company w/ lifetime benefits and job security. LOL
i think that guy had a contract looking for the man from atlantis!:Banghead
did ya see where his track motors were classic case of d.h. operator. but what a brilliant video
? When you hydrolock do you bend 1, a couple, or all the rods, does it depend on rpms. I'm a new owner of a excavtor, been in the seat on and off for years and would be just fine being called chicken or prob just smart enough to not be in that predicament. I think you men call it knowing your limits.