Working the National 1300A

[DMiller]

Lumber and truss supplier seem to have made it across said bridge, corner may be a little short and tight but should make that. Appears as some point in the past someone used the field for a access wide swing.

 

[Nige]

Setting a 2500 lb. lap pool 127' away, over a 110 year old house. I subbed out this job to a big time crane outfit, and they ended up using this Grove all terrain machine, after having PTO issues with another crane a week earlier. I got to run it a bit, what a machine! So maneuverable, the way he parallel parked at the curb using it's trick all wheel steering and maybe crab steering was impressive, for me, it was like getting a walk through of a big airliner, everything familiar to this small plane pilot, just on a enormous scale. I was told, with the counterweight they used, they were at 50% capacity, though i found it interesting they still "cheated" as much as possible, using the sidewalk as opposed to the street for their outriggers. Closer is always better no matter the size I guess.

A it late in the day but my those AT's are handy. We had three at the last job. A 4115 like the one in your photo, a 5165 and a 6250. To do diagnostics on them you need to understand CANBUS six ways to Sunday.
That all-wheel steering on the rear axles is great but you have to be really careful when using it on soft ground surface conditions unless the crane is actually moving or it can bend the track bars. Don't ask how I know this..........

 

[Tradesman]

Lumber and truss supplier seem to have made it across said bridge, corner may be a little short and tight but should make that. Appears as some point in the past someone used the field for a access wide swing.

If you mean across the road I would say that’s a wheel path for irrigation

 

[DMiller]

Curves the wrong way. Appears as old white rock not just dirt and curves into drive area.

 

[hvy 1ton]

Curves the wrong way. Appears as old white rock not just dirt and curves into drive area.

That is probably the dry spot between the end gun and the hand lines in the corner. Nothing grows in that part of ID if you don't water it. I might be wrong, but that's my guess.

 

[crane operator]

A it late in the day but my those AT's are handy. We had three at the last job. A 4115 like the one in your photo, a 5165 and a 6250. To do diagnostics on them you need to understand CANBUS six ways to Sunday.
That all-wheel steering on the rear axles is great but you have to be really careful when using it on soft ground surface conditions unless the crane is actually moving or it can bend the track bars. Don't ask how I know this..........

That's the weak point in the megatrak suspension grove uses. We had a 175 ton up in iowa where I used to live, and they had twisted them up more than once in the mud trying to turn those big tires while buried in a hole.

That picture looks like "training day". Like they just came in and they are trying them out. There's just a few dollars setting there too, between the crawler, a new boom truck and the two AT's.

 

[Nige]

That picture looks like "training day". Like they just came in and they are trying them out. There's just a few dollars setting there too, between the crawler, a new boom truck and the two AT's.

The three AT's were all literally fresh off the boat when that photo was taken. The Manitowoc Triple-8 crawler was one of two that we'd rented in from an outfit in Florida and it was just getting rigged. Around about the same time we also had a brand-new 16000 delivered to site.

 

[Natman]

Besides the lumber truck, they also got a ready mix truck in there, or maybe they didn't, maybe they pumped it, I'll find out at 7 tomorrow morning. It looks like I'll need to move that stack of trusses, then get in and set up. One thing I do know, how stuff looks from the air is often NOT what it looks like from the ground, sad but true. I need to remember to take my nifty battery operated chain saw just in case.

 

[Natman]

My 2 year old AC unit, a 5,000 BTU Frigidaire cheapie, quit on me, blows but not cold! I picked the brain of some good HVAC guys I was lifting for, and was told to junk it, they are non fixable. Rather then modify the installation hole for it, I bought the exact unit again $150 bucks, and this one works. But then my cab vent fan lost it's low speed, it only worked at high, and it was noisy, vibrated, and didn't seem to move much air. I have found that the AC hitting the back of my head, and the fan hitting my face, dramatically increases the AC's effectiveness. It's like sticking your head into a beer cooler.

So, while sitting in the cab during a lull, I got on Amazon and ordered this: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Caframo+...+Campers.+Easy+to+Clean.+Black&ref=nb_sb_noss. Less then 24 hours later the big brown truck dropped it off at my rural address, amazing! 50 bucks or so, and it's whisper quiet, doesn't vibrate, and moves much more air. It was 94 degrees today, and I was working with dummies pretending to be carpenters, but I kept my cool. Literally. Worth every penny!

 

[Natman]

A big frame building collapsed in my area yesterday, 16' high walls, about 60' span. The contractor is one I have worked for many times, including just last week. He called me Monday for this job (I think it was for this job anyway) but I told him I was busy the rest of the week and he got a guy with a BTC boom truck. That operator is good, he just has crap equipment, and at this time I have no idea why the building fell, whether it was the boom truck operators fault or not. The paper mentioned something about the wind, but there really wasn't any all day, (dead calm) and I pay attention to that more then most. Not even any dust devils, but anything is possible. 1 dead, and one critical. I flew over the job site late today and took this picture, which I will forward to the contractor at some point, or maybe not.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/...-identifies-man-injured-in-building-collapse/

 

[muzy]

It looks like they hadn't got the bracing all up yet, which is weird for me. As it would appear they were setting truss already?
Is that typical construction method used it your area. Kinda looks like how you would build a fence.
sorry for the loss of life and injured.
muzy

 

[Natman]

Oddly enough, today's job for me was almost identical to this one, though the framer chose to not put any OSB on yet (something for any wind to push against) and instead used diagonal 2x4's nailed on the studs. You can see this building appeared to be fully sheeted. I have probably done 40 homes with this outfit the last year, and they are better then most, as in well braced framing, but man do they haul ass, there is no downtime for me when working for them. They always have enough hands on deck to get me unhooked the second the truss touches down, while another guy holds the truss vertical while another guys nails in the first stabilizer. They have the fastest cycle time of any local crew. Which of course may or may not have anything to do with why it fell, just saying.

 

[DMiller]

Speed has been known to lead to shortcuts. I hope for their sakes NOT this time and just a material failure.

 

[Natman]

The guy that died it turns out was the crew foreman, and he would have been on the tag line, at least he was all the times I worked with him. 5 kids. Every job has a certain "vibe", a mood, set by the crew but mostly by the head honcho. Some are frantic, disorganized, and herky jerky. His jobs were always well planned out (one of the best in getting the trusses scattered out in a way that sense, and sped out/shortened the crane time) and always calm, while at the same time not a second was wasted. Some jobs, setting residential trusses, have carpenters that make me look bad, idiots on the tag line line, clueless carpenters, etc., and I sometimes cringe when taking 5 hours to do a house that should take 2, it doesn't look good to those in the know. His crew always made me look good. Reckless and careless really doesn't apply here, I never felt endangered at their jobs, they just didn't waste ANY time. This crew wasn't your worse case "wet behind the ears, bid the job too cheap, bunch", they were one of the best in the second or third largest city in Idaho.

The one main thing I've come up with is, out of all the jobs I did for them, they were all residential, not large commercial like this one. I think it's clear the trusses tipped, and when they tipped they bowed (no partitions) and then exerted tremendous pressure on the walls, blowing one out (relieving pressure on the other wall, explaining why it didn't go also) and that was all she wrote. I am a bit baffled by the forklift trapped under the truss wreckage, they never had one on a job I did, this stands out as different, it may or may no have been a factor. Inadequate lateral bracing would be my verdict, residential style truss bracing on much larger span and heavier trusses, all on much higher walls, and possibly combined with a bump, to set things in motion, though that's strictly a wild assed guess. The local news is still reporting the walls collapsing as the cause, and then the roof falling, they have it backwards I'd guess.

 

[muzy]

That pic is pretty bright ,but it looks to me on the right one truss is out of place and facing a different direction than the rest. And under that pile it don't really look like a forklift to me. But i would think some sort of lift.
I couldn't imagine the silence right after it happened. Dreadful

 

[DMiller]

I was looking also, and believe that to be a wheeled manlift. I can see the truss cards collapse initiating this, one truss gets loose it drops the rest, could have just been tagged with a rope or a nail set to a wall blew out. May never really know. Still and will remain very sad days there.

 

[Natman]

I had a job on a vacation home, 2.5 hr. one way drive, but a real nice area (right above the Palisades Dam, south of Alpine Wyoming, think Lake Como) so I unloaded the camping gear out of the plane and put it all in the National, and drove there late the day before and camped out a mile from the job site. I took the fat ebike and had a great evening 17 mile ride, part of it finding exactly where the job was, better using it then wandering around in the Mack. So, I'm all done, it's getting dark, and I'm cooking dinner and the phone rings. The contractor tells me he may have to cancel, all his help was sick. He thought I was still at home, not 2.5 hours away, almost THERE.....to his credit, he must have given a pep talk to his help (two of them his sons), as the next morning we got it done. The gravel road on the last stretch was being paved the next morning, adding to the fun. Lots of trees to play with when setting the trusses, that keeps things interesting.

 

[Knepptune]

I will say this. Your one the few that if you told me that you’re living the dream, I would not doubt you one bit.

 

[td25c]

I love it !

Nice work Natman.

 

[Natman]

I flew back over to that last job site, I had spotted some things on the drive up there and while working, that I wanted to take a closer and aerial look at. I made a landing in the big field where I had camped, that was a given, it had to be done. Then I flew to a job I have coming up in a couple weeks, right below the Grand Tetons, about 30 miles further north. Low and behold, there was room enough to land there also, I had it all set up and was short final, when I noticed a car and a guy, and figured it was probably the homes owner. So, not knowing him at all and not wanting to maybe make my contractor look bad if the guy turned out to hate airplanes or whatever, I desisted/didn't land. Off airport landings are two fold: 1. Can you do it without bending and breaking something (like crane work in that respect). 2. Can you do it without annoying someone? The second thing takes the most judgement, and I hate to see guys who the tech skills to land somewhere, but they stupidly don't think about the repercussions.

In this case, I backed off, but immediately sent this picture to the contractor, asking if that big trench was going to be filled. NO, it's a "water feature", and it sure as heck is going to get in the way when several semi's show up with the prefabricated walls and then the trusses, this is a (not sure what to call it) pre fab home I guess. 6,000 sq. ft., and on super high dollar real estate, NOT low end at all. So, this morning's flight was work related and served a useful purpose, (the contractor didn't know they had dug the thing) and after seeing that water hazard, I figure if the homeowner can afford to screw around with something like that, he can sure as heck pay for my motel room (a 2 day job, 3 hours away) instead of me camping out, we're going first class all the way.