Those guys at vertikal never know what they're talking about. You would think that being a "crane" magazine, they would do better, but they don't.
He actually wasn't probably running short outriggers on the side he went over on. What happens in a overload condition, is that the crane starts to get up on its outriggers, and then the weight isn't pushing down on the outriggers, but the whole crane is pushing on the cylinders that telescope the beams out. The whole rig gets "up on its toes", the telescope cylinders on the beams don't have holding valves on them, and it just slams the beams in as it comes over.
The big all terrains actually have lock pins on the outrigger beams that you install, locking the beams in the out position, so they can't slide in. None of the smaller boom trucks or truck cranes have them, and its not a problem until you get overloaded over the side and the rig climbs up. I think the oil then just bypasses in the control valve, or the cylinder itself, because the beam telescope cylinder system isn't made to handle that kind of load pushing on them to retract.
Then the guys at the magazine look at the pictures: " Hey- he's a big dummy and is picking over the side with the retracted outriggers". If they were actual "crane" people, instead of "magazine" people, they would know better.
This isn't to say I haven't seen pictures of cranes that went over on short outriggers, usually a RT setting jersey barriers on a highway project, or AT's getting out of the boom dolly. But when you see the outrigger beams on the other side standing clear up in the air, you know the other side was out too, and the weight of the crane slams them in. There's no way he even gets that much boom shot out over the side with the riggers retracted.
So why don't the boom trucks and smaller truck cranes have bigger cylinders or holding valves and lock pins on all the beams? Because they will do chart without them. That would cost more $ to build them that way. And the operators probably wouldn't use them anyways. I've run into outfits that never lock them on their AT's, because it "takes too long", or that they actually don't know what they are for, so never use them.
All that said, its just a good thing no one got hurt. I hate seeing iron laying on its side.
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I finished up the condominium I was working on today my last picks where putting two skids of 5/8" t&g spruce plywood on top of the elevator shaft. They are a really good bunch of guys but not one of them could give hand signals, I was working in the blind most of the time and all I got for signals where kinda vague finger points in the general direction they wanted it, so being really patient like I am I would just go really slow in the direction they where pointing until the signal changed. Some of these guys have been in the trade for 10-15 years how can you not have any idea! The last time I was there I even gave a couple of the guys signal cards and a brief explanation ( being real carful not to be critical)
