Saw a really smooth tower crane setup while driving through downtown Phoenix last week

3 comments

3 Comments

My buddy who works concrete said they had a crane operator on a hospital job who could place a beam within a quarter inch, blind, just going off hand signals from a spotter. Said it was like watching a ballet with 50 tons of steel.

abbyl4918d ago

That "like watching a ballet with 50 tons of steel" line is exactly how I've heard old-timers describe the real wizards on site. @emeryw16 I get the skepticism, but I've seen a guy do similar work on a bridge job, and when someone's been running a crane for twenty years their hands just know where that load is going even if their eyes don't. Stories get polished up over time for sure, but the core of it is usually grounded in something real.

emeryw161mo ago

You ever think maybe that story got a little better each time it was told? I've seen good operators, but a quarter inch blind sounds like a stretch.