By Kamil Kaluski
It’s Truck Thursday, and today is as good of a day as any to ask – what’s a truck?
Living in a city where there is almost too much construction going on (seriously, it never ends, mostly because the new stuff needs to repaired right away), I see cranes all the times. And each time, like a five-year-old, I am mesmerized by them!
The heights they reach, the weight they can pick up, and how relatively small they are. There are cases however where a crane is needed on top of a building being constructed. There are several options there: a helicopter (pricey, but seen it done for A/C units), a crane attached t the building (perfect for new high-rise construction), or a smaller vehicular crane on the top.
But… how does one get a vehicular truck crane onto the top of a building? And then back down?! With a bigger crane, of course.
Watch this video taken by Mike Juergens of QuattroWorld in the Kendall Square area of Cambridge.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBuXHBb9TMA[/youtube]
Jeff Glucker
So THAT'S the proper way to park on a curb.
Correction "Lifting a crane with a CRANE"
At the height of the Big Dig I used to think, Ah, Boston… where the cranes come home to roost.
The building I work in is rather large. When a new A/C unit is needed in the middle of the building, a helicopter is used to put it in place. They cant get a crane with a long enough arm to reach.
I've seen helicopters used on single story buildings to set condenser units. It was a new mall and they had to set about 50 of them. A Crane would have required multiple setups so in this instance a helicopter was more efficient.
The company I work for had a division in California. They had chopper installing an AC unit on the roof on a weekend. It failed and crashed into the building.
2 years later at my location, 2 choppers on their way to Arizona stopped by for a meet-greet for the employees. Under no circumstance should these helicopters fly over the building according to the site management. My guys were on the roof with video cameras for posterity.
After the event was over and they choppers left- they flew north, south then east… right over me any my guys on the roof. They were 40 feet from us on a buzz cut. Insane. So If you tell the Army where to fly their choppers, they will F-you.
Here's a fun and only somewhat related story-
Some time ago there was a Navy fighter pilot (sorry, aviator…) on a cross country flight. He realized that he would be passing somewhat close to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, so he decided to make a minor deviation off course and go buzz the place. Wanting to put on a show, he decides to do it fast and low- as close to Mach 1 and as close to the deck as he can. Well, the doofus miscalculated what Mach 1 would be (though he was flying at sea level, not a mile up) and managed to break the sound barrier directly over the Academy. Broke most of the windows on base, as well as some in Colorado Springs.
So yeah, don't trust the Navy if they're out of the water.
My guess is that his rank was busted soon after the windows.
Craneception.