I wonder if this was a TRANE wreck....

[asaratis]

Amazing no deaths from this cable failure.

NYC Crane Accident Injures 10

Surely, somewhere there's a video of the incident.

 

[asaratis]

Crane Accident in Midtown East Leaves Several Injured - Construction Accidents - Curbed NY

Though they embellish with the "collapse of the crane", the story is that the crane dropped the Trane.

It's hard to stop a Trane, but I'm bettin' that one'll be in the repair shop for a long time.

 

[Pogo]

What are these people thinking. Have they not heard of freight elevators?

Reminds me of the radio station in New Orleans who tried to install a new transmitter into the top of a high rise. When they got it up there they found it wouldn't fit through the door. Hired another crew, they couldn't get it in either. What they ended up doing was hiring a helicopter -- and wafting it in from above.

It did not seem to have occurred to anybody to either (1) deconstruct and reconstruct the doorway inside the building to get it in there, or (2) disassemble and then reassemble the transmitter -- or both. Nooo, they dangled a heavy, six-figure-price-tag capital investment five hundred feet directly over the busiest street in the downtown area, right over people's heads. Luckily nothing broke, but what the fuck is wrong with people?

 

[asaratis]

What are these people thinking. Have they not heard of freight elevators?

Reminds me of the radio station in New Orleans who tried to install a new transmitter into the top of a high rise. When they got it up there they found it wouldn't fit through the door. Hired another crew, they couldn't get it in either. What they ended up doing was hiring a helicopter -- and wafting it in from above.

It did not seem to have occurred to anybody to either (1) deconstruct and reconstruct the doorway inside the building to get it in there, or (2) disassemble and then reassemble the transmitter -- or both. Nooo, they dangled a heavy, six-figure-price-tag capital investment five hundred feet directly over the busiest street in the downtown area, right over people's heads. Luckily nothing broke, but what the fuck is wrong with people?

Freight elevators have load limits well below the capacity of that crane. I'm guessing the load was a caste iron compressor weighing in the tens of tons...maybe 30 tons. That looks like a 250ton crane.

 

[FA_Q2]

What are these people thinking. Have they not heard of freight elevators?

Reminds me of the radio station in New Orleans who tried to install a new transmitter into the top of a high rise. When they got it up there they found it wouldn't fit through the door. Hired another crew, they couldn't get it in either. What they ended up doing was hiring a helicopter -- and wafting it in from above.

It did not seem to have occurred to anybody to either (1) deconstruct and reconstruct the doorway inside the building to get it in there, or (2) disassemble and then reassemble the transmitter -- or both. Nooo, they dangled a heavy, six-figure-price-tag capital investment five hundred feet directly over the busiest street in the downtown area, right over people's heads. Luckily nothing broke, but what the fuck is wrong with people?

It is not that simple to 'deconstruct' and 'reconstruct' pieces of building. It is downright impossible just due to code restrictions and city inspection requirements and you are not even scratching the actual construction. Such projects can easily cost millions.

What were they thinking? That is likely the only method that was practical.

 

[Pogo]

What are these people thinking. Have they not heard of freight elevators?

Reminds me of the radio station in New Orleans who tried to install a new transmitter into the top of a high rise. When they got it up there they found it wouldn't fit through the door. Hired another crew, they couldn't get it in either. What they ended up doing was hiring a helicopter -- and wafting it in from above.

It did not seem to have occurred to anybody to either (1) deconstruct and reconstruct the doorway inside the building to get it in there, or (2) disassemble and then reassemble the transmitter -- or both. Nooo, they dangled a heavy, six-figure-price-tag capital investment five hundred feet directly over the busiest street in the downtown area, right over people's heads. Luckily nothing broke, but what the fuck is wrong with people?

It is not that simple to 'deconstruct' and 'reconstruct' pieces of building. It is downright impossible just due to code restrictions and city inspection requirements and you are not even scratching the actual construction. Such projects can easily cost millions.

What were they thinking? That is likely the only method that was practical.

Poorly phrased perhaps but I meant simply widening the doorway in question long enough to get the monster in there, and then restoring said doorway to its original dimensions. But I wasn't there to see it. Wish I had been.

 

[asaratis]

During a recent renovation to the 191 Building here in Atlanta, the side of a new escalator was to be a one-of-a-kind single piece of etched glass. The architect insisted it be in one monolithic piece. A window was removed and a crane similar to the one used in this story was set up in the street. It took hours and two smaller cranes to assemble the multi-section, box boom of the big crane. With the entire boom and hook laying in the street, it was over a half block long. The hoisting and guiding of the piece into the window opening took about 30 minutes. The assembly and disassembly of the crane took all day.

It's only money!

 

[FA_Q2]

What are these people thinking. Have they not heard of freight elevators?

Reminds me of the radio station in New Orleans who tried to install a new transmitter into the top of a high rise. When they got it up there they found it wouldn't fit through the door. Hired another crew, they couldn't get it in either. What they ended up doing was hiring a helicopter -- and wafting it in from above.

It did not seem to have occurred to anybody to either (1) deconstruct and reconstruct the doorway inside the building to get it in there, or (2) disassemble and then reassemble the transmitter -- or both. Nooo, they dangled a heavy, six-figure-price-tag capital investment five hundred feet directly over the busiest street in the downtown area, right over people's heads. Luckily nothing broke, but what the fuck is wrong with people?

It is not that simple to 'deconstruct' and 'reconstruct' pieces of building. It is downright impossible just due to code restrictions and city inspection requirements and you are not even scratching the actual construction. Such projects can easily cost millions.

What were they thinking? That is likely the only method that was practical.

Poorly phrased perhaps but I meant simply widening the doorway in question long enough to get the monster in there, and then restoring said doorway to its original dimensions. But I wasn't there to see it. Wish I had been.

No, your wording was not poor – I understood what you were stating. What I was saying is that it is not that simple. How old was the building? That is the first question you have to ask because in order to do something like widen a doorway to the roof you are going to need a permit. In CA, that process could easily take a year or more. I have no idea how long it could take where the building was done (only been involved in large commercial construction in CA). That permit will require an architect be hired to create the plans for the ‘new’ piece of the structure. If the building was older, it would need to bring existing portions of that structure up to current code and building codes change fairly frequently (meaning that the building would not need to be more than 5-10 years old to possibly require this change). That may necessitate an entirely new roof. Just widening the doorway itself could cost a pretty penny depending on its influence on the overall structure is. A rooftop is not the same as a non-bearing wall located somewhere in the middle of the building. There are a TON more regulations that cover roof construction because it is an integral part of the buildings structure.

In short – they can’t do that simple thing because regulations tend to make processes like that cost TONS of money – it is one of those unintended consequences of the way building codes are written.

 

[FA_Q2]

During a recent renovation to the 191 Building here in Atlanta, the side of a new escalator was to be a one-of-a-kind single piece of etched glass. The architect insisted it be in one monolithic piece. A window was removed and a crane similar to the one used in this story was set up in the street. It took hours and two smaller cranes to assemble the multi-section, box boom of the big crane. With the entire boom and hook laying in the street, it was over a half block long. The hoisting and guiding of the piece into the window opening took about 30 minutes. The assembly and disassembly of the crane took all day.

It's only money!

Yes, there are a lot of expenditures for buildings that are related to the overall aesthetics of the construction. It is rather insane if you ask me but if that is what they want to spend then I am sure that money is better off in the hands of the construction crews anyway

 

[Pogo]

What are these people thinking. Have they not heard of freight elevators?

Reminds me of the radio station in New Orleans who tried to install a new transmitter into the top of a high rise. When they got it up there they found it wouldn't fit through the door. Hired another crew, they couldn't get it in either. What they ended up doing was hiring a helicopter -- and wafting it in from above.

It did not seem to have occurred to anybody to either (1) deconstruct and reconstruct the doorway inside the building to get it in there, or (2) disassemble and then reassemble the transmitter -- or both. Nooo, they dangled a heavy, six-figure-price-tag capital investment five hundred feet directly over the busiest street in the downtown area, right over people's heads. Luckily nothing broke, but what the fuck is wrong with people?

It is not that simple to 'deconstruct' and 'reconstruct' pieces of building. It is downright impossible just due to code restrictions and city inspection requirements and you are not even scratching the actual construction. Such projects can easily cost millions.

What were they thinking? That is likely the only method that was practical.

Poorly phrased perhaps but I meant simply widening the doorway in question long enough to get the monster in there, and then restoring said doorway to its original dimensions. But I wasn't there to see it. Wish I had been.

No, your wording was not poor – I understood what you were stating. What I was saying is that it is not that simple. How old was the building? That is the first question you have to ask because in order to do something like widen a doorway to the roof you are going to need a permit. In CA, that process could easily take a year or more. I have no idea how long it could take where the building was done (only been involved in large commercial construction in CA). That permit will require an architect be hired to create the plans for the ‘new’ piece of the structure. If the building was older, it would need to bring existing portions of that structure up to current code and building codes change fairly frequently (meaning that the building would not need to be more than 5-10 years old to possibly require this change). That may necessitate an entirely new roof. Just widening the doorway itself could cost a pretty penny depending on its influence on the overall structure is. A rooftop is not the same as a non-bearing wall located somewhere in the middle of the building. There are a TON more regulations that cover roof construction because it is an integral part of the buildings structure.

In short – they can’t do that simple thing because regulations tend to make processes like that cost TONS of money – it is one of those unintended consequences of the way building codes are written.

Well as I say I wasn't there to see it and it was done before I heard about it, but it just seemed (and still does) the height of insanity to be dangling a $100,000-plus piece of equipment, which really is not all that huge anyway (nowhere near the device in the OP), from a helicopter over the busiest street in a major city. And I still can't believe that alternately the transmitter could not have been partially disassembled, brought in and then put back together inside.

As for building permits and codes, since it's New Orleans I have no doubt that could have been "taken care of" with a small envelope handed over to the right guy at the right time. He must have been asking too much.

Here's the rig in question:

​

That antenna they're flying right at is another $100k-plus piece of equipment .... and it looks like a cloudy day too, I shudder to think, what if it had started raining...

 

[asaratis]

During a recent renovation to the 191 Building here in Atlanta, the side of a new escalator was to be a one-of-a-kind single piece of etched glass. The architect insisted it be in one monolithic piece. A window was removed and a crane similar to the one used in this story was set up in the street. It took hours and two smaller cranes to assemble the multi-section, box boom of the big crane. With the entire boom and hook laying in the street, it was over a half block long. The hoisting and guiding of the piece into the window opening took about 30 minutes. The assembly and disassembly of the crane took all day.

It's only money!

Yes, there are a lot of expenditures for buildings that are related to the overall aesthetics of the construction. It is rather insane if you ask me but if that is what they want to spend then I am sure that money is better off in the hands of the construction crews anyway

That money (the cost of the gilding) doesn't go to the workers. It goes to the likes of an Italian marble supplier. When Grady Hospital was renovated here some years ago, the architect insisted on green Italian marble to be used extensively. When it came to a budget crunch, the marble was purchased anyway...with a reduction in the quality of materials in the electrical and mechanical systems.

Architects and Interior Designers generally care only about things that can be seen. Rather than for functionality, they strive to produce a masterpiece with their name on it. Pompous asses!