That Monday morning pick in downtown Seattle was a total nightmare

We had to lift a big air handler unit onto a roof, but the wind kicked up out of nowhere. The load started spinning like a top, and the spotter's radio cut out for a solid 30 seconds. I had to just hold it steady over the street, watching it swing, with no one talking in my ear. My hands were sweating so bad I thought I'd slip off the controls. We finally got it down after what felt like an hour, but the whole crew was shaken. The boss said the wind report was wrong, but that doesn't help when you're 200 feet up. Anyone ever have a radio fail on them at the worst possible time?

3 comments

3 Comments

murray.grace3mo ago

Honestly, that radio cutting out is the scariest part. What was going through your head when the spotter's voice just dropped and you were left alone with that swinging load?

jesse7733mo ago

My buddy Mike told me about his radio dying while he was guiding a steel beam up twelve stories. Said his stomach just dropped, and he had to watch the load's shadow on the wall to guess the swing. Took him a solid minute of hand signals before another spotter saw him.

ericschmidt24d ago

Yeah so my buddy Dan had a similar thing happen roofing on a three story house back in 2019. He was running a nail gun and his cordless radio just died mid conversation with the ground guy about which bundles were coming up next. He said he had to just stand there for a good five minutes waving his arms like an idiot before the guy on the forklift looked up and saw him. The wind was picking up too so he was trying not to lean too far off the edge. Scary stuff when your main communication link just goes silent like that.