[Towertalk] CRANK UP TOWERS - Not a panacea

[w7ni@easystreet.com (Stan & Patricia Griffiths)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Otten" <res0958z@verizon.net>

> > I see you have never witnessed a foldover/nested tower
> collapse...something
> > which can never happen with a fixed tower...period!
>
> Check again Jim.....fixed towers can't collapse.... period?

I am sure Jim meant "collapse due to a crankup cable failure", aren't you?

> > As far as what is safer...I would rather work aloft on a fixed tower
than
> > stand on a step ladder putting boom to mast bolts on a beam going on a
> > tiltover tower....
>
> Convince me a fall from a fixed tower is 'safer' than a step ladder.

Well, for one thing, I am ALWAYS tied to a fixed tower with safety equipment
when I am working on it.  This makes it VERY unlikely to fall off of it.
Step ladders are inherently unstable and they fall over all the time.  You
certainly would NOT want to be tied to one of them.  The bottom line is that
you are MANY times more likely to fall from a step ladder than from a fixed
tower you are attached to.  I have spent a lot of time on both of them.

Stan
w7ni@easystreet.com