Crane drops antenna tower section - GIF

[cmarlow]

That climber should have had an all expenses paid retirement starting the next day!

That is not how high riggers think. He was not smushed by falling iron.
The next day, after changing his shorts for clean ones, he would be telling everybody how much fun it was. A kind of humble brag while looking for another tower to climb.
High riggers and iron workers are in a class of their own. They are the daredevils of construction. Walking iron is always on that thin edge between absolute terror and absolute confidence. There is nothing else I know of quite like it. A lot of these guys are parachute jumpers, bikers, base jumpers. You know, all the thrill seeking adrenaline junky stuff.

Early paid retirement? How is that going to pay for my play time? One of the features of this kind of work is it pays big money because not very many people can actually do it. Most people freeze at heights. The downside (?) is most of the jobs are fairly short term, which gives you time to go play. As a scaffold rigger I could pull almost 20 grand before taxes for a 28 day run on a refinery shutdown. The money I got back just on income taxes by taking time off paid for my holidays.