Quote Originally Posted by Hoosiersmoker View Post
I don't think that's a crane operator, I think that's a guy that watched someone operate a crane and decided it was easy and he told the company he applied to that he had operated a crane before. He doesn't know the first thing about safety or finesse. He probably broke the travel mount for the block too, judging by the way it jerked when he lifted the boom.
Agreed, it is almost a guarantee the remains of the mount will have to be cut off and a new one welded on.
When I was in my mid 20's I stopped by a construction site in my welding rig to see if they might be hiring. the site superintendent said sorry we're full up at the moment but I need someone to run a crane if you are interested. I said run it yes we had a smaller one in the motor pool while I was in the Army, I occasionally used it to load and unload cargo trucks, but I'm no operator, I've been on enough sites to know most of the hand signals though.
Well climb up in that cab and let's see what you can do anyway. He ran me through the motions then gave a signal for swing I swung a little too fast and it took me a couple tries to arrest the hook. Afterwards he concurred that I could run a crane but I was not an operator yet. I'm still not an operator.