What It's Like To Drop 150,000 Feet Straight Down [video] | Hacker News Reader

What It's Like To Drop 150,000 Feet Straight Down [video]

npr.org

82 pointsrowanseymour15 comments

That made me feel a little sick. But very cool.

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A_h2AjJaMw

Insane. Great, but insane.

They say they skip safety lines because its easier and faster. Wonder how often someone falls off while doing his work though.

This doesn't seem like a good source, but estimates about 10 per year in the US.

It's apparently been better recently, but in the mid-2000s tower climbing was the most dangerous occupation in the US. In 2004 there were 10 deaths, w/ a death rate of 115.2/100K: http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Clim...

Interestingly this seems to vary greatly. In 2008 there were 7 tower deaths in 5 weeks: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/7-Tower-Deaths-In-5-Weeks...

Also, apparently the job in the US is significantly more dangerous than elsewhere. While between 2003-2008 there were 70 US tower climber deaths vs only 10 international deaths in that same period: http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Inte...

Oh, and here's how much it pays: http://work.chron.com/transmission-tower-climber-paid-5300.h...

"Data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2011 show that radio, cellular and tower equipment installers and repairs made a mean annual wage of $44,250. This group includes transmission tower climbers. The lowest-paid 10 percent earned less than $26,200 per year and $12.60 per hour, while the highest-paid 10 percent earned $67,660 or more per year and $32.53 or more per hour. The national average was $21.27 per hour."

Some interesting recent (2012) writeups:

Daily Kos: The Killing Towers of the US Telecom Industry http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/04/1097174/-The-Killin...

ProPublica: In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives http://www.propublica.org/article/cell-tower-fatalities

Thanks for the write-up - I was just about to check how much they make seeing as how I wouldn't do it for any amount of money. That seems incredibly low for one of/the most dangerous jobs in the US

Strange that they skip safety lines. It might be faster going up, but having a line down which you can just zip surely makes up for the lost time?

Edit: I see there's this response video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b9LahaBJIk about how you're actually supposed to climb these. With safety.

Interesting that they use the old rope-around-the-waist trick. I did the same when installing a new HD antenna on the 40-ft mast behind my house.

I note they also brought a long enough rope to haul the tools up once they got to the top. That seemed to me the stupidest part of the original no-safety video.

Why don't they use safety rails? It's actually more comfortable and faster to climb with a vest attached to a roller that is attached to a safety rail in the ladder, since it leaves your hands free.

The roller will keep rolling as long as you pull away from the ladder. If you drop down, the roller will hang. I've done one spring of snow cleaning from roofs and we had a bag full of different rollers (different standards). Only had problems if the rollers were left wet and they froze. Are they not mandated in the US? Time for someone to start a business...

Why don't they use safety rails?

Good question; I don't know enough about the specific industry to say. Knowing what I do about industry in the USA in general, I suspect that anything that must be installed on the structure, and isn't required by OSHA or by insurance companies, will not be. Aside from the expense of retrofitting, the safety rail is then one more system that must be regularly inspected, maintained, and insured.

Actually I suspect that facilities for which actual employees do most of the high work, would install these systems. Transmission towers seem pretty low-maintenance, so their high work is probably done by contractors. Those guys can worry about themselves.

As someone who is mildly afraid from heights, this gave me chills quite a few times during the duration of the video. Wow.

Same here - nearly fell of my chair from the perceived height vertigo.

Nonetheless, amazing footage - a head for heights and/or nerves of steel!

Why would they have the toolbag attached to themselves via rope, some 10 feet below them? Wouldn't a backpack make more sense, and swing less?

This reminds me of the MSL landing last year. The way this video was done makes landing on the Earth seem nearly alien. Like this is what it would look like to someone who's never visited here before.

Simply amazing.

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