"Dude, You Dropped the Jet!!"

[rogsmart]

More F@@ked up crane lifts gone wrong. So I live in Alameda, CA. home of the former Alameda Naval Air Station also known as Alameda Point. The former base has two main entrances both of which used to have 50's era Jets mounted on pylons. The jets were removed to be stripped and repainted along with any other sheet metal work needed to make them all purty again.
So yesterday one of the jets was supposed to be remounted on it's display pylon. According to what I read the company that maintains Alameda Point was supposed to stop watering the area around the pylon so that the ground would be firmer. So of course they stopped watering at the wrong pylon. (Remember there are two jets, two pylons.)
I'm no crane expert but I think there is a fair amount of operator stupidity involved in this crane lift gone wrong. I haven't found video yet but I bet there is some. If it makes to the web I'll post a link. In the meantime here are a few pics that a local citizen shot.

Another reader writes: "I spoke with one of the bystanders and he said that the crane was at full boom extension lifting plane back onto its pedestal when the crane failed and load came down and off sideways. Canopy, wing and top looked the worst. Sad after so much work went into the restoration effort. Bigger crane came out to clean up the mess and take plane back to hangar."

The jet is a 1954 Skyraider and evidently is repairable. (Oops. That should be Skyhawk A-4C per later comments.)

 

[Morrisman]

I'm no crane expert but I think there is a fair amount of operator stupidity involved in this crane lift gone wrong....

Nah, no problem. 'The guys watered the wrong grass' will stand up as solid defence in any court in the land.

 

[stingry]

Oops, my bad!!!!

 

[BHR4CE1]

It's true what they say.. "Grass Kills!"

 

[justanengineer]

OUch...all that hard work gone....such a shame.

 

[SuperSocket]

Watered the wrong grass, it more looks like they turned it into a swamp by how deep that crane sits in the ground.

 

[billspit]

"A man's got to know his limitations."

 

[NUTTSGT]

Watered the wrong grass, it more looks like they turned it into a swamp by how deep that crane sits in the ground.

It does look deep doesn't it.

 

[MKIII is KING]

i'm gonna say there's a little more then an over saturated lawn causing that problem.

 

[NUTTSGT]

BTW, are you sure that's a 1954 Skyraider ? The early Skyraider were prop driven. They did change in 1954 to become the A1, but that picture looks more like an A4 Skyhawk to me. It even has a refueler boom on it.


I don't know, maybe somebody will chime in.

 

[scott37300]

i'm gonna say there's a little more then an over saturated lawn causing that problem.

I agree, cranes like that have a 2ft square pad on the bottom of the outrigger and it sunk that deep in the ground.

 

[tdkkart]

i'm gonna say there's a little more then an over saturated lawn causing that problem.

There's a whole LF outrigger arm sunk in the ground there somewhere.
Can you say "sinkhole"??

 

[JC23]

You guys are blowing this up. It'll buff out...

 

[W650Mike]

Crane Computer Malfunction - already established in the other thread.

 

[1967Impala]

BTW, are you sure that's a 1954 Skyraider ? The early Skyraider were prop driven. They did change in 1954 to become the A1, but that picture looks more like an A4 Skyhawk to me. It even has a refueler boom on it.


I don't know, maybe somebody will chime in.

Yes its an A4 (delta wing ,refuel boom twin ,drop tanks)

 

[TheGrooveking]

"A man's got to know his limitations."

I love the Megadeth song that comes from.

TheGrooveking

 

[csp]

That saying was around long before Dave Mustain was born, so it doesn't come from a Megadeth song.

 

[MoonRise]

Rut ro, Relroy!

The crane is sunk up to the CAB!!!

"Gee, Bubba, the boss said to not water the grass on the one side, so let's point all the sprinklers to the other side. He said not to water the one on the left, right? From where I'm standing, that one over there is the one on the left, so point all the sprinklers over here, 'K."

 

[nsmith01tx]

That saying was around long before Dave Mustain was born, so it doesn't come from a Megadeth song.

Yep, Clint Eastwood, "Magnum Force" ... though I could swear he also said it, or something like it, in one of those spaghetti westerns.

 

[haugy]

BTW, are you sure that's a 1954 Skyraider ? The early Skyraider were prop driven. They did change in 1954 to become the A1, but that picture looks more like an A4 Skyhawk to me. It even has a refueler boom on it.


I don't know, maybe somebody will chime in.

I'm glad you said that, because I just figured I was wrong.

I think they have a mole problem.

 

[02chuck]

It looks to be a A-4C the fueling probe is straight.
There was a Marine Reserve Squadron based at NAS Alameda back in the 70's and 80's.
Scooters were really neat planes, durable, carry a lot of bombs, easy to work on, Blue Angels flew them until the F/A-18 arrived.

 

[George in Rancho Cordova]

I suspect that if "somebody" walked the path of the crane, their shoes would have gotten muddy enough to cause concern.

 

[toxicz28]

That crane didn't fail, the ground it was parked on failed. And I could be pretty sure that this would have been an engineered lift, so operator would be free and clear. Engineer, on the other hand.....

 

[rogsmart]

Glad you gents found some entertainment value here.

Re: Skyraider versus Skyhawk.

My bad, shows you how much I know about old military aircraft. Here are a couple of shots of a restored and flying A-4C Skyhawk from EAA 2010. Sure looks like the jet that didn't quite make it onto it's pylon to me.

Just for comparison a shot of a Skyraider. Wikipedia link here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:douglas.skyraider.folded.arp.jpg

Now veering radically off subject: It always amazes me how much aviation history is ******* with the S.F Bay area. Fer instance the very first Navy test of the concept of flight operations from the deck of a ship happened here on the Bay back in Jan. 1911. This included a landing on the ship and a subsequent take off from the ship. Also was the first use of a cable arrest system to catch the plane. Story link here:http://http://www.glenncurtiss.com/first_landing_on_a_ship.htm

 

[Greatbear]

Display aircraft are not supposed to crash!

 

[Rickster]

They should just weld it into place like it is.... It's kind of in an action pose.

 

[GarageEnvy]

Normally that lift wouldn't have been a problem but look at the position of the plane. It was probably pulling 6 g's at the time. No wonder it had a problem lifting it

 

[csmitty]

Wow, good thing it doesn't have to fly again. Alittle bondo and it'll be fine.

Does **** though all the work they put in. It does look nice, well, the non F'd up parts.