AvE on youtube came to the same conclusion 2 weeks ago: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cexN2-T6dxY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cexN2-T6dxY</a><p>And a follow-up after new pictures became available further confirms this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wo7J_buZUE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wo7J_buZUE</a><p>The article makes it seem like it's a common practice in the industry. Pretty scary! I don't really understand how it saves time, though... I'd think the bottleneck is the heavy-lift crane, isn't it?
Seems like a good example of the Normalization of Deviance. Instantly made me think of this post form the other day <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19770562" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19770562</a>.
This article confuses bolts and pins...<p>Removing the <i>bolts</i> doesn't really have an impact on strength. A lack of a bolt can cause wear on a pin as the structure flexes, but typically unless you're leaving it for years that wouldn't be an issue. You can inspect the wear the next time you use the pin.<p>Removing <i>pins</i> weakens the structure substantially. However when the crane isn't in use, it doesn't need anywhere near all of it's strength, so removing one of two pins is fine.<p>I would guess in this case, they removed 2 of 2 pins, leaving gravity the only thing holding everything in place, which is plain stupid.
This might be a stupid question, but how is the assisting crane finally disassembled? Is it a different type that doesn't need disassembling in the same way?
<p><pre><code> sometimes they’re loosened all the way
to “finger tight,” sometimes a few pins
are removed ahead of time
[...]
“It saves time, which equals money.”
</code></pre>
I'd have thought the time it takes the supporting crane to lower the top section to the ground would have been greater than the time it takes to remove eight bolts. After all, presumably the guys doing this for a living have the best tools available.<p>Does anyone know why removing the bolts is so slow? Or is the supporting crane actually really fast?