500-ton crane collapsed - 4 days before Obamas 9/11 scheduled speech at Washington National Cathedra

The crane was working to repair damage to the cathedral caused by the Aug. 23 East Coast earthquake when it flipped backward around 11 a.m. Wednesday and tipped over into the parking lot. The crane damaged at least three cars and cathedral buildings. Fire officials said a crane operator was taken to a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. Weinberg said the crane mishap damaged Herb Cottage, which houses the cathedral's gift shop.

The cathedral is one of the nation's most recognizable places of worship, holding state funerals for several U.S. presidents and a memorial service for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, among many other events. Sheryl Wilcox, an event manager for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, said she was in Church House when she was startled by a puzzling noise. "I heard what it sounds like now — thunder — or I thought something had fallen out of the construction truck," Wilcox said.

Source




Maybe its an omen to Obama to hang it up.

500 foot crane....not 500 ton crane

reply to post by loves a conspiricy


LOL - woops



Thanks, I will fix that now...coffee still kicking in

reply to post by summer5



Lol...no problem...lots of news sources are saying it is 500 tons though....i dont see how a crane this small could weigh so much...plus its on rubber wheels, and uses normal roads so i doubt the 500 ton figure is correct.

reply to post by loves a conspiricy


Actually, it is how it reads from where I used the source:

A 500-ton crane doing repair work collapsed Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral amid thunderstorms and driving rain, damaging at least one nearby building and several vehicles but sparing the church.

reply to post by summer5


Yup it reads that, but i think they are mistaken.

You cannot drive a 500 ton vehicle down normal roads.......im trying to find the make of the crane so i can find the true weight.

Other sites/sources say feet not tons also.
www.msnbc.msn.com...

EDIT: Cant find the make but typically a crane of this size would weight no more than 120 tons.

The Youtube captions states:

A 500-foot crane collapsed Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral amid thunderstorms, damaging two buildings and several vehicles. No serious injuries were reported.

500 feet, not 500 tons!

Cranes are rated by the weight they can lift
The more boom the less the capacity the machine can lift
500 feet is a long boom ..
tipping conditions will come into effect with this length of boom

Originally posted by loves a conspiricy
reply to post by summer5

 

Lol...no problem...lots of news sources are saying it is 500 tons though....i dont see how a crane this small could weigh so much...plus its on rubber wheels, and uses normal roads so i doubt the 500 ton figure is correct.

Cranes are rated by lifting capacity
this machine is a motor crane with a conventional boom
it is very possible that it is rated at 500 tons
the ton figure is the lifting capacity with the butt and point sections only
the more boom the less its rateing

need to know the make and model of the crane
Then we can find its specs.

reply to post by granpabobby


It tipped because it had extended to 325ft....was unbalanced.

There are 500t hydraulic cranes like the one in the pic....i doubt this one had all the weights though, as it would be pretty unlikely it would have tipped having a 500t bed.

I think the lifting capacity for a crane of this sort is about 70 tons...i dont think there are mobile cranes that can lift 500 tons...i could be wrong, but i find it unlikely.

Originally posted by loves a conspiricy
reply to post by summer5

 

Lol...no problem...lots of news sources are saying it is 500 tons though....i dont see how a crane this small could weigh so much...plus its on rubber wheels, and uses normal roads so i doubt the 500 ton figure is correct.

The 500 is not a measure of the crane's weight, it is it's capacity. A 500 ton crain can carry 500 tons - very unlikely, This is a small crane lol. So they are deffinately talking about the height of the crane.