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Note that the tower doesn't really look like that picture in the nypost - it's a much more portable looking affair: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y9QMBDPnazGT1cgj9 ht
by nickcotter 3y ago
Note that the tower doesn't really look like that picture in the nypost - it's a much more portable looking affair: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y9QMBDPnazGT1cgj9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y9QMBDPnazGT1cgj9
- imglorp 3y agoA few guys with plasma cutters and a winch could have that pieced and loaded on a flatbed in no time.
- huytersd 3y agoNot easily. Those metal tension cables are dangerous to cut and it’s going to have to fall like a tree in some direction.
- alistairSH 3y agoThese towers often have several sets of tension cables at various heights, so you could cut the outermost/tallest set, drop the top-third of the tower, and work your way down. Still dangerous, but it's not always "bring all 500' down at once".
- cf100clunk 3y agoThere are YouTube video compilations showing exactly what you've described.
- marcosdumay 3y agoMetal thieves are not known for following strict workplace safety protocols.
- huytersd 3y agoSure, but if you’ve ever been around high tension mental cables before you’ll realize you need a huge pair of balls to cut those. It’s not safety protocols, it’s fear that it might cut you in half.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoActually, as I learned from MythBusters, a wire snap will be unable to server a limb or worse. You will still be dead, but your body will be intact. https://mythresults.com/episode62 https://mythresults.com/episode62
- yourapostasy 3y agoContainer ship dock line snaps on the other hand...
- tyingq 3y agoAlso Navy aircraft carrier arrestor cables. Like: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/04/us/around-the-nation-two-sailors-die-as-cable-snaps-in-carrier-landing.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/04/us/around-the-nation-two-...
- m463 3y agoIf you cut a wire under tension at the very limit of its range on one end, can it hurt you?
- sillysaurusx 3y agoI had the same question. Intuitively, I don’t think so, but that’s based on nothing but simulating it in my head. In reality you might risk the tower collapsing on you if you cut too many.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- discardedrefuse 3y agoWhy even cut the cables? Wouldn't they just back out the tensors at the anchors and do it all under control?
- mynameisnoone 3y agoThat's how I would do it without remote cutters, a small shaped charge, or thermite. Fall direction will be completely out of control, so it would be worth being close to the tower to reach a safe area.
- lttlrck 3y agoI don't see how you would have less control by backing off tensioners vs. destructive approach. You don't have to release all guys at once in either case.
- asadotzler 3y agoMy tower has 8 guy wires and each is easily released from the ground with hand tools.
- cf100clunk 3y agoAlmost certainly that tower was of galvanized steel, so if the mystery adbuctors had knowledge of welding or metallurgy (no idea if that was the case) they'd know that plasma cutters would be toxic overkill unless they knew how to paint/paste where they cut. Portable chop saws would do just fine. I witnessed pros take down a radio tower by remote-controlled chop saws cutting the guy wires sequentially.
- snypher 3y agoOld timers will say, incorrectly, "just drink some milk" On a serious note, a short term exposure like this probably wouldn't be that harmful*, and they seem like risk-takers already so the hazards are factored in for them.
- rapjr9 3y agoOff topic, but why are there no remote control chain saws? Seems silly to stand next to an engine driven chain that could fly off at any time.
- plasticchris 3y agoThere are - a sort of tracked vehicle with an arm that can chop down a tree, hold it, and scrape off the small limbs before stacking the log.