Aerial Silks WLL

[venuetech]

Would it not be safer just to have a rigger set the silk point? Rather than some bamboo structure installed.
That and some insurance coverage with the venue as additionally insured. Perhaps limits on any high stress moves, such as drops, swings and spins.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Would it not be safer just to have a rigger set the silk point? Rather than some bamboo structure installed.
That and some insurance coverage with the venue as additionally insured. Perhaps limits on any high stress moves, such as drops, swings and spins.

I agree wholeheartedly, but I think it's becoming (as always) an issue of cost. Looking at the links provided it's at least as expensive to buy a freestanding rig as it would be for a flying company to rig it. We do require that the client provide liability coverage for their event, but I'm not even sure the client is signing off on this yet.

 

[Amiers]

Honestly I would make them foot the insurance, the cost of rigging, and you to make it all happend.

 

[AVerderyAerialRigging]

Hey, I realize I'm coming to this game waaaay late, but this thread popped up in a search I was doing and caught my eye so thought I might shed some light on all this. When I am speccing any aerial rigging I START at a 2000# attachment point for the apparatus for a single person. This covers most situations, though sometimes you need to look a bit closer as to what's going on on the other side of the point and run the numbers. I saw the comment about Hall Associates hanging a flying rig from the linesets - please understand that a theatrical flying rig is very different than a circus rig, especially in function. It's very difficult to create a shock load with a harness performed on a glorified curtain track (no offense to Peter Foy, I wouldn't be doing what I do without him), whereas circus performers seem to get paid based on the amount of shock loading they do in a routine. When you run the calculations with the right numbers on a silk, you wind up with a 220# guy hitting a hard 6' drop generating just under 8kN of force, which sortofkinof translates to 1750#. A 110# beginner who is MAYBE doing three foot drops might hit around 700-800#. The big mitigating factor here is the stretch of the material itself as stopping distance is a massive modifier in shock load equations. Pros tend to use a 'medium' stretch fabric which can have up to 50% stretch, making the stopping distance quite a bit more than the 1" used by the OP. Ultimately, though, the right answer to all of this popped up a few times in this thread - if you're get asked fly someone, hire an aerial rigger. We're a lot cheaper on our day rates than the liability claim that's lurking around the corner, and way more fun!

Aaron - www.otvaerial.com