Large flag collapse

[FMEng]

A very large flag, suspended from two scissor lifts, fell over at a politcal rally. Apparently, the concept of wind load escaped the crew that erected it. They might have gotten away with it had the lifts been turned 90 degrees, to take advantage of the wheelbase being larger than the track. This is a reminder that scissor lifts aren't designed to be used that way. Here's the story.

 

[DaveySimps]

Good reminder to the shortcutters out there. It never ceases to amaze me what people will do to save money, especially in an area that tends to have more money than they know what to do with.

~Dave

 

[JD]

I don't think it's a lack of money. I think dangerous shortcuts are occurring due to the fact that these events are being put together on very short notice by companies that may have never done this type of work before. The "go to" companies may not be available as as many may be in shut-down, or running in a limited state due to lack of other work. Some irony there.

 

[macsound]

Such a weird concept in the first place. If someone who wasn't with this particular party asked me to hang a flag, I'd just hang it from the building. Espically if you're in a hurry, why go to the extra effort of driving the scissor lifts out? I'm assuming they're not rentals for this particular purpose considering one is a 2 man JLG and the other is a 4 man of a different brand...

 

[What Rigger?]

Y'all realize the same corrupt mofo's who botched the pandemic response are the ones putting these rallies together, right? The ones stranding people in freezing temperatures outdoors, or leaving them baking in the heat for Dear Leaders ego stroke....right?

From hypothermia to heat stroke: Here are the horrible things you can get at a Trump rally

"Trump campaign goes into home stretch by infecting, freezing, and burning its own supporters"

www.salon.com

 

[StradivariusBone]

We had to punt our grad ceremony to an outdoor affair last summer as a result of COVID. The school owns a 40x20 American flag drop and they put it to me to explore options of suspending it somewhere around the football field. I told them I wouldn't touch it with a 60' (flag) pole. I did get a quote from a local staging company for truss towers and guying and what all that was approaching $2k for the timeline of setting it up and properly rigging it so no one died.

Needless to say, "Old Glory" stayed in the hamper and everyone was fine.