I wouldn't want more than 3 up there ever. one to load, one to hand bricks to the loader, and one for communication to the floor. two people is doable. One person is just dangerous. usually with four or more, they get really talkative and non-workative. Besides, I never really liked the idea of loading more than one thing at a time. It's just too much of a chance for bad things to happen.
I think the number sepends on the available people. I think I posted about this somewhere. I did one show where we brought in lots of MLs and being the only trained flyman available- beside the LD who had to deal with the lights on the ground- I got nominated to handle upstairs. We had to pull several hundred pounds of weight, so two assistants went with me. Before we went up I explained to them that it could be dangerous if they didn't listen and the LD also explained that this wasn't the time to screw around. They then would not help with pulling the cables that we were supposed to on the way up, and went on to the up to the loading bridge while I did the cables because they wanted to go do the "cool dangerous stuff". The LD wouldn't let them start until I got up there, so they sat there while I worked. When I finally got up there they refused to listen and did everything as stupidly as possible. They passed off weights over the open areas and stacked them too high. When the LD called up to me to hold at 4 weights off b/c he hadn't put a pipe in and didn't want it badly out of weight, one of them acknowledged him then didn't tell me and kept pulling weights. It was a miracle we didn't have a real problem since it was problably a couple hundred pounds off at times.I wouldn't want more than 3 up there ever. one to load, one to hand bricks to the loader, and one for communication to the floor. two people is doable. One person is just dangerous. usually with four or more, they get really talkative and non-workative. Besides, I never really liked the idea of loading more than one thing at a time. It's just too much of a chance for bad things to happen.
I think the number sepends on the available people. I think I posted about this somewhere. I did one show where we brought in lots of MLs and being the only trained flyman available- beside the LD who had to deal with the lights on the ground- I got nominated to handle upstairs. We had to pull several hundred pounds of weight, so two assistants went with me. Before we went up I explained to them that it could be dangerous if they didn't listen and the LD also explained that this wasn't the time to screw around. They then would not help with pulling the cables that we were supposed to on the way up, and went on to the up to the loading bridge while I did the cables because they wanted to go do the "cool dangerous stuff". The LD wouldn't let them start until I got up there, so they sat there while I worked. When I finally got up there they refused to listen and did everything as stupidly as possible. They passed off weights over the open areas and stacked them too high. When the LD called up to me to hold at 4 weights off b/c he hadn't put a pipe in and didn't want it badly out of weight, one of them acknowledged him then didn't tell me and kept pulling weights. It was a miracle we didn't have a real problem since it was problably a couple hundred pounds off at times.
I've also reweighted by myself, and while not fun, it was certainly less dangerous than that.
Usually we only have one person loading/unloading weights. That is, unless we have to train someone.How many do you send up? Does it depend on how many lines are going to be loaded? Does it depend on any circumstances?
I'm even less of a fan of people loading/unloading completly by themselves. I.E. pulling the lock and running up the grid and pitching bricks.
The reason I ask is my main theater is a 2100 seat road house. I am new here in the past they have only been sending 1 up. It is 85' up to the loading bridge. We only ever move 1 line at a time, unless it is a touring broadway, and then that is dictated by the head carpenter. They send up teams of 2. It is usually 2 teams if not 3, but then we are doing multiple linesets at a time.
In my case, the method I use is dictated by the limitations of my venue. The Irvine Bowl does not have a catwalk at the top of the linesets for loading weight onto the arbors, so whenever possible I try to do my re-weighting at deck level. My only other option is to take the weight up in our scissor lift, which ends up blocking access to the lineset from the deck. Also, about 90% of the time, I'm working by myself when I'm adding weight to or removing it from an arbor. For that reason, I am never in a hurry when I do this. Fortunately we don't fly a lot of scenery as we have only 9 ft. of fly space above our 13 ft. proscenium, so I'm usually re-weighting electrics. I never fully strip my electrics when I'm working on them. I'll pull 4 lights, for example, then re-weight immediately before moving on to the next section.
I HATE doing that one!!!
By the way how do you feel about one person handing weights to another person who rests it on the top of the weight stack then a third person places it correctly. I find this is easier because our loading dock has lots of rails in the way.
The topic of this thread has always been about how many Weight Loaders are appropriate, not about how many total hands are required.The talk of some one loading a rail by themselves scares the hell out of me. There should always be at least 2 people working on the flys at all times. I like to have more but if I really HAVE TO HAVE only 2 people working on the flys then I like 1 on the deck and 1 on rail. But I PREFER and for saftey reasons, like more to be working on the deck and up in the air at all times. At least 2 people up top and 2 to 4 working on the deck with one calling cues on either end.
"Calling cues" during pig slinging? I think not. MORE people, particularly on the rail, makes an operation LESS safe. My policy is only ONE person (the Head Flyman) runs the Lockrail and calls instructions to the Loaders during Ins and Outs. During Performances, no more than the number of simultaneous moving lines, which will rarely be more than three on any theatrical show.
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