[Overdrive89]

Blippi was probably the one driving that excavator

[CatBatMan]

Let this be a lesson to you, people! Never do the other work!!

[Martano666]

Originally Posted by gimlet ↗

Probably not murder, unless he planned it or got pissed because the truck left too soon or the trucker fucked his wife. The truck driver is in a possible blind spot of the excavator operator and drives forward as the scoop swings back to the truck. Bad timing or operator error. Would it be safe procedure to keep the scoop elevated when turning to prevent hitting things? I know nothing about earth moving equipment.

Yes excavators are allowed to keep the scoop elevated when turning. Its literally how they dig. They need to scoop it up and often place into the back of a truck or on a large pile.
There should be pylons blocking off the area being worked on, or a person directing traffic. Excavator operators need to be able to work without constant interruption.
I'd say both parties are partially at fault here.

[AngelAssassin]

Originally Posted by spycosis ↗

I'm in Mensa and drove, and built, forklifts for a large part of my career. My family was horrified when I dropped out of education to do logistics and engineering, but it's about doing what you love isn't it.

You’re in Mensa?
Awesome!!! I was prodded to join when I was younger, but I never did.

[AngelAssassin]

Originally Posted by spycosis ↗

that went too far. I don't love forklifts, I mean I prefer getting my hands dirty and climbing up shit and driving stuff than sitting in a fucking board meeting acting all serious like a proper bell end.

Exactly! I agree with your opinion 100% sir!!!

[spycosis]

Originally Posted by AngelAssassin ↗

You’re in Mensa?
Awesome!!! I was prodded to join when I was younger, but I never did.

Yeah you seem pretty on the ball. It wouldn't surprise me if you're of Mensa standard. I think a lot of people who qualify don't apply for one reason or another. It's never too late by the way.

[DeadlySin]

There's usually a mirror on the handrail of the trackhoe, allowing the operator to check his blindside. The trucker holds the most fault in this, as you shouldn't approach from the back of a trackhoe without a swamper directing the operator. You especially shouldn't be inside his swing radius if you aren't sure he's aware of you.

As for the operator, he's already in motion, so a 360 degree walk around isn't a thing. Could've prevented this by not swing to his blindside, especially not as rapidly as he did. Sometimes you get complacent after doing it for so long without incident.

[AngelAssassin]

Originally Posted by spycosis ↗

Yeah you seem pretty on the ball. It wouldn't surprise me if you're of Mensa standard. I think a lot of people who qualify don't apply for one reason or another. It's never too late by the way.

Thank you! I still think about it once in a great while…
Maybe I will look into it again.

[William May]

Originally Posted by AngelAssassin ↗

You’re in Mensa?
Awesome!!! I was prodded to join when I was younger, but I never did.

I was prodded to test for it too, but I was too dumb. LOL!

True story: I joined a group of rocket enthusiasts working on winning the CATS Prize. (lofting 2.2 lbs into space, and having it reenter the earth's atmosphere.) (this was at the beginning of amateur rocket efforts!) They were all engineers of one kind or another. I was the machinist for the group, and made a lot of the parts for our rocket launcher. The rocket was solid fueled, and to keep it stable, the engineers came up with a machine that would spin it up before firing the engine, thus imparting spin to the rocket and stabilizing it on the flight path. The rocket was about 6-8 feet long, with a solid fuel engine that was cast in place. The only part expected to survive the flight was the nose cone, which was machined with a sonic spike to aid when the rocket was traveling faster than sound on it's way up. (and down, of course!) I built the tilt mechanism for the launching drum, so it could be adjusted for the correct flight path. We were supposed to launch from Edwards AFB, but we had a LOT of trouble with the ATF over our plans to mix and cast the rocket fuel on the site before the launch. By the time we finished wrangling with them, someone else had done it and won the prize. I still have all the drawings and stuff in a file.
ANYWHO, the point of all this is just prior to our final construction meeting, I found out everyone in the group was a member of MENSA, except me, of course.

I was irked that the ATF was giving us such a problem, even after the Air Force agreed to host us for the assembly and launch after we had applied for a launch license and submitted all our information to them. (They agreed to track all the contestant's rockets and their data would be considered the arbiter of success or failure, since the launch facility there can track ANYTHING.) so I suggested we just launch in Mexico, which was when I found out it is ILLEGAL for any U.S. citizen to provide ANY type of launch data, design, or parts for a spacecraft, to ANY citizen of ANY foreign country, without the approval of the U.S. government.

So that scratched that, and we were back to fighting with the ATF here. At least of couple of our people were well qualified to mix, fill and cast a solid rocket fuel engine. (Some of them worked for Raytheon Missile systems at the time, so they knew what they were doing.)

The rocket was completed, except for being filled with the engine material, and so was the launching tub assembly. I drove by it once, still sitting on someone's porch just south of 22nd St. in Tucson, but that was the last I saw of it. I think it might have been donated to the Pima Air Museum, but I'm not sure. It never actually FLEW, so it wasn't that historical.

Anyway, that was my little contribution to America's Space Efforts.

[hkfifi]

you gotta be careful where you swang that thang