OK, so I am marking lines, through this horrible thicket. The client has a DOZER out there, with an operator.
He has already gotten LOST once, and took off across the wrong line.
So, as it gets later, the client has a beer. And, being the nice guy that he is, he offers one to the Dozer operator. And, offers me one too.
I decline. I drink 1-2 beers a year. That's quota for me.
Back to work. The Dozer operator is now MORE aggressive... I am out in FRONT of him. It is a NEW dozer. VERY NICE one. Air conditioned, and not very loud. But the brush is too thick, to see me. So, I turn the LIGHT on on the bottom of the Javad LS. NOW the dozer guy can see me. I turn around, and RUN, through the brush. And, he chases me through the brush. Keeps him on line. Gets the line cleared. My gawd. I don't think it was quite as safe as all things... but it was about 800' of terrible brush. He would push trees over, and I had to stay AHEAD of all the trees too. Wow. Took about 20 minutes. Went back later, and marked the lines. I was using a FLOAT to keep off the neighbor's property, and get a trail through.... Wow.
That was a first.
All I can say is wow.
It ended well.
Job is done.
Nate
So now you can drink one of your annual beers in celebration!
I was pretty freaked out when I got home. That dozer was new. It was fast. It was not backing up very much. It was an epiphany moment. Maybe I could die. I don't go there often. Not even sky diving!
N
Nate The Surveyor, post: 391198, member: 291 wrote: I was pretty freaked out when I got home. That dozer was new. It was fast. It was not backing up very much. It was an epiphany moment. Maybe I could die. I don't go there often. Not even sky diving!
N
You needed a cooler of beers for the dozer operator. Every 5 or 10 minutes take him a cold one and you get out ahead of him while he's drinking it.
I don't like being around heavy equipment with the air-conditioned enclosed cabs when I'm on foot...weighed down by a bag o' lath, rover and a big hammer. Seems like in days past you could always at least whistle real loud and get the operator's attention. But with the cab (and stereo no doubt) those dozer operators are isolated except for their visual.
Nate The Surveyor, post: 391194, member: 291 wrote: OK, so I am marking lines, through this horrible thicket.
It ended well.
Job is done.
Nate
I've done that. Except not with a dozer. Nate, you either have small trees, or a really big dozer on your project. Because around here we have Eastern White pine trees and Hard Maples that even a D8 dozer would struggle with. A few years ago I used GNSS to rough stake 22 miles of roadway on a wind turbine project. They cut tress with a feller buncher (TigerCat) , and we used two way radios to communicate. The operator was called 'Axe Man' - feller buncher and I was 'Eagle One' - the eyes in the sky. Axe man could reach 35ft in one pass. So I rough flagged the center of roadway every 50ft using float, and even autonomous positions with checks using a compass. Axe man would leave my flagging and cut a 35ft path along on one side. Stacking piles of trees for the grapple skidder to pickup and take to the chipper. They could chip entire trees up to 30" diameter. Then Axe man would make a return path for another 35ft cut along the other side of the road. Then eagle one would come back and pound lath along the centerline with grades. With that 70ft cut, the GNSS would now get a fixed position.
They are small trees. Most are less than 6" dia. But, VERY THICK. He cannot tell what he's doing. He can see that light on the bottom of the GPS shining at him, and I turn and run some more.
I had been trying to get him to PICK UP the pace all day. After the beer, well, he was comin' on!
Chased by a dozer.... new experience for me!!!
Being out in front of that action sounds too harrowing for me. I would have been tempted to stake the line in his wake and let him keep an eye on his 6 to keep going in a straight line in the right place.
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
His dozer was a Caterpillar D-5, short track. It was so enclosed, that it was scary. Well air conditioned. Having been frustrated all afternoon, by his overly slow manners, the quickened pace was welcomed... I do think I'd think of another method, if I had a "do over".
N
I failed to mention that I was not as close as you were to the machine. I was always at least a day ahead of the axe man.
I surveyed a dozer accident scene...the operator got ejected out the open door and it rolled and landed on him.
With the seatbelt on the operator fatal odds are 30% first roll, 70% second roll, 90+% third roll. It's because their head contacts the inside of the steel roll cage.
I have always kept behind the dozer and have him to line up with me and the instrument or other identifier object like flaggin or poles.
When the Forestry Service was clearing lines, it was easy, they had radios to converse over.
I have done similar and been whipped by some limbs in a plum thicket. Then I got smarter and got on the track hoe steps and just pointed which direction to go. RTK worked on top of the hoe but wouldn't on the ground. Made the job much more enjoyable!
Done it many times flagging highway RW clearing lines. But always too much cover to be in front. Usually pick a line that will run straight thru and stay on RW and keep some painted stakes behind the dozer for the operator to line up with.
Did this once at Fort Campbell for about a mile along the edge of a new rail yard. The dozer guy kept vearing off to the side and I would have to get him back on line. When we stopped for lunch he told me he was blind in one eye.
...and could not see out of the other! 🙂
(Sorry, it just flowed that way!)
N
I'm going to yell at you like I do with all the crazy people in TV shows and movies. They have a vehicle of some kind chasing them, so they run straight away from it until it runs over them. Nobody ever thinks to go sideways a few feet to safety. Never, ever.
In your case, all you had to do was turn off the light and go sideways until he stopped.
No, I had an orange shirt on. IF he caught glimpse of me, he take off on wrong trail....
And, I was actually GLAD he finally was doing what I'd been after him to do all along... just not so fast!! I went with it... to get it done. Not the wisest move, but it got done! Next day, I went and marked the line... he did not show till 4:00 pm! That is why I went with it.
N
I did the same thing once. But, on a snowmobile. Had a skidder following me, pushing through a burnt out forest. Everyone here should know, how much fun it is cutting line through burned out trees. Boss was on the gun behind us, giving me line through the radio. Was next to impossible to hear him with all the noise. "HE IS GOING TO FAR WEST!!!! GO EAST!!!"
In hindsight, no idea why we didn't give the skidder operator the radio.
Ring-Ring.
Mr. Nate, this is John your insurance man.
I understand that you have another child on the way...........
He he he... I have done some crazy things in my time.
Let's see.... Getting married.
Learning to ride motorcycles, standing on the seat, no hands.
Skydiving.
I even brought home a new dog the other... with no warning!
Say, where is my coffee?
On this chased by the dozer, by a mildly inebriated operator.... I don't know... maybe I sobered up. But somehow I became aware that it was not so smart. Trees crashing. Dozer coming. Get far enough ahead, turn on that light, and flash it across the direction of the crashing sound.... Turn it off, and run some more... wow.