Just another day at the office....
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That photo in the center worries me if that is somewhere a wheel could hit it.
So glad I dont do runway work anymore???or any construction for that matter.?ÿ
I had a crew working on a topo at a controlled metropolitan AP.?ÿ I always preferred the uncontrolled APs, but work is where you find it.?ÿ We had actually finished the surface topo but we were tidying up small final details like MH and inlet depths.?ÿ I had sent only two hands to finish the work.
Being at the mercy of ATC when moving around is always a pain in the butt.?ÿ Needing to be 100' away on the other side of the runway can take thirty minutes or longer.
Anyway we had pre-scheduled a closing of the main taxiway for a half hour.?ÿ There were a half dozen or so storm grates running right down the center of the main taxiway that needed the depths measured.?ÿ Closing the taxiway was the only solution.
Well it happened.?ÿ One of my hands got the rectangular grate a little sideways with the pick ax.?ÿ The grate fell about 10 feet to the bottom.?ÿ They called me (80 miles away) to find out what to do.?ÿ I called the AP manager and explained.?ÿ He was pissed.?ÿ We had private, commercial and military aircraft all lined up with nowhere to go.?ÿ After about an hour and a half the city water maintenance crew, their JD rubber-tired backhoe and some amazing talent fished a cast iron grate out of the hole and free commerce was restored.
You wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork the FAA generated from all their meetings with me, the engineer and the AP manager.?ÿ?ÿ
The AP manager never forgave me.?ÿ All he ever said to me was, "You'd better be glad you were finished with your survey."
And you didn't answer with, "And what if I hadn't been done?"
It sounds like that most inane of all 'customer service' statements, "I will do it this ONE time!"
Well....those grates are about 350lbs.?ÿ We almost dropped one the same but with less traffic pressure.
Yeah. I invoked a"we will never?ÿ be moving those grates ever again" edict because they need to use the equipment for that purpose, we'll measure, you move the heavy metal.
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Well....those grates are about 350lbs.?ÿ We almost dropped one the same but with less traffic pressure.
Yeah. I invoked a"we will never?ÿ be moving those grates ever again" edict because they need to use the equipment for that purpose, we'll measure, you move the heavy metal.
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It was a big deal.?ÿ One good thing that came out of the whole mess was that almost all of the storm inlets that were anywhere near aircraft on that project were rebuilt with round grates (basically a MH cover with holes in it).?ÿ I think the AP manager had a lot to do with that.
PS - If folks would pay attention to as-builts, keep good records and update them if anything changes we wouldn't be needing to pry the lids off to measure anything.?ÿ 😉
....as was heard by my first chief 15 years my junior(I was a post graduate, other career person before Surveying) "why are we doing this now didn't they know what they were building?"
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