You know, I never really gave much thought into radio towers and how they work. I mean, I know the basic principles of it all. But the actually nitty gritty details such as “How do you replace the light at the top?” never really sunk very deep into my brain. I can now consider that ship sunk after watching a video of a radio tower repairman scaling to the top to replace nothing more than a simple light bulb. If you think it’s a simple task, punch yourself in the face, turn around, and then punch your mother in the face. It’s not an easy job. If you’re afraid of heights you wouldn’t make it. Period.
In the movie (inside), we hear the guy mentioning that you take an elevator to around 1,600ft. before climbing out and spidermanning your way to the top — another 170ft. or so. At that height, you can easily see a solid 55 miles in any direction. Pretty awesome, right? 1,700 ft. may not sound like much, but it is. Further adding to the jaw dropping moment is the astonishing admission by the worker himself that most repairmen don’t take the time to harness up or tie themselves down simply because it “takes too much time” and is “too tiring”. Both of those little gripes are easily solved when falling 1,700+ft. back to earth because you didn’t use a simple piece of safety gear — you’ll sleep great and have all the time in the world…
Morbid jokes aside, I have a new found respect for these guys and gals because my ass is not going up there. The part that got me the most was the last 30ft. or so of climbing in which the dude is dangling on a piece of red metal tubing that’s at most 4″ thick. Yikes! Step inside to see the full show…
Video
Source:
Neatorama
