Working with planes

qantas crane doing a fly by

On a job that is near the airport and on the flight path,  planes taking off go straight over the crane. 

There are rules that apply to cranes working in a flight path, for a fixed tower crane they must have a red light fitted to the highest point on the tower crane to ensure they are visible to pilots.

In our case we have to call the airport control tower and inform them at what time we will be starting work and when we will be finishing work as we can show up on their radar and we are close to the planes. 

We also have to keep our crane below 30 meters height.  This is achieved by either not fully extending the crane or by not fully luffing up and keeping some angle to keep the crane low.

Its kind of fun working near the airport but I dont know how anyone lives there, the sound violently vibrates through the crane cabin every time a large jet flys by. 

*UPDATE*
Had someone from Sydney airport come to site today, to check that the height we are working at is below 30 meters, and to tell us to not operate in bad weather or when there is low cloud as the pilots have reduced visibility.  Height of crane was 28.4 meters so all good there,  I have made sure the jib is 29 m instead of 30 just to be extra cautious.

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