'kn'ell!! I don't have any probs with heights, jumping out of a plane etc but there in no way you would get me up there. The swayin' alone would make me sea sick.
Probably lives in the back of the crane humpy , as by the time he climbs down the ladders and stares he'd have to turn around and go back to work again and reverse the process.
Not a job for anyone who gets vertico or is scared of heights.
Wouldn't to be underneith him on the ground when he tosses empty bottles and tins , or empties his potty when it's got floaties in it.
I wonder if Pizza Hut delivers to his crane humpy ?
Nup, never get me up there.
Saw the Burj Dubai up close earlier in the year and it's surprising how un-impressive it is, tho I was a few blocks away(on the left to right freeway, centre of pic) , probably a different story if I was standing near the base looking up!
Thats sure high. I did work for Thiess mining and construction and the crane guys were the first on the site and the last off. They have to go up and down step by step. But they are very very well paid for the job. But doing a job like that you have to be mm perfect when moving stuff around the site and a good ground crew on the radio giving instructions are vital.
From what i am told the cranes build them selfs up. Opening up and moving up a section at a time.
Ahh the good old days. I did enjoy working on tower cranes.
& yes they are self climbing. If you look closely you will notice that the top few m of tower under the main deck is wider than the rest. This is the "Climbing Frame".
The crane itself is not actually attached to the main tower, but to the climbing frame, which inturn fits like a sock over the main tower.
hydraulic rams called "flippers" grab the top of the main tower & push down, litterally lifting the crane body up off the tower for the distance of half of the climbing frame.
So the whole main crane is actually flopping around on 2 hydraulic rams & held reasonably vertical by the climbing frame.
Then the crane drops the hook to the ground & hoists up another section of tower. The boom is raised to almost vertical so that the new tower section is brought in right next to the tower just under the crane body.
THEN comes the fun part.
The Crane Crew (usually 8 people) are climbing in & around the tower & climbing frame. A "needle" or steel beam with a small manual hoist on it protrudes from the climbing frame (look at the tower of the 2nd crane, you can see the needle sticking out) & the crane crew must transfer the new tower section from the hook of the crane to the hook of the hoist on the needle.
Then they drag the hoist with the tower section attached in under the crane body through a hole in the side of the climbing frame & bolt it to the top of the existing tower.
The flippers relax & rest the crane down onto the top of the slightly higher tower.
Then the flippers grab the top of the new tower section & the whole process starts again.
In an average AU city where the cranes are no where near as high, a good crane crew will install 1 tower section every 30 mins.
and quick 
There's absolutely no way I'd ever get up there. I have trouble on tall stepladders.
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