I had an eye opening incident a couple weeksago. Was bombing a 25' top out of a white pine, fairly tight DZ between a row of pines and the deck... Bucket was maxed out, from the drive, probably 50-55' high. I was mostly concerned about the row of pines... a misdirected fall would have stripped the bottom limbs out on two 80' trees needed for privacy on the edge of the back yard... so I intentionally cheated the gun slightly towards the deck... Another op had done all the previous work, so this was my first cut... he had flipped the upper boom over the lower, which I personally hate to do, and will only do when absolutely needed, which isn't much on a 75' elevator. It just so happens that this boom drifts a little when you come over the lower boom...
I made the notch but wasn't happy with it.. I don;t remember what it was that I didn't like, but just as I was about to fix it, the boom drifted pinning the bucket to the tree... Completely threw my focus off.. I got pissed as it took a little time to extricate the bucket... Now I had to re-position so that if the boom drifted, it wouldn't pin the bucket again. By the time I got back to the notch I took a look at it and thought, it'll be OK... so I made the backcut only top watch the top fall 10º off the lay and land right across the deck... small miracle with a top that big falling that far, there was no damage.. the back of the deck was a bench, not a railing.
That was an eye opening event though.. about the importance of maintaining focus.. equipment maintenance and ground support are a big part of that... there is a little more to the story than that.. I took a look at the hinge after the fall and it looked fine.. must have had side lean that I didn't compensate for.. maybe the notch was not level.. really not sure why the piece didn't go to the lay..
