Posted by David Sherman on Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 10:39PM :
In Reply to: Re: How not to hoist posted by Ted Piche' on Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 10:20PM :
I first thought that was an outrigger, but looking carefully, you can see that it is present in all the photos, including after the wrecker went into the drink. The main clue that there was no outrigger is in how far the springs are compressed on the loaded side of the wrecker.
The heaviest pull should have theoretically been just as the car cleared the water, since that's when it still had the most water in it. As the water drained out it should have gotten lighter, but the wrecker didn't fall over until it was quite a ways above the water. Most likely the car was swinging, or the operator jerked the boom upward or something.