Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/06/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I was asked what is unsafe about this work situation? The "tongs", the long wrench extending from the drill pipe to the right, is the most dangerous piece of equipment on an oil rig. The pipe itself is clamped in a "kelly," the rotating table at the feet of the roughnecks. The kelly table twists the entire length of drill pipe, sometimes over a mile, to rotate the drill head If the kelly table starts to rotate before the tongs are released, the heavy handle spins around breaking bones and doing other bad things. - - - Yes. F8 at 1/125 and be there. Works for me. During the 70s I was a member of a National Academy of Sciences panel on the best and safest techniques for extracting oil from offshore drilling locations. I appended a lot of pictures to my reports showing safe and unsafe practices encountered on oil rigs. No elaborate photo equipment used. Most pictures were taken with a Rollei 35 on Plus X, zone focused, set at f8 and 1/125 second. The camera was small and innocuous looking and didn't intimidate anyone. No one ever asked me to stop taking pictures. It might even be OK on the streets of NYC. Here is an example, not great esthetics but adequate for the purpose. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/_22Tripping_22+the+drill+pipe+2.jpg.html Larry Z