Realized I was spotting loads wrong after 11 years on the hook

I mean, I've been running cranes since 2012 and always used the load line to judge how far the hook was from the tagline. Last Tuesday on a job in Gary, Indiana, the operator I was paired with told me to watch the boom tip instead. He said the load line can swing with the wind, so my spot was off by a few feet every time. I thought he was being picky, but then I tried it on a 14,000 lb steel beam and the tagline guy grabbed it first pull. Now I check the tip position every time before I call out. Has anyone else been doing it that way the whole time, or was I just the slow one?

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the_elizabeth6d ago

The part about the load line swinging with the wind got me thinking... nobody ever talks about how the tagline guy's own position messes with your spot. If he's standing off to the side, his line of sight to the hook is different than yours, so even if you nail the boom tip, you're calling distances based on your angle, not his. I've seen guys argue about who's "right" but it's really about who's standing where. Maybe the real fix is having the tagline guy call out the distance to you instead of you guessing for him, especially on a windy site like Gary. Just a thought, but it might save you more than a few feet next time.