Devon Tower Terror Ride for Window Washers

magna19 · May 16, 2019

I noted the wind while watching it live. Looked at a live webcam near there. Checked the mesonet wind readings in both Oklahoma county sites near there. And the wind on N side of lake hefner was 12-17 at the time. The wind never gust over 17 mph at the time. Altitude could be different though. The light weight of the cage may have been a contributing problem.

magna19 · May 16, 2019

O4L said:
I was watching this as it aired live on KFOR. They said the wind at that time was 20 mph. (Measured from wherever they get their info from).

I would think that at the height that this happened and with the wind being funneled between the two points of the tower, that the wind could have been blowing at a significantly higher speed there causing all the swaying around of the basket.

Whatever the details are that caused this, it was pretty scary watching it at the time not knowing if at any second one of the cables holding the basket might break or become disconnected, or the basket itself coming apart, and seriously injuring or killing the two men.

Yep could have had a funnel effect for sure creating turbulence hitting one side more and getting the crazy swinging we watched.

TerryMiller · May 16, 2019

Many, many moons ago, I worked as a night security guard at the 36 story skyscraper known then as Liberty Bank tower. Even on fairly calm days, one could notice that wind currents around the building were interesting. The building was undergoing the construction of what was called The Petroleum Club, which was the top three floors, and they had a plumb-bob hanging from the ceiling. At the lowest level, that plumb-bob was swaying 3 feet at one time. The building engineer also took me to the roof and demonstrated the wind-factor by throwing his hat over the side of the building. The wind tossed it right back up on top of the roof.

All that said, I suspect that with the design of the Devon Tower, the wind funneling through there could be VERY interesting to say the least.

magna19 · May 16, 2019

They looked like hang on until rescue arrives. Then the grip they had looked weaker as more time went and decided a try at grabbing the building a few times to stop the swinging.

magna19 · May 16, 2019

Perplexed said:
Wonder what they were saying after the initial shock had worn off, and they’d been flopping around a while?

TerryMiller said:
Many, many moons ago, I worked as a night security guard at the 36 story skyscraper known then as Liberty Bank tower. Even on fairly calm days, one could notice that wind currents around the building were interesting. The building was undergoing the construction of what was called The Petroleum Club, which was the top three floors, and they had a plumb-bob hanging from the ceiling. At the lowest level, that plumb-bob was swaying 3 feet at one time. The building engineer also took me to the roof and demonstrated the wind-factor by throwing his hat over the side of the building. The wind tossed it right back up on top of the roof.

All that said, I suspect that with the design of the Devon Tower, the wind funneling through there could be VERY interesting to say the least.

The building design probably caused a faster updraft of wind with the rising am temps.

magna19 · May 16, 2019

The basket would settle for a moment and appear to get a lift on one side to start the swinging again.

1911Sooner · May 16, 2019

A couple of real swingers.

John6185 · May 16, 2019

The scaffold acted as a pendulum attached to the cable, pehaps if the cable wasn't so long it wouldn't have swung so violently.

GlockPride · May 16, 2019

Nope. I’d resign. Take me down, stop by the church and say a prayer and grab some beers for the house. Next day, polish resume and send out.

dennishoddy · May 16, 2019

TerryMiller said:
Many, many moons ago, I worked as a night security guard at the 36 story skyscraper known then as Liberty Bank tower. Even on fairly calm days, one could notice that wind currents around the building were interesting. The building was undergoing the construction of what was called The Petroleum Club, which was the top three floors, and they had a plumb-bob hanging from the ceiling. At the lowest level, that plumb-bob was swaying 3 feet at one time. The building engineer also took me to the roof and demonstrated the wind-factor by throwing his hat over the side of the building. The wind tossed it right back up on top of the roof.

All that said, I suspect that with the design of the Devon Tower, the wind funneling through there could be VERY interesting to say the least.

I spent a lot of time on the stacks at Sooner Power Plant monitoring and calibrating the emissions equipment. Some at the 250' level and some times at the 500' level for other maintenance issues. We couldn't go up if the wind was over 35 mph because the stack swayed so much. It was very noticeable even on days with light wind. They are designed to do that.

Devon Tower Terror Ride for Window Washers

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