Floating bulldozer to crack through B.C. ice jam
Sorry but it looks nothing like a "bulldozer". It looks like an excavator. Funny enough, the story itself explains that it is an Amphibex Excavator. Some headline writer does not know of what he writes obviously.
It sure sounds like an expensive way to remove an ice jamb. At the beginning of this saga back in December of 07, I could not help but wonder why they did not simply blow this thing. Guess over the years we have forgotten more than we have ever learned from our elders. Its a frickin ice jamb, a few well placed sticks of dynamite would have cleared this thing in no time at all. Strange how a "third world" country like China still knows how to deal with these.
Nowadays, explosives dropped from aircraft are used to break the ice dams before they become dangerous.
It must be rocket science...
4 comments:
"5.5-kilometre ice jam "... ROFLMAO .. and they're gonna break it up with that little thing... LOL...LOL...LOL ... Hug some more trees BC....
Makes you wonder don't it. Perhaps they will just keep whacking away at it till spring thaw does the real work. It is just some unions make work project now.
I been wondering the same thing about the dynamite, Tim.
But..."just" an ice jam? You know how much pressure builds up in any kind of jam? And it's unstable, to boot. Not exactly a playground. But a small explosive charge dropped from a helicopter into the sweet spot woulda cleared this sucker up a long time ago.
Chimera...
Yes, when it first started back in December it was "just" an ice jam. Had they dealt with it back then with a bit of explosives, it would now be a non issue. I know very well what forces are behind these things. I have had the opportunity to be around a small beaver dam while it was being blown. Thanks Gramps! You see, I come from a long line of Welsh coal miners who then became Canadian coal miners. They used dynamite for many things. ;)
Post a Comment