Saga of fourteen pipe-layers...

[flateric]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zum_yisPEVI&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Y-OWLFDW0&feature=related

 

[Orionblamblam]

So... not exactly to plan, I take it.

 

[bobbymike]

Are these videos from Russia? If I assume they are I have had many business clients in the oil and gas service sector try and go to Russia to lend their expertise to that country's O&G industry to try and increase production and efficiencies. To a person they were quite shocked at the lack of concern and the lack of safety and environmental standards.

One story I remember was a large diameter pipeline company was inspecting a Russian pipeline that had a leak in about every second weld with standing pools of oil underneath. The Russian guide said not to worry this was the best section and they were happy with the work.

 

[Nik]

The scariest part is that they'll probably have tipped everything upright using that one that re-bounded, shoved the pipe over a few feet, tack welded the joints then moved onto the next length after cracking another case of vodka to celebrate their timely progress...

Slightly OT: I was in the right place at the right time to chock a BIG concrete sewer pipe that a gang of kids set rolling towards its trench.

( Remember the WW2 Great Panjandrum scattering spectators ?? This only lacked pyros... )

But where was the watchman ?
Escorting to hospital a kid who'd climbed under safety railings and fallen into said trench...

 

[sferrin]

This one still takes the cake IMO. To give you an idea of the scale, the little 1-pixel tall ants at the base of the drag-line at the left are people. Running. ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OOg7vL3rNY

 

[Orionblamblam]

This one still takes the cake IMO.

I dunno... this one is pretty good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWlj5nEqRCE

 

[Orionblamblam]

Of course, nothing's quite as good as rockets doing things they're not supposed to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qeX98tAS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9u-h_btBo

Warning: the second one comes equipped with a lesson in Advanced English: Colorful Metaphors 101.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

The roman candle effect near 3 minutes in the first video is rather spectacular.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Nik]

I can't find any video but, IIRC, one of those enormous slip-cast oil platforms the Norwegians brewed had to be ballasted down so the 'production' stuff could be slid onto the top. Some-one got the compressive strength wrong, and the base imploded. Blub !! Fortunately, there's lots of room at the bottom of those fiords...

 

[Orionblamblam]

The roman candle effect near 3 minutes in the first video is rather spectacular.

That's a Polaris gone wrong. Looks like the seocnd stage decided to go off a bit early. In doing so, it burned a hole in the forward end of the first stage and ignited it. Having holes in both ends of the case meant the propellant would happily exhaust out of both ends, and resulted in, more or less, zero net thrust. Note at the end the motor seemed to burn out for a seconds, then start back up, only to shut down again. If the video hadn't been cut off at that point, I suspect it would have cycled back and forth like that for a while. What was happening is that the hole in the forward dome was getting bigger and bigger, thus the available port area was far bigger than the motor was supposed to have; the motor would actually blow itself out due to the large port area and low chamber pressure, and then when chamber pressure began to settle back down, the propellant would superheat and re-ignite. Rinse and repeat. A process known as "chuffing."