Most Mind Blowing Jobs - Helicopter Lineman

[Ivan Seeking]

For better or worse, for the thrill or the terror, what do you think are the most mind blowing jobs?

At least one on my list is that of the helicopter lineman.

http://www.helicoptermonthly.com/images/helinas2.JPG
http://www.helicoptermonthly.com/vertical_detail.cfm?CFID=4144450&CFTOKEN=50981702&ItemID=193&CategoryID=18

 

[wolram]

They can keep that one Ivan, it is dangerous, but i would try it once.

 

[dextercioby]

I think helicopter painting would really give me the thrills. Painting it in red,white and blue and a little green,of course, would really excite my senses and make my adrenaline run. And doing it every day for the rest of my life sounds really awesome. I wish that was possible. I'll wait for the day when i'll be offered such blowjobing mind, ooook, make that mind blowing job.

Daniel :zzz:

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Okay, so you have an attitude problem. We get it.

 

[brewnog]

Ten out of ten for the eye-catching thread title Ivan...


I've always quite fancied Rope Access work. I'm a bit of a climber so I suppose it's natural to want to do it for a living. Not quite as fearsome as yours though.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

How about being a mortician? I have never understood why anyone would be attracted to that line of work.

 

[brewnog]

How about being a mortician? I have never understood why anyone would be attracted to that line of work.

The joys of medicine without the risk?


My dad had a pretty exciting job when he left college. He worked as a technical photographer for the MOD. A particular favourite of his was working on weapons tests; taking high-speed (250,000fps) footage of 155mm shells hitting concrete bunkers, to analyse shrapnel breakup or something.

Anyway, apparently there was this little old lady (tealady or cleaner or something) who was always present on testing days, who had a very noisy pet chihuahua. One afternoon, a few of the weapons techs got fed up with this dog's persistent yapping. I won't say what they actually did with it, but the poor creature spent its final few seconds traveling at 550mph over Salisbury Plain.

 

[Pengwuino]

lol well you sure got hte 'blowing' part right there brewnog.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think all the guys who participated in the carving of Mt. Rushmore must have been pretty much crazy.

 

[Averagesupernova]

Building the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Do some research on it. I'm sure it exists somewhere on the web.

 

[TOKAMAK]

I think when they were building the st. louis arch, the insurance company predicted that there would be 11 deaths involved with the construction... however, there were no major accidents (as far as I know)

 

[Evo]

How about being a mortician? I have never understood why anyone would be attracted to that line of work.

Money.

A girl I knew when I was in high school used to do makeup on the dead people in her dad's funeral home. You cannot imagine how much profit there is in planting dead people on your property. She came to school in a chauffeured limousine and they owned their own private jet to fly them to their vacation home in the Virgin Islands.

 

[cronxeh]

I think paramedics/emts/firefighters and cops have the most dangerous jobs in big cities

Edit: morticians? pfffbt. If I had nothing better to do I'd do that. I am not swayed by dead people/ bodily fluids/injuries/etc. Just another biochemical goo that needs some sociological apraisal and proper containment

pfft.. yea I said it

 

[Astronuc]

How about a test pilot for Experimental aircraft like the X-series? Dropped from a plane, then hoping the rocket ignites without blowing you up, then traveling at a high rate of speed, and then trying to land - in a glide.

The Space Shuttle glides to landing too - at some point, you only get one chance.

Or lunar astronaut - as in Apollo - one shot at landing also.

Or diving to the bottom of the Marianas Trench -

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, water exerts a pressure of 1086 bar (108.6 MPa or 15,751 psi).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I've been told that working on a fishing boat is still pretty hairy. From what I heard someone always winds up dying or being seriously injured.


As far as mortician goes I've never really had a problem with dead things except for the smell. I may react differantly though if I were to come in contact with a dead human.

 

[Averagesupernova]

I think when they were building the st. louis arch, the insurance company predicted that there would be 11 deaths involved with the construction... however, there were no major accidents (as far as I know)

There were no deaths at all. Beyond that, I don't know.

 

[Grogs]

How about a test pilot for Experimental aircraft like the X-series? Dropped from a plane, then hoping the rocket ignites without blowing you up, then traveling at a high rate of speed, and then trying to land - in a glide.

The Space Shuttle glides to landing too - at some point, you only get one chance.

Or lunar astronaut - as in Apollo - one shot at landing also.

I think I'd love anyone of those. The question wouldn't be 'how much does it pay,' but rather 'how much do I have to pay to get it.'

At one point, I would have said Army parachute riggers. When I was in the Airborne course, we had a black hat (drill instructor) who inspected one of the student's rigs and told him to take it off because it was packed improperly. Within a few seconds one the rigger who packed it showed up and started raising hell: "What do you mean it's packed wrong? I don't pack parachutes wrong! Give me that $%^&*@! thing!" He then proceeded to get on the plane and make a jump with the parachute to prove his point.

Later, when I was into sport jumping, I met a guy who used to test jump parachutes. He would do things like intentionally pack line-overs so they could see how new parachute designs would perform in the event of a malfunction. He had 109 cutaways, which at the time was more jumps than I had.

 

[The_Professional]

I'm surprise no one mentioned crab fishing. It ranks up there in the top five most mind blowing jobs ever.

 

[Astronuc]

I'm surprise no one mentioned crab fishing. It ranks up there in the top five most mind blowing jobs ever.

What's the criteria for mind-blowing job? How would crab fishing reach top 5?

Does mind blowing infer high stress?

How about disarming unexploded bombs or ordnance, or clearling landmines? Talk about stress and the need to concentrate.

Have you seen the caption thread with the guy holding a paper bag behind another guy who seems to be working on a bomb?

 

[The_Professional]

What's the criteria for mind-blowing job? How would crab fishing reach top 5?

Does mind blowing infer high stress?

How about disarming unexploded bombs or ordnance, or clearling landmines? Talk about stress and the need to concentrate.

Have you seen the caption thread with the guy holding a paper bag behind another guy who seems to be working on a bomb?

Yes, mind-blowing as in high stress risk-your life type of job. Clearing landmines would be up there.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I'm surprise no one mentioned crab fishing. It ranks up there in the top five most mind blowing jobs ever.

I mentioned working on a fishing boat. I met someone once that worked on one and he may have been exagerating and being macho but he made it sound like it was pretty darn hazardous.

 

[Astronuc]

Well working on a fishing/crabbing boat can be hazardous with heavy equipment, winds, and choppy water. It's gets worse when working in cold waters, say off Newfoundland or Alaska, or up in the Arctic Sea, especially when a storm blows in.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Well working on a fishing/crabbing boat can be hazardous with heavy equipment, winds, and choppy water. It's gets worse when working in cold waters, say off Newfoundland or Alaska, or up in the Arctic Sea, especially when a storm blows in.

Yes. I was told that the equipment isn't always very good either and that there are people with little practical experience who in the hussle make mistakes that often result in severe injury and death. In the ideal situation it probably wouldn't be so bad but if the situation is rarely ideal it could possibly rank rather highly on the risk scale.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There are some jobs in industry that are pretty bad. For example, industrial electricians do some very dangerous work. Another one that gets me are high rise steel workers; esp in the old days when they didn't even use safety harnesses. And any large construction project can be risky. IIRC, and though they also beat the odds, when planning Golden Gate Bridge construction probject, the standard used was approx one death per million dollars spent.

 

[Astronuc]

Offshore fishing has been a cutthroat business for years, especially given dwindling marine stocks in some areas. One can make great money - but the risk of losing one's life is pretty high. Some owners fail to maintain equipment, and some don't provide appropriate gear (weather apparel) for the really cold climates.

I considered it about 30 years ago - but stuck with science and engineering.

 

[hypatia]

I have a friend whos daughter has become a fire jumper for the US forestry. Imagine, jumping out of a perfectly good helicopter into a raging fire!

 

[FredGarvin]

Jobs like this:
http://joe-ks.com/archives_nov2003/HeightFright.jpg

 

[hypatia]

I would get all the way up there and discover I had to use the bathroom.

 

[BobG]

I would get all the way up there and discover I had to use the bathroom.

If you were a guy, you'd intentionally hold it until you were up there - "Hey, Ed, think I can reach the next block over?"

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

Platoon Sergeant for a Casualty Replacement Platoon is the most mind blowing job I've ever had. Try and imagine the look on a kids face when you tell him in no uncertain terms to pack his trash because he's next. Later that evening imagine the phone calls from family members that include MANY curses and threats of bodily harm and death to me and my family. Most were of the "eye for an eye" sort. I don't wish that job on anyone.

The guy with 109 cutaways HAD to have owned an unobtanium set of twig and berries. Imagine, if you will, someone PURPOSELY packing a parachute wrong and jumping out of an airplane with it just to see what it will do.