Young Frankenstein

[BobJ]

We are going to fly a table with two people on weighing about 750lbs. We have used packs of weights we put on the platform to counterbalance the ropes weights. Wondering if anyone had flown heavy objects and what the mechanics are, you have used?

[kerry davies]

I think it would be foolish if you took advice on this from an internet forum other than "get the experts in". Flying humans is a speciality of it's own and with weights over one third of a ton the first question is whether you have the lifting points or rigging capable of handling the task. I would seek out the US equivalent of Flying by Foy and possibly a structural engineer to first check whether what you intend is possible where you intend to do it.

[Jivemaster]

What do you intend to fly from? Roof RSJ washing line? Make sure first that your support points will carry both static and dynamic loads with a safety factor. Get a suitable, insured professional from your area to check your figures, do the tests, and come with liability insurance.

Could you reduce the weights somehow. Raising and flying your 750lb load will use power

[Dave m]

I am no expert in flying but...

It's a lot easier to lift than fly.If the table only needs to go up and down and is ideally against a wall then consider existing mechanical lifting gear

[david.elsbury]

Your past posts seem to indicate your experience level at “enthusiastic amateur “. Please get in an expert so you don’t hurt anyone

[dje]

This does sound a little suspect.

My belief is that it falls under the banner of performer flying, so therefore I would direct you towards the ANSI 1.43 standard for performer flying; which will give you some idea over roles and responsibilities in how you manage this.

I would be very reluctant to do it with hemp flying (which is what you seem to be describing) and fairly reluctant to do it with counterweight. A minor human error in calculation or handling could result in serious injury or death.

However I'm going to guess from your profile that your organisation probably lacks the funding to contract a performer flying company to do this for you. You're looking at thousands of dollars per day. One simple suggestion above is to lift from below (the connotations thus are a little different and it would no longer constitute performer flying) or I'd say this is probably something you could do with multiple chain hoists or a hoist-assisted fly bar. So my inclination would be that if a performer flying company is out of the budget, a good entertainment rigging company may well still be within the scope of suitability.

Edited September 26, 2021 by dje