Counterweight Fly System Training

[erroneousblack]

I was Head Flyman at a WE theatre 20 odd years ago, and was supervising the de-rig of a NYMT show, so was essentially working with a load of kids who were only on the crew because they didn't get a part in the show. Two of the flying bars had been removed, and had their lines diverted directly onto the flying pieces. My brief was to de-rig, then secure the cradles to the counterweight frame, so the production chippies could remove the diverters the next day. After chaining of the cradles I got called to the managers office, the last thing I said was "nobody touch anything"! During the meeting with the manager, which was him basically telling me I was being made redundant, there was a woosh and a loud crash from the stage. I legged it back up to find the kids gibbering wrecks, and a tangled mess of steel wire rope at the bottom of the frame. Turned out a chaperone had decided the kids were being lazy and ordered them to get rid of the wires. The protested, but were threatened with being thrown out out of the NYT if they didn't do as they were told. Luckily no one was hurt, but it serves to illustrate just how dangerous counterweight flying can be.