EVERETT — Zipping through the Boeing Co.’s jet factory on a golf cart, Ron Peterson waves to co-workers and calls out.
Although the 61-year-old appears at ease on the floor, Peterson truly looks at home several stories up, seated in an overhead crane. He chats while maneuvering within feet of the tip of a 747-8’s tail. Child’s play, compared with the moves Peterson has been asked to make as a crane operator at the jet maker’s widebody aircraft factory.
The position is “the best job in-house,” Peterson said.
Besides being a crane operator, Peterson also has an added layer of responsibility. He’s what’s known as a “slingman.” It’s sort of a troubleshooter, liaison-type role that Peterson has filled on and off for 16 years on all three shifts.
“You get to learn what’s going on in different parts of the factory,” Peterson said.
Fellow crane operator Pat Clements offers similar accolades for his job of nearly 32 years. Clements enjoys the “freedom of being able to roam everywhere” on the nearly 40 miles of crane tracks that run up and down the bays of the factory.
Boeing employs about 120 crane operators who work in three-person teams during each of the company’s three shifts. Three members of a team rotate positions — one up in the crane cab, two on the floor helping to guide the load.
“You kind of have to keep an eye on everybody,” said Clements, 54.
Each week, the teams shift to a different part of the factory, which keeps them from becoming complacent in their tasks. That’s an aspect both Clements and Peterson enjoy.
But it means that crane operators need to know how to lift every aircraft part that’s movable on each of Boeing’s four widebody jets built in Everett.
“You have to know a lot about the weights and the lifts,” Clements said.
But even seasoned crane operators like Clements and Peterson have to keep up with the constantly changing nature of Boeing’s factory. For example, Peterson said, although crane operators are picking up the same sections of the 747-8 that they did for the 747-400, the weights and maneuvers are different.
For Peterson, Boeing’s new 747-8 Freighter brought with it the opportunity to make the heaviest lift ever: the 747-8’s wings attached to the fuel tank. The section weighs nearly 144,000 pounds. After the top fuselage section is attached, it’s too heavy to be lifted by the overhead cranes.
Staring out over the massive 747-8, which, somehow, looks even bigger from above, Peterson remembers the now-famous lift. It didn’t make the Mount Vernon resident nervous.
“You’ve got to be focused up here,” Peterson said. “There’s no room for nerves.”
Peterson and Clements keep in mind that the parts they move are not only extremely heavy but also extremely expensive. The wrong move could cost millions of dollars. The wrong move could cost lives.
Boeing provides training for its crane operators, many of whom come to the company with outside experience, such as Clements and Peterson. But that experience only goes so far.
“There’s a crane operator and then there’s a Boeing crane operator,” Clements said.
The difference: the precision demanded by Boeing. Crane operators can be asked to lift thousands of pounds with only about a half-inch of wiggle room. And consistently, Boeing’s crane operators do their jobs without incident. The crane crew makes a mistake less than one time in every 100 lifts they perform, Peterson said.
The difficulty of the crane operator’s job makes the position an admired one among Boeing workers. And, by the sheer function of their work, crane operators are influential at Boeing. If a section can’t be lifted, production can come to a standstill.
Still, nobody tells a crane operator to hurry, Clements said. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
When Clements, a resident of Lake Serene, started at Boeing, the cranes were outfitted with something similar to a fish scale. With the 777, the cranes were equipped with computers. The computers offer instructions on how to move just about every large structure at Boeing.
But Clements relies a lot on his own experience. He can feel when a load is becoming off-balance. If that happens, the crane shuts itself down.
Clements points out that crane operators don’t just lift aircraft parts — wings, fuselage sections, vertical fins.
“We lift everything liftable,” he said.
When Boeing makes changes to its production floor, as it did for the 787 and as it’s doing on the 767, crane operators play a role.
“We built this whole factory,” Clements said.
Operating Boeing’s overhead cranes isn’t a job for everyone. Crane operators have to be in good health given the associated safety concerns. And they can’t be afraid of heights.
But that isn’t a problem for Peterson, who keeps people guessing about his retirement. The only thing it seems that could drive Peterson away would be boredom. With new jet programs and a factory floor in flux, that doesn’t look likely.
“If you can give me something that’s got a challenge to it, that’s what I love,” Peterson said.
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