I'm a published novelist who's getting a crash course in concrete pumping for my latest manuscript. It will include a scene in which a pump truck tips over after the ground destabilizes. I send my thanks in advance to any of you pros willing to help me answer these questions about pump truck operations:

> How many workers are typically involved in a pumping operation with, say, a 40m truck and multiple horizontal slabs?

> Are any of the truck’s systems operated from inside the truck cab (such as the movement of the boom) or are all the operations conducted outside of the truck via remote control and cable? Is there any reason for someone to be inside the cab during the pumping?

> What are the emergency procedures in the event a truck destabilizes?

> Do the pump operators typically position themselves in a particular location (such as near the truck or near the hose) during the pumping?

> What is likely to happen to the concrete mixer in the event the pump truck overturns?

Thank you!

E Healy

I have bad time now but I'll try to send you my ideas about these questions after the weekend. But I think by then you will have loads of answers already

A novelist can never have too many answers, Dipstick. Thanks for your time!

Sounds like you need to choose your answers wisely.

Always wisely, of course. But I am writing fiction.

i already sent you a pm with my opinion on your questions but i was just thinking that there are so many different opinions and ways that people pump concrete it really does depend on what area of the world you are in and even the company that you work for. If you have a setting picked out for your novel already you may want to try to talk to someone from that region to find out how they would do things. there are regional variations in climate, soil type/consistancy that present different hazards at different times of the year when it comes to ground destabilization.

anyways just a thought.. different strokes for different pump operators as it were... :)

Deaner

Deaner, THANK YOU. Incredibly helpful info in your PM. I'm glad to hear that there is a lot of room for operators' personal preferences, because it gives me a lot of options. The novel's setting is intentionally unspecified, for reasons that don't have anything to do with the pumping operation. But this scene will take place near water, as the pump is pouring onto a floating foundation, as pictured here (see photo gallery at the bottom of the web page): http://amphibioushomes.weebly.com/floating-foundations--bases.html

Thanks again for your guidance. I hope others will also chime in. 

I am also a writer of fiction, but am very knowledgeable about all aspects of the concrete pumping industry.  I would love to serve as a technical advisor for your project.  Assuming you do not want to post your email address, please contact the concretepumping.com administrator and tell them you want to get in touch with Ready&Willing.  I will give them my contact info to give to you.

I'm writing a novel where I need to know about nuclear protocol in strategic bombers.  Do you have any air force sources?

Thanks,

Ready&Willing.

Thanks for being Ready&Willing, but I'm not in search of an adviser at this time. Sorry--having never written a military thriller, I can't advise you on the nuclear angle.

If you don’t want to pis of any operator take an earthquake to tip your pump ground gets hydrated don’t mater how much pads you use he is gonna tip!

Do not fear--no operators shall be maligned in the writing of my novel. I intend to blame a sinkhole. And perhaps an engineer.