November 2, 2014

"Massive drill bit nearly skewers New Yorkers in packed subway car."

"Somebody made a mistake; maybe a surveyor or a field engineer... They drilled into the street, but didn’t realize they were right over the F train tunnel. They weren’t supposed to be in that spot.”

36 comments:

rhhardin said...

GPS doesn't work with all those buildings reflecting the signal.

Original Mike said...

Those people are screwed.

Anonymous said...

It was union workers running that drill. Can those dumb shits ever do anything right?



Bobber Fleck said...

A metaphor for government competence?

traditionalguy said...

That was Sexist by definition. The distracted MAN who drilled there was just between cat calling at pretty white women.

Humperdink said...

Regulations to over-flowing in New York City. Thousands upon thousands of regulations. You'd think there would be one regarding drilling into a populated subway car.

campy said...

I blame Sarah Palin and her violent, eliminationist rhetoric.

Anonymous said...

Big deal. Harvey Keitel had already drilled through a sidewalk and impaled a subway train. With his penis. Four women in the train subsequently became pregnant.

Hari said...

Shovel ready. Not drill bit ready.

Bruce Hayden said...

I couldn't care less, but decided to check to see if anyone else actually did care. And, no surprise, no one really did.

tim maguire said...

Interesting that they pretend not to know who did it. But the reality is, if it hit the train, it would have shattered with a loud but mostly harmless "BANG!!"

Lance said...

I love the juxtaposition with the lottery ads. Another ultra low probability event run by government.

richard mcenroe said...

Venezuala Norte.

Michael K said...

I can think of a joke similar to the definition of a tragedy with an empty lawyers bus going over a cliff.

I guess I don't like New York.

They have certainly elected a great Mayor.

Wince said...

Let this be a lesson to all you "fracking" supporters!

The train would have been hit had they been "drilling sideways".

Anonymous said...

Blame the union workers. It's impossible to get competent help for $75 an hour.

Peter

Drago said...

madisonfella: "It was union workers running that drill. Can those dumb shits ever do anything right?"

They are pretty good at attempting to remove the secret ballot from union representation elections.

They were also quite good at funding mob related enterprises for decades.

Vet66 said...

I find it difficult to believe that any of these union clowns had no idea there was a train tunnel beneath them. No nearby steps down to the platform? How many gas, water, electrical lines did they just miss as they harpooned their way down to the subway platform? Inexcusable in that it could have ended up with criminal loss of life.

Drago said...

I blame the white patriarchy.

If a woman was running this operation she would have coaxed the dirt from mother earth to part all by itself.

Scott said...

Boring.

Hagar said...

The drilling crew drilled where the survey crew marked for them to drill.

It is not that hard for the survey crew to be given bad information about where to mark. It happens.

It is about a 3½-4 inch drill bit; not 10 inch.

It screwed down slow. If it had come down on the train while the train was moving, it would have done some damage to the roof; then the train would have bent or broken the drill bit.

No danger to anybody, but yes, an embarassment to whoever was running this job.

Anonymous said...

There auger be a law...

William said...

We all have bad days. Branson and his team of rocket scientists had a worse day.

Robert said...

No image better illustrates the Republican War on Women than a giant drill penetrating the nether regions of New York City.

“He stalked and terrorized her with a huge erect, phallic-like power drill the size of a jackhammer. The giant whirring bit of the drill came down between the killer's legs in a symbolic pose. It penetrated through her supine body and into the floor. It emerged from a hole in the ceiling in the room a floor below. Blood tricked down through the opening.”

— AMC Filmsite’s “Greatest Movie Death Scenes” on Brian de Palma’s “Body Double” (1984).

Christy said...

Sound like city workers had faith that other city workers kept all the schematics up to date.

Sam L. said...

NYC: More Dangerous Than You Imagined! Film at 11.

Hagar said...

and I very much dislike the massive misuse of "massive."

n.n said...

The chaos conundrum. It may be improbable, even impossible, but it will still happen, when it's least expected.

FullMoon said...

Right spot, wrong depth, or wrong spot entirely.
Saw a picture in the paper years ago of boats laying on a drained lake-bed. Someone drilled into an abandoned salt mine and drained the lake.

Always wondered, who was the guy who said "Bring 'er down a little bit more, Charlie"

Rusty said...

Hagar said...
The drilling crew drilled where the survey crew marked for them to drill.

It is not that hard for the survey crew to be given bad information about where to mark. It happens.

I find it hard to believe in a city where construction is as well documented as NY. There must be a datum point every fifty feet in any direction. By the look of it somebody got lazy. And I'm with David. hat other infrastructure did they drill through along the way.

Anonymous said...

RE : "Always wondered, who was the guy who said "Bring 'er down a little bit more, Charlie" "

Catherine the Great's stable boy.

Danno said...

adamsunderground said...
There auger be a law...

11/2/14, 11:14 AM

I'm sure Mayor DeBlasio and company will enact some city ordinance that augurs well for the people! I kind of think that ordnance is the best solution for NYC.

Drago said...

betamax3000 said...
RE : "Always wondered, who was the guy who said "Bring 'er down a little bit more, Charlie" "

Catherine the Great's stable boy

Channeling Mike Meyers: "Helllllllllooooo!!!!!"

sdharms said...

If you think that is a MASSIVE drill bit, you don't get out much. Massive is 12ft or more in diameter used for tunneling, and 12-18in-24in are routinely used for oil well drilling.

Unknown said...

Ironically, it was the New Yorkers themselves who created a scenario whereby they were at risk of harm from the large bit, known by tradesmen as a "DeBlasio"

Anthony said...

Hagar, that's definitely a ten-inch auger. Hollow-stem augers mostly don't come in less than 8-inch size, and a dewatering outfit will often use large drills.

The driller should have known something was wrong; drilling into air is different, and a halfway competent driller will notice, even if he'd been given the wrong instructions or the location is mismarked.
Locations do get mismarked, or marked late; I've directed a driller into a 12 kV power line that was marked as being 6 feet away from where w were drilling, and into a 6-inch water line; the first guy on the scene was the guy who was supposed to have marked the location by the day before.