Window washers falling
"[When] a window-washing platform gave way last Friday, two brothers preparing to clean the black-glass skin of an apartment building on the Upper East Side fell 47 floors. Why did one die and the other survive, though he is grievously injured?
"Five days later, the answer can still be only guessed at. Officials and window-washing colleagues of the two brothers speculated that they tried to ride their platform to the ground, as one window washer said he had been trained to do in such an accident.
"If so, they were relying on basic physics -- the platform would have generated some small amount of wind resistance, slowing the fall -- and luck.
"Fortune, if there is any to be found, was with the brother who survived, Alcides Moreno, 37. He was conscious and sitting up soon after firefighters arrived.
"He was on top of what was left of the platform that they were working on,†said one official who was at the scene.
"The brother who was killed, Edgar Moreno, 30, may have been thrown off the platform as it hurtled toward the ground. The official, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the investigation, said part of his body was under the platform.
"It was a distinctly urban kind of tragedy, one that brought to mind a distinctly different kind of accident -- long-distance falls by military pilots or sky divers whose parachutes failed to open, and who survived." -- from an actual 12.12.07 N.Y. Times story by James Barron and Al Baker.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 12, 2007 at 5:03 PM
comment #1
Kristopher Tapley
says ...
Merry Christmas, Jeff.
Posted by Kristopher Tapley
at December 12, 2007 6:20 PM
comment #2
le corbeau
says ...
Whenever I've worked in an office that was high up and had window cleaners, I've had to leave my office whenever they were outside my window. It's just too unnerving to have a guy on the outside, moving around on a skinny little platform.
Posted by le corbeau
at December 12, 2007 6:54 PM
comment #3
iracane
says ...
I read that the window washer who died landed on a fence which severed his body in half. So the secret to surviving a fall of that magnitude? Look out for fences.
Posted by iracane
at December 12, 2007 7:01 PM
comment #4
christian
says ...
God forbid there should be a safer way to clean windows.
And remember how easy it is to escape from a burning building more than 20 stories tall in New York. 9/11 didn't change much.
Posted by christian
at December 12, 2007 7:26 PM
comment #5
Leonardcoenbrothers
says ...
At least they didn't direct Porky's.
Posted by Leonardcoenbrothers
at December 12, 2007 7:39 PM
comment #6
Movie fan09
says ...
2 things:
one-why not have windows that flip open toward the office so that people can clean it from the inside and have a latch on them to keep them set.
two-why not wear parachutes?
Posted by Movie fan09
at December 12, 2007 8:23 PM
comment #7
MAGGA
says ...
three why not make the cleaners clean while bungee jumping from, moving airplanes?
Posted by MAGGA
at December 12, 2007 8:48 PM
comment #8
berkguru
says ...
Most pointless post ever on your site
Posted by berkguru
at December 12, 2007 8:58 PM
comment #9
Aris P
says ...
And that's really saying a lot.....
Posted by Aris P
at December 12, 2007 9:25 PM
comment #10
rocco
says ...
...or safety ropes that unspool from the roof?
I'm at a loss as to why this was posted here...Wells doesn't usually report on deaths like this...maybe he has some inside knowledge that a drunken Mexican cut the cord or that one of these guys spun their wheels creatively and didn't do anything to elevate the window-washing craft? Or maybe Spielberg owns stock in the maintenenace company that has the contract for this particular building??
Posted by rocco
at December 12, 2007 9:39 PM
comment #11
bmcintire
says ...
Wasn't there a recent post about the un/believability of some character plummetting from a great height and surviving? I can't put my finger on what film it was from or who started the argument, but I am reasonably sure it happened on Jeff's site.
Posted by bmcintire
at December 12, 2007 10:04 PM
comment #12
hotbabe
says ...
...or safety ropes that unspool from the roof?
My friends on casualpal.com said so
Posted by hotbabe
at December 12, 2007 10:11 PM
comment #13
sutter kane
says ...
It's The Bridge of San Luis Ray.
Posted by sutter kane
at December 12, 2007 10:14 PM
comment #14
BurmaShave
says ...
Lately the trend is for guys on harnesses to repell up and down with a sponge. Much safer. But the first time it happened outside across the building from mine it scared the hell out of me. I thought they were being breached by the Impossible Missions Force.
By the way, I know it was cancelled becuase of 9/11, but I'd love for someone to ressurect the old Jackie Chan movie idea about the windowwasher. Oh also all you guys who actually took time to say "Most pointless point ever" should really consider shooting yourselves in the head.
Posted by BurmaShave
at December 12, 2007 11:04 PM
comment #15
scooterzz
says ...
right after the '98 oscar noms were announced, this was the joke du jour....
i know, i know....i just couldn't resist (and it's STILL not the worst post ever.....
'a man on a window-washing platform was thrown off-balance while preparing to clean the windows of a 55th floor penthouse......blown off the platform, the man's fall was broken by several tree branches and awnings and he landed, completely unharmed in the leather back-seat of an open mercedes-benz convertable......
a stranger, passing by, said to the completely unharmed man, 'my god, i just saw that whole thing...you must be the luckiest man on earth'
to which, the completely unharmed man replied, 'nooooooooooo......greg kinear is the luckiest man on earth'
i will probably regret this....
Posted by scooterzz
at December 12, 2007 11:45 PM
comment #16
AJW
says ...
Reminds me of the 9/11 story that Jeff wanted them to shoot instead of the Cage/Pena "last two out" one. It was about the guy who kind of surfed down the side of one of the falling towers and survived.
Don't know why he posted this, though.
Posted by AJW
at December 13, 2007 6:36 AM
comment #17
storymark
says ...
"Wasn't there a recent post about the un/believability of some character plummetting from a great height and surviving?"
I could be wrong, but I think I recall a discussion around here about The Island, and the implausability of Ewan and Scarlett surviving a large fall, in which the role a sign down to the ground.
Posted by storymark
at December 13, 2007 8:34 AM
comment #18
Sean
says ...
"two-why not wear parachutes?"
I don't remember the exact terminology to explain this fully, but a person falling off of a building is not falling far enough to be falling fast enough for a parachute to be effective.
Posted by Sean
at December 13, 2007 10:22 AM