May 16, 2006:
Last Grace superstructure blast and a show
Kim Wood and Gary Eaton came to the rescue. Sparky is working on the Katrina
rebuilding in Mississippi but listened by mobile phone,
y'all know where I am - half a world away but Kim was on the barge and
captured the action from the Cooper river while
Gary was on the spot - near the Motley Rice building.
It is interesting trying to infer the program from still photos. Since
both Kim and Gary caught the air action, my guess is that
there was an air show just before the button was pushed
- reminding me of the C-17 overflight after the Ravenel opening and adding
a bit of homesickness to me. But I'm coming home Friday for a couple of
weeks and looking forward to seeing my family and my bridge friends.
Meet Kim Wood, the lastest addition of our unbuilding photo group
Driving across the Ravenel. It is impressive to me that the earth has
rotated so that the morning sun is now on the north side of the Ravenel bridge
(8:48 am).
At 8:57 - the Ravenel, C-1 and C-2 Pearman piers,
the soon-to-disappear west Grace cantilever,
C-3 and a topless C-4 Pearman pier.
Before - at 9:47 and the C-17 and F-15 flyby. It is wonderful to realize
that folks are still viewing our web page. When I make an error - in
this case, not seeing the difference between an F-15 and F-18 - several
people sent me the correction. Mike Crawford also explained that
The F-15's are in town doing maneuvers with jets from Beaufort,
Shaw (Sumter) and McEntire (Columbia)
Kim's view of the flyover
A close view with the C-17 (and F-15) flyby at 9:38
Kim'v view of the flyover - and (I think) one of the Demolition Dynamics guys
enjoying the show
Bill Galloway, our friendly Fire Marshall from Columbia catching the video
Before: 9:55:32
Oscar on the left, some of the Demolition Dynamics team - David on the right
Kim's view from the river - just after detonation
and a Graceful drop into the Cooper River
Here is Gary's sequence - @ 9:55:33
9:55:34.00
9:55:34.33
9:55:34.67 - Note the fire around the floor edge girders
9:55:35.00 - continued ignition
9:55:35.33
9:55:35.67 - SPLASH
9:55:36
9:55:37
9:55:49
9:55:50
9:55:54
9:55:56
9:58:16 - this will keep Michael, Jackie and the divers off the streets for
a few days.
and a very pleased Oscar