# Proper Fly Rail Commands



## willbb123 (Nov 1, 2008)

At the theater that I work at I do alot of the flying and loading weight. I know most of the commands but there are some I can not remember.

I know:
Lineset number 12 coming in. and the response is Thank You.

When you are loading weight,
Loading Weight on lineset 12. response is Thank you. But I cant remember what you say when you are done. I always just yell Clear, or Lineset 12 complete

I've googled and searched the wiki but can not find anything. I would really like to it the proper way.


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## icewolf08 (Nov 1, 2008)

I am not sure if there is a "proper way" other than the way that venue you are working at uses. As long as you are clear with what you are doing so that the other people around you know what is going on, that is the key.


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## Footer (Nov 1, 2008)

I usually throw an "upstage, midstage, downstage" when bringing in things to the deck. Also, when you start loading and finish loading a given arbor, repeat back the number of bricks thrown both times, just to confirm. Other then that, just be sure that people actually here you on deck.


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## gafftaper (Nov 1, 2008)

Yeah the bigger question is what are your safety protocols for people working below you. Do you use some sort of tie off, stick in the lines, or use a locking device like an "Uncle Buddy"? Do you require people to clear away from the rail while loading? How far away? How do you know they are clear? How do you as a crew deal with stray actors and others who don't know the protocol on the deck when loading is going on? Remember if you drop a brick from 50+ feet up and it hit's something on the way down it can bounce WAY out toward center stage. If it hit's someone on the way down there is a very small chance they will live. As the other guys said what you say doesn't matter as much as the fact that you have a well planned out clear protocol and everyone in the building follows it precisely. 

Since you are asking the question, I'm guessing you are at a high school and you don't have a real expert technician working with you. This can be VERY dangerous. When rigging goes wrong people die. The best advice I can give you is to hire a trained professional to come into your school and train you how to safely use the system. I'm also going to guess that is beyond your budget. So my second choice would be to call your local college/university and see if there is someone there you can talk to about safely using your fly system for free or next to free. I bet you can find someone who would be willing to come do it if you buy them lunch afterward. I would if you were in my area, it's a great way for me to recruit for my college's theater program.


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## cdub260 (Nov 1, 2008)

The single most important safety precaution for any high work is to make sure that everyone in the area knows what to do in the event that someone drops something. In every venue that I've worked in, the person who drops the item is supposed to yell "heads" or "heads up". When the people down below hear either of those terms, they are supposed to immediately get as far away from high work area as they can, as quickly as they can. They are not to try to figure out what's going on until whatever is going to happen has happened.

Regardless of what procedures your venue has in place for this type of incident, everyone working in the space needs to know what those procedures are and follow them without hesitation. In this type of incident, hesitation can get you killed.


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## willbb123 (Nov 1, 2008)

*Re: Propor Fly Rail Commands*

Thanks for you responses.
I am actually in college, and I have been trained, I just forgot some of the commands. When we are loading weight we only have necessary theater staff on stage (no actors, all staff is trained). The guy on the fly rail locks the rope and walks to the end past the rail, sometimes inside a door. I know they are clear cause they yell clear or Ill make sure they are if they are. We normally do all the loading before actors arrive, but there actors they have to stay in the house or in the dressing rooms. 


gafftaper said:


> Yeah the bigger question is what are your safety protocols for people working below you. Do you use some sort of tie off, stick in the lines, or use a locking device like an "Uncle Buddy"? Do you require people to clear away from the rail while loading? How far away? How do you know they are clear? How do you as a crew deal with stray actors and others who don't know the protocol on the deck when loading is going on? Remember if you drop a brick from 50+ feet up and it hit's something on the way down it can bounce WAY out toward center stage. If it hit's someone on the way down there is a very small chance they will live. As the other guys said what you say doesn't matter as much as the fact that you have a well planned out clear protocol and everyone in the building follows it precisely.
> 
> Since you are asking the question, I'm guessing you are at a high school and you don't have a real expert technician working with you. This can be VERY dangerous. When rigging goes wrong people die. The best advice I can give you is to hire a trained professional to come into your school and train you how to safely use the system. I'm also going to guess that is beyond your budget. So my second choice would be to call your local college/university and see if there is someone there you can talk to about safely using your fly system for free or next to free. I bet you can find someone who would be willing to come do it if you buy them lunch afterward. I would if you were in my area, it's a great way for me to recruit for my college's theater program.


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## derekleffew (Nov 1, 2008)

Footer said:


> ...Also, when you start loading and finish loading a given arbor, repeat back the number of bricks thrown both times, just to confirm. Other than that, just be sure that people actually hear you on deck.


To elaborate:

During loading/unloading, I've found it useful to repeat back the instructions to the other party:

Flyman: "Load 450 pounds on lineset 12."
Loader: (before starting) "Loading 450 pounds on lineset 12."
Loader: (when complete, spreader plates restored, locking collars tightened, and all personnel clear) "450 pounds on lineset 12. Complete."
Flyman: "Thank you. Testing lineset 12."

It's a long distance (usually) from the loading bridge to the lockrail, and miscommunication is frequently the cause of accidents.

(Some houses work only with number of bricks, and half-bricks, as a unit of measurement, which puts the onus of calculating weights on the Master Flyman. Others, especially road-houses with a traveling crew who have no idea how much your bricks weigh, will use pounds. Either is acceptable, depending on circumstance.)


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## bdkdesigns (Nov 1, 2008)

As far as calls go, we use Derek's method. The only difference is that we use the brick count, which the ME is responsible for calculating.

As far as how far away people have to be before the loader gets the clear to load weight, we have to be past the proscenium arch. We are lucky to have wide wing space so it is far enough away. For instance, on the opposite side of the stage, we have the Montana Rep national tour set up in the wing, which gets built over the summer and goes into tech right after Christmas for a Spring Tour.


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## Sayen (Nov 1, 2008)

cdub260 said:


> The single most important safety precaution for any high work is to make sure that everyone in the area knows what to do in the event that someone drops something. In every venue that I've worked in, the person who drops the item is supposed to yell "heads" or "heads up".


I would advise against "heads up." That tends to encourage people to do just that - look up. I brought rock climbing terms into my theater. When something falls, announce the item. Dropping a rope off a bridge, yell "rope!" and the crew below should know to look down or move. My students use "object!" if they drop a frame or other hard object - so people on the floor look down and move away. Keep the money maker pointed at the floor, as they say.

When bringing in a lineset, the response of "Thank you!" should imply that whoever said Thank You is spotting you onstage, and watching for collisions or other people entering the space - since the fly person cannot always see the entire stage.

After a fly, I usually call out, "Fly complete!"


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## derekleffew (Nov 1, 2008)

Sayen said:


> ... I brought rock climbing terms into my theater. When something falls, announce the item. Dropping a rope off a bridge, yell "rope!" and the crew below should know to look down or move. My students use "object!" if they drop a frame or other hard object - so people on the floor look down and move away. ...


For better or worse, "heads" is a universal theatrical term. Yelling "weight" if a pig is dropped could have dire consequences.

Of course, the *first* rule should be DON'T DROP ANYTHING! when working at height.


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## Sayen (Nov 1, 2008)

Right - along that note, especially with the uninitiated, empty their pockets and tie tools to their bodies before they go up. Something like a stage weight should never fall, period. When I taught in a facility with a counterweight system we used the call, "Moving Weight - Clear the Floor, clear the Rail!" to move people away from the fall zone after securing the lineset. Slowed the labor down, but a falling weight and the risk of injury or death is unacceptable. "Run" is also a valid call in an emergency. It all depends on how the crew is trained and how organized their leader is.

Yelling Heads Up is probably standard across every industry, but people almost always look up - again, especially the uninitiated such as actors or rental customers. Announcing that a rope is coming down, or hollering run, gets a much more specific response. As a training facility, I teach my crew why Heads Up has problems, right along with the importance of not dropping anything, ever. They'll know the term if they go somewhere else, and hopefully remain safer in my facility.


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## propmonkey (Nov 1, 2008)

at my college when the response of thank you is given it is given as "thank you (repeat what they are responding to)" ie "1st electric coming in!" "thank you 1st electric" i find this good because then you know they hear and understood what warning you gave. 

a questions: where did the phrase "heads-up" come from?


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## icewolf08 (Nov 1, 2008)

I actually have found some very interesting things thinking about this discussion. When I was in school, if we were throwing weight the procedure was to clear the deck past cetnerline to the opposite side of the theatre from the fly rail. This of course leads to significant delays in working. My professors told us that it was mostly a liability concern for the college and that we wouldn't find many working theatres that follow the same practice as time is money.

After leaving school I found this to be mostly true. As an ME at a regional theatre, it often takes my crew 15-20 minutes to throw weight for an LX hang. I can't spare that time and have people only work on half the stage. However, the crew knows that if the loaders were to yell "heads" or anything else to the effect of having dropped bricks (which thankfully has never happened on my watch - knock on wood) then they need to get out of the way ASAP.

Also, for throwing weight, I generate all the weights for positions, Lightwright is a big help for this, but always end up slightly off (for me anyway). I generate a printed report that I can send up with the loaders so that for the initial loading we don't have to yell to communicate, it helps to lower the chances for miscommunication. After the initial loading we test weights and add or subtract as needed.

In terms of calls that we use:
• "Lineset X coming in" or "Lineset X going out"
• "Loading Weight"
• "Weight/Loading Complete"
• "Rope!" or "Line In" When dropping rope
• "Instrument in" when lowering units on a line
• "Cable in" when lowering bunches of cable
• "Genie in" when coming down in a lift
• "X Scenery moving" when moving large set pieces or automation


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## Footer (Nov 1, 2008)

I have been in a theatre twice when a brick has been dropped. Both times the person was not able to get heads out fast enough for anyone to actually react. Usually it happens at strike when pipes are being dumped. The person usually can not figure out what actually happened enough to clearly yell what is going on. I would keep this in mind because you will not have time to properly react in a given situation. Due to this, it is imperative that you clearly know where to be when weight is being loaded. The guy who dropped a weight at the place I was at over the summer was extremly well trained and had thrown weight all summer without incident. It does happen. Don't let yourself be under it when it does. Both times I have seen it was in a double purchase house so the weight hit the fly rail and stopped, because they were trapped in by the rail. 

WEIGHTS DO FALL. PLAN FOR IT.


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## waynehoskins (Nov 1, 2008)

That all pretty much matches what we did in college. Any time I had to go up to either the loading bridge or the grid, I made double sure to remove anything from me that could fall.

We never had really accurate measurements on now much weight to remove, at least from what I remember. Pipe weight was clearly marked, though, so when we were stripping a pipe it was obvious where to stop; and we knew that a pair of legs weighed so-many bricks, however many it was, which I think was 32 pounds per brick.

The deck below our flyrail platform (which was elevated about 7 feet) was a common thoroughfare between scene shop, costume shop, dressing rooms, audience chamber, and pretty much anywhere else stage-right. Because of that, we were really careful to not have people walk across that side when throwing weight (and this was in theatre practicum, which all theatre majors took, so we had actors and costumers and all around).

Clear the deck, clear the rail (which for the rail usually consisted of walking to either the upstage or downstage edge of the platform). Loading on lineset so-and-so. Lineset so-and-so clear. Testing weight on so-and-so.

Sure, it takes time, but it's sure better than not having a loading bridge .. like the high school I light at. Hang a few lights, muscle it out, throw a brick on there, muscle it in, hang a few more lights, reweight it, add cable, throw another brick or half on there.


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## gafftaper (Nov 3, 2008)

Agree with Footer, it doesn't matter what you yell as it's going to hit the ground before you finish saying it. Unless you manage to say it before you drop it 

As for what to do in an emergency, this is what I was taught long ago by a wise old rigger:
1) Analyze which side of the emergency you are on in the upstage/downstage direction and stay on it.
2) Run all the way upstage or all the way downstage, whichever is closer... If you happen to be upstage of the emergency do not run downstage to try to reach the safety of the proscenium! You are safer against the upstage wall than crossing directly under the hazard. 
3) Never run to stage left or stage right first. When things fall they will tend to fall out toward the opposite side of the stage, so it's safer to move up or down first. 
4) Once against the upstage wall evaluate your escape routes. Work your way in the opposite direction of the accident if you think it looks safe to do so. If there is any question about the safety of proceeding, stay where you are against the upstage wall. 
5) If you are downstage work your way out in the house if possible. 
6) Never go back on stage until a trained person tells you it's safe to return. 

If things start falling or dropping they are more likely to continue to bounce, drop, crash between the stage left to stage right directions. You are obviously much safer if you can get beyond the proscenium wall, but it's not worth the risk running under a potential hazard to get there. If you are upstage it's much safer to get against the wall falling things are more likely to hit the wall and bounce downstage than they are to fall just inches from the wall and hit you. 

The best prevention is proper planning... paranoia is your friend! In some theaters the risk of working with crew on the deck below is acceptable and impossible to avoid. In educational theater it IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE. If there is time to learn there is time to learn safely. In professional world when it is decided that the deck crew must keep working while loading is going on there are some important factors at work. The people loading have years of experience doing it unlike students. The people loading are probably stronger than students. The people working may be more mature and attentive than students. When you add those up, the risk is less in the professional world than it is in educational theater. 

No matter where you are, when someone calls out that things are moving or being loaded stop and think about where you are and where you want to be if things go bad. If you can, get yourself to that place just in case. Also be aware of those around you. Did everyone here the call? Do you see someone continuing to work in a place you think is unwise? Do you see actors or new people who may not know what they should be doing? Take leadership and help others make safe choices.


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## Hughesie (Nov 3, 2008)

At the school i used to go to we used a simple couple of commands

"Heads on stage line *number) flying in/out
then someone on the ground would check to make sure no one was there and yell out clear.

When reweighting had to be done the syntax of commands were as follows

"clear under the fly floor reweighting" 
and the same deck crew command of "clear under the fly floor" was repeated back.

that is how we always did it, but like the others said it depends on your venue, and also its setup. (for example our fly floor (where you operate the system from) is above stage level) so communication was vitally important.


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## elite1trek (Nov 3, 2008)

Where I work-

In or Out:

Lineset 14 coming in.

or when something is hung on it

Lineset 8, 2nd electric, coming in.

When loading, it is customary for the loader to stick the lineset himself then go up to the loading gallery.

Before loading:

Loading Lineset 23, am I safe to load?

response is:

Yes, you are safe to load.
or 
No, Do Not Load. followed by an explanation.

another way we do it is:

Loading, Clear the Rails.

response is:

Rails Clear, Proceed.
or
No, Do Not Load.

I have never (thank God) had a runaway, but I saw one in progress from the house once. I was a student, and when I heard that pipe hit the grid, and then the arbor hitting the stage floor, I never looked at flyrail safety the same way again. From what I understand, they keep that arbor around, just to show people how important fly rail safety is. The moral of the story is:

Follow the rules, and don't do rigging without a professional there. When I saw this runaway, these were students rigging without a professor there to supervise.


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## gafftaper (Nov 3, 2008)

elite1trek said:


> Before loading:
> Loading Lineset 23, am I safe to load?



Oh I really like the "am I safe to load". It hopefully helps the loader think about the fact that it may not be safe for them to continue. It's easy to get wrapped up in your work (and the lifting that is ahead) and not think about the fact that there are others below counting on you to do your job safely.


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## Sayen (Nov 3, 2008)

I was just thinking the same thing - next time I'm training somewhere with a counterweight system I'll have to work that into the drills.


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## derekleffew (Nov 4, 2008)

Some excellent articles on Fly System Safety, courtesy of JR Clancy: J.R. Clancy Operation & Safety - Articles.


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## elite1trek (Nov 4, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> Some excellent articles on Fly System Safety, courtesy of JR Clancy: J.R. Clancy Operation & Safety - Articles.



These articles are superb. The cheat sheet is going on the wall in my shop.

Thanks for this post!


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## WestlakeTech (Nov 12, 2008)

willbb123 said:


> At the theater that I work at I do alot of the flying and loading weight. I know most of the commands but there are some I can not remember.
> 
> I know:
> Lineset number 12 coming in. and the response is Thank You.
> ...




To quote Montell Jordan, "This is how we do it."

Moving the afforementioned line set #12 (bearing in mind that we have about 40 line sets): "Heads up! Line set 12, coming in, downstage!" and wait for a "Thank you" response before moving anything. 

Loading weight... bit more complex. We have at least 2 people upstairs loading and one person in charge of the stage/floor. This person is the only one allowed to talk while weight is being loaded and it's his/her job to keep people a safe distance away. To explain, I'll call the person speaking on the loading rail "Loader" and the person on the floor... "Floor."

Floor: Loader! Can you add 50 pounds to line set 12 please!? (gently shakes rope from fly rail to ensure he and Loader are on the same page)
Loader: Add 50 pounds to line set 12? (also gently shakes rope)
Floor: Yes!
Loader: Clear the floor and clear the rail!
Floor: Floor and rail are clear!
(Loader adds the weight. When finished...)
Loader: Floor safe, rail safe! Check for balance!


My sophmore year, our annual musical was Wizard of Oz. It was great, but we were one spare line set short of what we needed for the backdrops we had. So during every single intermission, we got as many crew members as we could to help take down one of the backdrops on a line set which held two during the first half of the show. We would put it back on before the next show the following day.


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## Gretsch (Nov 18, 2008)

Our general syntax for loading weight goes as follows:

Deck: Can we get 5 bricks on lineset 12?
Loader: 5 bricks lineset 12?
Deck and Fly: Thank you (to tell loader its clear)
Loader: Loading 5 bricks on line 12.
after weight is loaded
Loader: Weight loaded, line 12 up 5 bricks.
Deck and Fly: Thank you.

same goes for transferring weight and unloading weight.

As for our rail calls we stick with "line 12 coming in/going out" with a thank you from either the ME, TD, ATD or Head Carp.


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## bull (Aug 24, 2009)

One command that we have found extremely useful at our school is that when the loader is ready, before they remove any safety chains, or pick up any bricks, they call out 

Flyman: "LOADING ON THE BRIDGE! Clear Stage!" 

Which basically to everybody in the theater means all non-essential personell clear stage, the flyman clears back to the scene shop gate typically after needed weights are confirmed.. Preceding conversation would go something like...

Flyman: "Stage Clear! Load 5 bricks on Lineset 13 please"

Loader: (Loader Shakes Line) "Confirm"

Flyman: "Correct, ready to load" 

Loader: "Loading"

After loading is complete the conversation would go...

Flyman: (After safety chain is closed, and bricks secured) "Loading Complete, Bridge is Clear"

Loader: "Testing linset 13, stage is clear"

Flyman: "Go Ahead"

Loader: "Linset 13 is good, bridge safe, stage safe."

*Complete*

That's about how it goes for us...


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## jcfalc01 (Sep 10, 2014)

Do you have a picture of the arbor that fell? I think that would be a very impressive message to send to our high school students! Just wondering.


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## josh88 (Sep 10, 2014)

The last post in this thread was from 09 so probably not. But you can still google and find some pretty ugly looking pictures from after runaways.


Via tapatalk


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## carproelsofly (Sep 10, 2014)

Around here it goes like this:

Scenario 1, in which the flyman knows the exact weight of the piece
Flyman: give me 12 bricks on lineset 17
Loader: 12 bricks on lineset 17
... (flyman monitors the rail under the loader)
Loader: 12 bricks on lineset 17, closed and clear
Flyman: thank you 12 on lineset 17

Scenario 2, in which the flyman does NOT know the exact weight of the piece
Flyman: add 10 full bricks and 2 half-bricks to lineset 17 and leave it open
Loader: 10 fulls and 2 halfs to lineset 17
... (flyman monitors the rail)
Loader: 10 fulls and 2 halfs on 17, open and clear
Flyman checks weight by letting the lineset move an inch or two*
Flyman: remove one half-brick from lineset 17 and leave it open*
Loader: removing one half-brick from lineset 17*
...*
Loader: 10 fulls and 1 half on 17, open and clear*
Flyman checks weight
Flyman: remove one half-brick from lineset 17 and close it up
Loader: removing one half-brick from lineset 17
...
Loader: lineset 17 at 10 bricks, closed and clear
Flyman: thank you 10 on lineset 17

*repeated as many times as is necessary to bring the set into balance


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## afreeradical (Oct 3, 2014)

Not much to add here... Good communication is the key and everyone understanding how you've decided to communicate
1 thing I could add though...
In our theatre we can extend our pipes with pipe extentions... Therefore pipe weight can change'...
SO... When we call back the final weight from the loading rail before flyman test lineset...
We call back....
"X weights above pipe weight on Lineset X Locked and Loaded" or "X weight above pipe with extentions on Lineset X Loaded and Lock"

So the flyman always knows exactly how many bricks are on his arbor


Sorry posted this twice, just learning to use tapatalk and didn't realize I only had 20 mins to edit and had to run a couple cue's before I formulated everything I wanted to say and just hit post so I wouldn't loose what I typed


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## theatricalmatt (Oct 4, 2014)

How long are your pipe extensions that they change the pipe weight that much? (Or, how light are your bricks....)

Calling down from the loading gallery has two drawbacks: You have to speak very loudly, and you have to speak very clearly. So I use short words. And I pause. Between phrases. So it's clear.

It also means I tend toward the side that says, I'm only going to speak when things are ready. I only call down that a lineset has been re-weighted when it's actually ready to fly: when we've shifted all the weight, locked the arbor, and cleared the lineset. It doesn't make any sense to call down that lineset fourteen is now twenty bricks above pipe weight, but don't fly it yet because I still have a pony clip holding up a spreader plate -- finish the job, and then call down. This saves an awful lot of noise on the stage floor.

There may, of course, be times when the head carp asks where we are in the loading process, for one reason or another (...coffee break?), but that's a whole different story.

Now of course, when I'm the head carp on the stage floor, I usually still call up to ask if the rail is clear and the lineset can fly. Sometimes the loaders can see obstructions that I can't from the stage deck.


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## techieman33 (Oct 4, 2014)

theatricalmatt said:


> How long are your pipe extensions that they change the pipe weight that much? (Or, how light are your bricks....)
> 
> Calling down from the loading gallery has two drawbacks: You have to speak very loudly, and you have to speak very clearly. So I use short words. And I pause. Between phrases. So it's clear.
> 
> ...




It depends on what your doing. If loading for heavy softgoods, or something else that doesn't have all of it's weight on the pipe at time of loading I will call out weight at a couple of points. That way the people on the ground holding the pipe have a better idea of what is going on. The same thing at load out. When unloading something like an electric it's common to call out when you have enough removed for people to pull the cable off, then again at half and quarter of the weight left so they can start pulling fixtures off.


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## afreeradical (Oct 4, 2014)

Our pipe extensions are 4' and we can add them to both ends of the pipe...

I believe our steel bricks are 22 lbs and the lead are 26 lbs. ( don't need to get into lead weight discussion we took care of it with rubber dip years ago )

So the ext. can change the weight from a 1/2 brick to a brick .. (but don't hold me too that... I've been Supervisor LX for years, so been awhile since I had to slug weight ) 

But don't think it so much about the weight as about making sure there is no confusion that the Yellow weights are NOT coming off unless specifically asked for...

It's always the young new guys sent up to load weight... Us old guys can't be bothered or can't make the climb anymore


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