Pilot Cars

Wow....August 2013 is the last post on this thread.

Well I will say this, the windmill business is alive and well in Vermont.

 

And, I would add, there's a whole lot of dilapidated pilot cars operating here as well. I've been in the gasoline tanker business since 1989 but I've been (full time) in trucking since 1973. It's getting near time for me to get out of the tanker business and for some reason the pilot car business seems to be where I am headed eventually. I say that with some reservation. You see, there just seems to be so many pilot car operators who seem to be sloppy bums, with run down equipment and they seem to be getting by with garbage equipment, that it honestly scares me when I think about starting something new.

 

For example, one morning (early) last week I was delivering to a station. I noticed a fairly late modle SUV with a wide load sign backing into a parking position in the concrete plant next to where I was delivering. Huh!?.... "now that's more like it" I thought to myself. The driver got out of his car and was talking on his cell phone. "Geeze... he looks kind of different from most... dressed casually (nice pants and light jacket) and clean cut... wow" I thought to myself.

I hurried to finish up and walked over and humbly introduced myself as interested in becoming a pilot car operator in the future. Asked him if I could ask a few questions. As we started to talk, a beat up Tahoe - bent bumpers and both front fenders... badly rusted rocker panels.... rear bumper crooked and looking like it was ready to fall off, backed in next to him. The drivers seemed to know each other and
... there it was. The acceptable and unacceptable (in my opinion) parked next to one another. The second driver looked like he'd been sleeping in his cloths and needed a shower. That seems to be the norm up this way. But he was friendly and spoke quite eloquently much to my surprise. In fact, he seemed very intelligent and I was flabbergasted by the contrast between his appearence vs his personality and demeanor. Shame on me for judging the book by its cover. But, he was a clever and colorful character and both guys engaged me in questions and answers and to my surprise they both offered good advise and I was very happy that I had the opportunity to meet them. It gave me a good peek into the diversity of operators and their equipment and how they hope to continue working in that place, though one of them was going to need a replacement vehicle very soon.

So, the moral of the story is (I guess), just as in any other business, it takes all kinds and they come in all shapes and sizes. Pilot car drivers are a very diverse group and as newbies, we should expect the unexpected. But first impressions matter, even if you get the wrong impression. Hopefully, you get to meet nice guys who are willing to share information, like the ones I met.

 

The wind business is alive and well everywhere but nothing like it was many years ago when components were being hauled from one coast to the other.

The companies handling these projects have gotten much more proficient and getting things like blades, made in foreign countries brought into closer ports then putting them on the rail to a laydown yard much closer to the site. Tubes are being made in more places, often closer to wind site areas etc. Machine heads are a different story, those do not ride the rail very well so still being hauled longer distances by road however many of those are very specialized carriers and often employ their own pilots in house.

 

I had no idea about the things you talked about. Here in Vermont, I've seen a lot of new windmills put up in the last year and I just thought maybe things had changed and wind power was becoming more popular. I have to admit I really like seeing them. However, many times they seem to be just sitting there motionless waiting for the wind.

 

It's a boom and bust industry just like oil and gas. Some years there are more projects going on than others. I don't know the politics or economics of it all but when they are booming there's much more being moved by rail to laydown yards closer to the job sites.

Until the tree hugging touchy feely types go back to their caves there will continue to be wind projects. Once these people go back into hiding maybe the government will start allowing nuclear power plants to be built again as they are the absolute greenest and cheapest form of electricity generation other than hydropower. There's not large rivers all over to support hydro and unlike nuclear, we can just build more rivers. (Rant over)

FWIW, I no longer use any grid electric at my place, I'm 100% solar and loving ever minute of something turned on that there's no bill attached to it.

 

that your truck?