The Olympic and Paralympic Games are coming to Los Angeles in 2028, and the city is already hard at work preparing for its turn in the global spotlight. In preparing for hundreds of thousands of additional travelers, LAX is upgrading facilities with a little help from Sky Climber, LLC.
In the area dubbed “Terminal 1.5” of Los Angeles Airport, a portion of the massive renovation project already underway provides a secure connection between Terminals 1 and 2 while also connecting Ticketing and Baggage Claim lobbies for those terminals. With construction in these areas complete, the attention has turned to maintenance protocols.
For the scope of this project, Sky Climber provided a suspended access system enable safe window washing for the maintenance teams. Equipment in this system included:
- Eighteen (18) davit bases and two (2) mobile davit sockets
- Two (2) roof-rigged 8’-6” outreach davit arms
- Two (2) custom ground rigged, 7’ Max outreach, fixed rotation back-fed davit arms
- One-hundred-fourteen feet (114’) of NP04 monorail and two monorail trolleys
- California-compliant welded anchors
- A nine-meter (9M) modular PI (Permanently Installed) platform with break-off single man workcage
- Rigging sleeve with dual rigging points
While the Sky Climber equipment for this system is not particularly unusual, the training for it was.
To ensure uninterrupted views for travelers, maintenance teams tackle window washing task at night. It made sense, then to train operation teams at night, to get the most realistic scenario for those who will use the suspended access equipment for years to come. During the training sessions, crews learned how to ground-launch the single-man work basket. Alternately, the full platform was launched from the roof.
The training that Sky Climber provided included Competent Person training, Safety and Applications, and basic Sky Climber equipment operator training.
