Crane Certification Study for Milton Operators, Riggers and Signal Persons

Where a Milton crane hand actually works

Ask around town and you'll hear about three kinds of work. First is the base. NAS Whiting Field trains helicopter pilots in the TH-73A Thrasher, and new aircraft brought new hangars and support buildings. Second is aviation maintenance. Leonardo set up a temporary hangar at Peter Prince Field to start repair work and earn its FAA Part 145 approval, with help from Santa Rosa County and Triumph Gulf Coast, while a larger support center was built at Whiting Aviation Park. Third is the drive to Escambia County for refinery-style turnaround work, port breakbulk and bridge jobs.

All three need people who can rig a load properly and talk to the operator. That is why many Milton hands get a rigging or signal card before they ever sit in the operator's seat.

Closer to home, downtown Milton's riverfront and older downtown buildings see occasional renovation work, and new homes keep spreading toward Pace and Avalon. Those smaller jobs are where many local boom truck operators get their seat time.

A sensible order to earn credentials

None of these cards is a Florida license, because the state doesn't issue one. They are national certifications. Federal OSHA, through its Mobile, Alabama area office for this county, expects them along with your employer's own evaluation.

• Signal person: quick to learn, required on any lift where the operator can't see the load or the landing area
• Rigger Level I: hitches, sling angles, hardware inspection and load weight basics
• Mobile crane operator: the written core exam plus the specialty for your machine (TLL, TSS or LAT)
• Rigger Level II later on, if you move into planning lifts at plants or on hangar steel

Studying when your days start at six

Our program is self-paced and runs on a phone, tablet or laptop at any hour. It covers the written material: load charts, rigging calculations, hand signals, power line clearances under 1926.1408, and the rules in Subpart CC. Practice questions are built to look like the exam, so a slow evening in Milton turns into real study time.

When you are ready, you schedule the written exam through the certifying body. It can be online proctored, at a test center or at a test event. The practical is separate and always hands-on on a real crane. For many people in Santa Rosa County, that means a drive west toward Pensacola or Mobile, or east along I-10, to wherever an accredited practical site is running.

Working near an airfield

Cranes around Whiting Field and Peter Prince Field have height limits you won't find on a downtown lot. Expect to file paperwork and coordinate with the airfield before you raise the boom. Some jobs call for an obstruction light or a lowered boom whenever the crane isn't working. Summer thunderstorms add another hold, since lightning near an open airfield stops lifting fast. Plan the pick for the morning and keep the afternoon for setup and teardown.