The tower industry lost an influential figure in what is being called an elevator-related accident on a job site in Oklahoma City, Okla. Ernest “Ernie” Jones is being remember for the great impact he had on the tower industry designing towers and pioneering safety standards.
Reports indicate Jones was tied off in an elevator of a local TV tower when the elevator unexpectedly descended. So far, there are not many other details about what happened to the elevator.
Eric McCorkle, a friend of Jones, remembers him as a pioneer. “Last night our ‘tower industry’ lost a great man and personal friend of mine and so very many others in the broadcast tower industry. Ernie Jones of CEI, a great engineer and pioneer in the safety engineering aspect of rigging plans and TV antenna and tower projects died while working on a tower in Oklahoma City. I will miss this man and am saddened by his loss. My prayers go out to his family. Thank you for your friendship and mentoring Ernie Jones. RIP,” McCorkle said.
“Ernie Jones was well-respected and loved in the tower industry,” Wade Sarver, an industry veteran said on his blog Wade4Wireless.com. “We will all miss him and we are all sad for his family and all of his friends this day. He will be missed as he was loved.”
Brent Hensley, president and general manager of KOCO, the TV station that owned the tower Jones was working on, said the inspection was routine.
He also expressed his condolences. “Obviously, we are saddened by his death and our thought and prayers go out to Ernie’s family, friends and the people who knew him well, including our Hearst family,” Hensley said.
“Ernie was very valuable resource to the industry, and obviously he will be missed, especially during this very important time of transition in the television industry,” Jay Adrick, an independent consultant and former Harris Broadcast VP who spent “a considerable amount of time” working with Jones on a Digital Tech Consulting study said.
Dozens of others took to Facebook to share their thoughts and condolences.
Jones was President of Consolidated Engineering located in Lynnville, Ind. He was a long-time member of the Telecommunications Industry Association and Electronics Industry Association and helped write and approve standards for the American National Standard for Steel Antenna Towers and Antenna Supporting Structures.
Industry colleagues estimate he had designed and overseen fabrication of over 3,000 towers ranging from 240 feet to 2,000 feet in height. He was an active member of NATE putting together a gin pole summit in 2012, which helped develop the standard for training parameters for the A10.48 Standard.
