Jeff Wolfram

p.s. the math should always be done on the most extended out point of the move and that's why I see this as a two-demension problem not accounting for the swing. the beginning is just in a more stable position and I don't believe momentum had any factor in this example.

I see two triangles, first; camera to grip to point on floor at tracks. The second triangle; camera to point on floor at tracks and then straight up to top of the crane (perpendicular to the floor's point). I believe (imho) that the math of the second triangle is to blame for the fall. As the distance between camera and the point on the arm of the crane expands out the force between the line from camera to track's point increases. I believe the solution would be more weight at the base of the crane to justify the extension of the crane's arm(with weight of camera operator) While it's true extending out the grip might help, his position is more of a fluid up and down of the arm not stability of a crane. I also agree that even an empty test run might (should) shown this instability where grips(human strength) might of caught the weight instability before catastrophic failure.

some ideas not sure if they will work: there is a dulling spray for art work or you could try hair spray (aerosol can). Or what about changing the lighting a bit so the tape is not catching the angle of reflection from the light source that is making the tape noticeable? just some thoughts

oh that's for staircases and as soon as you set it up someone is going to want to use the staircase. Sure they'll say they're just going to sneak by without bumping it... right. My answer to your orginial question the proper way is to over, over, sandbag it. Like you say it's a narrow footprint that normally needs to be extended to a high height (on a slope) and someone is going want to squeeze past it. If the stand is on a hillside and the adjustable leg still doesn't get the stand to sit with the weight perfectly underneith the stand the loophole can be used with a safety guideline to a stake (at least that's what we have used it for in the past)

I am sure the comments were just said in jest we're all friends here. I can't tell from the small pic if the stand is Bogen's heavy duty "wind up" but if not from the picture you can see that the center stays are fully extended yet the angle of the legs outward is only at 45 degrees making the stands overall footprint to be rather small (narrow) going back to the idea if you need to sand bag this stand due to iffy circumstances maybe it is best to choose a stand for that specific application that does have a much wider footprint before thinking that the sand bags are going to do all the stability. just my thoughts looking from a small laptop screen

"why then people don't just use tungsten lights with filters to get 5600K...?" those blue gels eat up a lot of light

I would be very cautious placing any hot light, no matter the wattage, close to flammable objects for any amount of time. It's not just catching something on fire you don't want a fabric in a commerical space to smoke setting off the sprinklers. I assume you have a good pair of leather gloves and pliers for adjusting the light once hot.

I've used the Vagabond mini to run continuous lights before, however like Mark stated not much capacity so instead of using Tungsten bulbs I've used Led bulbs. I see the only benefit over the car battery is the fact that the Vagabond is a bit more portable and probably has good resale value on Craigslist with still photographers