A high-tech crane simulator parked at the McMurry Regional Training Center this week dwarfs the rush of electronic games that save the galaxy from alien invaders.

That's because operating a crane is much more important than whacking Darth Vader.

Scott Shipman, a backhoe operator for the city of Casper's water department, learned that Thursday when he sat at the controls of the GlobalSim MasterLift 5000 version of a new Manitowoc brand industrial crane.

Shipman worked and watched his efforts moving cargo in real time on a screen, and heard the sounds and felt the vibrations of a crane in motion.

Behind him, Don Kern of TIC - The Industrial Company - watched a computer screen to monitor his manipulation of levers that raise and lower the boom; wind and unwind the cable that raises and lowers the block with the hook to lift, move and lower boxes; rotate the cab on the crane's chassis; put the tracks in gear to move and steer the whole crane forward and backward, right and left; and sometimes all of that at once.

"The controls on this here are the same as the cranes (Manitowoc is) putting out," said Kern, corporate crane manager for TIC, based in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

The simulator gives more than a dizzying mix of up, down, forwards, backwards, circular motions, and some other directions that haven't been named yet.

Kern can add fog and rain, change the lighting, vary the wind speed, change the temperature, add a worker to give hand signals, and set up a variety of obstacles: vehicles, bridges, buildings, angles of ground elevation, and power lines.

Crane operators need to know the capability of their equipment so they don't cause rollovers, which often kill them, Kern said.

Navigating around power lines is even more important, he said.

More people are killed in the cranes and on the ground from accidents with power lines than any other kind of crane accident, Kern said.

He allowed Shipman to demonstrate the consequences of that by lowering the block and moving the boom to touch power lines.

When the block touched the power lines, the computer registered a "fatality" and projected a cracked cab window on the screen to symbolize the accident.

When such an accident happens, the electricity travels from the power lines through the block, cable, boom and cab, and discharges into the ground and anyone in the area, Kern said.

Crane-operators-in-training also deal with the problem when the boom moves and the block and cargo begin moving back and forth, and in a circular motion. Shipman demonstrated how to stop that motion by guiding the boom to counteract the swinging block, similar to the technique of controlling a car sliding on ice by steering into the skid.

This sounds like fun, but it isn't, said Tony Scheerz, director of the McMurry Center.

Those who sit in the cab of the simulator quickly realize that they would operate the controls of a multimillion dollar piece of equipment, and that mistakes could cost millions of dollars of damage and also cost lives, Scheerz said.

The simulator allows people who want to learn crane operations to make mistakes without causing that kind of damage, he and Kern said.

But the technology does not make up for those who do not have the skills to operate heavy equipment in the first place, they said.

Despite the advantages of the simulator, Kern has encountered resistance from some construction workers and colleges with construction programs because the experience doesn't seem like the real thing, he said.

The McMurry Regional Training Center, on the other hand, welcomed the opportunity, Scheerz said.

TIC houses the simulator, desks and teaching equipment in a semi-trailer it hauls around the country to teach prospective operators.

The center, under the leadership of the Wyoming Contractors Association, opened earlier this year on a 38-acre site at Bryan Stock Trail and Amoco Road. It offers classes in numerous trades to help fill the need for construction workers in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain Region.

The simulator also has another advantage, Scheerz said.

The center's best recruits are single mothers and Hispanics, who often are trapped in low-wage jobs, he said.

If they wanted to learn how to operate a crane, contractors would never let them near real equipment, Scheerz said.

But with a simulator, they get the same training and eventually get a job, he said.

Those with that kind of education, Scheerz and Kern added, would soon earn $30 an hour.