On Friday, November 9, 2018 at 12:51:57 PM UTC-8, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Good one there Chip
Should make sure the jack is going to fit under there with a flat/ no tire left
One of my friends was killed on the interstate changing a flat back in the early 80's
Dangerous place to be.

I had a close call. The story goes like this;

On the way to a safari I spotted some fellow glider pilots on the side of the highway. They had a flat trailer tire on the right hand side, and were pulled off to the shoulder. I helped position the jack under the axle while another guy jacked it up to make contact. As this was my first time changing a trailer tire, I didn't think to check the hitch situation. They had already taken the trailer off the hitch and it was sitting on the front caster wheel.

I was on my back, just in front of the right trailer wheel, and as the jack started to take the weight of the trailer, the slope of the shoulder and the CG of the trailer started to rotate the trailer clockwise about 20 degrees as the trailer fell off the now tilted jack. The back end of the trailer rotated into the freeway...

Thankfully there were no cars in that lane at that moment. You can imagine what might have happened if there were. Next time the hitch stays on the ball.