Air Force Crane Course Practice Test 2026 - Free Crane Course Practice Questions and Study Guide

The key idea is how a crane is supported and moved, which shapes how you set up, where you can work, and what you can lift. A mobile crane travels to the job site and relies on outriggers to create a stable base during a lift. Because that stability comes from wheels/tracks plus the outriggers and the chosen boom/counterweight configuration, you must set it up each time for the specific load, reach, and ground conditions. That makes setup time a real factor, the footprint on the ground important, and the lifting capacity dependent on radius and the chosen configuration.

A fixed crane, on the other hand, is mounted or anchored to a permanent structure or foundation. It doesn’t move between sites and doesn’t use outriggers in normal operation—the structure itself provides stability. This generally allows higher lift capacities at a given reach and less sensitivity to ground bearing, but it means you’re limited to the crane’s fixed location and geometry. So, the differences in operation come down to mobility and how stability is achieved, which in turn affects setup time, ground interaction, and how capacity changes with how far you reach.