Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

'Blacking/Whiting' out on a coaster

Danzibarr

Danzibarr

Mega Poster
Has anyone ever had this? I'm not sure of the correct terminology, just a couple of times I've had it where the coaster will get to a point with lots of G's (i.e, the carousel on Goliath at Walibi) and my eyes will fade almost to white, well just so I can't really see, for literally a second or two, then it'll all be fine again. Hearing isn't affected or anything like that. Think the other time I've had it was on Rita, it was a while ago so I can't remember for sure!

It's probably only happened 2 or 3 times, and has never stopped me from carrying on coastering.. any reassurance is welcome :wink:

Dan
 
Yeah, I regularly lose my vision on Nemesis in the helix for a second or two, usually if I sit final row far right seat. It's just it being very intense, so don't feel that you've got some medical condition or anything :p
 
I think I almost whited out on Nemmie but I'm not sure if it was just the camera flashing or not. Also the first corner on Piraten is quite intense and I felt my vision going a bit on that as the G's were quite high.
 
Just stumbled upon this as well, makes me feel better! It's never actually bothered me before, it's just because I was looking at the Disney incidents page on wikipedia and they all seem to relate to blacking out then dying.. but they usually relate to other health issues anyway.

When the body experiences G-forces, blood is forced towards the lower body (away from the brain) due to gravity. Since blood flow is reduced, people may experience slightly blurred or "tunnel" vision for a second or two. I have heard this referred to as "greying out" and is NOT considered truely blacking out. As with any amusement ride, this is one reason that if someone has any major health problems such as heart disease, they are strongly advised not to ride.
Many tests are performed prior to a ride's opening to the public to make sure that G-forces are at a safe level for riders. A new ride has to test for a certain number of cycles with water dummies before an actual human being can ride.
Click to expand...
 
Both me and my brother got in on Magic Mountain at Gardaland. We were in the back row, and the second of the two loops really is forceful. It's compounded by the first loop too.

I have to admit, I actually quite enjoyed it. Shame the ride sucked so much.

You sound worried about it, and I can't see why. It's all part of the fun. ;)
 
Greying/blacking out is common to everyone, although people have a slightly different tolerance to G force and hence what may cause some to start greying out might not cause a problem to others.

Some noticeable coasters i've got it on is Piraten's turn at the bottom of the drop, Nemesis' helix back row and occasionally Inferno back row between the loop and zero-g-roll.

What i've found is that I tend to grey out more from sudden changes of forces - ie, going from airtime to the high positives in the transition on Piratens drop to turn. Rides that have a long sustained force (ie Vertigo at Tivoli Gardens which holds about 5G for a very long time ) i've not had a problem with...yet.
 
I used to get it a lot on the loops on Magnum Force.

Peter said:
Piraten's turn at the bottom of the drop
Click to expand...

Yep, this and Kawasemi too. There are other examples, but can't think of them at the moment.
 
^I don't think it's ever happened to me either. I've heard people talking about it though, but I never seem to get it.
 
Never.. I once got REALLY disoriented (first ride on Flight of Fear at Kings Island).

I still have never blacked out on a ride.
 
Nemesis mid helix. Right seats.

Inferno on the loop pull-out depending on the seat. Row 3 normally.

Millies 1st overbank peak.

Raptors loop pull-out.

Thats it for me on grey/patchy vision. No blacking out so far though.
 
No i've never "blacked out" on a ride.

_1068743_minstrels300.jpg


What a silly question.
 
I've never "whited out" on a ride.

Whiteout.JPG


...I don't take my college work on with me.
 
I haven't completely blacked out. I've gotten close man many times on Titan's helixes which can hurt but I've never actually blacked out.
 
I've greyed out on my first ride on Millennium Force (I thought I was dying because I didn't know it was normal), in the first half of Batman: the Ride, the first two loops on Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure, and in Nitro's helix.

Those are the only ones I can remember.
 
I got grey vision after two consecutive minutes in "turbo mode" (5 g:s) on Tivoli Gardens Vertigo (flying fury), but I've never blacked out. One of my friends on the other hand blacked out on Hang Over, the removed inverted Vekoma boomerang at Liseberg, he didn't woke up until back at the station, scary!
 
ALL the time. Like, ALL the time. I don't often completely black out, but, it's very rare for me to actually go a whole day at a park without losing vision at some point in the day. If I'm somewhere hot I'll usually do it on pretty much anything intense, but, over here it's just Inferno and sometimes Nemesis that are really bad for it.

It's probably a very bad sign I blackout so much...
 
Wow, we're all in this together then :p

Or maybe, it's just us enthusiasts that have the problem, 'cos we all know that riding rollercoasters gives you brain damage, the bearded man on the Saw news report said so :wink:
 
It's to do with pressure on your optical nerve, causing it to misfire (in the case of a whiteout) or not fire at all (blackout).

The closest I've had is bad blurry vision and light headedness exiting the helix on Speed, it got worse as I rode it more often. My girlfriend, however said she lost her vision every time at that exact point. So it would seem there are varying tolerances and it can get worse throughout the day if you continue to subject your body to high positive Gs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top