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First coaster death of 2011?

The accident is the third to strike the park in the last three months.

In November a worker lost three of her fingers while checking wires and motors at the top of the 'Tower Hacker' attraction and a month later, parts from the 'Thunder Dolphin' roller coaster injured a young girl.

All rides at the theme park have been suspended after the fatal incident.
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Um, SD2K again?

I'm more concerned with these other incidents. Combine them with the new accident, and there could be huge issues at the park, and that could lead to another round of park inspections and closures for Japan.
 
It's a bit strange that it's got those restraints, but the restraints on MS coasters do get damaged easilly. Maybe they've been replaced?

The thing that suprises me about this accident, is this thing's layout...
70a8009vh8088bbg51q0ji.jpg

LOVE SHOP?

How on earth do you fall out of that?

Also, I don't think I've ever seen a Japanese person come close to the size needed to be over the white line on Dragon's Fury.

But, lol MS. They are quite massive failures and this is getting silly.
 
I actually laughed when I read this topic. I honestly don't get how anyone could fall out one of these, especially with that layout...but the coaster obviously trolled the guy and his weight.

The moral of the story here is obvious; don't be fat.
 
The only thing is, from what I can remember, the stats on RCDB are recieved from the manufacturer.
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Just for the record, no it doesn't. I have correct them a few times, for example, they had Sonic Spinball listed as a Maurer Sohne Xtended SC3000, in fact, it's an off the shelf SC2200. I only found this out from looking on MS's website, and RCDB guys hadn't even looked that far....
 
The model type SC2200 didn't exist when the ride opened. When they started cloning it, they subsequently added it to the catalog.

Since RCDB is maintained by one person with a real job and a real life in his spare time, he doesn't camp on the internet researching every piece of minutia. He gets a continuous stream of e-mail from people offering corrections and suggestions if it bothers you so badly.

Look at all the stuff he's added this week around Asia. I'd say it's a pretty impressive body of work.

(Sorry to snap, but I actually know Duane personally and do things like eat dinner out with him and other non-coaster related things.)
 
Wait... Duane's a guy??? :shock:

I agree with Joey and is what I thought when I first heard this news. HOW do you fall out of one of the these? It look like it'ld take more effort to "fall" out than to stay in it! :?
 
Does everyone forget Tokyo is in a earthquake zone, so the supports are designed probably to withstand one? Like Thunder Dolphin is earthquake proofed.
 
Rob said:
The only thing is, from what I can remember, the stats on RCDB are recieved from the manufacturer.
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Just for the record, no it doesn't. I have correct them a few times, for example, they had Sonic Spinball listed as a Maurer Sohne Xtended SC3000, in fact, it's an off the shelf SC2200. I only found this out from looking on MS's website, and RCDB guys hadn't even looked that far....
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Well whatever, but a while back he mentioned that all his detailed stats come stright from the manufacturer.
 
Sounding like park/operator error.

The employee manual for the ride doesn't require staff to do a physical check to see that the restraints are locked:

the operating manual prepared by Tokyo Dome only says staff should "confirm whether the safety bars are firmly kept down" before each ride. The manual does not explain concrete steps, for example, to confirm the sound made when the safety bars are locked or to check by grabbing the safety bars by hand.

Part-time workers operating roller coasters at the Tokyo Dome City Attractions also have an abbreviated handy operating manual, but it only illustrates points to be checked such as "whether the safety bar is in the correct position between riders' legs" and "whether the safety bar is positioned way too high from legs."

"The operating manual was ambiguous," a Tokyo Dome official said. "We'll revise it, using more concrete expressions."
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So, if it was a really fat person, the restraint could "appear" to be down, as it would rest on their gluttonous stomach, without actually being locked. I've never known a Japanese park/operator to not carry out a physical check, but it's looking like that's what happened.

And then there's this delightful statement from the actual ride operator, who sounds FAB!

A female university student working part-time who was in charge of checking the safety bars on the Maihime coaster at the time of the accident was quoted as telling the MPD: "I told passengers to lock the safety bars, but I didn't confirm [whether they were in the correct position] with my hand. I thought customers would lock [the bars] by themselves because they're grownups."
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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110131003639.htm
 
rollermonkey said:
(Sorry to snap, but I actually know Duane personally and do things like eat dinner out with him and other non-coaster related things.)
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This makes you cool!
 
Seems like these things that have happened at Tokyo Dome City might have screwed up the park pretty good. Since after these incidents (in the first post) there have been a Police investigation of the ride safety in the park, and according to some guy that were recently there then the outlook looks pretty grim for the park...
Jeremy T said:
No one will be riding Thunder Dolphin. I'm not sure if the organizers already knew this and informed everyone, but if not, there ya go. Went to Tokyo Dome City, pretty much all the attractions save the Ferris Wheel, Thunder Dolphin, log flume and a few children's rides are completely removed or in total disrepair, and when I asked about Thunder Dolphin they said it was closed "long term" and had no idea when (translation: if) it would reopen. Big steel gate over the entrance and all the maps and guides around the place have been permanently replaced with it marked as non-operable. Given the overall state of the place I wouldn't be surprised if Thunder Dolphin has taken its last riders. You can still ride the ferris wheel and log flume and at least look at what seems to be a unique Intamin megacoaster, but I wanted to give y'all a heads up in case some of the members decide they'd rather use their time in Tokyo on more entertaining cultural pursuits.
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This was posted in the report thread of the current TPR trip to Japan...

I can't make much sense out of the information on the Tokyo Dome city web-site (since I rely on internet translations since my Japanese isn't that good...) but I can say for sure that all the big rides are closed.
Maybe Chris could shed some light on to this??
 
I actually doubt that they will remove the ride, but they have some serious issues to address before they are allowed to open up fully again, and looking at Titan V and SD2K then it might take a few years...

The ride is pretty nice, strange in many ways, but still have some great moments (like the drop)...
 
I hope they don't permanently shut Thunder Dolphin. It's got to be one of the most unique and brillaint looking coasters out there. Would be an awful shame.

Hopefully they'll take their time getting their safety issues sorted.
 
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