CookieCoasters
Giga Poster
So sad. Coaster accidents are one of those things that i dislike reading because they can be quite depressing, but i feel i must read them
Woman Falls From The Texas Giant To Her Death
- Thread starter rollermonkey
- Start date
This is truly a sad story, and my thoughts go out to all those affected by the incident.
Just to respond to a few of the points raised in the previous posts; no rollercoaster or ride in general can be sent if the bars are not all secured to the point the manufacturer deems safe. Yes, there is a way to override this on most rides, but this requires being placed into maintenance/manual mode, something regular ride operators would never be allowed to do. As far as I'm concerned, this means the ride operator/attendants are completely free of blame, as it would have been literally impossible to dispatch the train unless all the green lights were showing, which is what a ride operator is obviously told to look for.
From the sounds of it, the woman sounds like she was on the larger side, with her restraint only clicking down once compared to numerous times on everyone else, although I'm pretty sure that all Gerst restraints use a hydraulic system rather than a teeth system, so there would have been zero clicks on any of the restraints. Either way, if she was very close to the restrictions of the ride, then hopefully she would have tried the test seat if there is one, and if not then part of the blame must be placed on her. If she tried the test seat and it was perfectly fine, then she also cannot be blamed. The section of track where the woman is said to have fallen out looks to be after another section of track which looks like it could be pretty intense. This could mean that the woman was only just able to be secured, so her own body weight combined with the forces on that section of the ride caused to restraint to fail, releasing and creating the situation that we now see.
Until we get more information about what actually happened, everything is of course speculation, but from what I gather, it was just a simple case of everything going wrong at once, with noone really to blame.
Just to respond to a few of the points raised in the previous posts; no rollercoaster or ride in general can be sent if the bars are not all secured to the point the manufacturer deems safe. Yes, there is a way to override this on most rides, but this requires being placed into maintenance/manual mode, something regular ride operators would never be allowed to do. As far as I'm concerned, this means the ride operator/attendants are completely free of blame, as it would have been literally impossible to dispatch the train unless all the green lights were showing, which is what a ride operator is obviously told to look for.
From the sounds of it, the woman sounds like she was on the larger side, with her restraint only clicking down once compared to numerous times on everyone else, although I'm pretty sure that all Gerst restraints use a hydraulic system rather than a teeth system, so there would have been zero clicks on any of the restraints. Either way, if she was very close to the restrictions of the ride, then hopefully she would have tried the test seat if there is one, and if not then part of the blame must be placed on her. If she tried the test seat and it was perfectly fine, then she also cannot be blamed. The section of track where the woman is said to have fallen out looks to be after another section of track which looks like it could be pretty intense. This could mean that the woman was only just able to be secured, so her own body weight combined with the forces on that section of the ride caused to restraint to fail, releasing and creating the situation that we now see.
Until we get more information about what actually happened, everything is of course speculation, but from what I gather, it was just a simple case of everything going wrong at once, with noone really to blame.
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
Something clearly did go on in the station, though. The witness reports that the woman did not feel properly secured and was making a fuss. Okay, so it might just be a coincidence, but I think it's a little fishy.
What I imagine going on in the station is that a ride attendant had to push down on the restraint to try and fit her in (Which happens on all rollercoasters in every park in the world when you get someone who is larger, you try and fit them in first), and then it secured somehow, whether that's through a click, or the ride operator has got all his lights green indicating that all restraints are hydraulically secure and then told his attendants that the ride is 'clear'.
I still maintain that the ride could not have been dispatched unless the system had seen that all bars were secure. If the ride operator had put the ride into maintenance mode to send the train then that's a whole other story, but honestly if he had done something like that, I wouldn't be surprised if he was charged with manslaughter or something like that, as it is something you are NEVER allowed to do as a ride operator.
I still maintain that the ride could not have been dispatched unless the system had seen that all bars were secure. If the ride operator had put the ride into maintenance mode to send the train then that's a whole other story, but honestly if he had done something like that, I wouldn't be surprised if he was charged with manslaughter or something like that, as it is something you are NEVER allowed to do as a ride operator.
nadroJ
CF Legend
From what I've read, sounds like she was on the larger side and the restraints couldn't accommodate her properly. Is it possible at in the station the restraint seemed secure but then somehow released after despatch?
Interesting too to hear that this uses hydraulic restraints after the quotes about the clicks.
Interesting too to hear that this uses hydraulic restraints after the quotes about the clicks.
rtotheizzo17
Hyper Poster
nadroJ said:
Just like any news story people race to spew information before all of the facts are confirmed.
It seems like there has already been multiple post from ride operators, I operated all sorts of coasters (granted not RMC) for almost a decade during high school and college, and more or less +1 all of the comments regarding dispatch systems.
In fact, most coasters have indicator lights by seat, you can hear the panel operator call out seats not locked by row-seat # often.
My guess (purely speculation) is that regardless of the investigation RMC's end up with seatbelts moving forward.
rollermonkey
Strata Poster
2012Jarrett said:
This makes zero sense. None of the mechanicals for NTG remain from it's previous life, therefore there is zero relation between Mean Streak and NTG.
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
The funny thing about the reports of clicks though is no average guest would know about that.
Unless staff use the term "needs one more click" to simply mean "its not down far enough" cross park and guests overheard this.
Coaster Critic has collected all available info on the accident thus far into one nice bundle...
http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2013/07 ... giant.html
Unless staff use the term "needs one more click" to simply mean "its not down far enough" cross park and guests overheard this.
Coaster Critic has collected all available info on the accident thus far into one nice bundle...
http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2013/07 ... giant.html
CanobieFan
Strata Poster
As far as clicks go, I think over time if you've ridden a few coasters (even as far as GP go even if they've only been to ONE park or whatever) you get used to hearing things click,ratchet,locks (sounds) in place on rides. Most flats included. So they just make the assumption that well, every other ride "clicks" when closing, so surely this one does too, even when it doesn't.
TilenB
Strata Poster
The thing seems to be pretty big. It even made the news in Slovenia.
http://www.24ur.com/novice/crna-kronika ... smrti.html
http://www.24ur.com/novice/crna-kronika ... smrti.html
tomahawk
Strata Poster
The news JUMPS at anything amusement park related involving injuries or deaths or someone being "wronged" in their eyes. This one though is especially sad due to the kids involved. I'm assuming we will see a more detailed story by the end of the weekend or early in the week. Apparently the fire department had to use a ladder to get to where her body was, which makes me think it was at one of the overbanks.
Screaming Coasters
Strata Poster
Just to clear it up -
All coasters with a pickup system can be overridden with a key or a bypass in the OS itself. Its a basic engineer tool to send coasters round without a full harness check. I used to override coasters all the time to get larger guests in if I can see / have my hosts double check that the restraint is down far enough. Coasters need to be overridden sometimes, especially when there is thick dirt between the pickups, which is then down to a maintenance issue. If thats the case, then an engineer should be called and should stop operation. Usually, only senior ride ops / Team Leaders are the only people who can authorise an override.
All coasters with a pickup system can be overridden with a key or a bypass in the OS itself. Its a basic engineer tool to send coasters round without a full harness check. I used to override coasters all the time to get larger guests in if I can see / have my hosts double check that the restraint is down far enough. Coasters need to be overridden sometimes, especially when there is thick dirt between the pickups, which is then down to a maintenance issue. If thats the case, then an engineer should be called and should stop operation. Usually, only senior ride ops / Team Leaders are the only people who can authorise an override.
Colossus
Giga Poster
nadroJ said:
Actually, the other day I was riding Bizzaro at SFGAdv, I pulled down the restraint to 3 clicks, after dispatch the restraint loosened by one click, it was still locked down and not relying on the seatbelt, but it was a tad unnerving.
This happened on the tight curve from the station to lifthill.
jolash
Mega Poster
tomahawKSU said:
I read somewhere, something about "...train went over a bump, into the first turn, and she fell out..." So that would be somewhere between that double-up and first overbank after the first drop.
Now, call me crazy, but I swear I remember NTG's restraints being the hydraulic type. And doesn't Gerstlauer also use the kind of restraints that are by default, locked, and require electricity to release? That would rule out the restraint coming undone. Or are we already past that and I'm behind the curve?
sparky2u
Mega Poster
Such awful news to hear someone fell out of the coaster train, but the dispatch operators in the station should of checked everyone's to make sure it was fully secure.
When I rode "Shambhala" at PortAventura a few weeks ago I made sure the restraints were fully locked, I managed to get it to click down 3 or 4 times, yes I was scared with this type as never ridden a coaster with the below:
When I rode "Shambhala" at PortAventura a few weeks ago I made sure the restraints were fully locked, I managed to get it to click down 3 or 4 times, yes I was scared with this type as never ridden a coaster with the below:
