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Pndol collapses at Tibidabo injuring 3, one fatality.

Antinos said:
I remember reading Gavin's trip report to Tibidabo and he said that bolts were falling off of the ride when he was in line
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Sorry, I know it's been a while since that was posted, but I haven't checked in this topic fora while. Anyway, without trying to find my trip report again, I'm pretty sure I didn't say that bolts were falling off.

While I was in line, it got stuck at the top. The arm was pulled up to the top, but then didn't release. The passengers were stuck up there for about 15 minutes before the whole thing was slowly lowered. Basically, it did what it was supposed to in that situation. However, thinking now about this accident, if that happened often, for similar lengths of time, then I'm assuming that there was a lot of stress on the main tower for prolonged periods of time that it basically wasn't designed for. Just an idea...

Stuck...

DSC00206.jpg


Also, right after that happened, it was my turn to ride. When the arm dropped, something made the car lock in position (it's supposed to swing freely) at an awkward angle. I actually hurt myself a bit, smacking the backs of my ankles into something because of the sudden locking of the car. It didn't open again after that.

After my ride...

DSC00226.jpg
 
Firstly, apologies for bumping, however, I have only just discovered this.

I'm very concerned as to how this happened, the ride in question (Fabbri Group Air Diver) is probably my favourite flat of all time, really thrilling things. But, they do look about at stable as a house of cards.

I do have a question to anyone who may know; is this a permanent model, ie: bolted to the ground as a pose to a trailer? If so, this in itself could be the cause of the accident. The Brighton pier version (older, yet, never done this) is trailer mounted, and, when in motion, wobbles, bends and moves like nobodies business. The trailer it sits on physically lifts at one end and rocks over as the ride drops, the tower structure bends significantly and I'm sure the ride must wander slowly across the pier.

If this model was mounted into a concrete footer, the cause of the accident would be simply the base didn't allow for the travelling that a feature of the (original) trailer model, and so the increased stress through the concrete and base screws would have got beyond safe limits resulting in the accident.

It does amaze me, however, that the ride snapped at the base, as a pose to at any other point, which is suppose in some ways does justice to the design, clearly structurally sound, aside from the anchoring.

If the ride was trailer mounted, then I would be substantially more concerned. It's also worth noting that Brighton Pier's Air Diver has been dismantled for some time now, and, the thought of the accident occurring at Brighton is even worse. If you survived the collapse, you'd drown, still harnessed in, as the ride sunk into the channel.

Respects to those injured, and lets just hope that this accident goes on to improve the safety of attractions globally and the legacy of the deceased can be the lives saved from the lessons learnt.
 
^I'm pretty sure that Tibidabo's was the first (maybe only?) park model of this particular type of attraction.
 
I thought so, and this would probably explain the accident, most likely miss calculations in the footers, with no flexibility in the base it really would only have been a matter of time before the thing fatigued, both in the base and in the metalwork near the base. It would simply have been a case of natural tendency to break, vs. park maintenance, as to which occurred first.
 
What shocked me the most about this was that what seemed months later when Peter and Martyn went, the thing hadn't been tidied up and still sat there in it's broken and collapsed state.

Is it still like that?
 
From what I've seen and heard, I believe it's now been removed.

I do wonder who did the calculations for the footer, it looks VERY unsubstantial, to be perfectly honest, from the photos and limited evidence available, and, it seems quite disgraceful that this accident ever even occurred. It's quite clear that air divers rock, shake and strain their bases substantially and for this not to have been detected earlier really does make me concerned.

Regardless of the cause, the fact is not one of the 3 other air divers in the world have ever had a major incident involving the base of the structure, or any part of the main ride or column.
 
UC said:
Perhaps the investigation dictated it needed to remain where it was until they were given the clear to remove it...

...It's not entirely uncommon for things like that to occur, especially in the case of structural failures, where the simple act of removing the ride could tamper with the "evidence."
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That's what I thought, and makes sense, but it was a while after.

I wonder if the park has suffered attendance because of it? Due to the hilly-ness of the place you could clearly see the accident from everywhere in the park.
 
I went to find the upload on facebook, apparently it wasn't as long after the event as I thought. It was uploaded in late august but **** knows when they actually went. Comment says "only a few weeks ago." Meh.
 
Rob said:
the thought of the accident occurring at Brighton is even worse. If you survived the collapse, you'd drown, still harnessed in, as the ride sunk into the channel.
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That would literally be the worst way to die, ever. I did actually think that aswell as Brightons goes right over the sea it would have fell right off the pier. :shock:

Brighton's was still there in Janurary when I went. I actually sat in the seat ready to go on it and something went wrong and I had to get off and get a refund. :(
 
^ Shame, as the ride really is excellent.

In Brighton's defence, their ride differs in design as it is the original type with an A frame base and mounted to a trailer, not the design uniquely used on Tibidabo's model where it uses a support similar to that of a booster, and is rooted into concrete foundations.

To further this, the ride is often closed for maintanence, and since this incident (to the best of my knowledge), the ride has not operated and been collapse, totally at the decision of Brighton's management, as no bulletin from Fabbri, LTC, ADIPS or the UK HSE seems to be available (that I can find in the public domain, anyway).

Anywho, I do hope the issue is fully resolved and any flaws that may be present be rectified, as air divers are bl**dy good rides.
 
I was n Brighton on Sat 13th Nov & the ride was operating.

Took a walk down the pier at around 7:30pm & considering there were probaly 12 people total at the ride end, most of the rides were lit but gates were closed, I watched this ride go 3 times, not sure if the riders were staff or punters but it was working.

The mouse had 2 or 3 runs about the same time as we were walking along the front.
 
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