Rita's Launch Cable Snaps

[Martyn B]

I haven't read what else he has said, but I do agree with what owenrita originally said.

Basically years ago, I was friendly with this chap who worked on the Ejector Seat at Gt Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, and he gave me this geeky run down of the maintenance etc. Now I cant remember the exact number, but he said after 'x' amount of rides, the cables HAVE to be replaced, or they will snap, and I would imagine that the situation here isn't too different.

 

[marc]

How do we know it was not replaced though, the new one could be faulty? None of us know a thing tbh

 

[Hixee]

Basically years ago, I was friendly with this chap who worked on the Ejector Seat at Gt Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, and he gave me this geeky run down of the maintenance etc. Now I cant remember the exact number, but he said after 'x' amount of rides, the cables HAVE to be replaced, or they will snap, and I would imagine that the situation here isn't too different.

This is true, but are you really trying to suggest that they haven't done that? With the amount of money at stake (from lawsuits etc)? It just seems so extremely unlikely to me. Merlin are trying to make as much money as they can, that's obvious, but going against rules like that would be sheer insanity on their part.

What's to say this wasn't the perfect storm type thing, where the cables were checked and nothing was found to be wrong (I'm sure they don't do a full x-ray style investigation every time - usually visual is fine) then the weather got hotter and a tiny imperfection suddenly became a bigger problem and gave way. There's not really a huge amount they can do about it, but I think it's a bit daft to even give the impression they weren't keeping up to their safety standards. And like Marc said, what's stopping a newly installed cable having a fault? It's less likely as you'd expect it to be fully tested and inspected (to a much higher standard than the park will do in their checks) before it leaves the factory, but these things DO happen. In that case, it's not Alton's fault at all. :roll:

Cables, materials, devices fail. That's life. This is an incredibly high-stress component that, when it does fail, will fail dramatically. No-one was injured, they've replaced the cable and there doesn't appear to be any lasting damage to the ride. The park will care far more about this than we do, and judging by the fact that they're trying to get the ride open again as quickly as possible suggests to me that they're not really that bothered by it. Sure, we may see a new guard on the launch to stop the cable coming that close to the path if this were to happen again, but all in all this isn't a big deal.

 

[Robbie]

I'd also like to back up the dicussion about the ride closing during the day, it wasn't a standard close/open check but the entire queue line evac'd and workers around the cable areas.

I'm not blaming maintenance but IMHO if there was any doubt, or any weird going on (hence the need to evac the queue line) then the cable should have been changed there and then as a pre-caution.

But that happened on two of my three visits to the park last year, and it was still a while until this cable snapped. If they replace the cable every time the ride breaks down it won't be economical to run!

 

[Jake]

Yeah, I don't know why everyone is 'avin a go at the park about this.

Even if they changed the cable every day, or even every bloody hour, this could still happen. It just happens. IT HAPPENS.

It's happened a million times before, and it will happen again.

However, if I owned a park and bought one of these, I'd minimize the amount of paths which go under the launch track. It wouldn't stop the cables from snapping, because nothing can, but it would reduce the risk of someone getting spited.

 

[T0M]

It's not hard to visually examination a steel rope for fraying. IT would be even easier to determine if it had stretched. They left it too long before changes/inspections - simple as. Either that or sabotage/evil spirits.

 

[T0M]

Yeah, I don't know why everyone is 'avin a go at the park about this.

Even if they changed the cable every day, or even every bloody hour, this could still happen. It just happens. IT HAPPENS.

It's happened a million times before, and it will happen again.

However, if I owned a park and bought one of these, I'd minimize the amount of paths which go under the launch track. It wouldn't stop the cables from snapping, because nothing can, but it would reduce the risk of someone getting spited.

Actually, the odds of the steel cable of this type 'just snapping' without any obvious sign of decay are infinitesimal. The Humber Bridge is held up by it and they have a problem with the fibres splitting/stretching gradually over time - but they inspect and manage.

 

[bmac]

It's not hard to visually examination a steel rope for fraying. IT would be even easier to determine if it had stretched. They left it too long before changes/inspections - simple as. Either that or sabotage/evil spirits.

Or the tradition "Act of God."

To the general thread:

I don't see why you guys are being so harsh on Alton and Merlin about this. It's not the first time a cable snapped on an Intamin Launcher, it's not even the worst incident that's happened. Yet you're so willing to say Merlin is negligent and the ride is unsafe. Sometimes **** just breaks. Even chains on lift hills break. Rides like Boulder Dash and Nitro have been shut down for a period of time due to the fact that something just broke, even if it was less than a few weeks old.

 

[Hixee]

It's not hard to visually examination a steel rope for fraying. IT would be even easier to determine if it had stretched. They left it too long before changes/inspections - simple as. Either that or sabotage/evil spirits.

What about internal defects, fatigue on the microscopic level? You couldn't see that by eye.

Yeah, I don't know why everyone is 'avin a go at the park about this.

Even if they changed the cable every day, or even every bloody hour, this could still happen. It just happens. IT HAPPENS.

It's happened a million times before, and it will happen again.

However, if I owned a park and bought one of these, I'd minimize the amount of paths which go under the launch track. It wouldn't stop the cables from snapping, because nothing can, but it would reduce the risk of someone getting spited.

Actually, the odds of the steel cable of this type 'just snapping' without any obvious sign of decay are infinitesimal. The Humber Bridge is held up by it and they have a problem with the fibres splitting/stretching gradually over time - but they inspect and manage.

The Humber Bridge is also a massive static structure. These cables will be designed with completely different parameters in mind as they're put though regular, cyclic, massive loading forces. They're not really comparable...

 

[marc]

I give up.

 

[owentaylor121]

^This. Never get into an argument with an Alton fanboy.
The topic is very 50/50 here, some say it's the parks fault, then some say it just happens.

 

[Ethan]

^This. Never get into an argument with an Alton fanboy.
The topic is very 50/50 here, some say it's the parks fault, then some say it just happens.

Are you saying Phil is a fanboy?

 

[owentaylor121]

^ If phil is who im thinking phil is, then hell NO!
Is phil the one who makes the rant video's?

 

[Ethan]

?? ... Furie.

 

[T0M]

It's not hard to visually examination a steel rope for fraying. IT would be even easier to determine if it had stretched. They left it too long before changes/inspections - simple as. Either that or sabotage/evil spirits.

What about internal defects, fatigue on the microscopic level? You couldn't see that by eye.

Yeah, I don't know why everyone is 'avin a go at the park about this.

Even if they changed the cable every day, or even every bloody hour, this could still happen. It just happens. IT HAPPENS.

It's happened a million times before, and it will happen again.

However, if I owned a park and bought one of these, I'd minimize the amount of paths which go under the launch track. It wouldn't stop the cables from snapping, because nothing can, but it would reduce the risk of someone getting spited.

Actually, the odds of the steel cable of this type 'just snapping' without any obvious sign of decay are infinitesimal. The Humber Bridge is held up by it and they have a problem with the fibres splitting/stretching gradually over time - but they inspect and manage.

The Humber Bridge is also a massive static structure. These cables will be designed with completely different parameters in mind as they're put though regular, cyclic, massive loading forces. They're not really comparable...

They're both effectively steel ropes made up of wires/fibres taking stresses, they have similar deterioration mechanisms. An internal problem is extremely unlikely and if it is a manufacturing defect then there is still blame to be had.

Anything's possible, but I would strongly suspect this could have been avoided. It's the 'oh well, **** happens' sort of attitude I'm challenging.

As for people saying it happens all the time and elsewhere, look at what happened in those incidents - it's like nothing has been learned from them. The fact no injuries or damage seem to have been caused is besides the point - it's still a dangerous occurrence and I'd be angry if I were on or around the ride when it happened.

 

[gavin]

Right, well that's me NEVER going on Rita again after reading the EXPERT testimony of a few secondary school kids confirming that maintenance FAILED.

My THOUGHTS and PRAYERS are with the families of the people that were EVACUATED safely from the queueline, unaware of the TRAGEDY that didn't happen.

 

[kimahri]

^This. Never get into an argument with an Alton fanboy.

You make a **** claim that Alton are neglectic maint and when anyone comes along to de-bunk it you call them a fanboy and have a pissy fit?

 

[Nic]

Unless we can find out what Intamin's recommended maintenance windows are for this ride, and what Alton were actually doing, then there's no way we can say it was the park's fault.

As for this "there were people checking the cable last week and they evacuated the queue and everything" I don't really see how that's necessarily relevant.
1) How do you know it was the actual cable they were checking? It could've been one of the other bits of equipment in the same area of the ride.
2) For all I (and I'd guess you too) know, it could be policy to check the cable every time there's an unidentified/non-routine/slightly larger problem with the ride. It might not be, but unless we know for sure, it's possible.
3) It's common for Merlin parks to evac the queue if it's obviously going to take a while to fix, or if they've already spent a while, and it's not likely to re-open any time soon. I'm guessing this may even be company policy, but never having worked there, I wouldn't know. Just because they evac the queue doesn't make it a "serious" problem it just makes it a "longer to fix than a re-set" problem.

Anyway, without spending the rest of the night googling stuff, the best information I've already found relates to the cable snap on Xcelerator in 2009. Now, clearly, that's a long time ago, on an older ride, so things are likely to have changed, but like I say, it's the best I could find easily. One of the issues was that Intamin's instructions on how often to do a "full" cable check were proven to be unclear. The park interpreted it as once ever 6 months, but Intamin claimed that they had intended it to be done once a month. Anyway, it turned out it had been 6 months and 19 days since the last big inspection, so Knott's were in the **** regardless. There were also visual checks done daily, and a full cable replacement once a year.

Assuming (and, as I say, this is unlikely) that the parameters are the same for Rita in 2012, then they'd be looking at a daily visual check, a monthly "full" check, and a scheduled annual replacement. I have no reason to believe that even Merlin would be stupid enough to not follow the guidelines, as they would leave themselves far too open to lawsuits.

 

[Jake]

the cable snap on Xcelerator in 04

2009 .

FaecesFaecesFaecesFaeces

Ok, whatevs, but you're still the worst creature of them all.

 

[Hixee]

Assuming (and, as I say, this is unlikely) that the parameters are the same for Rita in 2012, then they'd be looking at a daily visual check, a monthly "full" check, and a scheduled annual replacement. I have no reason to believe that even Merlin would be stupid enough to not follow the guidelines, as they would leave themselves far too open to lawsuits.

This. EXACTLY. But things can still go wrong.

They're both effectively steel ropes made up of wires/fibres taking stresses, they have similar deterioration mechanisms. An internal problem is extremely unlikely and if it is a manufacturing defect then there is still blame to be had.

They're both taking different types of stresses - that is important. Internal problems are not 'extremely unlikely' with composite cables with different core materials etc.

Anything's possible, but I would strongly suspect this could have been avoided. It's the 'oh well, **** happens' sort of attitude I'm challenging.

It MIGHT have been avoided, but until we know the details of it all (which, lets face it we aren't), it's extremely rushed thinking to blame Merlin (or the engineers) this quickly.

And as for your last point, what do you suggest? More regular inspections? Fine, but they can't be inspected every time the coaster is launched. If there was a problem with the cable that developed during the day then the stresses these cables are under means there's bound to be a big failure. I'd be surprised it happened if I was in the park, but I wouldn't see the point in getting all wound up about it - especially if no-one was hurt. I fully understand that these things happen. There's a lot of legal protocols that have to be followed to ensure the ride is safe, but at the end of the day there can always be a problem. It. Is. Life. There's only so much you can do. I really don't see why this is such a big deal...