Woman Falls From The Texas Giant To Her Death

[Ethan]

^ B&Ms as ridiculously safe, as far as I know. Their safety record is fantastic when compared to Intamin.

 

[Jake]

Yeah... As far as I know, the only people who have been spited on B&Ms have had casual heart attacks, or climbed over a fence they shouldn't have and been kicked in the head (or mowed down). It's happened to staff members too. Nothing to do with the actual coasters / B&M though. I could be wrong, but I'm sure nobody has ever been ejected from one.

 

[rtotheizzo17]

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.

What park did you work at? Just so I know what park to never visit as someone making $8.50 an hour has the ability to override the manufacturer settings.

The only time I saw overrides happen in a decade of operation where by maintenance employees with no guests on the ride. They had to physically put the ride into a "maintenance mode".

 

[rtotheizzo17]

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.

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.

This happens on B&M's from time to time. You were probably right on the edge of one ratchet lower and the movement of the ride cause it to slip up to the next level.

 

[Xpress]

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.

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.

This happens on B&M's from time to time. You were probably right on the edge of one ratchet lower and the movement of the ride cause it to slip up to the next level.

I've often found the positive forces from the ride pushes the restraint down even tighter.

 

[Intricks]

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.

What park did you work at? Just so I know what park to never visit as someone making $8.50 an hour has the ability to override the manufacturer settings.

The only time I saw overrides happen in a decade of operation where by maintenance employees with no guests on the ride. They had to physically put the ride into a "maintenance mode".

I think he worked wherever Vampire is, as well as on said ride (could be wrong). The old suspended arrows have been getting their seatbelts removed though since their older style carriages are literally imposible to be tossed out of due to lack of strong forces.

 

[furie]

I had a very long exchange with an old user whose username began with a U and ended with a C

He said for the B&M inverts, there simply wasn't a system which said if seats were locked in position or not, it was all done by sight. Essentially, if the belt fastened and it looked "right" on the ratchet, then the op would let it go.

There wasn't anything more complex than that and a B&M Invert can run with the restraints in any position without any kind of override required. That's because the belts offer both a guideline and a secondary fail safe.

I noticed on Silver Star, the restraints had a light system on the base of the restraint. So the ride op could see if the restraint was down far enough. Apparently it's similar that the actual dispatch can send anyway. The lights are simply there for the station staff putting people in seats.

It's all irrelevant anyway as the Gerstlauer system is completely different. Is it possible it's a little more like the Intamin plunge rides (Drenched is hydraulic isn't it?) Possibly the restraint just isn't suitable for people over a certain size? Didn't they think that the Hydro accident was due to the restraint being put under pressure as the girl tried to pull out a rain mac that was caught in it?

So maybe forces? It's why I much prefer rides with a seat belt...

 

[SaiyanHajime]

It's becoming apparent that just because coasters are the same kind and manufacturer, doesn't mean they have the same control panels and features. There's no other logical explanation for all the conflicting info about restraints in here.

 

[davidm]

Obv. not the same restraints, but an illustration of why girth (or lack of it) matters;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0KmTMf0VVQ[/youtube]

(from a link in a comment on this news story ; http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20 ... likely.ece )

 

[furie]

Essentially, the flab has to sit on top of the restraint?

 

[tomahawk]

Re: RE: Woman Falls From The Texas Giant To Her Death

This ride has a visible green light you can see that is right behind the seat, you cam turn and see it if you try, or you can see one in front of you.

So she was a larger woman and was concerned about how it didn't go down far enough.

 

[rollermonkey]

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.

Yes and no. "Maintenance mode" varies from ride to ride, manufacturer to manufacturer. Maintenance mode should absolutely NEVER be in use with guests on the ride, as it is only intended for use by maintenance staff to perform certain tasks. That said, if a park is routinely bypassing the built in safety systems on a ride and there were to be an accident, and the investigation discovered that the park was bypassing the safety systems, the manufacturer would be completely absolved of all liability and the park would be Fu(ked.

It sucks to tell someone that they are too big to ride, but I and many others have done it plenty of times. It sounds like the park you worked at needs to get over it and cover their own ass before someone gets hurt or killed.

As for B&Ms, Raging Bull was the first with on board sensors. Anything older didn't have them, and some of the newer inverts (particularly Batman clones) do not either. All floorless and flyers do, and I'm just assuming that the newer types like Dive Machines and Wing coasters do, too.

 

[caffeine_demon]

As for B&Ms, Raging Bull was the first with on board sensors. Anything older didn't have them, and some of the newer inverts (particularly Batman clones) do not either. All floorless and flyers do, and I'm just assuming that the newer types like Dive Machines and Wing coasters do, too.

I'm sure I've been on nemesis once or twice and someone's restraint has needed an extra push...

And I definitely needed a little restraint shove once on ninferno, whjen the belt was done up.

 

[Smithy]

There wasn't anything more complex than that and a B&M Invert can run with the restraints in any position without any kind of override required. That's because the belts offer both a guideline and a secondary fail safe.

TAKE THAT JOEY :--D

 

[SaiyanHajime]

That video is cool - but surely it's very dependant on where individuals carry their weight and their height, etc?

 

[Nic]

Gerstlauer have confirmed they're sending staff to assist with the investigation.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/ ... ell-police

 

[Screaming Coasters]

What park did you work at? Just so I know what park to never visit as someone making $8.50 an hour has the ability to override the manufacturer settings.

The only time I saw overrides happen in a decade of operation where by maintenance employees with no guests on the ride. They had to physically put the ride into a "maintenance mode".

I worked at Chessington and I was a Ride & Attractions Team Leader. I operated 90% of the rides in that park and did winter Engineering on them all. Its obvious that the park you worked at had no trust in their staff, therefore you weren't authorised to do anything that wasn't deemed as normal.

Which park did you work at?

 

[rtotheizzo17]

What park did you work at? Just so I know what park to never visit as someone making $8.50 an hour has the ability to override the manufacturer settings.

The only time I saw overrides happen in a decade of operation where by maintenance employees with no guests on the ride. They had to physically put the ride into a "maintenance mode".

I worked at Chessington and I was a Ride & Attractions Team Leader. I operated 90% of the rides in that park and did winter Engineering on them all. Its obvious that the park you worked at had no trust in their staff, therefore you weren't authorised to do anything that wasn't deemed as normal.

Which park did you work at?

I have operated coasters (and other rides) at Disney, and worked as leadership for Busch, Universal, and Six Flags. Granted most of my experience was B&M (I worked at least one day at 7 of them), I had some experience with GCII, Arrow, and even a couple of Schwarzkopfs.

Those companies had various ranges of "trust" in its front line employees. None of them involved overriding a fault (like restraints not closed properly) because a ride attendant (or lead) did a visual check of the ride.

I realized my post came of as harsh. It was not the intent. Maybe it is a cultural thing? 6F is already going to be held liable for this death, imagine if the reason was because the ride was manually overriden by someone with limited mechanical background doing a visiual check of the ride.

 

[Hyde]

CNN coverage of the accident, including our own CF POV.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/21/us/texas- ... =allsearch

It has also come to light that Six Flags Over Texas will be conducting its own investigation, as Texas does not have any government agency or inspection process regarding amusement park rides. As a precaution, Iron Rattler has closed as Six Flags Fiesta Texas, imaginatively for the remainder of the investigation. Outlaw Run has thus far remained operational.

 

[caffeine_demon]

One of the comments on the cnn link says that the coaster has a "180lb weight limit" - is that true (can't find anything online, and it does sound rather a low weight limit for a big coaster), or is the guy talking blobbox?