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Roller coaster riders ride left hanging after power outage
CBS News ^

Posted on 06/11/2007 9:15:04 AM PDT by John Cena

(AP) A dozen riders on an Arkansas roller coaster spent half an hour hanging upside down — 150 feet above the ground — after a power outage shut down the attraction.

It took about 30 minutes for the city Fire Department to rescue the riders using a ladder truck Saturday evening, said Aundrea Crary, spokeswoman for the Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park.

Spectators cheered when the riders were brought to the ground from the highest point of a loop on the X-Coaster, but one passenger threw up after reaching safety.

The X-Coaster was one of several rides brought to a halt by the outage that originated somewhere near the park.

"You could tell who got off the (X-Coaster) because their faces were red," said Angela Salter. She was riding the Gauntlet, another coaster, and said park employees worked quickly to free her.

The park resumed normal operations, although the X-Coaster remained closed.

One X-Coaster passenger, Jay Plummer, 37, was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Medical Center in Hot Springs after complaining of neck pain and a headache.

"It was very scary," said his girlfriend, Connie McBride. "I love the amusement park, but I will never get on the X-Coaster again."

The park has experienced outages before, but usually they last only seconds, said Dan Aylward, Magic Springs president and general manager.

Entergy Corp. was investigating but crews found no faulty wiring.

"The cause could be a (tree) limb or as simple as an animal (on the lines)," said Mark Hunt, general manager of customer service for Entergy. "We could find no faults, but we are going to continue to investigate until we find the cause."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Arkansas
KEYWORDS: amusementpark; oops; rollercoaster

1 posted on 06/11/2007 9:15:15 AM PDT by John Cena
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To: Millee

bump


2 posted on 06/11/2007 9:17:10 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: John Cena
or as simple as an animal (on the lines)

Oh the hugh manatee

3 posted on 06/11/2007 9:22:59 AM PDT by showme_the_Glory (ILLEGAL: prohibited by law. ALIEN: Owing political allegiance to another country or government)
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To: John Cena
The line of riders quickly changed from potential riders to an expanding line of trial lawyers waiting with neck-braces and ambulances.
4 posted on 06/11/2007 9:24:35 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: John Cena
Roller coaster riders ride left hanging

got drunk last night...think I woke up on a different planet.

What planet is this please? zorax589

5 posted on 06/11/2007 9:26:40 AM PDT by picard (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: TexasCajun

Does anybody remember the sit-com in the early ninties starring Chris Elliott called “Get a life”? One of the episodes was about this where he and a friend were on a roller coaster and got stuck hanging upside down for hours.


6 posted on 06/11/2007 9:27:22 AM PDT by John Cena
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To: John Cena

Well I know that I would have required a change of clothing after such an ordeal. Sheesh.


7 posted on 06/11/2007 9:30:10 AM PDT by thegreatbeast (The evil which you fear becomes a certainty by what you do.)
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To: John Cena

Yes, that show rocked. Damn Fox cancelled it though, like they cancelled a bunch of other good sitcoms too (Ben Stiller show, Wanda at Large, Firefly, Dark Angel, etc.)


8 posted on 06/11/2007 9:30:46 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: John Cena

The pilot episode of ‘Get A Life’ has Chris coaxing his best friend, Larry, into playing hooky from work for a day. The episode is ‘Terror on the Hell Loop 2000,’ and is hilarious!


9 posted on 06/11/2007 9:37:24 AM PDT by HitmanLV ("Lord, give me chastity and temperance, but not now." - St. Augustine)
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To: John Cena
What does NOT having electrical power have to do with a roller coaster getting stuck during a loop on a track?

Coasters I know are pulled to the top of an incline then gravity does the rest. Wouldn’t the coaster’s momentum cause it to finish the loop and coast to a stop?

All I can think of is the coaster may have some type of safety breaking mechanism to immediately stop it during a power outage...

10 posted on 06/11/2007 9:38:46 AM PDT by ryan71 (You can hear it on the coconut telegraph...)
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To: John Cena

Arkansas politicians immediately rushed to the scene to collect the money that had fallen out of the riders pockets.


11 posted on 06/11/2007 9:44:20 AM PDT by Reeses
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To: ryan71

ACtually - that particular coaster is pulled up the angle you see it on and then released. It appears that this is just prior to the release (I could be wrong). I was at that park last month. The safety device wouldn’t latch around me...so I couldn’t ride.


12 posted on 06/11/2007 11:00:46 AM PDT by TheBattman (I've got TWO QUESTIONS for you....)
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To: John Cena
This post needs the pictures:


13 posted on 06/11/2007 11:22:59 AM PDT by ThePythonicCow (The Greens steal in fear of pollution, The Reds in fear of greed; Fear arising from a lack of Faith.)
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To: ryan71

Looks like the power died right before their center of gravity was past the chain. If the power lasted 5 more seconds they’d have probably been in the freefall section. Timing is indeed everything.


14 posted on 06/11/2007 11:32:02 AM PDT by discostu (only things a western savage understands are whiskey and rifles and an unarmed)
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To: John Cena

And the park did not have a source of emergency power for situations like this? The cost of paying a lawyer to defend a lawsuit is more than the cost of a moderate-size standby generator


15 posted on 06/11/2007 12:06:54 PM PDT by PapaBear3625
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To: PapaBear3625

Every individual ride should have its own backup power.


16 posted on 06/11/2007 12:42:54 PM PDT by Excellence (Three million years is enough! Stop cyclical climate change now!)
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To: ThePythonicCow

.

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17 posted on 06/11/2007 9:06:38 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
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