I was at Six Flags in Maryland a few years ago as I had a one day temp assignment there. At the end of the day they let me ride a few rides for free. And I'll tell you, I sure wouldn't pay park admission to go there and wait in line all day.
Isn’t danger the whole point of a thrill ride?
Treva Smith was the best witness they could find?
I’m assuming the maintenance guys are in a peck of trouble.
Dan Snyder had to cut the expenses somewhere to free up enough money to make such amazing players like adam Archuleta the highest paid players at their positions in the entire NFL(yes, I know that was last year).
It's hard to see how a multi-thread wire cable would snap. I know that elevators are built with the highest factor of safety (16:1), whereas planes are built with the lowest factor of safety (1.5:1). I'm assuming the FOS for thrill rides is up there with elevators. (The "factor of safety" means that the structure is built assuming a load of X times the failure load.)
My guess would be that a connector failed, or that there was some failure in maintenance. It's hard to imagine that the design was flawed, but it is possible.
I've ridden a similar ride at Six Flags in Massachusetts. Don't know if I will again. Just tragic.
As an insider he knew just enough about what the idiots would do to make sure they kept the ticket money coming in, and just how dangerous most of the older rides are.
He was fine with the bigger park rides though, Cedar Point and Kings Island was fine, he knew the maintenance was top notch there.
Are you sure the feet can’t be reattached?
This is a ride that is in many amusement parks across the country, with a history of MILLIONS of riders riding safely.
This is a tragedy no doubt, but to bash amusement rides is ignorant.
Statistically you are far far more likely to wind up injured any other number of ways than on a ride, particuarly at a permanent park like this.
There will be an investigation, and the cause will be found. Now whether its a design flaw, or a maintenance issue, or just the fact some insanely freaky situation happened, we won’t know for a while.
Imagine folks reacted like you every time a plane crashes? Time to stop knee jerking and be responsible.
Couple of years ago I went to Kings Dominion just outside of Richmond VA and 1/4 to 1/3 of the rides were shut down, the park was a mess. The year before that I went to the Six Flags outside DC and quite a few of the rides were out of service.
Don't know if they are owned by the same company, but I would never recommend any of them. Hershey Park and Busch Gardens always seem to be in tip-top shape.
Where was that ride built? Was it USA or China?
I was at a minor league ballgame this week and a boy won
some tickets to a Six Flags as part of a between innings contest. A woman in my row was heard to laugh, “Ah, so he
can get his legs cut off...”
It wasn’t a roller coaster, it was a “ride” where they drop you. The most scared I have ever been on a “ride” was at Knotts Berry Farm and it was the same kind of ride, where it takes you up really high then drops you fast. I was so scared, not my brain, but my heart. It was pounding, adrenaline was pumping. I was laughing and saying I am not really scared, I am just shaky, because I know it is SAFE. Turns out I was wrong, it wasn’t safe, it was the same kind of ride that this young girl was injure on. Scary stuff.
I love fun and excitement too but why does every ride have to take it to the extreme? Why?
Rumor is the cable was a smaller diameter than the specs called for by the designer of the ride Intamin. Also that it was recently replaced.
If I were to don my foil hat I would suspect a Chinese involvement. I work in a concrete batching facility and we make concrete products which needless to say are heavy, in purchasing lifting hooks, chains and cables I have found repeatedly than if its stamped “Made in China” it will fail prematurely.