Alpenguy
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Alton Towers Discussion Thread
Alpenguy replied to Ed's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
For the theoretical cause discussion: Human error accidents with complex automated systems tend to have a chain of multiple small issues leading to a mistake. Speaking as another person with manual mode experience on block-heavy coasters, I agree with the others on the block-reset theory. Here's a little scenario that could explain how this regular procedure, given several smaller mishaps combining, could've led to the crash. 1). Imagine an unlikely and probably insignificant event added into the mix: Management override. The ride was down before, and maybe someone in an authority position decided to gently violate policy and not evacuate the lift while resetting. Automatic emergency stop due to a timeout at the post-batwing block? Well, it's windy, guess it just took its sweet time getting there (but it's not there!). Maybe it's common to have block timeouts with empty trains on a windy day; I can think of another ride that certainly did. Consider the possibility that a new, frustrated, overbearing manager unfamiliar with Smiler could demand a seemingly minor deviation from procedure, and that inexperienced and/or trusting operators (I'm assuming maintenance rather than ops, but it could be ops at some parks) submit to this authority and proceed. 2.) Figure (combined with a break from policy) the coaster has been reset moving backwards but not quite to the first lift. In most cases, a train stopped on the track is not going to flag a sensor, and PLC's generally forget everything about block occupation when reset. Alton Towers also loves lift stops, or at least has in the past. Camera out? Lift stop. Something wacky? Lift stop. I would bet most AT operations folks see a train stopped on a lift and assume that's the deal, rather than a more significant downtime. Imagine maintenance responder Ringo needs his lunch break, and Paul shows up to take over. "'Ello govnah, well, you can see where we're at," says Ringo has he leaves. Paul doesn't look at the PLC printout to see that the coaster went down for a possible valleyed train, he just sees the lift stop. It seems ridiculous that there wouldn't be thorough information handoff, but people in routines have caused ship/plane/industrial accidents many times by not passing along information. Maintenance guy Paul then resets the lift, placing it in motion and causing the crash. It really is impossible to crash things (outside true full manual mode) if all procedures are air-tight and they are perfectly followed. Considering the Saw closure, it seems possible that there is some rare combination of events in the Gerstlauer ride systems that could potentially lead to this tragedy during normal procedures. However, I bet when the report comes out, what seems like one big human error moment is going to be a string of several small ones. Everyone in a fail-safe level job should remember that and speak up when something small happens. Five 1% chances of 1/5th a disaster will line up eventually. -
Knoebels Discussion Thread
Alpenguy replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I guess this just comes from living in California, but is anyone else surprised that the whole building structure is wood? You just don't see any sort of public structure without some sort of steel frame out here. -
Heh, dispatch interval isn't an issue. Space Mountain has a strict, measured and ride system enforced weight limit on each train. Sometimes there need to be empty seats to make it. 12 football players? A row is getting pulled out at dispatch or everyone is going to the left and getting regrouped the hard way. Now think about who mostly uses single rider lines (AP's)...
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I remember Invertigo getting stuck once or twice when I worked there way back when, but it was at the base of the far lift after a miscatch and subsequent e-stop. Couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes to unload the one I saw, and I think they added a concrete pad under that spot just to make it easier in the future.
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The most efficient way to launch.
Alpenguy replied to SKULLY's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
The best thing about the new, fin-style LSMs vs. LIMs is that when the power is cut they naturally act as a conductive medium for eddy current braking. Meaning that unlike the hydraulic rocket coasters that have to pop up copper brake fins in case of rollback, iSpeed's LSM fins on the track do the exact same thing as soon as power is lost anyway. To get perspective on that with LIMs, California Screamin has mechanical caliper brakes all along its LIM lift hill in case of power loss. If Maverick loses power on the lift, it gently glides back down. -
MATH ALERT 23 seconds is really not a ridiculous loading expectation- the trains look pretty easy to step into, and assuming it's just a constant motion ignoring strict block sections in the station or a multi-subzone system (so trains are back to back) it doesn't have to move THAT fast. (X-car train is somewhere around 25-30ft long including minimal space between trains, so really only a little over 1ft/sec. or about 1mph) A realistic capacity number if they're really good about single riders and maxing out the blocks would be 1750/hr. Theoretical based on 23.0s dispatch is 1878/hr, but a lot of rides will run out of vehicles if they always hit their minimum interval and with the walkway system they'll probably keep a little breathing room. The only thing that might take some figuring out is grouping people to fill everything, and Universal tends to take a much more signage-heavy, hands on approach to that than Disney so they've probably come up with something smart. An RFID enable sounds pretty sweet, though there's no way that would ever fly in California. Really, I think a simple tandem load scheme (like USH Mummy) would work just as well or better with a lot less to worry about mechanically/electrically, but knowing Universal they'd probably staff 3-4 more positions just to do that, and those savings add up really fast even with several hundred thousand spent on a fancy moving walkway deal. [/math] SO excited to ride this next year!
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Belmont Park PTR 4/26/09
Alpenguy replied to atem122's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Nice TR. Do they still have the round, spinny bumper cars? -
Rock'N'Roller Coaster
Alpenguy replied to bhslhs's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Disney lists the general manufacturers as "subcontractors" and themselves at the manufacturer. Since Disney is the official manufacturer, the substantial inhouse engineering group can modify and support the ride to their heart's content. -
Mr. Six is original and an actual character. The "more flags more fun" bit doesn't really make sense, and is... well that's the whole thing right there. Hooray for Mr. Six!
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Shark jumps on to waterslide at Atlantis Resort
Alpenguy replied to WFChris's topic in Random, Random, Random
Aw, that's a really beautiful shark. -
Now did she really say "at speeds of up to 50mph and hurled down drops of 53ft"? 53? 53? Maybe I'm just in shock it's not an American saying "Yep I went on that thar big coaster thing and he just popped out." That's really bizarre she could fit comfortably in a flying coaster seat, yet not know she's pregnant...
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I'm very excited to ride this next year, and happy to see a nice high capacity, small train short interval coaster. They're just so much fun to watch in action. Judging by the NL model, there should be plenty of breathing room on the brake sections to manage 1800/hr, and USO is one place I bet has the guts to run such a thing all out. That rolling loop looks really cool too, nice to have one closer than Norway.
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I hope CGA finally does get some sort of coaster in that spot. Maybe after Thrustair presumably losing out to noise, and then a wooden coaster, a quieter option* will arise. All the new additions to the park are very classy, and operations seem to be on a great track. *Maverick type with scream tubes if there is any justice in this world! Probably 10 million over what CF will allocate though.
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Nürburgring launched coaster
Alpenguy replied to thomas2's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I find smooth, strong deceleration to be pretty fun and exciting, so IMO it's not wasted speed by any means. My question is, does S&S just have it in for capacity? 8 seats? I guess it's a small audience upcharge sort of thing and the buyer chose, but still... -
DID YOU KNOW?
Alpenguy replied to coasterfreak81's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
The Matterhorn's elevator is roughly 90 feet tall... and hydraulic. That's HUGE for a little hydraulic elevator! -
Most brakes do indeed require air pressure to close, just not electrical power. They usually have an individual accumulator or multiple-redundant sources. It's honestly quite strange they don't work the opposite way, but it's much easier to control and damn close to 100% safe with proper design and maintenance. See SFNE S:ROS for a combination of both aspects getting overlooked.
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Awesome! So the cast member wages go up by... oh wait. That'd take advantage of the rare staffing surplus to retain and reward quality too much! Oh well, gotta make up for lower attendance somehow. Still easily the best value though, except for a one-day DCA but it's clearly a model hoping for folks to get park-hoppers if they're going to do DCA on a single or multi-day.
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SFDK TR- weekend of July 27th, 2008
Alpenguy replied to roland303's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I get it! It's nice to hear SFDK is keeping up the kids areas, I remember having an absolute blast there way back in the barely post-Redwood City days with all sorts of net structures and other things that partly disappeared in the early SF takeover. -
Vekoma's new train designs
Alpenguy replied to Gav-'s topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
It only took them 15 years longer than several other companies to come up with constant-contact wheels. Good for them. -
Hey, I remember you from other sites way back when. Good luck with college or wherever you're going.