LcHg5265 Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 2) This is much more of a Vekoma problem. I do not think that is a fair statement to make. It could have easily been a maintenance issue or just a simple random complication. Amusement park rides are not an exact science, breakdowns happen all the time on rides by EVERY manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolliger&Mabillard Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 since they couldn't just run the lift in 'reverse' to lower the train. No coaster can do that. 99.99% of coasters that use lifts use gear boxes that are one way only. If you allow for it to move in two directions, it then has the chance of slipping back, so you'd be trading a moderate problem (stuck on lift) for a major one (train rolling back into station) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megamatt Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 According to Fox 25 the trains "Broke off of the top and swung down below the track, however this happened when the train was in a loop so there actually right side up" Im never gonna watch fox news again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craneman Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I watched the different news shows to get a laugh at how dramatic they were making this, it was almost a obsurd. The NBC channel seemed to be more focused on the facts, no one was hurt, everything going as planned, etc. Even the reporter seemed calm as she was talking. Did you know Invertigo is 21 years old? Installed in 1988 (According to NBC11) Things happen just glad nobody got hurt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0sterfreek Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 21 years old huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 since they couldn't just run the lift in 'reverse' to lower the train. No coaster can do that. 99.99% of coasters that use lifts use gear boxes that are one way only. If you allow for it to move in two directions, it then has the chance of slipping back, so you'd be trading a moderate problem (stuck on lift) for a major one (train rolling back into station) Actually this coaster does that every ride cycle and both lifts do it. At the beginning the 1st lift raises the train up to the drop off point, after it is released the lift (chain) lowers or runs in reverse, the catch car to get set up for the end of the cycle when it will catch the train on the upward motion then reverse to bring it gently to the station. How else do you think it does this? The 2nd lift does a similar thing. So you see on Invertigos and GIBs the lifts do run in both directions if they didn't the ride would not work. The catch cars on both ride types have to be able to raise the train then return back to a starting position to be able to catch the train again and the only way to do that is run in reverse. Yes it's true on a roller coaster where the lift's only job is to raise the train to the top of the hill, they can only go one way, they cannot run in reverse. But on Invertigos and GIBs the catch cars, which are part of the lifts, must be able to run in both directions and they have to do it every ride cycle so the lifts, whether cable or chain, run in both directions, a forward or up to raise the train to the release point, and reverse or down to either bring the train back to the station or move the catch cars to a position to be ready to catch the train on the next ride cycle. That is also why there are no anti rollbacks on these rides, if there were the ride would not work. If the catch car fails or releases early there are brakes at the bottom of each lift to stop the train from vallying anywhere because of lack of momentum. Anyway, that is why I was saying something pretty serious must have happened to the lift for them to not be able to reverse it and bring the train back down to the station because normally with the train stopped where it is they should be able to do that or lift it to the top and let it go to either finish the cycle or stop it on the brakes but apparently whatever happened to the lift is so bad they cannot move the train with it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyuk200523 Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 This news made it all the way to the UK, just seen it on Channel 5 news update. I am not 100% about this, however, if the Inverted Boomerangs work exactly the same as the normal boomerangs then there is no lift on the first pull back, it is purely a catch car pulling the car back then releases, the 2nd tower is a normal lift which is connected to hydraulics, once the train has reached the top, the hydraulics kick in and the chain drops away thus releasing the train. If this is correct then surely there is a manual way of lowering the catch car back down as it is essentially just a cable lift system? Maybe they should have fitted walkways like all of the normal boomerangs, it doesn't ruin the look of the coaster, but saves any major problems like this hitting the news!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dws_57 Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Hey All; According to today's mercury news. The coaster made a bad noise before it stopped, on the way up the first lift hill. "According to witnesses". Also says they shut down many of the other attractions too. Here's the link to the local Mercury News story. http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13031694?nclick_check=1 At least the west coast trip people got through there OK. They went on Sunday the 9. Hope they all got the credit. Dws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallen xxi Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 ^^ LOL. Typical idiot reporters. And something similar (but more serious) happened at SFA to their Two Face ride causing for Six Flags to eventually remove the ride. So, maybe Vekoma should indeed take some sort of blame for this and develop a solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six Flags Enthuseast Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Did you know Invertigo is 21 years old? Installed in 1988 (According to NBC11) NEVER trust a news company to coaster information!! RCDB Link Also, if you look at thumbnail 4 on the pictures, you'll notice that there is a catchcar on only the first lift. The GIB's lift system is MUCH different from that of the Inverted Shuttle coaster. Since Vekoma finally realized it took days for the Boomerang and ISc to get up the lift, they put a faster and much different lift system for the GIB. It works by timed catchcars that are pulled a lot faster up the vertical lifts than the 1 catchcar/1 lift system that pulled Boomerangs and IScs. However, as you may have know from Deja Vu incidents, it isn't perfect. Remember the YouTube video of the SFMM Deja Vu stalling halfway through the loop? Proof of a mistimed catchcar. That's why Robb said that, during Psyclone's removal and TS:TR's building, SFMM was doing their annual cable syncronizing. So the new system was faster, but less reliable. The old system is more reliable, but it still does tend to have it's problems. I do not think that is a fair statement to make. True, but I must say I have noticed it more in Vekomas more than other rides. Take Aftershock's incident last year (or earlier this year??). Pretty much the exact same thing happened, but with a glitch on the GIB's system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfmmrules! Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 ^HA! Installed in 1988! Yeah right! Try June 1998 you news people! & I have never been stuck on a coaster. The only ride I've been stuck on is I think it was Yankee Clipper but only for like 10 min. It was in the flat area on top just before the drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGA_88 Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 ^Try March 1998. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitrofan Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 I don't get why everyone is making such a big deal about this. (Everyone meaning the news networks.) Coasters break every day, and people have to be evacuated, and you don't see that make national news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 This news made it all the way to the UK, just seen it on Channel 5 news update. I am not 100% about this, however, if the Inverted Boomerangs work exactly the same as the normal boomerangs then there is no lift on the first pull back, it is purely a catch car pulling the car back then releases, the 2nd tower is a normal lift which is connected to hydraulics, once the train has reached the top, the hydraulics kick in and the chain drops away thus releasing the train. If this is correct then surely there is a manual way of lowering the catch car back down as it is essentially just a cable lift system? Maybe they should have fitted walkways like all of the normal boomerangs, it doesn't ruin the look of the coaster, but saves any major problems like this hitting the news!! The Boomerangs are different than the Invertigos and GIBs and work as you describe. The GIBs and Invertigos have a catchcar on each lift. The Invertigos use chains on each lift with a catchcar and the GIBs use cables on each lift with a catchcar. If you were to look at both lifts on Invertigo you would see they both have the same catchcar and enclosed chain except the 1st lift has a longer chain obviously get to train out of the station, the same goes for the GIBs with the cable lifts. Unlike the Boomerangs, the Invertigos and GIBs use the catchcar on the first lift to slowly bring the train back to the station after it catches it when the ride is over. On the Boomerangs, it just uses the brakes at the base of the lift/station to bring the train in. I agree with you though on two things. The first is I think there should be some kind of evacuation platform under the lifts to maybe get people off faster when this kind of thing happens (and now maybe there will be), and secondly they should have been able to use the lift to lower the train back down to the station unless something in the lift (chain, gearbox, whatever) failed so badly that they can't even move it and had to evacuate the train where it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyingcoasterfreak Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Gearbox locked up solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre8 Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Wow, I heard about this at summer camp. Must've been really uncomfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Now they are saying the ride is going to be closed for 2 months. http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_13040386?source=rss Overreact much??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidcoaster 2 Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 My favorite quote "I thought we were going to die" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atem122 Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Wouldnt that suck if you really had to piss and that happened? I remember riding Tatsu while I kind of had to go once, it was not very comfortable (For the record, I didnt wet myself) I can only imagine how much it must suck to be stuck like that for hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 ^I'm not sure what I would do if I had to use the restroom...obviously, wouldn't be able to do anything. In that case, I would probably just sleep/rest my eyes, or just enjoy the view. So according to the over-reacting media, Invertigo's pretty much dead for the rest of the season...highly doubtful. I say give it a couple weeks and it will be alive once again. I'd say that the news/media successfully did their job by freaking people out. Today, I had several coworkers come up to me (Knowing I'm obsessed with coasters) excitedly asking me if I heard what happened at CGA. I calmly told them that I did, and I felt that the media over reacted on this...they agreed as well. To top it off, the front page of our local paper has this huge image of Invertigo with the riders being rescued...within the text, there's a block quote thing stating an absurd comment like "I was frightened! I thought I was going to die!" I could not help it but chuckle at the way the editors laid that out, and to pick that quote out of the article to stand out. So hopefully, all of this negative attention towards the coaster doesn't have any affect on the coaster, or the park overall...or any park in the bay area. I'm sure that now many are going to be leery of visiting any amusement park for the time being. And don't be surprised if you start seeing other random/non-important ride malfunctions making it in the news within the next few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLERLC1 Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 It's more like drink a bottle of beer 21 years old. If it was a regular boomerang they would just use the lift stairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechanic Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 The rescue obviously went just fine and all is well for the riders, but I can't help but wonder why they couldn't simply manually release the catch car and have the station brakes stop the train. I'm sure there's a very good reason why that isn't the way they handle such a failure. I'm just interested to know more about why ride evacuations are handled the way they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Gaga Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 The rescue obviously went just fine and all is well for the riders, but I can't help but wonder why they couldn't simply manually release the catch car and have the station brakes stop the train. I'm sure there's a very good reason why that isn't the way they handle such a failure. I'm just interested to know more about why ride evacuations are handled the way they are. I thought they weren't allowed to evac rides that have a threat of moving suddenly ( ex. a coaster half hanging over the first drop. ) I kind of guessed that boomerangs catch cars were always released manually in this situation. Isn't there a threat of these rides releasing mid rescue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDFAN Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Knowing what happened to Two Face at SFA in a similiar situation I think this could coaster could be leaving, if the park stays around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KGA29 Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 There's a poll on that article page "Does this incident with Invertigo make you not want to ride the rides at CGA anymore?" (or something like that) 39% said yes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now