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Carnival Ride Accident


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ANGELS CAMP, Calif. -- A carnival ride collapsed Friday evening at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds, injuring 18 people.

 

A swing ride called the Yo-Yo collapsed just after 6 p.m., Cal Fire's Lisa Williams said.

 

According to witnesses, 25 people were on the ride at the time.

 

The Yo-Yo has arms that fling out as they spin around an axis, said Dennis Townsend, a chief in the Calaveras County unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention.

 

State accident investigators were en route to the fairgrounds.

 

Laurie Giannini, the fairground's marketing director, said the fair remained open Friday night but the carnival area was shut down following the accident.

 

There were no fatalities, Giannini said, and the riders who received minor injuries had been treated.

 

Three patients in serious condition were airlifted to area hospitals, and the others were taken for medical treatment by ambulances and Calaveras Transit buses.

 

The Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee is held each year in late May and was inspired by the Mark Twain story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

 

Twain's tale focuses on a character and his jumping frog, named Dan'l Webster. The fictional frog-jumping contest is rigged in one gambler's favor when he secretly fills his opponent's frog with buckshot.

 

The Calaveras County fairgrounds is located just outside the Gold Rush-era town of Angels Camp in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 80 miles southeast of Sacramento. It bills itself as an "old-fashioned county fair" with exhibits and a variety of entertainment.

 

Last year's jumping frog contest drew 4,000 entries. This year's final is scheduled for Sunday.

 

The jubilee has been held since 1928, according to the Union Democrat newspaper of Sonora.

 

www.kcra.com/news/16307296/detail.html

 

I knew you can't trust those Yo-Yo's

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You can also get stuck upside on a roller coaster. Don't go on any Arrow coasters. Intamin wood or steel roller coasters crash. Don't go on any of them. Ride Trade Generation Drop hurts people's feet. Don't go on that. WED coasters crash and derail. Don't go on any of them. Someone died while going on a Vekoma. Don't go on Vekomas. I don't want to hear that just carnivals are unsafe. If you say that, say all rides are unsafe than. I think all rides are safe, but things happen.

 

Things just happen.

 

They say that the pole collapsed. At first, it sounds just like Six Flags Over Texas thing.

 

Six Flags Over Texas with less injuries: http://cbs11tv.com/local/Six.Flags.Texas.2.493243.html

 

However, the ride looks like they are first going to start and put the ride up. That's how it looks. Is there a control with the buttons that let's you go to this position? I don't know. I wish I knew. It comes off a truck, and than they put it like this. Than, they change it when the arms are spread out, and for people to go on it.

 

They say collapase, and I immediately think, it fell over. That's not what happened. They say the pole collapsed in the middle of the ride, but than they say that kids hit the ground, and parts of the ride.

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"Tis a pity that news stories such as these can make someone swear off riding those swinging rides forever!"

 

I like to ride swinging rides like the Wave Swinger and the Space Surfer at Kings Dominion and even a Yo-Yo swing, but I perfer to stay in the air and only touch the ground when (and only when) the ride comes to a complete stop.

 

I'm glad that nobody died, but having your next ride to the hospital REALLY BITES!!!

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Actually, it's not the pole that makes it tilt. There's a separate hydraulic ram on the side that tilts the center hub. We really don't know what happened, but there's many things that could have caused the arms to collapse. The center ram that causes the cantilevered arms to rise may have failed, or a hydraulic line ruptured that caused the ram to extend fully and in turn lower the arms.

 

Let's wait until the state inspectors find out what caused the ride to collapse.

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I thought when they meant the pole, that they were talking about the tilting mechanism.

 

Since you know about the Yo-Yo, can you tell me how the Yo-Yo works with these arms? Can you tell me not in a totally technical way how the arms spread out, and than come back in. For an Orbiter, I see the hydraulics that make it spread out. This ride, the stuff that makes it go is on top of the ride, and you can't visually see it.

 

Also, how does the Zierer Wave Swinger work when it does it's tilting thing?

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Wow this was the lead story on the Today Show this morning...kind of pathetic!

 

On a serious note though, I really do not like any of these swing rides as we had a bad experience on the one at then PGA! When you e-Stop these things you basically just slam into the people around you, and then the groun. NOT COOL!

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The center ram that causes the cantilevered arms to rise may have failed, or a hydraulic line ruptured that caused the ram to extend fully and in turn lower the arms.

 

It definately looks like failure of the arms.

yoyo.jpg.0af426b710450397559ff5f49152d569.jpg

From ABC News

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It definately looks like failure of the arms.

 

How? If the arms failed, then it would be highly likely that 1 or 2 arms would have lowered past the normal loading/unloading position. Since all the arms are past the loading/unloading position, and the arms are not flush against the support tower (when racked up for transport, the arms are flush against the support tower so they can fold the support tower to a horizontal position), we should look at what happened to the hydraulic ram that raises and lowers the arms.

 

I wonder if there's some kind of an arrestor that stops the arms from lowering past a certain point? Since all the arms lowered at the same time, it could be that the attachment between the hydraulic ram and the arms that failed, or a hydraulic line ruptured, causing the arms to lower, but not stop at the loading/unloading position.

 

There's still a lot of technical questions to ask to figure out what the cause could be...

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^I thought it said witnesses heard noises. I don't think it says about employees. The gp doesn't know what the Yo-Yo sounds like. Yo-Yo's make noises, and they aren't broke at all. Try one out, and see if you hear noises. I think you will hear noises, and they might sound weird to you if you have never been on it before.

 

Rode:

Cypress Gardens one

Santa's Village one which is now Windy City Amusements

All Star Amusements (Pink) was awesome, but (Green) stinks

Gaugea Lake one

Six Flags Over Texas one

Six Flags St. Louis one

 

I think the Six Flags, All Star (Green) and Cedar Fair ones stink. Tilt is very non-existant. Cypress Gardens is a WOW ride!

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It definately looks like failure of the arms.

 

How? If the arms failed, then it would be highly likely that 1 or 2 arms would have lowered past the normal loading/unloading position. Since all the arms are past the loading/unloading position, and the arms are not flush against the support tower (when racked up for transport, the arms are flush against the support tower so they can fold the support tower to a horizontal position), we should look at what happened to the hydraulic ram that raises and lowers the arms. ..

 

You answered your own question. In the "parked" position, those arms are higher up, and the swings obviously don't make contact with the ground. This obviously was arm failure. (or what ever is responsible for the what raises or lowers them, my opinion, same thing!) The arms are actualy close to "transport" position.

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