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NEWS: 12 year old girl severely injured in Wisconsin Dells


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^Yeah, the only serious accident in Skycoaster history involved drunk employees being jackasses after hours and not following safety procedures. I've done over 250 flights in my life and I'm still here!

 

Yep, this is the one that's in the site controller manual. For those who don't know, three employees decided to fly, hooking themselves facing the opposite direction of normal (although the cables twist during most flights). This particular site had the manual Rolling Boarding Platform rather than a scissor lift. RBP's have to be rolled away and tethered a certain distance from the low point of the swing. These employees left the RBP out at the low point and struck it three times before another operator could get it out of the way. The police were called and quoted as saying "I could smell [intoxicants] on them.". So that's really the only thing that could happen on a Skycoaster, and most sites user the scissor lifts anyway. The flight crew can't start winch-up without the lift all the way lowered on scissor lifts, so accidents really can't happen.

 

It's too bad that the SCAD towers are not so safe. I think it could be done effectively.

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You have a better chance of being struck by lightning while simultaneously being attacked by a shark and being sat on by a whale with legs.

 

 

If SyFy Channel is reading this, I want to see this acted upon in your next Saturday night movie, ASAP!

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Does anyone know or has it been confirmed if she did land on a safety pad? At least two of the other SCAD tower accidents (in Florida and California, I believe) the injured had their falls broken by safety pads on the ground.

 

Also, hi.

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I've never seen one of these towers, so I'll leave the opining to those who have actually ridden them. Only thing I'd say is my thoughts go out to the family of this girl.

 

And I know that 99.9 percent of the rides out there are totally safe.. and it's generally the same type of rides that have these particular kinds of malfunctions.. But at what point do all of these stories of people being hurt on rides start to build up to the point where the GP looses faith in the park's ability to keep them safe. I would consider myself apart of the largely ignorant GP ( that just happens to know about this forum ), and to me it's absolutely absurd that the reason behind this accident could be 'they did not raise the net properly'.

 

*edit* I know that the net level may be the reason in reality. I'm just saying it's completely stupid that something like that could happen at a place as big as Wisconsin Dells. That's something that happens at the Ocala County Fair and the lawyer tells you "the carney was up too late smoking crack'.

Edited by 808Freq
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This video is shot at the same ride that the accident occurred on on July 4th of last year:

 

 

At 2:15, the two girls and attendant are standing in the elevator.

 

At 2:20, the attendant pulls something out of her pocket which looks to be a cell phone.

 

At 2:26, with the elevator attendant using her cell phone, the elevator starts to move upwards and the attendant quickly gives a palm forward, seemingly to the other operator on the ground, at which point the elevator stops. Was this a miscommunication between the operators, was someone not paying attention? Obviously the riders were not hooked up correctly yet.

 

I'm pointing this out because the video does not support the view that the operators are operating the ride safely and attentively. First, the operator is on her cell phone while 'operating' the ride, and second, it appears there was a really obvious miscommunication between the operators about whether the riders were secure and ready to travel up the tower.

 

Of course, this is all speculation and not related directly to the incident. I also don't claim to know exactly how the ride system functions, but the things I noticed in this video appear to be safety violations.

Edited by sfmman2000
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This was from someone who claimed to be there:

....I was there...the net was never attached to the elevator.....the elevator was at 40 feet....they raised the net to maybe 20 feet (she was at 40 feet) and then, mysteriously, lowered it it down. when they released her from the harness, the net was only a couple feet off the ground....I was there, YOU do the math!

 

It was posted on the news website comments:

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/fox6/T117HONCDTB84VR0A/p2

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After watching the Bert clip (for research purposes only) and watching the video provided earlier on this thread, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that an unsafe operational procedure was present on the day of this horrific accident. Unfortunately with all the reports and (mis)information swirling - we're not going to have a true, clear picture of what may have happened until the State finalizes it's report. (Re: Knott's & Xcelerator)

 

That being said, I've caught countless ride ops on cell phones while dispatching rides (I think we nailed one on Grizzly in Coaster Season 03 or 04 with Robb THERE!) Great invention or curse on society - can they be both?

 

Has there been any update on the child's condition?

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I remember taking a pass on this one during the Mid-West tour. I'll ride just about anything, but this just scared the crap out of me. Several in my group did it and said it was uber-scary.

 

I'd like to say "I wish I could have ridden this...." but I'd be a liar. I truly hope the girl will be okay and am appalled that there have been more than one accident like this.

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If the ride op was on her cell phone, she should be sued for damages that were done to the girl (though this probably won't happen, the park will probably be sued)

 

Please refrain from making misleading comments. There have been no witnessed reports of the ride operator using a cell phone during this accident.

 

It is posts like this that lead people on tangents and make everyone confused!

Edited by larrygator
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Also in that video with the ride op. looking at her cell phone. She could have just been looking at the time because not everyone (like myself) wears a watch and I am constantly checking my cell phone for the time.

 

Like I said previously it's sad for this to happen and I hope the girl is alright, but stuff happens. I think we need to be patient until a follow up is published.

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^Agreed, about the time, but still not relevant (and misleading to even reference) in this situation as the video is not from the actual accident.

 

So let's not indict the ride operator based on another ride operators actions.

 

 

Also, please do not post information that has already been posted as if you have an "exclusive', read the thread first.

 

i.e.: Extreme World going into foreclosure was discussed 2 days ago.

Edited by larrygator
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This is a shocking incident, operator responsibility or not, this sort of thing should never happen on an attraction that is almost solely reliant on operators.

 

My thoughts go out to the girl involved and all the loose ends are tied up sooner rather than later.

 

I remember the original SCAD transportable tower visiting my town back in maybe 2000 (cannot remember the exact year) and the original one (I have photos somewhere but don't have the time to hunt through my boxes due to an imminent move) the net was definitely attached to the cage the operators rode in, I stood watching it for a good loooooong time as I was trying to talk myself into riding (it didn't work, I still haven't and probably never will ride one! Don't like the idea of it!)

[sarcasm]

So I can only sum up that the fault of the attraction was down to one crucial thing.......the darned Intamin Cables the crane tower obviously uses!!!!!!!!!!!!! [/sarcasm]

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That being said, I've caught countless ride ops on cell phones while dispatching rides (I think we nailed one on Grizzly in Coaster Season 03 or 04 with Robb THERE!) Great invention or curse on society - can they be both?

 

Or, just a training manager who doesn't care/doesn't enforce safe operations.

 

At the park I work at, in the rides department, if an employee is caught using their cell phone even to check the time, they are immediately fired.

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The whole thing comes down to this - there is inherent risk in every activity we do. Driving, jumping out of bed...breathing.

 

That being said...let's face it - at the core of this attraction is an uncontrolled free fall into a set of nets. That's about as wild as you can get. One error on anyone's part (park or patron) and it's bad news all day. (Aircraft crashes typically take at least three consecutive failures before something serious arises).

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The whole thing comes down to this - there is inherent risk in every activity we do. Driving, jumping out of bed...breathing.

 

That being said...let's face it - at the core of this attraction is an uncontrolled free fall into a set of nets. That's about as wild as you can get. One error on anyone's part (park or patron) and it's bad news all day. (Aircraft crashes typically take at least three consecutive failures before something serious arises).

 

 

Very well put - and If I remember correctly (not sure if the ride system has changed much since the first generation ones, but you were put into an almost full harness which fixed your arms and legs so as not to flail them about and break a limb. It is a great way of seriously reducing the risk of an uncontrolled freefall.

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