NEWS: 12 year old girl severely injured in Wisconsin Dells

[Tmcdllr]

... you can install better failsafe devices that could stop anyone from getting hurt should there be some kind of human error.

 

Exactly! Because no matter what, when humans are involved, there will always be a chance of that happening. A failsafe would at least eliminate that possibility.

[Columbia]

... you can install better failsafe devices that could stop anyone from getting hurt should there be some kind of human error.

 

Exactly! Because no matter what, when humans are involved, there will always be a chance of that happening. A failsafe would at least eliminate that possibility.

 

A "fail safe" device would significantly reduce the likelihood of an incident. It cannot completely prevent it. In essence, there is no true, "Fail safe."

[Tmcdllr]

^ That's true and I would take that over nothing.

[Capitalize]

I honestly feel terrible for everyone involved. Obviously the girl and her family; but also the operator. Its all too easy to forget about a random bit of procedure or not pay attention for a moment. I've seen some close calls while at parks and working rides, thankfully none resulted in something as terrible as this.

[fatdaddy]

So CBS News said the guy went back to work today, what the hell is that about.

[Capitalize]

Considering he could be facing jail time, that seems extremely bizarre.

[gisco]

I'm surprised there is no failsafe. How hard would it be to have sensors in place to be sure the net is raised and the bag inflated before someone can be dropped.

[larrygator]

So CBS News said the guy went back to work today, what the hell is that about.

 

In this country you are innocent until proven guilty. Whether you perceive that as right or wrong, it's the law.

[Tmcdllr]

I'm surprised there is no failsafe. How hard would it be to have sensors in place to be sure the net is raised and the bag inflated before someone can be dropped.

 

Not very hard at all, I can think of at least one way that it would work. What's really surprising to me is that the manufacturer doesn't have this in place already.

[ilrider]

Blanked out, blacked out...does it really matter? The fact is his lapse of concentration lead to a near death experience for some poor little girl.

 

It doesn't matter in what happened, but in a criminal case, the difference between claiming he literally blacked out versus just not doing his job is big for the defense, because the former is a defense case while the latter is clear admittance of negligence. I think the guy is just admitting to a lapse in judgment. He has been charged with a crime, so I think we should be able to discuss this aspect of the story here, so in that respect, yes, the difference between blacked out and blanked out does very much matter. That statement could come back to haunt him in court.

[ilrider]

I apologize if posting two different comments in a row constitutes double posting, but I thought everyone would want to read this article from CBS News.

 

Police caught workers making repairs to the ride at 2 a.m., 2 weeks after the girl fell, in a closed crime scene! Follow the link:

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/20/earlyshow/main6789775.shtml

[Tmcdllr]

Isn't that like extremely illegal?

[larrygator]

Isn't that like extremely illegal?

 

That's why the police are involved!

[ilrider]

They had already been warned to not touch the scene, as the article states, so the owner is going to be in hot water, more than he already is.

[chadster]

the "red tape" on the ride for me won't hardly do it. With all of the modern technologies out there, an additional safety mechanism should be in place. The operator is in full control of when a person is dropped, as in this case the operator failed to pay attention to the net height prior to release. I'm curious how much sleep this person had as it sounded like he was in robot mode, bring rider over, release the rider, bring next rider over, release, oh crap, opps, my bad.

 

So what additional mechanism am i talking about? For one, sensors placed in the area deemed at the acceptable height for the catch net. Second, a device is attached to the release mecahnism that prohibits the device from being activated (button pressed\cord pulled) until the sensors are tipped AND a person on the ground pressing another button signaling the rides computer and "drop master" that everything is good on the ground. Another option would be a trap door that slides out of place, (not folding down as to prevent head injuries and other issues) that can only be pulled back once the sensors are tripped for the netting. The door would be secured via pins triggered by an actuator or hydo, that would release and secure. On multiple jumps, the door would have to be closed before the netting could be lowered preventing an opps for a second, third, or fourth drop before returning to earth.

 

While some of these attractions have the netting attached to the gondola and lifts as the gondola does (a place acorss from Speed Zone in Dallas has this safety feature) more can and should be done to prevent needless injuries or death.

[ilrider]

Unless I'm wrong, I thought this ride does have the feature where the nets rises with the gondola, but the operator stopped 40 feet short of the correct height, another blunder I just can't get my mind around, because if this is all he did all day, he should know the correct height. If this ride doesn't have that feature, the same tragedy would have befallen the girl if it had, so that feature wouldn't have saved her. A failsafe sure seems easy to create on this ride, though, as has been mentioned.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

Unfortunately there will always be human error at any ride, no matter how trained the operator is.

 

All it takes is something like a bad night's sleep, or not enough sleep, for an operator to lose sight of what's happening for a split second during their shift. There's no way to stop these things from happening (you can't exactly set a bed time for your employees), but you can install better failsafe devices that could stop anyone from getting hurt should there be some kind of human error.

 

And that is just the problem,unlike most flats or coasters this type of ride,along with the skycoasters require much more human involvement in their operation & don't rely so much on computers that would e-stop the ride cycle should anything that's not right be detected.

[Tmcdllr]

^ Well then maybe that needs to change.

[davisal771]

But Skycoasters have never had an accident. Ever.

[Tmcdllr]

Different ride, circumstances, procedures, etc. but not sure how you could failsafe a skycoaster, this ride however, a failsafe seems pretty easy to design and install. I am no engineer but it seems pretty straightforward.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Without getting into all the specifics, Skycoasters are just about as fail safe as you can get. They LITERALLY are the safest rides in the industry, no exaggeration. Almost 20 seasons of operation with dozens of locations world wide and never a single major incident, with the exception of drunken employees after hours improperly operating the ride and getting hurt (but you can't even include that as they were doing just about everything against the proper procedures, not to mention they were drunk).

[Tmcdllr]

You can't argue with that.

[ilrider]

I thought a 16-year-old girl died on a skycoaster in Wisconsin a couple years back when her harness disengaged. Maybe it was a different ride.

[Tmcdllr]

The only accident I've ever heard of on a skycoaster was caused by idiotic drunk employees.

[chadster]

^^ it was a different type of ride, same principal. I believe Steve operates an acutal real genuine sky coaster, the one the girl died on wasnt the real deal, was swung off a crane type structure if I remember correct, and the operator had so many previous and current violations, you'd need a semi truck to haul them to the courthouse. They weren't allowed to operate in the state for several years after.