SFDK Boomerang Stalls Midcourse

[Columbia]

From local news, KTVU:

Boomerang Coaster Stalls Mid-Course (No Injuries)

 

Quick Synopsis:

- NO injuries. (+)

- Evacuation completed in less than 1 hour. (+)

- No passengers stalled while inverted. (+)

- This is the second time the coaster has stalled mid-course with passengers aboard. (-)

 

This is why they built the, "valley floor" on Boomerang-like coasters. Although - at this time I cannot confirm exactly where the coaster stalled. Stay tuned...

[Tmcdllr]

Wasn't the first time in the cobra roll because the lift cable broke? This is odd because I was there yesterday and it was closed all day and then they started test running at park closing time, it seemed okay then, I wonder what happened.

 

Also of note, the row of seats right in the middle of V2s train have been removed, just the seats, all the cars are still in place on the train, and that row of course is blocked off in line. The explanation I got was the ride kept e stooping because it was getting errant restraint open signals from that row of seats, so they just removed them. I guess it makes sense but this was from a ride op so who knows. First he told me it was because a girl fell out, obviously he was joking.

[MiAdventureMan87]

Why would a ride op joke about such a thing? Some guy at an amusement park I will not mention said that if the kids wouldn't stop shaking the gates on the ride, that they will spontaneously combust. All it takes is one spooked guest and you're out on your rump.

 

Things like that are something you think, but don't say. Like when kids ask "am I going to die?" you think "well, someday", but you just say "not today, little fella" or something to the effect.

[Tmcdllr]

The local news reports I have been seeing say nothing about it being inverted or stalled, really, they just say that it stopped on the second lift hill and the valleying occurred as a result of the train being released from the lift and being stopped on the brakes at the bottom, between the loop and second lift, where they apparently evacuated everyone.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Tmcdllr

[Sir Clinksalot]

Awww shucks, we may not be able to ride the Boomerang at SFDK on Saturday.

 

Oh wait ...

[Columbia]

News Update (From KTVU):

 

Ride cycled normally to the second lift - then it just stopped.

 

The ride stalled on the lift for some time, before slowly being lowered. Employees and mechanics were dispatched up the hill to speak with passengers. At a certain point, the ride chain dropped (like it normally does) and the ride sped down into the brakes below the loop. There were no injuries, but parents and children were "startled" and "would not ride it again."

 

Hence why the brakes are there - as a backup system just in case - to be sure the train doesn't go any further past the loop in the event of a "short" shot.

 

One parent was angry that the park did not immediately bring water to the passengers (The temperature was under 75F at the time of the accident.)

 

Oh, the news used the parks "Fun Runs Wild" logo during the intro to the piece...fact checking is awesome!

[Dietcokevan]

I blame the more evil brother of the Intamin cable! I blame the Vekoma cable!

[Columbia]

I blame the more evil brother of the Intamin cable! I blame the Vekoma cable!

 

You may want to blame the "evil" chain lift, to be more precise.

[Angry_Gumball]

Yet another thing for the GP to be afraid of...It's pretty pathetic how the GP responds to things like this, reading the comments on KTVU's site:

The trick is you have to call 911 when the ride shut down and you have been stuck in your seat for over an hour, then you have to say that you were hurt and the pain and suffering is to much, the get rich quick scam - the american way!

I'm sure this loser's looking for attention.

 

When riding Invertigo last Sunday, I was talking to the riders facing me and telling them about how the ride got stuck last year and was closed for the longest time. They were a bit shocked and seemed a bit freaked out.

 

Regarding V2, rumor says that there were some stress fractures forming in the train's spine and things had to be rebuilt hence V2's major downtime. I guess the missing seat was beyond repair to have it up for this season. It's said the stress fractures are due to the unique track layout as opposed to the rest of the impulses out there. My guess is that it has to do with the angled twist.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Angry_Gumball

[Tmcdllr]

You were telling people about that while on the ride?...That's funny.

 

From the sounds of it the ride stopped as it should have since there was a malfunction and no injuries resulted, so does this mean everytime a coaster stops on a lift it will be on the news? Okay so people were evacuated but what's the big deal? I can't help but wonder if it being down all day yesterday has anything to do with this.

[Angry_Gumball]

According to another news site, KRON 4, the ride stalled for atleast 15 minutes on the second spike. Again, very vague as to what happened. So it's assumed it's a simple stall, maybe the ride detected something and shut off, or the Vekoma Glitch Gremlins are up to their tricks...

[Tmcdllr]

It always makes me kind of laugh everytime I see a Boomerang catch the train on the second lift, its such a hard, violent catch.

[Columbia]

You would think that with the modern advances in terms of catch cars with the Inverted boomerang models - the dropping chain would become obsolete and replaced...

[let1gre]

So they got front-of-line passes because they lost two hours. Can I get front of line passes after I lose two hours waiting in line?

 

Riders said this was the Boomerang's second mishap of the day. It had been shut down about an hour earlier for clean up after a passenger got sick.

 

That's not a Boomerang mishap, and not the park's fault! Mannnn, I guess ignorance is bliss, but sometimes it's too much.

[FeelTheFORCE]

You would think that with the modern advances in terms of catch cars with the Inverted boomerang models - the dropping chain would become obsolete and replaced...

 

 

I really hope that was sarcastic, because we all know how every GIB and Invertigo are problem-free.

 

 

Once again, an event that isn't anything major whatsoever gets eaten up and twisted my the media. How is this any different from a normal, full-circuit coaster getting stuck on a lift hill and having to evacuate riders?

[Tmcdllr]

It is no different at all. Because of that one incident with the cable snapping on this ride YEARS AGO, they jump all over any little thing that happens to it plus I'm sure the Invertigo incident didn't help either. What a total waste off a news story. If there were injuries or something really serious happened then okay but this is just lame.

[CardCraze]

So they got front-of-line passes because they lost two hours. Can I get front of line passes after I lose two hours waiting in line?

That's your choice to stand in line. I'm pretty positive none of these riders chose to be stuck on a coaster for a lengthy period of time.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^ They chose to ride it, didn't they? It's common knowledge to know a ride or coaster always has a chance of mechanically failing, yet they were obviously willing to accept that risk by riding.

[AllenA07]

Was it a slow news day or something? This is more of a minor breakdown than it is an accident.

[let1gre]

So they got front-of-line passes because they lost two hours. Can I get front of line passes after I lose two hours waiting in line?

That's your choice to stand in line. I'm pretty positive none of these riders chose to be stuck on a coaster for a lengthy period of time.

 

I know, I'm just being a sarcastic jerk. It's my thing.

[alilstronger]

I feel like the lifts on these coasters are almost never tall enough. I know when I get on Sidewinder at Hershey or Tidal Wave at Trimpers after being dropped forwards, going through the cobra roll, and then getting to the loop the train slows down dramatically. It is almost the same when it is dropped backwards and goes back through the cobra roll, the train slows down a lot. I just feel as though the hills on these needs to be built taller if they are going to continue to manufacture these. You hear a lot about them getting stuck on the cobra roll. Another thing could also be taking the cobra roll out all together and figuring out antoher element to put in its place.I have made several coasters like this on RCT and have used many many different elemends in that part.

[DOCTOR DOOM!!!]

This is NOTHING!!! I've seen a boomerang get stuck in it's cobra roll twice and get stuck at the bottom of the loop once, ALL IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!

[B-RadG]

Vekoma Boomerangs have successfully been operating since 1984. I don't think they're gonna change the design now, especially after making umpteen of them. Every time one stops on one of the lifts or the brakes after the loop the media decides to overhype it and make the ride seem dangerous.

[Columbia]

I feel like the lifts on these coasters are almost never tall enough. I know when I get on Sidewinder at Hershey or Tidal Wave at Trimpers after being dropped forwards, going through the cobra roll, and then getting to the loop the train slows down dramatically. It is almost the same when it is dropped backwards and goes back through the cobra roll, the train slows down a lot. I just feel as though the hills on these needs to be built taller if they are going to continue to manufacture these. You hear a lot about them getting stuck on the cobra roll. Another thing could also be taking the cobra roll out all together and figuring out antoher element to put in its place.I have made several coasters like this on RCT and have used many many different elemends in that part.

 

Actually - Vekoma DID make a shuttle coaster with a much higher lift (in fact, a single lift) - and it pulled an insane 6.2G!

 

Vekoma's Infamous Moonsault Scramble:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wS-JQvl-4M

 

There's a fine line you have to walk when designing shuttle loops - uncomfortable forces v. completing the circuit.

 

The whole issue with getting stuck in the Cobra Roll is simple - you're taking all the momentum of a train (kinetic energy) that wants to go in a straight line and switching it 4 different ways in a matter of moments.

 

While RCT is a good base for physics - it's not quite precise enough to model in reality.

[Angry_Gumball]

Ok so I decided to vent on the KTVU News comment boxes after reading the GP's comments and the news report of how the GP felt about the situation. Can we really dehydrate for not drinking water for an hour? Anyone know how warm it was in Vallejo that day? My guess was that it was not that hot, someone just wanted to raise a stink. I see it as this: people want something out of it so they will go to the farthest extent of complaints to get their way, whether if it's monetary (stupid law suit people) or free tickets. Some do it just because they feel they simply can and want to be a donkey. I also left my feedback on Kron4 as people were going overboard about "I won't ride it again!"

 

The full news report is here if you haven't read it.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/24680976/detail.html

 

Ok, here's my feelings/thoughts about a ride getting stuck. Let's say that I've been stuck on quite a few rides in the past, whether if I'm waiting at the top of a lift hill about 50 feet up, stuck in a break run, or sitting just several feet out past the station I will still continue to ride these rides. It's not because I'm insane. It's because I understand that amusement rides are machines, just like the vehicles you drove to get to Six Flags. Machines can break down and will, and glitches will happen. Cars stall all the time, but you never hear people saying "I'm never riding in a car again because I got stuck out in the middle of 880." I'm not a mechanic for any amusement rides but my guess is that the ride's computers thought something was wrong/glitched out therefore shutting the ride down to prevent any kind of accident or real malfunction. Honestly, when the media gets a hold of a minor ride breakdown, things get blown way out of proportion. When the general public hear about an amusement ride breakdown, they also go way out of proportion. Contrary to belief, you risk your life more hopping into your car than you would taking a ride at the park. And though it wasn't the case with this ride, a lot of 'accidents' happen when people pull something stupid such as hopping fences, or wriggle their way out of the ride when they shouldn't. Last summer, a ride made by the same manufacturer as Boomerang also got stuck, Invertigo. While people freaked out about the whole incident, I was ready to ride that following weekend when I came back to visit, despite the news I heard. As soon as that ride reopened, I made my way back down to Great America just to take a ride on Invertigo again. I'm now waiting to see what the next ride shut down is that's going to be reported. Perhaps, making a news report on some random person's computer for getting the blue screen of death and how the person was unable to work for 2 hours until a tech came in to fix the problem...If that happens, I honestly would not know what to think of our society.

 

I could be wrong about the ride's system as I'm not a mechanic but it does make sense.

Edited August 21, 2010 by Angry_Gumball